I'm surprised how different american and european fans view this issue. What the americans think was self-sabotage we europeans felt were signs of artistic intergrity.

fbueller said:

CharismaDove said:

Warner Bros. should have been much firmer with Prince. Yeah, he was the zeitgeist of 1984 and a huge international star but being in the business much longer than he had been, shouldn't they have known just how quickly a superstar could be dethroned? Fine release ATWIAD if he really wants to, but they did a stretch by doing little promotion for it and then releasing such a terrible movie 1 year later. When Prince wanted to release Lovesexy after ALL OF THAT, they should have forced him to promote Sign 'O' the Times some more (it had freaking 16 tracks, he could promote it for another year), and later on had some input on Lovesexy (such as declining that cover and declining the 1 track idea). His worst career suicide attempt was the 1993 incident, but they had no control over that.

Warner Bros couldn't reign Prince in. Look how he reacted years later once he started being told No. Also, Prince made some good calls like doing the film (Purple Rain), When Doves Cry, Kiss being the lead single. WB execs probably kept hoping for the best.

.

Prince was a big baby

It made sense for them to listen to him at the beginning ("When Doves Cry" was a hit, like he predicted. "Purple Rain" was massive, like he predicted. "Kiss" was #1, like he predicted.) But after his experiments started failing (Lovesexy cover) and his record sales weak (anything post-Parade), I feel they should have stepped in a bit and been firmer with him. They could have saved that 1988-1989 era into something more

GottaLetitgo said:

I haven't had time to read all of the previous posts but the ones I did read took me back in time. 1988 was a weird, wonderful, transitional time for Prince. It was the apex of almost a decade of invention and reinvention. It was also the beginning of the commercial slide of Prince and kind of a rough year for fans of the pop star side. I would love to write an essay to properly capture the era, because it is still so vivid in my mind but instead I will just offer some random memories of 1988.

1. Alphabet Street was an exciting, cool sounding single that sounded like nothing else on the radio. The video was very, very cheap looking and the single was so short that it felt like it was over in a blink. My radio station played the CD version of the song and since CDs were still a relatively recent phenomenon, they would announce it as a "CD exclusive" and then you would get to hear the Cat rap and the awesome guitar riff for another 3 minutes.
2. Glam Slam, which had a cool video and a great vibe but lyrics written by an inarticulate 3rd grader, BOMBED on radio. Just BOMBED. I mean my local radio station would not touch it despite a number of bordering on stalking requests from your's truly. Maybe "flick a nipple" line was too much for radio. But weraing the blindfold in the video, just sick.
3. Prince wore pajamas pretty much the whole year. Every damn Lovesexy outfit looked like pajamas with big old words written on the sides. Only Prince, and no one else in history, could get away with wearing what he and his bandmates wore in 1988.
4. Philosophers theorized. Politicians took sides. Wars were fought with multiple casualities. Op ed columns were written. People stopped theorizing on Stonehenge and Easter Island and collectively tried to decipher the great mystery of the era. Why in the HELL was Prince bucknaked on the cover.
5. Walmart and other record stores could not display the album cover with the flower erection so I sent my Mom to buy the CD which was behind the counter of the local music store like it was porn. So it was like getting my Mom to buy porn which was disturbing.
6. My room was covered with artifacts of the times. I had the Prince with the police hat and the makeup that ceased to be makeup and was instead a third layer of skin above the dermis and epidermis. And the 12 inch singles for Alphabet St and Glam Slam were in clear wrappers with cool stickers with the title on it so I took the stickers off the clear covers and stuck them on the wall. Plus I cut out some pictures from some magazines...my room kicked freaking ass.
7. All parties involved stopped fighting about seeing Prince's pistil/pistol on the cover of the CD and all agreed on one united principle, that singletrackiing the Lovesexy CD was the stupidest thing since New Coke. Frustrated Prince fans that felt a hankering to listen to Positivity or Dance On had to listen to the Chipmunk version of Lovesexy just to get there.
8. The CD went gold and petered out. The video for I Wish U Heaven was cool but the song was not played on radio at all. The 12 inch single kicked miles of ass but only Prince fans were privy to this.
9. I missed the concert tour which I think I would have enjoyed. It would have been cool seeing the Thunderbird being driven out on stage and the basketball court and the dueling evil versus good Princes that bracketed the first and second part of the show. It sure sounded cool.
10. Everyone said Prince was done (again). George Michael was now more Prince than Prince was. If only Prince had a venue to get back to the mainstream, some kind of project that, you know everyone would go gaga about. Prince needed a hero to get his fame back. Cue 1989 and the bat signal...

