lwr001 said:

who does WB have now that is relevant ; linkin park..lyor Cohen and Kevin lIles did absolutely nothing to enhance ..if you thought he was unhappy back in th e90's i could only imaginme how bas it would have been today

lwr001 said:

who does WB have now that is relevant ; linkin park..lyor Cohen and Kevin lIles did absolutely nothing to enhance ..if you thought he was unhappy back in th e90's i could only imaginme how bas it would have been today

Majors used to take risks. In the 70's and 80's there was virtually no difference between majors and independents in terms of quality, risk-taking and talent search. Majors also had huge catalogues and would produce dozens of artists that'd go nowhere every year, just in case. But back then they didn't necessarly belong to massive corporations and the people running hem were old professionals who had a true faith in making honest money with talented composers. + back the you also made SO MUCH money by selling records, so there was a lot of money to be spent on experiments.

Now, partly for trends and corporate reasons, partly because of the mutations and crisis the industry has been facing for 10 tears, majors are trying to make their dough with a much more limited number of artists, most of them being more "products" than artists anyway. Their logic is that if u're gonna sell less records (than before) u need to push very commercial acts to the maximum of their profitability and there's no room for ridk taking, diversity or originality, so they don't sign half as many people as they used to. Record stores also play that game: selling less means less space devoted to albums, which in turn means giving proportionally more space to the commercial stuff and no selling records by unknown or little known artists anymore.

Most of what I listen nowadays is from independent labels, while most of what I listen from the 70's, 80's and 90's is from majors. I guess that says it all.

The question should be! What would Madonna's career be like if Prince never left Wb??

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

The question should be! What would Madonna's career be like if Prince never left Wb??

Well she finally left WB too anyway

Probably superficial and terrible.

I prefer a genuine Prince rather than usual label phonies.

databank said:

KCOOLMUZIQ said:

The question should be! What would Madonna's career be like if Prince never left Wb??

Well she finally left WB too anyway

True! But only after they rolled out the red carpet for her, years & years after Prince left. They did everything they could to keep her there with them....

Well she was still having hit albums in the 90s. Ray Of Light was a critical and commercial success and so was Music I asume.

databank said:

hard to say if the music would have been any better...more organised probably..but the one thing i am sure of is he would have continued to have hit records...maybe not big hits...but top 40 hits...when he turned his back on warners..radio and the media did seem to turn its back on him...like he was on some sort of blacklist...it only eased slightly when musicology came out 8 years later..

Excellent question:

I think Prince would have not matured as much as he has as a person in terms of his spirituality etc as he would be more distracted by contract issues etc.

i do think he would have evolved into a better musician than he is today though (or at least one who makes music more 4 his fans than his inner voices) on account of him probably having to make more popular type music to honour WB contracts.

Mandingo said:

Excellent question:

I think Prince would have not matured as much as he has as a person in terms of his spirituality etc as he would be more distracted by contract issues etc.

i do think he would have evolved into a better musician than he is today though (or at least one who makes music more 4 his fans than his inner voices) on account of him probably having to make more popular type music to honour WB contracts.

Prince's musicianship is just as fine as its always been..that cannot be questioned

lwr001 said:

Mandingo said:

Excellent question:

I think Prince would have not matured as much as he has as a person in terms of his spirituality etc as he would be more distracted by contract issues etc.

i do think he would have evolved into a better musician than he is today though (or at least one who makes music more 4 his fans than his inner voices) on account of him probably having to make more popular type music to honour WB contracts.

Prince's musicianship is just as fine as its always been..that cannot be questioned

^

Prince is a fine musician, guitarplayer, bassist etc.. live he is still an excellent performer.

But he has released so much crap music recently, his ability to create great new music can indeed be questioned, IMHO.

thedance said:

lwr001 said:

Prince's musicianship is just as fine as its always been..that cannot be questioned

^

Prince is a fine musician, guitarplayer, bassist etc.. live he is still an excellent performer.

But he has released so much crap music recently, his ability to create great new music can indeed be questioned, IMHO.

that has nithing to do with hois musicanship...the abilty to create what you think isnt crap and his playing ability arent remotely connected

Not to burst the PURPLE bubble here but the label wouldnt matter, as 1992 was rolling around he was losing steam, the thing that saved him and got him back in the light of mainstream, was "Diamond and Pearls" and outside of "7" he was missing hit singles, and sales were dropping again. But its hard to say what he would have recorded since ALOT of what he did right after was in reference to the "fight with WB" "COME" was the death of Prince album so to speak 1958-1993. There was the name change that would have never happend if not for the fight, regardless of him saying it was his "SPIRIT" it was a power play case closed. "The Most Beautfiul Girl" would never have been since that was the "escape" and that honestly was his last HIT across the board not just on RB radio, though all of the RB radio hits since have been very very minor. Emancipation would never have been, though bootlegs were rolling around with a WB version of that album in a single disc form and it was not very good at all.

