I'm searching and looking at all these fav videos and greatest performances and in the vast majority, Prince has a guitar. So is there an explanation for why SO MANY people don't know he plays guitar, or they're so "shocked" to see he plays? It's really baffling to me. Do people think he's an Andrew Ridgley, playing "air guitar"?

i have no clue?

Well, one girl knew... in my guitar class,

she heard I love Prince, and decided to talk about his band... The Revolvers..

a lot of people seem to think prince is some vapid strictly-pop star

uuhson said:

a lot of people seem to think prince is some vapid strictly-pop star

This.

Years ago my dad, and two of my friends knew that Prince played guitar, but they did not know that he was so good and were quite surprised when I showed them some videos.

They were even more surprised when they learned of the scope of Prince's musicianship on albums.

It did not make them fans, but they certainly had a new found respect for him after that.

Prince is underappreciated and underrated and unknown in many parts of this world.

The total package containing his extreme persona, weird use of symbolics and freakyness is confusing many of the real music fans out there, while the common not hardcore music fan just thinks his music is too weird to appeal to them. He falls between more than two stools. However there's a little chair preventing him from falling down to the floor. This little chair is a bunch of dis lojal fools hating him one day, loving him the other haha. He doesn't have gangs of leather panted hard rocking people defending his legacy like Iron Maiden, AC DC... He has little to no publicity among the common man, his only publicity is after throwing a helluva party on stage. And not everyone believes what they read on a newspaper.

This is how Norway treats him, hehe. They have maybe seen When Doves Cry and Kiss on radio with no guitar on him. Only heard Purple Rain on radio maybe. Is Cream a typical song to think Prince was playing guitar if one just heard it on radio? Alphabet street is also a song that was pretty popular, the video too. No focus on guitar there.

I think that most people just look at him as a talented guy that wears makeup and heels. A lot tend to overlook his guitar playing abilities because they can't get past the makeup and heels. It's a shame too.

The folks that should know..........do know.

Graycap23 said:

The folks that should know..........do know.

YES WE DO!

They act like he knows the guitar the way Madonna does....

OK, WHO are you hanging out with that don't know that simple shit?

Replica said:

Prince is underappreciated and underrated and unknown in many parts of this world.

The total package containing his extreme persona, weird use of symbolics and freakyness is confusing many of the real music fans out there, while the common not hardcore music fan just thinks his music is too weird to appeal to them. He falls between more than two stools. However there's a little chair preventing him from falling down to the floor. This little chair is a bunch of dis lojal fools hating him one day, loving him the other haha. He doesn't have gangs of leather panted hard rocking people defending his legacy like Iron Maiden, AC DC... He has little to no publicity among the common man, his only publicity is after throwing a helluva party on stage. And not everyone believes what they read on a newspaper.

This is how Norway treats him, hehe. They have maybe seen When Doves Cry and Kiss on radio with no guitar on him. Only heard Purple Rain on radio maybe. Is Cream a typical song to think Prince was playing guitar if one just heard it on radio? Alphabet street is also a song that was pretty popular, the video too. No focus on guitar there.

^^ Yeah, this is probably right. Also the make-up and heels. Now I have something to post on "Have you ever felt bad for Prince" ...

Btw, you picked practically the only 3 videos that don't have him playing guitar! How is that possible?

daPrettyman said:

I think that most people just look at him as a talented guy that wears makeup and heels. A lot tend to overlook his guitar playing abilities because they can't get past the makeup and heels. It's a shame too.

I can see that being the case. It's stupid too. It's like "explore, there's more to him that meets the eye." People treat many androgynous performers like shit, especially those as multi-talented as Prince is.

hls2000 said:

Replica said:

Prince is underappreciated and underrated and unknown in many parts of this world.

