However you feel about Rolling Stone, I think it is still awesome that at 56 Prince cane be voted as having the number 2 RB album - with no record play or online availability to view performances.

How it was completely shut out by the Grammy's though baffles me.

funksterr said:

Rolling Stone Magazine is voting on what the #2 R&B album of the year is? Am I the only one that thinks that is odd? If you think about it that's ACTUALLY A DISS! Prince is being pigeon-holed into their R&B category by a rock/pop magazine. Do they have a pop category for example and what ranking did they vote Prince? At this moment, to me, it sounds like the only way they could throw Prince a bone was to vote him #2, R&B, which is a level as a magazine they have no real niche in. They dissed Prince.

*

I haven't been a big fan of Rolling Stone since the mid-Nineties, but based on the actual songs on AOA, which I love (B+ rating), I can't see it being labeled as anything other than R&B. There is no song on it that rocks. And since there has never been a "Funk" category for charts--Funk songs have always been charted/identified/categorized as R&B songs, where else could AOA be placed? I agree that Prince makes "Prince" music, but the general music fan or non-Prince hardcore fan has this need to isolate or categorize music, and R&B would be the most fitting category for them.

*

Now, I'll be honest that when I hear "Pop," I think "watered down R&B created by white artists" because that is part of the history of "pop music," per se. As Little Richard stated, "R&B does not mean rhythm and blues; it means real black" because on Monday Little Richard was a "rock-n-roll" artist and then on Tuesday he was reassigned as a "R&B" artist so that Pat Boone and Elvis Presley could be sold as "rock-n-roll" artists. And this trend continued for the next thirty years. New Edition is R&B, and New Kids on the Block is pop. Of course, a few years ago there was a very interesting thread on the Org about the definition of "pop," asking is "pop" an actual musical genre that can be quantified by musical analysis, or is "pop" merely reflective of sales? Based on musical (note/chord/rhythmic) analysis AOA is what is traditionally defined as an R&B/Funk record. Now, had Prince combined PlecElec and AOA into one album, then your point/concern would be warranted, but based solely on musical structure AOA is a R&B/Funk hybrid.

*

Finally, if, however, your point is that RS has dissed Prince because RS has a history of presenting R&B as inferior to Rock-n-Roll, again, I don't read RS enough to know if that's true. I would have a sneaking suspicion that RS would view/promote Rock-n-Roll as more cerebral than R&B in the same what that the general music press has always presented Paul McCarthy and John Lennon as great songwriters, stressing their intellectual abilities, while never doing the same for Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, often stressing the "emotive" of Wonder and Robinson rather than their intellectual, but I don't have the empirical data to make that statement about RS. Nonetheless, based on the actual construct of AOA and its sales, I thinks it's a nice feather in Prince's cap to have AOA ranked as the number two R&B album of 2014 because I think that true/pure Rock-n-Roll has become a lost artform with Prince being one of the very few acts keeping it alive. Yet, while I also like PlecElec, giving it a (B) rating, just a tad lower than AOA, it suffers from Prince not singing all the leads and from "Screwdriver" and "RocknRoll Love Affair" not being included. Additionally, it's not a pure rock record either because Prince, being Prince, doesn't create pure anything records anyway.

3rdeyedude said:

Rolling Stone has been pretty far up Prince's ass for a while now. And nobody reads and/or buys it anymore.

And so do all the other mags and critics who gave it good reviews. It is a conspiracy!!!!

2funkE said:

However you feel about Rolling Stone, I think it is still awesome that at 56 Prince cane be voted as having the number 2 RB album - with no record play or online availability to view performances.

How it was completely shut out by the Grammy's though baffles me.

It is awesome and since he made the Grammy cut off date by one day. I think he may have a shot at getting nominated for something next year. It is a long shot but it could happen.

Slow year for R&B was it?