[Edited 7/16/14 20:18pm]

.

.

Great answer. I also agree with "George Michael was now more Prince than Prince was". Monkey, I Want Your Sex, and some of his other hits were funkier than singles Prince had released. Still, Glam Slam and Heaven were classic tracks and it's a shame they didn't become big...

ufoclub said:

CharismaDove said:

.

.

LOL I've felt like I was the only one who noticed that! His skin color seems to change very consistently, or at least did back then.

On American Bandstand 1980 he looked light caramel, but looked darker on SNL one year later. In the 1999 and Purple Rain eras he looked like a dark person (look at him shirtless in Computer Blue or whilst performing the PR finale), he was most obviously a black man. Not even a YEAR later in Raspberry Beret, his hair was straightened, his facial hair gone and his skin was pale looking.

.

Parade he seemed dark at times but also light (Kiss video)

.

Sign O the Times he seemed to have gotten darker but not as dark as Purple Rain. 1988-1990 he seemed to just get lighter and lighter and I was really shocked while watching Graffiti Bridge...his skin was so pale and light and his features more delicate, he didn't look like Mr. Let's Go Crazy. Watch Three Chains o Gold...when he was making love to that girl he picked up in Sexy MF video he looks like he's Puerto Rican or a mix. His palest was Gold Experience (he looked paler than MJ!!!!) It was obvious he was on some white white whitey makeup and to add the fact he looked very underweight adn tiny at the time.

.

The Prince of 1984 and the Prince of 1994 were like different people.

There's some shots in Purple Rain where he looks pale as a vampire.

[img:$uid]http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21303846/sn/814137608/name/1630_8_large.jpg[/img:$uid]

•

I always thought he looked his darkest in the Alphabet St. video. It's like he vacationed in Hawaii and got some sun. Looks healthy.

[Edited 7/16/14 20:43pm]

.

Maybe the sun was what was really the cause of the constant chameleonic appearance

stillwaiting said:

kewlschool said:

Prince doesn't normally(especially back in the 80's) make traditional choices. He purposeful chooses an artistic point of view decision over a business decision (IE Prince in jeans or in Prince clothes/heels/makeup). I wouldn't be so quick to call out self-sabotage.

I personal have chosen artistic viewpoints that I know the general audiences may not get and I'm okay with that.

I don't think anyone is being "quick" on this thread. We are describing events that happend 25-30 years ago. Sure, hindsight is 20-20, but let's see:

Purple Rain 9 million sold in its chart run

AWITD 4 million

Parade 1.2 million

SOTT 600,000 (counted as 1.2 million as double albums got credit for sales of 2 units)

Lovesexy 500,000

This looks like a trend, huh? And these are estimated sales during the year of release, I'm sure Bart Van Halen has the actual figures.

Since every single album from 1985-1988 sold less and less, and he continued to follow the same practices, and same mind-numbing business decisions, I'd say it was as close to self-sabotage as can be. And it's not like he was cranking out awful music...this was some of the best music in pop history that Prince and Warners teamed up to somehow make it not sell even half of what it deserved.

And Prince not being traditional? In 1990, in an effort to sell more, he followed a severe trend, by trying to get rap in his music. Instead of getting a true rapper, he got the worst possible thing: Tony M...a shouter, not a rapper, and not a shouter in a good way, a shouter in the worst possible ways.

Allowing that hack to not only record on his albums, but actually BE IN THE BAND...started a new trend for Prince: Instead of creating trends, he started following them. Diamonds And Pearls may have sold 2 million, but 3 Top 40 hits and a #1 hit for a superstar usually translated to 4-6 million in album sales way back then. Not for Prince, and after DAP, he only had one more album with at least 2 legit Top 40 hits...the next year in 1993(CORRECTON: 1992...not 1993!!!) ...sad, that it has been that long. Yes, you could argue that Gold had 2 hits, but Beautiful Girl In The World was a hit over a year before the actual album even came out.

