Case in point: Right Back Here In My Arms

Disappointed

"My Prerogative"... the Bobby Brown track.

This song always sounded like a Prince song - to me.

Bobby Brown was covering the Prince sound - not the other way around.

Hate that damn song

But pre-crackhead Bobby was cool though-still love that music to this day.

We all have our own opinions

But i never thought of or heard any Prince influence in Bobby's music
Nor do i hear Prince sounding like Bobby

FragileUndertow said:

We all have our own opinions

But i never thought of or heard any Prince influence in Bobby's music
Nor do i hear Prince sounding like Bobby

I never did either

I disagree with the premise. Prince's sound changed considerably in the 90's but in the end he still didn't sound like anyone else to me. I loved the change of direction, the R&B influences and the so-called plastic sound, because deeply it was still the same Prince, everything that had made me love it in the 80's was still there, it was just wearing new clothes

robertgeorgeakabob said:

Bobby Brown certainly wasn't copying Prince. New Jack evolved from hip hop and doo wop/ gospel. But yeah, My Prerogative...annoying shit!

It evolved a lot from Jam & Lewis' sound, which in itself was a natural evolution of Prince's Minneapolis Sound. When u listen to Control it still sounds like a Mpls thing, only a highly mutated one already far away from what the others (Jesse, Morris, Mark, and copycats such as The Deele or Ready For The World) were doing. Then you jump 3 years later to Rhythm Nation and new jack was already all over the place and we're in a completely dfferent world by then. So to me it's Prince -> Jam & Lewis -> the whole new jack swing thing. Hip-hop was evolving quite paralelly IMHO, though it quickly merged with new jack swing in some ways, and both styles kept interacting and influencing each other.

databank said:

FunkDr said:

Robertgeorge..... What planet u on baby ?? Prince copying Jam & Lewis ?? Jeeze !! U have to be joking / they were a diluted and commercial spine of what Prince was doing . Prince certainly influenced New Jack swing too - that's not to say it was a direct copy of Prince but a more urban / hip-hop based style of the mpls sound, beats / rhythm and attitude ! But they would never be able to compose the more intricate and avant garde stuff Prince would also do! Prince in a base, rhythmical and urban mode - so if u didn't want to be musically or mentally challenged then Jam & Lewis and / or New Jack Swing And / or Hip-Hop was / is your thing .

Jam & Lewis were big, really. I listened to Control again the other day, nothing sounded like that at the time. It definitely borrowed a lot from Prince's mpls sound but they really took it to another level, doing that very agressive music that was quite experimental in nature despite its commercial appeal.

I loved his stabs at 90s R & B. In fact, my Prince 90s R & B playlist is one of my favorites. I thought Love Sign and Somebody's Somebody were his best attempts.

you can only hope he sounds more like a Brown Mark

FunkDr said:

Teddy Riley created new Jack Swing. Jam & Lewis and Babyface intgrated it into the sounds they had already etablished. Not trying to nit pick just putting that out there. Cool thread.

I don't think anyone would deny that Jam & Lewis are talented in their own right and enjoyed massive global success with their productions - but that is part of the point - they were deliberately trying to be very commercial. Just like when Prince wrote and produced the Time tracks - more commercial sounding / looking strains of himself.

IF Prince ever tried to copy any of their techniques or those of New Jack Swing then he was, to some extent, looking to copy a part/strain of himself - because he most certainly influenced/taught Jam & Lewis and to a lesser extent will have influenced Teddy Riley and the NJS "movement".

Whether this self parody was as successful, as those others who were doing it, is a different matter.

He was also deploying "industrial" funk production techniques long before RN1814.

[Edited 9/8/13 8:27am]

andykeen said:

Right back here in your arms is the shit!

Damn right it is!!

acknowledge me sounds like him the most...

"Acknowledge Me" was one of those songs that made me a fan.

I think there's some pretty poor new jack swing influenced stuff in the outtakes though (or whatever he gave to other artists at the time).

Better Bobby Brown than James Brown circa Living In America.