OK, I'm not asking if you support the fact that he changed his name

to an unpronouncable symbol.

That happened, and the damage was done.

What I'm asking is, it's 10-ish years ago, and the next day is

about to announce that he's returning back to being called Prince.

Would you support this decision?

I personally think he should hae just stuck with the symbol and

made it a success. Once obtaining success, he should reverted back

if he wanted to.

Now, the symbol appears to be a failed part of his career.

Also, it makes all the "it came to me in a dream nonsense" appear

as if he was playing Oprah for a fool (indeed, he was ).

What's your take?

I actually thought was forever when made the change. I was under the impression that he had found himself with the new name and felt no reason 2 go back 2 a name that he felt "enslaved" under. So I was shocked when he went back 2 being Prince. It didn't make sense 2 me.

paisley2002 said:

I actually thought was forever when made the change. I was under the impression that he had found himself with the new name and felt no reason 2 go back 2 a name that he felt "enslaved" under. So I was shocked when he went back 2 being Prince. It didn't make sense 2 me.

Well, I was a MUCH bigger Prince fan in 93 than I am these days, and I too thought it was about an artist who found himself, and wanted to distance himself from the past.

Obvioiusly by the end of the 90s with the way he was treating other fansites and fans in general, I began to suspect he really was just trying to weasle of a contract he friggen signed through a public hissy fit campaign .

imago,

You've asked an excellent question. I feel it was the 'right' decision for Prince to follow his 'spirit' (read: consciousness), which exists outside the conventional rules/bounds of society, including legal frameworks (designed to both protect his masters AND him). I also feel it was the 'right' decision to revert back to the name Prince once his 'spirit' no longer felt the fire in his belly. Personally, I am pleased he is growing in acceptance of his position in life both within the music industry and, to a lesser degree, in his personal journey (although the two are inextricably linked). So, to answer your question, he's made the right decisions, for him, throughout his career transition. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, which most of us can utilise for reflection, but very few (except the true mavericks, pioneers and industry game changers) have the power of foresight. I think it's fair to conclude that Prince is rightfully heralded as an industry elder statesment, with enough gravitas to sell live concerts, at will. To continue to hone his God-given talent, in spite of widespread societal ridicule, and to be laughing on the other side of the fance, takes serious balls, not to mention a degree of learning how to master the forces next time around. Interestingly, as with all game changers, he is still experimenting with the music industry. Perhaps, my only further wish is that he would experiment in the studio as much as clearly enjoys bucking the marketplace. However, one can't conclude that Prince didn't experiment like few others in the studio during his major period of creative genius(1980-1988), with superlative results. As many onlookers have concluded, perhaps it's time that we, especially fans, recognise, accept and honour that talent with the respect it deserves (read Alex Hahn).

love,

Spirit

imago said:

...

Also, it makes all the "it came to me in a dream nonsense" appear

as if he was playing Oprah for a fool (indeed, he was ).

What's your take?

when u state that the above, it is funny because a deck of tarot cards flashes and out comes the fool...and then more.

isn't life but a dream here on Earth? it is a dream here...each one of us, hopefilled, is a conscious awareness outside of this body and shatters the illusion of this Earthly dream and bondage to the body cage. yes, the body can indeed be seen as a cage and another illusion.

i like both energies - the one of the symbol and the one of the name "Prince". Prince is a beautiful name and carries a beautiful nrg. name or no name, what is important is that u find the capability to connect with those u love when going in the inner planes because calling a name alone will not work. it is the heart and soul connection that is the only one that works on the inner.

Spiritorder & raddabone,

You two make no fucking sense.

imago,

Welcome to the .Org.

love,

Spirit

God, those were dark days.

I confess it looked a little 'weak' when he changed it back to Prince, but I was frankly so relieved that I didn't mind.

SuperSoulFighter said:

Even today when I tell someone I like Prince, I get questions like, what's he called these days? So did it hurt his carreer? Dunno... They're probably folks who wouldn't buy his records anyway...but still...that name change had quite an impact!