Some artists chase hits, some chase critical success...

Prince EASILY could have had both, but with some great help from Warners, they managed to squander everything. If he was some hack like Keith Sweat, or a singer who couldn't really write like Bobby Brown, fine. We're talking about the greatest pop musician who ever lived. People don't just write songs like Dorothy Parker and Anna Stesia by the dozens. For one man to have just the material he wrote from 1985-1988 would be incredible...but Prince and Warners blew it...big time.

[Edited 7/17/14 5:36am]

Prince had amazing record sales in the 1989-1994 era if you take into consideration that he was oversaturating the market, though. 4-6 million would be the norm for a superstar with a #1 hit whose last album was in 1988, but it's less likely to be the norm for a superstar who released a record barely a year before.

.

I'm still puzzled how Warner Bros let him be so free when Sign 'O' the Times shifted just 6K when Purple Rain shifted 9M a mere three years before lololl

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before....

Lovesexy might have been a bigger success if Prince had done these two things....

***release the dynamic title track as the second single,instead of the mediocre "Glam Slam".

***chose a 'normal' album cover (instead of a nude cover).As someone pointed out,most heterosexual males wouldn't dare buy an album with a nude man on the cover! he lost out on alot of sales

I agree with choise 2 but I never got how Glam Slam didn't hit big.... short, catchy, fun with a sing a long chorus. The title track seems a little too confusing and varied for pop radio

OldFriends4Sale said:

CharismaDove said:

.

.

If Prince made the movie in color, multiple rivoting performances by the band, less corny humor, and a deeper story, it would have been close to Purple Rain levels of fame. He lost all his mystique .. Whereas in Purple Rain he gave himself a badass troubled musician with problems (which worked lmao), UTCM gave him the look of some lame pop star trying to make a 'funny' movie.... there was ZERO indication of his skills in that movie

I agree, I actually love the black n white, but it would have been unique to release a color & black n white movie at the same time. The outfits were so colorful and interesting. When U think of the Girls & Boys scene, the Girls & Boys video where the band like bandits take over the party would have worked perfectly in the movie. Being hired to perform at Mary's party :New Position. The band performing Alexis de Paris while Prince and Kristen danced. Jill Jones & the Revolution -Mia Bocca. The piano bar solo Prince scenes were cool especially the opening An Honest Man scene. Sheila E & the Family doing a song too
.
It was a bit too much like Morris Day & Jerome in Purple Rain. If he kept the mystery, of course a little different from PR with darker humor would have worked. And yes a deeper story that someone else besides Prince wrote and directed

Morris looked pretty natural in the comedic role so it worked in Purple Rain, and Prince and his band looked natural in that dark, brooding role so it worked. He focused tooo much on trying to look funny and didn't realize most people who came to see UTCM came because of the SINGER prince, not the actor lol

paulludvig said:

I'm surprised how different american and european fans view this issue. What the americans think was self-sabotage we europeans felt were signs of artistic intergrity.

Well, no matter what the opinion, his rapid decline in album sales, and incredible lack of tour income in relation to U2, the Rolling Stones, and other acts...I see it as lost opportunity. But his live act could have been among the top grossing acts ever, but he is what he is.

You know Prince, the squanderer of opportunities. I don't blame Warners, though it's not like me to choose THAT side of any arguement. But I remember reading Prince being freaked out by the success of "Purple Rain". How he couldn't go to the movies anymore or something. I think that success influenced his creative decisions going forward. I am interested in hearing what the "proper" follow-up to PR sounds like though. I'm sure he has it in a vault (or in his head) somewhere.

stillwaiting said:

CharismaDove said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before....

Lovesexy might have been a bigger success if Prince had done these two things....

