One good thing that comes 2 mind: without PR its 'sequel' film Grashitti Bridge would never have existed

pureTsexy said:

TrevorAyer said:

I'd go so far as to say that without purple rain .. the movie .. prince would be EVEN MORE successful.

Why? Because he would have kept trying harder. PUrple Rain afforded prince a lil too much ego and opportunity to record anything and everything. Quality control went out the window and even tho there was great stuff up to sott .. clearly it was all leftovers from when he was trying harder. Lovesexy was done in what ... 2 weeks .. and it shows. From that point on it was more about playing with gadgets than crafting a song that will blow peoples minds. Batdance anyone?

It's fair to say PUrple Rain ... the Movie .. ended Prince career... still its a great movie .. wish it came out and was only mildly successful .. then we could have the movie and have a prince who gave a crap about good music ..

Imagine the last 20 years of genius music that all prince fans loved but the general public never quite got into, instead of 20 years of drivel that prince thinks is good because he is so rich doesn't matter if anyone else likes it. Imagine being a prince fan without the shame associated.

What if PR never went platinum, never had a number one, and instead of spoiled brat prince we got aged gracefully mature prince .. what if he wrote an album about something other than chocolate handles and underage puss .. what if prince actually remained musically relevant .. damn u purple rain u make it hurt so good .. most importantly .. what if prince never had the ego or cocky overconfidence to start rapping .. how many great songs would not have been ruined? what if prince couldn't afford to fire the revolution? instead of 4 mostly classic records prince could have had 10 or 15.

oh well

WHAT? So purple rain made him stop caring about music? And what if prince remained musically relevant? I don't even know how to respond to that.

I can see your point. I would argue thought that without Purple rain he would have had a more consistent career. Musically and in many other ways PR is incongruous to the rest of the music he has come up with. On this point he set a false expectation with audiences about his identity both musically and personally. Prior to Purple Rain he was cranking up his career gradually=-a lot of PR buyers would buy neither his ongoing music or back catalogue. The buying audience of 1999 would probably (however different it was) have not freaked out as much about ATWIAD as they had heard songs like International Lover etc.

I think at this level of musical success Prince would have kept a trajectory of more aristic expression because this would be his commercial benchmark. I can see how PR could have warped both the audience's and Prince's perception of where he stood as an artist.

jcurley said:

pureTsexy said:

WHAT? So purple rain made him stop caring about music? And what if prince remained musically relevant? I don't even know how to respond to that.

I can see your point. I would argue thought that without Purple rain he would have had a more consistent career. Musically and in many other ways PR is incongruous to the rest of the music he has come up with. On this point he set a false expectation with audiences about his identity both musically and personally. Prior to Purple Rain he was cranking up his career gradually=-a lot of PR buyers would buy neither his ongoing music or back catalogue. The buying audience of 1999 would probably (however different it was) have not freaked out as much about ATWIAD as they had heard songs like International Lover etc.

I think at this level of musical success Prince would have kept a trajectory of more aristic expression because this would be his commercial benchmark. I can see how PR could have warped both the audience's and Prince's perception of where he stood as an artist.

I don't even think it was the music as much as it was the whole era, probably the movie more than the music then the tour just sent it into mass hysteria

Every similar artist has had a creative peak, those that have been steadier have, well, I'm not sure really. Let's try and think of some. Probably easier to think of the acting profession to be honest. There are lots of those that do some cracking tv dramas and made for tv films. Character actors are another one. Musicians though. Hmm, perhaps that would throw out either niche genres or studio types.

I take back what I initially said about the post being daft. It's actually thrown a very good slant on the whole career of Prince. Would he have made better music without PR? Interesting. Then again it seems as though that huge success was all he was chasing at the time. Would the whole PR era have just been delayed? Would he have become bitter and if so would it have made his music better or worse? He doesn't seem like the normal type of chap that can sit back and look on life and think "Oh, well, let's just be glad for what I've got." Desperate and lost is how I sum up Prince. Looks for fame, looks for lust, looks for God. Has he ever been happy with what he's found?