Totally. If he'd changed his name to Rupert Groovemore III, people would have said, "oh, he's experimenting with his identity". But by changing it to an unpronounceable symbol, I think people said, "oh, he's trying to say that he's better than regular humans". And guess how people tend to react to that!

Yeah I'd support it, I thought the name change was dumb in the first place, and I wasn't even a fan back then. I was waiting like, "When can we call him Prince again".

And when I found out he went back to his name I went : .

I thought it was cool. Stupid, but cool. Just look at it. It's neato!

But I'm glad he went back to Prince. It had run its course. If you've got a perfectly awesome stage (and real) name like Prince, why not take advantage of it?

I'm glad he's brought the symbol back in the last several years, though. Cool to see it around.

nope. Changing back to Prince is simply a brand recognition issue. The Prince name is going to bring the attention needed to sell the Artists endeavors.

Do you think would get to sale 3121 perfume? I think only the name Prince can make that deal.

woulda rather he kept the symbol .. coming back as prince and not delivering prince quality music felt cheap .. the symbol is a nice way to distinguish between the genuine prince and the completely detached prince .. when he returned to the prince name he muddied up that distinction

It ran it's course. Do you think he would've done stuff like the Superbowl etc whilst still using the as a stage name?

It is funny though when people say "Oh, I didn't know he'd gone back to Prince" - STILL, over a decade later. It makes you think about how once you do something as a public figure you will forever be tarnished with it.

imago said:

Spiritorder & raddabone,

You two make no fucking sense.

LOL

P R N C E

It was a very Prince thing to do, ultimately I think it made him look like a bit of a tit.

I never stopped calling him Prince anyway. If he had decided to keep the silly symbol name, I would still be calling the wee dick Prince.

NouveauDance said:

It ran it's course. Do you think he would've done stuff like the Superbowl etc whilst still using the as a stage name?

It is funny though when people say "Oh, I didn't know he'd gone back to Prince" - STILL, over a decade later. It makes you think about how once you do something as a public figure you will forever be tarnished with it.

the funny thing is that people were still calling him prince after he'd been for 7 years.

then he went back to "prince" and a decade later people are all still "isn't he called now?"

people just try to be assholes i guess. especially when they know you like his music. the could

have browsed through his cd rack in the store not 5 minutes ago and looked at planet earth or

musicology or any post 1996 album and straight up look you in the eye and go "prince? didn't

he stop releasing music like 20 years ago?"

whenever people ask me, i just go "yeah, he became a recluse like in 1993, haven't heard one

word from him since". i just won't give them the satisfaction of rattling my cage.

actually, one asshole who did the whole "prince? is he still recording? wow i didn't know

he'd done anything after that most beautiful girl song in 1990 or something"

so i was all "yeah, i think he stopped recording after that, haven't heard anything about

him since then. never seen him again".

he was quiet for a few seconds, obviously thinking 'shit, this backfired, no fun in that'

and then he went 'oh but i think i heard a song called "black sweat" a few years back it

was kind of cool. and didn't he give away his albums with newspapers for a while? i've

got one at home called 20Ten'.

hilarious. they just try to make you go all fammy and defend 'your' artist. as if that's just

so funny to them. i didn't go along and then all of a sudden he knows all these albums or

songs from recent years and even has the newspaper give away 20Ten at his home!"

but i still didn't budge and just said "wow, are you serious? what is that album like, have

you listened to it?" and he was all "yeah, man it's awesome, really good".

2 minutes after the whole "did he do anything past 1993?"

i'm sure that if i'd been like "yeah man, he's released a ton of albums and still tours just

about every 2 years etc etc fammy fam fam" he would have just said "oh but he's said

to be total shit now, actually i heard this newspaper album and it was so bad i just threw

it out the car windwow one day".

same exact thing whenever you say that, amongst other bands, you like prince.

they just pick out prince and go

"oh, prince, is he still recording? isn't he gay"

as if recording and being gay is somehow not compatible

"not sure if he's still recording, perhaps, i don't know"

"but he's gay right?"

"yeah, he is"

awkward silence, since you didn't take the bait.

"is it true that most of his fans are gay too? they must be"

"yeah, most of them are, just gays and women"

another awkward silence.