***release the dynamic title track as the second single,instead of the mediocre "Glam Slam".

***chose a 'normal' album cover (instead of a nude cover).As someone pointed out,most heterosexual males wouldn't dare buy an album with a nude man on the cover! he lost out on alot of sales

I agree with choise 2 but I never got how Glam Slam didn't hit big.... short, catchy, fun with a sing a long chorus. The title track seems a little too confusing and varied for pop radio

"Glam Slam" is a good album track,but it's a poor choice for a single.It has a dull melody and it's not really danceable.It's just a bland rock/pop song.Nothing to write home about

The title track,on the other hand,is classic Prince.It's dirty,outrageous,with a very aggressive arrangement.It's a very powerful song! And it's danceable.

CharismaDove said:

I'm still puzzled how Warner Bros let him be so free when Sign 'O' the Times shifted just 6K when Purple Rain shifted 9M a mere three years before lololl

Despite the bad things that Prince said about WB in the 90s,they gave him ALOT of freedom.He was able to do many things that so many other artists could never get away with.They were actually gonna let him release The Black Album in late 1987 (the same year that he had already released a 2-record set!).

It's not hard to figure out where Prince was in 1988.

ATWIAD was considered a letdown after PR. Parade and UTCM further damaged his reputation with the audience he had won with PR and critics were not kind. SOTT renewed his stature among the critics but was not a huge commercial splash. Then the Black Album was cancelled and we got Lovesexy instead.

He had exhausted the patience of the general public and was making arty choices -- this was fine with hardcore fans and critics, but his stuff was no longer electrifying pop culture, other people had co-opted his various classic sounds (GM and INXS were using his more minimalistic grooves, the ones that people were waiting for him to go back to). There was also Terrence Trent D'Arby, another person who went arty but couldn't afford his musical ambitions (like Lady Gaga today).

The best thing that can be said is that Prince was really demanding with his audience, insisting on following his own beat no matter what, and he did pull it off, albeit with diminishing returns. Lesser talents would have collapsed under the weight of their own lofty aspirations (TTD, Gaga...)

I guess afterward Prince thought he had learned his lesson and decided to have a more commercial outlook, but having raised artistic expectations, he had unsettled the delicate balance of innovation and commercial appeal that marked his first phase.

[Edited 7/18/14 2:34am]

CharismaDove said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

I agree, I actually love the black n white, but it would have been unique to release a color & black n white movie at the same time. The outfits were so colorful and interesting. When U think of the Girls & Boys scene, the Girls & Boys video where the band like bandits take over the party would have worked perfectly in the movie. Being hired to perform at Mary's party :New Position. The band performing Alexis de Paris while Prince and Kristen danced. Jill Jones & the Revolution -Mia Bocca. The piano bar solo Prince scenes were cool especially the opening An Honest Man scene. Sheila E & the Family doing a song too
.
It was a bit too much like Morris Day & Jerome in Purple Rain. If he kept the mystery, of course a little different from PR with darker humor would have worked. And yes a deeper story that someone else besides Prince wrote and directed

Morris looked pretty natural in the comedic role so it worked in Purple Rain, and Prince and his band looked natural in that dark, brooding role so it worked. He focused tooo much on trying to look funny and didn't realize most people who came to see UTCM came because of the SINGER prince, not the actor lol

lol this is true, Artists like Prince who are entrenched into their persona don't transition well into being an 'actor'. In truth they are the best actors when 'on stage/video'.

.

Playing the whole gigoloe thing limited what he could have done with the movie. A hippie with a band of hippie musicians/artists would have worked. The whole free love moving from woman to woman, would have still fit a particular direction he wanted to go, and would have easily made inclusion of the bands in the movie. A bunch of artists/musicians vs the upper class trying to bring Paisley Park to their world.

Aerogram said:

It's not hard to figure out where Prince was in 1988.

ATWIAD was considered a letdown after PR. Parade and UTCM further damaged his reputation with the audience he had won with PR and critics were not kind. SOTT renewed his stature among the critics but was not a huge commercial splash. Then the Black Album was cancelled and we got Lovesexy instead.

He had exhausted the patience of the general public and was making arty choices -- this was fine with hardcore fans and critics, but his stuff was no longer electrifying pop culture, other people had co-opted his various classic sounds (GM and INXS were using his more minimalistic grooves, the ones that people were waiting for him to go back to). There was also Terrence Trent D'Arby, another person who went arty but couldn't afford his musical ambitions (like Lady Gaga today).