1725topp said:

funksterr said:

Rolling Stone Magazine is voting on what the #2 R&B album of the year is? Am I the only one that thinks that is odd? If you think about it that's ACTUALLY A DISS! Prince is being pigeon-holed into their R&B category by a rock/pop magazine. Do they have a pop category for example and what ranking did they vote Prince? At this moment, to me, it sounds like the only way they could throw Prince a bone was to vote him #2, R&B, which is a level as a magazine they have no real niche in. They dissed Prince.

*

I haven't been a big fan of Rolling Stone since the mid-Nineties, but based on the actual songs on AOA, which I love (B+ rating), I can't see it being labeled as anything other than R&B. There is no song on it that rocks. And since there has never been a "Funk" category for charts--Funk songs have always been charted/identified/categorized as R&B songs, where else could AOA be placed? I agree that Prince makes "Prince" music, but the general music fan or non-Prince hardcore fan has this need to isolate or categorize music, and R&B would be the most fitting category for them.

*

Now, I'll be honest that when I hear "Pop," I think "watered down R&B created by white artists" because that is part of the history of "pop music," per se. As Little Richard stated, "R&B does not mean rhythm and blues; it means real black" because on Monday Little Richard was a "rock-n-roll" artist and then on Tuesday he was reassigned as a "R&B" artist so that Pat Boone and Elvis Presley could be sold as "rock-n-roll" artists. And this trend continued for the next thirty years. New Edition is R&B, and New Kids on the Block is pop. Of course, a few years ago there was a very interesting thread on the Org about the definition of "pop," asking is "pop" an actual musical genre that can be quantified by musical analysis, or is "pop" merely reflective of sales? Based on musical (note/chord/rhythmic) analysis AOA is what is traditionally defined as an R&B/Funk record. Now, had Prince combined PlecElec and AOA into one album, then your point/concern would be warranted, but based solely on musical structure AOA is a R&B/Funk hybrid.

*

Finally, if, however, your point is that RS has dissed Prince because RS has a history of presenting R&B as inferior to Rock-n-Roll, again, I don't read RS enough to know if that's true. I would have a sneaking suspicion that RS would view/promote Rock-n-Roll as more cerebral than R&B in the same what that the general music press has always presented Paul McCarthy and John Lennon as great songwriters, stressing their intellectual abilities, while never doing the same for Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, often stressing the "emotive" of Wonder and Robinson rather than their intellectual, but I don't have the empirical data to make that statement about RS. Nonetheless, based on the actual construct of AOA and its sales, I thinks it's a nice feather in Prince's cap to have AOA ranked as the number two R&B album of 2014 because I think that true/pure Rock-n-Roll has become a lost artform with Prince being one of the very few acts keeping it alive. Yet, while I also like PlecElec, giving it a (B) rating, just a tad lower than AOA, it suffers from Prince not singing all the leads and from "Screwdriver" and "RocknRoll Love Affair" not being included. Additionally, it's not a pure rock record either because Prince, being Prince, doesn't create pure anything records anyway.

Hmmm.. Ok first... Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Ariana Grnade, Adele and Bruno Mars are MAJOR Pop acts. Musically speaking they are R&B. Much more R&B than anything on AOA. Yet they aren't precluded from enjoying "Pop" accolades.

Second.. AOA isn't an R&B album at all. I don't think even 20 percent of it is R&B. It's funk-influenced Pop at most.

Third... Many Pop acts, musically fall into associated genres. Kanye West is Pop/Rap. Taylor Swift is Pop/Country. Beyonce Pop/R&B. etc.

Fourth.. Rolling Stone isn't an R&B magazine. It's Pop/Rock. It's readership is Pop/Rock.

Fifth... If RS named Prince #2 Pop, some might disagree with their ranking but given his level of fame, it would be hard to disagree with their categorization. Prince wasn't Pop because he had no hits and that is it.

Sixth... A Pop/Rock magazine voting a Pop music icon, #2 R&B, is essentially naming him second-in-charge of the kid's table during Christmas dinner. It's a slap in the face or at least a tacit admission that while the record was unpoular and not that good, he's still Prince, so he gets something. 'Hey, he's black, right? Put him in that R&B category that we give no fucks about, his next album may be better'.