in addition to all this copycat stuff by bands who were never associated with Prince....you had artists like Andre Cymone,Jesse Johnson,Mazarati and others who were also doing that sound

that lyric is so terrible,lol

Adorecream said:

.

I have never confused a copycat for the real thing, the good Prince songs, are well written, have great hooks, excellent musician ship and a real deep musical feel. Nearly all of the imitators stand out for sounding too poppy/cheesy (Exotic Storm/Ebonee Webb/ RTFW/ Georgio), trying too hard (Jak/Dreamboy/Georgio) or just plain derivative and wrong (Sexual Harassment/Barkays). Plus nearly all the songs I have heard are amusing and catchy, but none suffer from particularly good or inspired songwriting and/or inspired musicianship. Nearly all have silly lyrics (Would Prince honestly write a lyric like "Bombs are falling everywhere, they better not harm your silky hair!!!)

I liked RFTW,but I think "Oh Sheila" is a poorly written song.The lyrics are lazy.

uh! baby,it's one,two,three

uh...I love you baby,honestly

Their next single,"Digital Display" was better in every way.The lyrics are creative and well-written.

Haha, I hate to say it ...but possibly. It was the 80's. I kinda feel like Prince has topped that in cringe worthy lyrics, since then.

But just like with MJ and Rockwell, audiences were easily confused by that situation, for what turned out to be good reason. I'm not saying people thought Sexual Harasment was Prince, but it wasn't unheard of for someone you knew to try and convince you that it was Prince himself, or a Prince protege. I thought Prince was way more involved with Andre's album.

Copycats didn't have the stigma they do today. It was a standard part of the music industry and there wasn't nearly the same disdain for rip off artists we have today. If you liked a certain sound, you might actively go out and look for the sound alikes too. The soul and funk genres were filled with copycats when you think about it.

[Edited 1/22/15 5:54am]

funksterr said:

My favorite blatant 80's Prince-inspired/ripoff at the moment is this one:



Though you could argue musically it's more of a ripoff of Jam and Lewis and maybe the look is Prince, idk. Whatever though, Prince is a blatant JIMI HENDRIX copycat, so I can't hate on anybody who followed in Prince's footsteps for a minute.

OMG, the beat is a decal of What Have You Done For Me Lately.
Didn't Jam & Lewis sue?

squish said:

How you guys come up with this shit is beyond me.
This is great. I mean the guy has the bed and the basketball court.
Aah, Japan.

treehouse said:

Haha, I hate to say it ...but possibly. It was the 80's. I kinda feel like Prince has topped that in cringe worthy lyrics, since then.

But just like with MJ and Rockwell, audiences were easily confused by that situation, for what turned out to be good reason. I'm not saying people thought Sexual Harasment was Prince, but it wasn't unheard of for someone you knew to try and convince you that it was Prince himself, or a Prince protege. I thought Prince was way more involved with Andre's album.

Copycats didn't have the stigma they do today. It was a standard part of the music industry and there wasn't nearly the same disdain for rip off artists we have today. If you liked a certain sound, you might actively go out and look for the sound alikes too. The soul and funk genres were filled with copycats when you think about it.

[Edited 1/22/15 5:54am]

It all starts with James Brown. Everyone is a James Brown copycat, including rock acts.

funksterr said:

treehouse said:

Haha, I hate to say it ...but possibly. It was the 80's. I kinda feel like Prince has topped that in cringe worthy lyrics, since then.

But just like with MJ and Rockwell, audiences were easily confused by that situation, for what turned out to be good reason. I'm not saying people thought Sexual Harasment was Prince, but it wasn't unheard of for someone you knew to try and convince you that it was Prince himself, or a Prince protege. I thought Prince was way more involved with Andre's album.

Copycats didn't have the stigma they do today. It was a standard part of the music industry and there wasn't nearly the same disdain for rip off artists we have today. If you liked a certain sound, you might actively go out and look for the sound alikes too. The soul and funk genres were filled with copycats when you think about it.

[Edited 1/22/15 5:54am]

It all starts with James Brown. Everyone is a James Brown copycat, including rock acts.

There are biters in every genre of music and throughout history. THere are stories of plagiarism going back to the days of Mozart. But there is a difference between being influenced and being a ripoff artist - and I would say the line between the two is not even that fine for the more discerning music connoisseurs.