The best thing that can be said is that Prince was really demanding with his audience, insisting on following his own beat no matter what, and he did pull it off, albeit with diminishing returns. Lesser talents would have collapsed under the weight of their own lofty aspirations (TTD, Gaga...)

I guess afterward Prince thought he had learned his lesson and decided to have a more commercial outlook, but having raised artistic expectations, he had unsettled the delicate balance of innovation and commercial appeal that marked his first phase.

[Edited 7/18/14 2:34am]

wonderful post.

Even though I was not general public by the end of Lovesexy and I saw even more changes with the band via Batman and sound, I was exhausted. I stepped back and watched from a distance and said to myself, whe Prince returns I await.

CharismaDove said:

GottaLetitgo said:

I haven't had time to read all of the previous posts but the ones I did read took me back in time. 1988 was a weird, wonderful, transitional time for Prince. It was the apex of almost a decade of invention and reinvention. It was also the beginning of the commercial slide of Prince and kind of a rough year for fans of the pop star side. I would love to write an essay to properly capture the era, because it is still so vivid in my mind but instead I will just offer some random memories of 1988.

1. Alphabet Street was an exciting, cool sounding single that sounded like nothing else on the radio. The video was very, very cheap looking and the single was so short that it felt like it was over in a blink. My radio station played the CD version of the song and since CDs were still a relatively recent phenomenon, they would announce it as a "CD exclusive" and then you would get to hear the Cat rap and the awesome guitar riff for another 3 minutes.
2. Glam Slam, which had a cool video and a great vibe but lyrics written by an inarticulate 3rd grader, BOMBED on radio. Just BOMBED. I mean my local radio station would not touch it despite a number of bordering on stalking requests from your's truly. Maybe "flick a nipple" line was too much for radio. But weraing the blindfold in the video, just sick.
3. Prince wore pajamas pretty much the whole year. Every damn Lovesexy outfit looked like pajamas with big old words written on the sides. Only Prince, and no one else in history, could get away with wearing what he and his bandmates wore in 1988.
4. Philosophers theorized. Politicians took sides. Wars were fought with multiple casualities. Op ed columns were written. People stopped theorizing on Stonehenge and Easter Island and collectively tried to decipher the great mystery of the era. Why in the HELL was Prince bucknaked on the cover.
5. Walmart and other record stores could not display the album cover with the flower erection so I sent my Mom to buy the CD which was behind the counter of the local music store like it was porn. So it was like getting my Mom to buy porn which was disturbing.
6. My room was covered with artifacts of the times. I had the Prince with the police hat and the makeup that ceased to be makeup and was instead a third layer of skin above the dermis and epidermis. And the 12 inch singles for Alphabet St and Glam Slam were in clear wrappers with cool stickers with the title on it so I took the stickers off the clear covers and stuck them on the wall. Plus I cut out some pictures from some magazines...my room kicked freaking ass.
7. All parties involved stopped fighting about seeing Prince's pistil/pistol on the cover of the CD and all agreed on one united principle, that singletrackiing the Lovesexy CD was the stupidest thing since New Coke. Frustrated Prince fans that felt a hankering to listen to Positivity or Dance On had to listen to the Chipmunk version of Lovesexy just to get there.
8. The CD went gold and petered out. The video for I Wish U Heaven was cool but the song was not played on radio at all. The 12 inch single kicked miles of ass but only Prince fans were privy to this.
9. I missed the concert tour which I think I would have enjoyed. It would have been cool seeing the Thunderbird being driven out on stage and the basketball court and the dueling evil versus good Princes that bracketed the first and second part of the show. It sure sounded cool.
10. Everyone said Prince was done (again). George Michael was now more Prince than Prince was. If only Prince had a venue to get back to the mainstream, some kind of project that, you know everyone would go gaga about. Prince needed a hero to get his fame back. Cue 1989 and the bat signal...

[Edited 7/16/14 20:18pm]

.

.

Great answer. I also agree with "George Michael was now more Prince than Prince was". Monkey, I Want Your Sex, and some of his other hits were funkier than singles Prince had released. Still, Glam Slam and Heaven were classic tracks and it's a shame they didn't become big...

