Probably becasue he held the promise of continued musical evolution. Bruce (and I'm not a fan) has released solid efforts with his regular band and othes as collaborators, Madonna knows how to get the right people on board and collaborates cause she is the C student who knows how to get an A with study. Lionel? Um...waiting for a Commodores reunion...lol. I think Prince refuses to do anything to spark his true talent into solid effort by growing up a bit and playing well with others. But thats just me. Getting some people he trusts with talent around him (and not yes people) would go a long way to msuical growth we might all be surprised by.

Prince suffers (yeah, so many people would love to have this problem) from the fact that he released music that LITERALLY changed the lives of many of his fans (musically speaking, at least) for over a decade. During that time he released a series of albums that changed the face of popular music. Everything new that he releases, for the rest of his life, is going to be compared to those times and that material.

Then you have everything that went down with him musically and professionally (the business side) post "Diamonds & Pearls", which also adds a lot of baggage for many longtime fans.

Then you have the sometimes questionable, up and down, hit and miss releases of the last decade to further drive people into the haterade zone.

So, if you add item 2 and 3 to item 1 you get an interesting juxtaposition. Most artists who reached the level of Prince's fame thoughout the 80s and then fell off, even a little bit, never get the chance to release as much new material over the following twenty years as Prince has. In fact, I can't really think of anybody who comes close in that regard. Van Morrison released at least one album a year for something like 40 years, but he was never as culturally huge as Prince was in the 80s. So Prince is ALWAYS going to have a large contingent of fans who are waiting for that Earth-shaking single, or that front-to-back brilliant album. When that doesn't happen, repeatedly (admittedly, this is subjective), people will be people. In other words; they'll complain.

It's not a "new" thing, though. Definitely not a trend. Prince fans have been an opinionated, vocal group for a long ass time. And if they didn't have so much to talk about it wouldn't be nearly as apparent as it is.

Lastly, there are plenty of people who are in the middle on all this. Generally I think that's where I fall most of the time. I've liked some of the songs on every album he's ever released, don't think everything he releases now is shit, but don't think any of it touches the brilliance of his best work.

More than I ever expected to say about that.

[Edited 4/20/12 22:44pm]

Why is everything black & white to you?

I won't say you are american but it is too simplistic to call a critic a hater.

Check my postings and you might see.

udo said:

Why is everything black & white to you?

I won't say you are american but it is too simplistic to call a critic a hater.

Check my postings and you might see.

If only all us simple Americans could be as enlightened as the Dutch.

I don't consider myself a hater. I just got into his music about 5 or 6 years ago. I started listening to all his old stuff from his first album to Sign Of the Times. T,hen when came to my town I thought,, hey I should skip to his new stuff and go backwards. I'm sorry I just don't like it. It's not eclectic enough comapred to his old stuff. He doesn't do music that's cutting edge like If" I was your girlfriend of Something in the water,,, That kind of music and his Purple rain performance of Computer Blue and Darling Nikki is what drew me to him. I know he's older, but I don't understand how age can keep you from doing cutting edge music. Thank goodness that I have a full 20 albums inbetween that I still need to listen to like Lovesexy and Gold,,etc.

Is it a trend to call critics haters?

Zannaloaf said:

Prince refuses to do anything to spark his true talent into solid effort by growing up a bit and playing well with others. But thats just me.

It's not just you.

irreverence said:

Is it a trend to call critics haters?

That!

i dont think prince suffers from anything the true haters are the so called fans who keep lagging on 2 the revloution or things of the past. they refuse 2 let prince move on and he showed that with around the world in a day that he didnt wanna repeat himself.prince has made more music than most artist out there and yall still claim u waiting on the next blockbuster shut the hell up and just enjoyand if u dont go listen 2 chris brown and rhianna

Cerebus said:

I agree with Zannaloaf. I'd rather see Lionel back with The Commodores...maybe now it'll happen since he owes 1 mill. to the IRS.