Prince wanted to leave that much is true, but understand he was this 35 year old guy with sliding sales and a new generation taking his place, they all have been through it and they all react to it differently, this was PRINCE's path. IF and i say IF he stayed and the fight NEVER had happend I feel his "album a year" pace would have gotten him dumped when the deal really was up anyway, his sales would have slid further and i doubt there would have been a hit that wasnt a hit. "COME" if it was released even with him and WB in good standing would not have been any bigger than it was, which to me would have not really helped "The GOld Experience" GOLD suffered from bad singles choices. "I hate U" was not a good choice, and "GOLD" was a horrible choice in that time period as a second single. I think GOLD would have been what it was, a very "critically" acclaimed record that had decent sales and no real big hit singles. From there who knows what would have happend.

Impossible to say.

lastdecember said:

Not to burst the PURPLE bubble here but the label wouldnt matter, as 1992 was rolling around he was losing steam, the thing that saved him and got him back in the light of mainstream, was "Diamond and Pearls" and outside of "7" he was missing hit singles, and sales were dropping again. But its hard to say what he would have recorded since ALOT of what he did right after was in reference to the "fight with WB" "COME" was the death of Prince album so to speak 1958-1993. There was the name change that would have never happend if not for the fight, regardless of him saying it was his "SPIRIT" it was a power play case closed. "The Most Beautfiul Girl" would never have been since that was the "escape" and that honestly was his last HIT across the board not just on RB radio, though all of the RB radio hits since have been very very minor. Emancipation would never have been, though bootlegs were rolling around with a WB version of that album in a single disc form and it was not very good at all.

Prince wanted to leave that much is true, but understand he was this 35 year old guy with sliding sales and a new generation taking his place, they all have been through it and they all react to it differently, this was PRINCE's path. IF and i say IF he stayed and the fight NEVER had happend I feel his "album a year" pace would have gotten him dumped when the deal really was up anyway, his sales would have slid further and i doubt there would have been a hit that wasnt a hit. "COME" if it was released even with him and WB in good standing would not have been any bigger than it was, which to me would have not really helped "The GOld Experience" GOLD suffered from bad singles choices. "I hate U" was not a good choice, and "GOLD" was a horrible choice in that time period as a second single. I think GOLD would have been what it was, a very "critically" acclaimed record that had decent sales and no real big hit singles. From there who knows what would have happend.

I agree with you on most points but as far as I recall, I Hate U could have been a big hit if he had released the video and single on time. I think despite the feud with WB, the lack of promo and being a bit late, it still went as far as #12 on the Billboard charts, and it was kind of a semi hit on RnB radio.

With proper planning and promotion, I Hate U could have been a huge hit. Most people I know loved that song and especially the maxi single, and I´m not even talking about Prince fans here. Too bad he completely neglected that song during the tour, only playing a snippet as part of a medley.

The remix was tight and could´ve been a smash hit on the RnB charts, and the regular version charted all the way up to 12, didn´t it?

But I completely agree with you regarding Come and The Gold Experience.

Say what you want about Tevin Campbell but I love his vocals on his I'm Ready cd.

Esp the Prince-penned tunes. Paris 1798430 is a stand out track, as is Shh.

He never pretended to be a musician.

That said, it's impossible to go back and "what if?" the entire era. The fact is, they started under-promoting his albums and pushing his album release dates back. That's a huge nail in the coffin in their relationship.

...What if WB had fully promoted every album/tour and let him release new CD's once a year like he wanted??

All "What if"'s. The mid-90's is my favorite era. I saw him live at Glam Slam and Paisley at least 30 times between '92 and '00. Brilliant performances each and every one of them. What if... WB had stuck with him and not restrained his artistic output?

XNY said:

Say what you want about Tevin Campbell but I love his vocals on his I'm Ready cd.

Esp the Prince-penned tunes. Paris 1798430 is a stand out track, as is Shh.

He never pretended to be a musician.

That said, it's impossible to go back and "what if?" the entire era. The fact is, they started under-promoting his albums and pushing his album release dates back. That's a huge nail in the coffin in their relationship.

...What if WB had fully promoted every album/tour and let him release new CD's once a year like he wanted??

All "What if"'s. The mid-90's is my favorite era. I saw him live at Glam Slam and Paisley at least 30 times between '92 and '00. Brilliant performances each and every one of them. What if... WB had stuck with him and not restrained his artistic output?

Tevin slayed any & every teenage vocalist of his and every generation after him!!