I thought the same when George Michael came out with his solo album. I said 'This is Prince'

George Michael did say back then then Prince was an inspiration and he was a fan.

paulludvig said:

I'm surprised how different american and european fans view this issue. What the americans think was self-sabotage we europeans felt were signs of artistic intergrity.

according to Prince it was spiritual revival. So maybe we are all right lol

I'm thinking on some level with America we see/saw Prince as 'our artist' and this was his play ground for so long. Then he discovered Nice/Paris France and then Europe in mid 1985. Almost like he became distant.

.

No for me, being cultured and worldly and artistic, I appreciated LOVED Around the World in a Day (he should have exhibited and promoted and pushed that album tell everyone got it, because it was such a change) and Parade as well. He was rushing a lot of stuff and making a lot of wonderful music at the same time. 3 protege acts Sheila E the Family Mazarati a new movie an tons of music that just in 1985 alone could probably form 5 albums.

.

I loved everything about the Lovesexy look, I enjoyed the music.

controversy99 said:

stillwaiting said:

You made some great points, and touched on some of mine...Great Job. As far as the success with the Batman album? Kind of a double edged sword...you have to remember that it was the #1 movie of the summer, and the year. The album would have to be terrible to not sell at least 1 million, and it sold 2 million. Considering how strong the album was, 2 million sales was kind of a letdown. Prince was still reeling from Under The Cherry Moon, and all the failed singles, and the Lovesexy cover faux pas. Batdance #1, Partyman Top 20, Arms of Orion Top 40, Scandalous Top 10 R&B...again, smash hit #1 movie, and only 2 million sold? Some people bought the soundtrack because it was Prince, many people didn't buy it because it was Prince, and a lot of people on middle ground bought it simply due to the movie.

controversy99 said:

This is a great thread. I'm really enjoying reading everybody's memories and analysis of 1988. Here's mine: I turned 16 and started my junior year in high school. I had become a Prince fan a year earlier. I was at soccer camp and a bunch of kids went around chanting "Who in the house know about the quake? We do. I'm really, really." They were cool and hilarious at the same time. I bought SotT. It was awesome.

Contro99, I love posts like yours that give detail on the subject, and what you were thinking about at the time. You did a great job conveying your experiences and memories at the time....Well Done!

[Edited 7/16/14 21:02pm]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. I'm enjoying your insights, too. This whole thread makes me think we should do a series of Prince by the years threads. I'm curious to know how people experienced 1981, 1991, and 1995 in particular.

.

That would be awesome

for new fans to read what their idol was like in each of his glory years and for older fans to discuss some of their favorite years

SoulAlive said:

CharismaDove said:

I agree with choise 2 but I never got how Glam Slam didn't hit big.... short, catchy, fun with a sing a long chorus. The title track seems a little too confusing and varied for pop radio

"Glam Slam" is a good album track,but it's a poor choice for a single.It has a dull melody and it's not really danceable.It's just a bland rock/pop song.Nothing to write home about

The title track,on the other hand,is classic Prince.It's dirty,outrageous,with a very aggressive arrangement.It's a very powerful song! And it's danceable.

I see your point. When Glam Slam failed, Prince should have definitely released Lovesexy. It's funkier than the other tracks (especially Glam, which is cutesy pop) and could compete with Bobby Brown, INXS, and other "harder" artists

Aerogram said:

It's not hard to figure out where Prince was in 1988.

ATWIAD was considered a letdown after PR. Parade and UTCM further damaged his reputation with the audience he had won with PR and critics were not kind. SOTT renewed his stature among the critics but was not a huge commercial splash. Then the Black Album was cancelled and we got Lovesexy instead.

He had exhausted the patience of the general public and was making arty choices -- this was fine with hardcore fans and critics, but his stuff was no longer electrifying pop culture, other people had co-opted his various classic sounds (GM and INXS were using his more minimalistic grooves, the ones that people were waiting for him to go back to). There was also Terrence Trent D'Arby, another person who went arty but couldn't afford his musical ambitions (like Lady Gaga today).

The best thing that can be said is that Prince was really demanding with his audience, insisting on following his own beat no matter what, and he did pull it off, albeit with diminishing returns. Lesser talents would have collapsed under the weight of their own lofty aspirations (TTD, Gaga...)