"he was married for a while tho, wasn't he?"

"he was?"

"yeah, beautiful woman too"

"oh?"

"hey, you're the fan! but she divorced him"

"she did?"

"i bet it was because he's gay"

"i'm sure it was"

long pause.

"so what other bands did you say you like? radiohead? aren't they like totally suicidal moaners?"

sometimes i hate people so much. i'll be damned if i show them tho

but he still uses it, right? I mean, the symbol shaped guitar and shit

I think he dropped the "symbol" as a "persona/alter-ego" after the JW rebirth thing

the way I see it, Prince is now the JW Prince with the Warners/Symbol legacy behind

and I'm glad that he started using the Prince name again, that "my name is Symbol/The Artist/Whatever" thing seemed like a publicity stunt...

the 01-12 Prince seems more real than the 94-99 Prince...

[Edited 8/10/12 7:35am]

weren't planet earth and 2010 glyph releases?

NouveauDance said:

It ran it's course. Do you think he would've done stuff like the Superbowl etc whilst still using the as a stage name?

It is funny though when people say "Oh, I didn't know he'd gone back to Prince" - STILL, over a decade later. It makes you think about how once you do something as a public figure you will forever be tarnished with it.

because unlike other artists that made something "infamous" (really?) Prince hasn't released/done anything HUGE in order to be known as "Prince, the STAR" all over again, (I'm talking about the mainstream common folks and 10-16 years old kids), of course...

look at Madonna, for example, she was officially a "yesterday's news whore" from 1992 to 1997 (the nude pics controversy), until she bounced back with Ray of Light and she was "Madonna, the Respectable Female Superstar" all over again...

I guess 3121 and the Superbowl were not BIG enough...

TrevorAyer said:

weren't planet earth and 2010 glyph releases?

No. They were Prince albums.

JoeTyler said:

NouveauDance said:

It ran it's course. Do you think he would've done stuff like the Superbowl etc whilst still using the as a stage name?

It is funny though when people say "Oh, I didn't know he'd gone back to Prince" - STILL, over a decade later. It makes you think about how once you do something as a public figure you will forever be tarnished with it.

because unlike other artists that made something "infamous" (really?) Prince hasn't released/done anything HUGE in order to be known as "Prince, the STAR" all over again, (I'm talking about the mainstream common folks and 10-16 years old kids), of course...

look at Madonna, for example, she was officially a "yesterday's news whore" from 1992 to 1997 (the nude pics controversy), until she bounced back with Ray of Light and she was "Madonna, the Respectable Female Superstar" all over again...

I guess 3121 and the Superbowl were not BIG enough...

Not awake in 2004, were we?

skywalker said:

JoeTyler said:

because unlike other artists that made something "infamous" (really?) Prince hasn't released/done anything HUGE in order to be known as "Prince, the STAR" all over again, (I'm talking about the mainstream common folks and 10-16 years old kids), of course...

look at Madonna, for example, she was officially a "yesterday's news whore" from 1992 to 1997 (the nude pics controversy), until she bounced back with Ray of Light and she was "Madonna, the Respectable Female Superstar" all over again...

I guess 3121 and the Superbowl were not BIG enough...

Not awake in 2004, were we?

let's face it: did anyone (other than the US hardcore fans) hear that Prince released a "comeback" album in 2004??

I still think he didn't truly bounce back until 3121...

Now that I think about it...he gave a whole bunch of new-age babbling about why he switched his name but I'd have sworn I read someplace on this site a few years back that really he did it for LEGAL reasons, kinda his way of circumventing some kind of record contract bullshit. Similar to how when the Jackson 5 left Motown they had to become the Jacksons or whatever.

I think for whatever reasons, Prince just thought it was a good idea to claim there was some sort of profound logic behind the name change instead of just going, "Legally I can't record or whatever under Prince anymore so now I'm Squiggle-squiggle Nudge-nudge."

Really he probably made a big mistake doing that and it would've gone over a lot better if he just admitted he couldn't use the name Prince and so he had to pick something else in the meantime, because the explanation he gave just made it look like he had a couple screws loose.