Retrospect tends to determine which side of that line an artist falls on. It is not hard to distinguish those who were influenced by Prince from those who were merely trying to take a bite of the purple pie.

JoshuaWho said:

funksterr said:

It all starts with James Brown. Everyone is a James Brown copycat, including rock acts.

There are biters in every genre of music and throughout history. THere are stories of plagiarism going back to the days of Mozart. But there is a difference between being influenced and being a ripoff artist - and I would say the line between the two is not even that fine for the more discerning music connoisseurs.

Retrospect tends to determine which side of that line an artist falls on. It is not hard to distinguish those who were influenced by Prince from those who were merely trying to take a bite of the purple pie.

Well, to that point I'd still say we're talking about a long tradition in the music industry. We're not talking about influences, we're talking about people deliberately inspired by the success of an artist to copy the formula.

JoshuaWho said:

funksterr said:

It all starts with James Brown. Everyone is a James Brown copycat, including rock acts.

There are biters in every genre of music and throughout history. THere are stories of plagiarism going back to the days of Mozart. But there is a difference between being influenced and being a ripoff artist - and I would say the line between the two is not even that fine for the more discerning music connoisseurs.

Retrospect tends to determine which side of that line an artist falls on. It is not hard to distinguish those who were influenced by Prince from those who were merely trying to take a bite of the purple pie.

I hear 'ya. Imagine if Prince copycat records spawed an entire new genre, or two, and that's how James Brown copycat records formed Funk and Soul. Not JB influenced records. Copycat records. That's how influential JB is.

For a time, Prince-copycats threatened to spawn a genre unto themselves potentially, if not for a series of mis-steps that led to a decline in popularity of Prince himself. I have a lot of love for the acts that copied Prince. Even though some may sound like they were trying to copy Prince, given that the Prince sound was state of the art at that point, I'd bet many were just kids expressing themselves through what they percieved as plain music. Not necessarily gunning for a Prince sound or anything malicious.

Your place or mine by the Barclays... OMG

just crazy...thing is it came out in 1984 right around when Prince was emerging with that sound

justg nuts

To be a rip-ff I think the artist needs to be blatantly imitating, an artist can be "influenced by" and still put their own artistsic spin on something, for example Prince created his own style from a mix of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, etc, whereas a rip-off basically just tries to imitate one thing and brings nothing to the mix or personal in terms of artistic quality. For example in this thread: that japanese guy Yasuyuki Okamura is a rip-off, but the B-52's are not.

breakbeat said:

To be a rip-ff I think the artist needs to be blatantly imitating, an artist can be "influenced by" and still put their own artistsic spin on something, for example Prince created his own style from a mix of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, etc, whereas a rip-off basically just tries to imitate one thing and brings nothing to the mix or personal in terms of artistic quality. For example in this thread: that japanese guy Yasuyuki Okamura is a rip-off, but the B-52's are not.

Totally agree. Artists like the B52's and even the Barkays had careers before and after Prince, and their only crime is being opportunistic by jumping on the Minneapolis Sound/ Prince fad for another hit or uptick in theirfame.

.

Let's save the venom for these acts that were totally milking the Prince name that were solely their reason for their fame (Or alleged fame)

.

EXOTIC STORM

GEORGIO

JAK

SEXUAL HARRASMENT

SAM BOSTIC

These five had no career before and after Prince, but during Prince, all were low quality Prince rip offs, that added nothing to Prince's musical legacy and their pathetic impact on the musical world was totally based on the career of a truly talented artist. At best they were amusing, at worse they were musical parasites piggybacking on the fame of a truly original and talented artist.

You're right. It is probably unfair to include established acts like the B52's. Even the guy I posted Aly James who does some of the best Prince inspired funk I've heard, only does it as demos for his VST software so he shoudn't be included either.

But with such restrictions on who is a rip off artist, you're really limiting it to a handful of artists. Looking back, there weren't that many guys who were bold and stupid enough to try and rip off Prince's look and sound wholesale.