I guess afterward Prince thought he had learned his lesson and decided to have a more commercial outlook, but having raised artistic expectations, he had unsettled the delicate balance of innovation and commercial appeal that marked his first phase.

[Edited 7/18/14 2:34am]

So true about the TTD and Lady Gaga. I was shocked to read she's making a jazz album now.... considering how her popularity has faded and ARTPOP did pretty poorly, I expected some sort of EDM-style album meant to bring her to the top. Jazz? Not a fan of her but I respect her staying true to herself. Prince on the other hand, couldn't seem to make up his mind super original (Lovesexy), then mainstream (Batman), then super original (Graffiti Bridge was a VERY princely concept), then mainstream (D&P).

OldFriends4Sale said:

CharismaDove said:

Morris looked pretty natural in the comedic role so it worked in Purple Rain, and Prince and his band looked natural in that dark, brooding role so it worked. He focused tooo much on trying to look funny and didn't realize most people who came to see UTCM came because of the SINGER prince, not the actor lol

lol this is true, Artists like Prince who are entrenched into their persona don't transition well into being an 'actor'. In truth they are the best actors when 'on stage/video'.

.

Playing the whole gigoloe thing limited what he could have done with the movie. A hippie with a band of hippie musicians/artists would have worked. The whole free love moving from woman to woman, would have still fit a particular direction he wanted to go, and would have easily made inclusion of the bands in the movie. A bunch of artists/musicians vs the upper class trying to bring Paisley Park to their world.

I would personally love that sort of movie but I'm not sure it would have succeeded commercially.. like the hippie concept might have faced the same critcisms ATWIAD faced, trying to bring back the sixties and could have passed over people's heads (in a way it's similar to Graffiti Bridge)

OldFriends4Sale said:

paulludvig said:

I'm surprised how different american and european fans view this issue. What the americans think was self-sabotage we europeans felt were signs of artistic intergrity.

according to Prince it was spiritual revival. So maybe we are all right lol

I'm thinking on some level with America we see/saw Prince as 'our artist' and this was his play ground for so long. Then he discovered Nice/Paris France and then Europe in mid 1985. Almost like he became distant.

.

No for me, being cultured and worldly and artistic, I appreciated LOVED Around the World in a Day (he should have exhibited and promoted and pushed that album tell everyone got it, because it was such a change) and Parade as well. He was rushing a lot of stuff and making a lot of wonderful music at the same time. 3 protege acts Sheila E the Family Mazarati a new movie an tons of music that just in 1985 alone could probably form 5 albums.

.

I loved everything about the Lovesexy look, I enjoyed the music.

If you consider how different and plain weird ATWIAD and Parade are to the average listener, how quickly the two of them were released, and Prince's image getting less "cool", America really put up with Prince a lot... the fact he had a Top 10 hit every year from 83-94 despite his failures (UTCM for example) shows that he still had some sort of appeal here

[Edited 7/19/14 14:42pm]

CharismaDove said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

according to Prince it was spiritual revival. So maybe we are all right lol

I'm thinking on some level with America we see/saw Prince as 'our artist' and this was his play ground for so long. Then he discovered Nice/Paris France and then Europe in mid 1985. Almost like he became distant.

.

No for me, being cultured and worldly and artistic, I appreciated LOVED Around the World in a Day (he should have exhibited and promoted and pushed that album tell everyone got it, because it was such a change) and Parade as well. He was rushing a lot of stuff and making a lot of wonderful music at the same time. 3 protege acts Sheila E the Family Mazarati a new movie an tons of music that just in 1985 alone could probably form 5 albums.

.

I loved everything about the Lovesexy look, I enjoyed the music.

If you consider how different and plain weird ATWIAD and Parade are to the average listener, how quickly the two of them were released, and Prince's image getting less "cool", America really put up with Prince a lot... the fact he had a Top 10 hit every year from 83-94 despite his failures (UTCM for example) shows that he still had some sort of appeal here

[Edited 7/19/14 14:42pm]

Sometimes the music has its own appeal. I can think of several artists I don't like, but they still turn out some good music every once in awhile.