The total package containing his extreme persona, weird use of symbolics and freakyness is confusing many of the real music fans out there, while the common not hardcore music fan just thinks his music is too weird to appeal to them. He falls between more than two stools. However there's a little chair preventing him from falling down to the floor. This little chair is a bunch of dis lojal fools hating him one day, loving him the other haha. He doesn't have gangs of leather panted hard rocking people defending his legacy like Iron Maiden, AC DC... He has little to no publicity among the common man, his only publicity is after throwing a helluva party on stage. And not everyone believes what they read on a newspaper.

This is how Norway treats him, hehe. They have maybe seen When Doves Cry and Kiss on radio with no guitar on him. Only heard Purple Rain on radio maybe. Is Cream a typical song to think Prince was playing guitar if one just heard it on radio? Alphabet street is also a song that was pretty popular, the video too. No focus on guitar there.

^^ Yeah, this is probably right. Also the make-up and heels. Now I have something to post on "Have you ever felt bad for Prince" ...

Btw, you picked practically the only 3 videos that don't have him playing guitar! How is that possible?

Oh wait you're in a country that has only been known to seeing Prince doing nothing but dance and nothing else? Oh I can see why you're upset. I would be too.

they're probably people who've never seen him live before and only heard him on the radio. Before I was a fan I had no clue he was good either, but that was before I had a computer and started watching his concerts.

Not to get bogged down in comparisons - but I think the average person thinks of Prince (if they think of him, at all) in the context of Michael Jackson. Great performer - but not really a musician. And as others have said, he didn't play guitar in the videos people are most likely to know.

I watched the 2007 Super Bowl with a group of people who, while they knew of Prince and appreciated that he was a great performer and musician, were absolutely gobsmacked by his performance. They had no idea he was that good.

Of course, I sat to one side, going, "I'm seeing him in Las Vegas next weekend."

Genesia said:

Not to get bogged down in comparisons - but I think the average person thinks of Prince (if they think of him, at all) in the context of Michael Jackson. Great performer - but not really a musician. And as others have said, he didn't play guitar in the videos people are most likely to know.

I watched the 2007 Super Bowl with a group of people who, while they knew of Prince and appreciated that he was a great performer and musician, were absolutely gobsmacked by his performance. They had no idea he was that good.

Of course, I sat to one side, going, "I'm seeing him in Las Vegas next weekend."

I hear these comments and laugh.

Prince has been doing his things since 1978. If there is a person or people out there who claim 2 like music and they have not come across this man and his work after all of this time, they don't DESERVE 2 be exposed 2 his "gift" of music.

At least that is how I see it.

33 years..................and counting.

Graycap23 said:

I hear these comments and laugh.

Prince has been doing his things since 1978. If there is a person or people out there who claim 2 like music and they have not come across this man and his work after all of this time, they don't DESERVE 2 be exposed 2 his "gift" of music.

At least that is how I see it.

33 years..................and counting.

Why are the comments worthy of laughter? At least we attempted to answer the op's question - which you did not.

Genesia said:

Graycap23 said:

I hear these comments and laugh.

Prince has been doing his things since 1978. If there is a person or people out there who claim 2 like music and they have not come across this man and his work after all of this time, they don't DESERVE 2 be exposed 2 his "gift" of music.

At least that is how I see it.

33 years..................and counting.

Why are the comments worthy of laughter? At least we attempted to answer the op's question - which you did not.

I'm not laughing at your responses. I'm talking about the folks who live under a rock and have no idea about the skill set of one the best artist is the history of recorded music.

JBK said:

Graycap23 said:

The folks that should know..........do know.

YES WE DO!

AMEN

Graycap23 said:

Genesia said:

Why are the comments worthy of laughter? At least we attempted to answer the op's question - which you did not.

I'm not laughing at your responses. I'm talking about the folks who live under a rock and have no idea about the skill set of one the best artist is the history of recorded music.

Prince plays the guitar?

It's Prince's fault. When anyone still gave a damn about Prince he was acting like a pop star and not like a musician. Now that only a handfull of people know he's even put out a new record since Musicology, the rest of the world could care less.