Adorecream said:

breakbeat said:

To be a rip-ff I think the artist needs to be blatantly imitating, an artist can be "influenced by" and still put their own artistsic spin on something, for example Prince created his own style from a mix of James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, etc, whereas a rip-off basically just tries to imitate one thing and brings nothing to the mix or personal in terms of artistic quality. For example in this thread: that japanese guy Yasuyuki Okamura is a rip-off, but the B-52's are not.

Totally agree. Artists like the B52's and even the Barkays had careers before and after Prince, and their only crime is being opportunistic by jumping on the Minneapolis Sound/ Prince fad for another hit or uptick in theirfame.

.

Let's save the venom for these acts that were totally milking the Prince name that were solely their reason for their fame (Or alleged fame)

.

EXOTIC STORM

GEORGIO

JAK

SEXUAL HARRASMENT

SAM BOSTIC

These five had no career before and after Prince, but during Prince, all were low quality Prince rip offs, that added nothing to Prince's musical legacy and their pathetic impact on the musical world was totally based on the career of a truly talented artist. At best they were amusing, at worse they were musical parasites piggybacking on the fame of a truly original and talented artist.

[Edited 1/23/15 14:55pm]

Anyone new to Prince.org that would like to hear what a potential sequel to Purple Rain (the movie AND album) might have sound like, check out Teena Marie's Emerald City album.

[Edited 1/23/15 14:30pm]

And of those 5, the worst rip off of all time to me, has to be EXOTIC STORM.

They stole their look, their sound, song titles, and band off Prince, how.

.

1. Look - Clothes on the cover are purely Minneapolis cut fashions c.1984/85, Hairdos resemble Prince and members of the Revolution, Family, Sheila E's group and the time. Members wearing makeup. Plus the columns set is totally mid 80s Prince, Dezzraye's dress his pose and demeanour are all Prince.

2. Sound - Heavy keyboard presence, drum patterns, guitar solos and a solo a la Eddie M/Eric Leeds. Even Dezzraye does a bad Aowowww! in I know you have a Krush on me. All the songs like bad knock offs of Prince or Prince penned projects of the early/mid 1980s.

3. Song titles - I've got to be your lover, sounds like I wanna be your lover and they borrow similar lyrical content, except not as sexual and Princebonics are missing too. Still with lines like "I know you like what you see, I know you got a crush on me, I'll work you all night long" sound like cringe worthy Prince lines to me.

4. The band, like the Revolution, NPG, Time, Family, Sheila E's group and Prince's 1978 -1981 band, there is a mix of Black and White and Male and Female. The white sax player is possibly Jewish like Eric Leeds and Matt Blistan and one of the girls is definitely white, the other looks mixed race or possibly white as well. There are several cool looking black men playing guitars etc. The drummer with Barbara Bush's pearls looks slightly effeminate and the lead singer is a effeminate acting, but totally heterosexual black man like Prince.

.

To me that screams rip off.

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2nd Place, Jak stole the sound, look, lyrics and sexuality of Prince but he does not beat Exotic Storm as he had less talent than them.

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3rd Place, Georgio, yes similar songs and a Prince sized ego, but he did more to rip off Michael Jackson and even Terence Trent D'Arby with his hair and sound.

.

Highly Commended, Sam Bostic and Sexual Harassment.

Dig up a group called Network from the 80s. Nice 80s funk with some Prince elements

Anyone here know "Flash" by Tease? THe album isnt half bad for Prince ripoff

Private -- We Got Some Breaking Up To Do

TonyVanDam said:

Private -- We Got Some Breaking Up To Do

Holy crap, put Taylor Swift on the phone, I've got her next hit.

Yggor said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Sussudio" by Phil Collins...

But if you go there you have to account for "Purple Rain" sounding nearly identical to Journey's "Faithfully".

Adorecream said:

Just watched Georgio, that was dreadful, a Jill Jones lookalike crawling, girls in fishnet, sex in a car, Lovesexy like hairdos. It's not even a good Prince rip off, its a bad Tony Le Mans Ripoff, yet apparently its 1987 making it pre Lovesexy and pre Tony Le Mans.

.

Still that song - Sex appeal or something was dreadful, yuk!!!!!! And it was Motown, a company that by 1987 was totally bereft of any ideas, although the end part of him using that chicks back as a keytar is pretty funny though

.

http://youtu.be/p8I58EtRMNk

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Slightly Bobby Brown vocals and Janet Jackson beats too.I think they sampled the girl moans for Me So Horny as well and I am sure this guy must be on the downlow, cause he is pretty gay acting.