I think maybe because we've heard (and had) so many great things by P we expect nothing less. I know he likes to challenge himself and listeners and he tries not repeat himself. But at the same time if it ain't broke don't fix it.

I know there are some releases by him that I don't care for that other orgers on here love and it's cool. That's what makes us all different. I always wondered if people on Bruce's or Madonna's forums get up in arms about their new releases?

Zannaloaf said:

Probably becasue he held the promise of continued musical evolution. Bruce (and I'm not a fan) has released solid efforts with his regular band and othes as collaborators, Madonna knows how to get the right people on board and collaborates cause she is the C student who knows how to get an A with study. Lionel? Um...waiting for a Commodores reunion...lol. I think Prince refuses to do anything to spark his true talent into solid effort by growing up a bit and playing well with others. But thats just me. Getting some people he trusts with talent around him (and not yes people) would go a long way to msuical growth we might all be surprised by.

Hmm....But do u actually like Bruces & madonnas stuff? For all the criticism that Prince gets, I still much prefer listening to his new music than any other act. Bruce, like Paul Weller and Dylan, is just too dinosaur-like, plodding and dull, which music critics instead like to term as solid. As for Madonna, it doesn't matter who shes collaborating with or being produced by, her new stuff just sounds juvenile; I just can't stand that irritating chart-whore; she needs to grow up.

The thread title is the answer

Prince is a victim of his own greatness when it comes to certain elements of his own fan base.

Prince fans have always disagreed about just about everything; whether it be final album configurations albums, band members, what he wore, a performance

But the difference 'then' was we went along our Prince/ Paisley journey with a degree of naivety - unable to access instant fan critiques; we had the opportunity to digest each album, tour, 'look' and let it breathe and form our own judgements based on our own experiences.

Now in this 'instant gratification' era we have fan opinions thrust at us from every fan or non fan before said album, band member, style change, live performance even hits us. We are often already told about perceived flaws/ wrong choices/ studio decline from fellow 'fans' before we have even experienced it for ourselves

Some fans associate Prince with their own perceived music 'golden age' and anything less from him leaves them feeling short change. They then want to share this disappointment and embark on attempts to present this 'decline' from prince as 'fact', to taint others' experience.

[Edited 4/22/12 8:52am]

No, the trend is making threads complaining about the "haters". There's a new one every other week.

80spfantwp said:

The thread title is the answer

Prince is a victim of his own greatness when it comes to certain elements of his own fan base.

Prince fans have always disagreed about just about everything; whether it be final album configurations albums, band members, what he wore, a performance

But the difference 'then' was we went along our Prince/ Paisley journey with a degree of naivety - unable to access instant fan critiques; we had the opportunity to digest each album, tour, 'look' and let it breathe and form our own judgements based on our own experiences.

Now in this 'instant gratification' era we have fan opinions thrust at us from every fan or non fan before said album, band member, style change, live performance even hits us. We are often already told about perceived flaws/ wrong choices/ studio decline from fellow 'fans' before we have even experienced it for ourselves

Some fans associate Prince with their own perceived music 'golden age' and anything less from him leaves them feeling short change. They then want to share this disappointment and embark on attempts to present this 'decline' from prince as 'fact', to taint others' experience.

[Edited 4/22/12 8:52am]

I am inclined to agree with you. Too many on this sight seems to have lived their highs & lows of life through his music and refuse to let him out of the square box.

I've seen a tendency to take what Prince does personally on here or elevate it to an almost criminal act. If you don't like the music or his behavior that's fine but some orgers are preaching from a soapbox and trying to convert others to their way of thinking by repeating their issues on every thread.

For myself I don't really focus on the songs that I didn't/still don't like. Why give them the time of day when I'm not forced to listen to them. I'd rather kick it with others about what we like and how the music has affected us.

Prince made me some very good friends of late and he got me laid in high school. How could I ever hate on him?