Prince wanted to be seen as a pop personality, a mystical purple whatever. Get the girls and be famous. All that stupid shit. At worst he is seen by most as an eccentric hermit who says obscure stuff, dresses like a girl, is probably gay and never explains the weird shit he does or says. At best he is seen as a sex symbol and pop star/singer. None of this does much to forward the idea that he's a musician, although people obviously know he can sing.

At any rate, he's never been much of a technical guitarist. His former strengths were the same as Miles Davis. He had ho-hum to adequate technique but SUPER-COOL ideas. Now he doesn't even have cool guitar ideas going for him. He's still got awesome rhythm guitar skills, at least.

[Edited 9/21/11 4:33am]

[Edited 9/21/11 4:33am]

Graycap23 said:

I'm talking about the folks who live under a rock and have no idea about the skill set of one the best artist is the history of recorded music.

The average person who listens to Top 40 (or other music) doesn't care about who plays what, how well they play an instrument or sing, whether an act writes their own material, etc. They just listen to music because they enjoy it as entertainment or for fun. Look at Sugar Sugar by The Archies. It was a big hit, and nobody believed they were a real group. People knew they were cartoon characters. Like they used to say on American Bandstand, "It has a good beat and I can dance to it". It's not that serious. It's like most people go to a movie and leave as soon as it finishes, and there's sometimes 1 or 2 people who sit there and read the credits. Some people (usually snobs) think that everyone should listen to what they think is "serious" music, when that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. If they listen to stuff which is "inferior", then they are insulted by the "quality police" and told they have "no taste".

MickyDolenz said:

Graycap23 said:

I'm talking about the folks who live under a rock and have no idea about the skill set of one the best artist is the history of recorded music.

The average person who listens to Top 40 (or other music) doesn't care about who plays what, how well they play an instrument or sing, whether an act writes their own material, etc. They just listen to music because they enjoy it as entertainment or for fun. Look at Sugar Sugar by The Archies. It was a big hit, and nobody believed they were a real group. People knew they were cartoon characters. Like they used to say on American Bandstand, "It has a good beat and I can dance to it". It's not that serious. It's like most people go to a movie and leave as soon as it finishes, and there's sometimes 1 or 2 people who sit there and read the credits. Some people (usually snobs) think that everyone should listen to what they think is "serious" music, when that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. If they listen to stuff which is "inferior", then they are insulted by the "quality police" and told they have "no taste".

As I said...............they people who should know about Prince..........do KNOW about Prince.

The folks u mentioned deserve the material they listen 2.

MickyDolenz said:

Graycap23 said:

I'm talking about the folks who live under a rock and have no idea about the skill set of one the best artist is the history of recorded music.

The average person who listens to Top 40 (or other music) doesn't care about who plays what, how well they play an instrument or sing, whether an act writes their own material, etc. They just listen to music because they enjoy it as entertainment or for fun. Look at Sugar Sugar by The Archies. It was a big hit, and nobody believed they were a real group. People knew they were cartoon characters. Like they used to say on American Bandstand, "It has a good beat and I can dance to it". It's not that serious. It's like most people go to a movie and leave as soon as it finishes, and there's sometimes 1 or 2 people who sit there and read the credits. Some people (usually snobs) think that everyone should listen to what they think is "serious" music, when that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. If they listen to stuff which is "inferior", then they are insulted by the "quality police" and told they have "no taste".

The average person is a wimp/zombie... lol

uuhson said:

a lot of people seem to think prince is some vapid strictly-pop star

Early on I was guilty of that belief between 82'-86'. After the "Sign 'O' the Times" era I had to back-track his music & then I saw "Purple Rain" from "Syracuse 85'" & that's when he totally changed my outlook.

HAHHA i feel ya!

The first prince song i play for my friends is lets go crazy an i always say..."ISNT THAT GUITAR WORK GREAT? THATS HIM U KNOW! DID I MENTION HE PLAYS...ETC