.

Apparently half Italian, this article mentions some more about Georgio Allentini

http://www.radiofacts.com/one-hit-wonders-week-georgio-allentini-sex-appeal/

A funny article which uses the line "Deeeee ropped his ass"

.

Also too he was apparently nearly signed to Paisley Park and Prince and Brownmark had almost overwrote his album. However Georgio had a mammoth ego which stopped things from going forward.

[Edited 1/16/15 16:11pm]

He's a wannabe Italian, just a black guy named George Valentine, hell he didn't even bother to check that you spell the NAME Giorgio. Thatwas his gimmick like Prince's obsession with all things French, like that fake-ass Creole-wannabe Beyonce.

ashynevermind said:

Adorecream said:

Just watched Georgio, that was dreadful, a Jill Jones lookalike crawling, girls in fishnet, sex in a car, Lovesexy like hairdos. It's not even a good Prince rip off, its a bad Tony Le Mans Ripoff, yet apparently its 1987 making it pre Lovesexy and pre Tony Le Mans.

.

Still that song - Sex appeal or something was dreadful, yuk!!!!!! And it was Motown, a company that by 1987 was totally bereft of any ideas, although the end part of him using that chicks back as a keytar is pretty funny though

.

http://youtu.be/p8I58EtRMNk

.

Slightly Bobby Brown vocals and Janet Jackson beats too.I think they sampled the girl moans for Me So Horny as well and I am sure this guy must be on the downlow, cause he is pretty gay acting.

.

Apparently half Italian, this article mentions some more about Georgio Allentini

http://www.radiofacts.com/one-hit-wonders-week-georgio-allentini-sex-appeal/

A funny article which uses the line "Deeeee ropped his ass"

.

Also too he was apparently nearly signed to Paisley Park and Prince and Brownmark had almost overwrote his album. However Georgio had a mammoth ego which stopped things from going forward.

[Edited 1/16/15 16:11pm]

He's a wannabe Italian, just a black guy named George Valentine, hell he didn't even bother to check that you spell the NAME Giorgio. Thatwas his gimmick like Prince's obsession with all things French, like that fake-ass Creole-wannabe Beyonce.

I read his real name is actually George Allen born Jan 1966 in San Francisco to George Allan Senior a Navy officer and Maria his mother a kitchen assistant, which leads me to suggest that she ismore likely actually Hispanic.

.

I hear what you are saying, Tina Turner traded for years on the fact she was more Cherokee than black, when DNA tests revealed she was 89% black and 11 white, no Indian blood was found. Same with all these other Balck looking people who will claim any race except Black. There is a lot ofinternalised self hatred.

.

I looked at Prince's family tree today and found his fathers name was John Lewis Nelson born in 1916 and his father was called Clarence Nelson who was the pale skin half white son of Edward Nelson a Civil war veteran and his slave wife Emma. John's mother was Carrie Inkner who was black the duaghter of Handy Jenkins. she died in Minneapolis in 1933 and was born in 1883.

.

Mattie Shaw's ancestry is even whiter, the daughter of Lucille Shaw born in 1899, who was the wife of Frank Shaw born 1893. Frank's parents were Sam w Bonnell and Emma S. Sam was also very light and the son of a white man called James W Thomas Bunnell bborn 1828 and a Black or Mulatto slave called Emma. James ancestry goes back at least to Nathaniel Bunnell born in 1733. So unlike the others, Prince's father was at least ¼ white and his mother as much as ½white as bothe her parents were likely Mulattos.

ashynevermind said:

Yggor said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned "Sussudio" by Phil Collins...

But if you go there you have to account for "Purple Rain" sounding nearly identical to Journey's "Faithfully".

"Sounding nearly identical" is a ridiculous exaggeration on the resemblances between those two pieces of music.

bonatoc said:

squish said:

How you guys come up with this shit is beyond me.
This is great. I mean the guy has the bed and the basketball court.
Aah, Japan.

[Edited 1/25/15 5:53am]

[Edited 1/25/15 5:54am]

Two songs by 1980s R&B girl group (sisters I think) Sweet Obsession should be accounted for:

.

"Being In Love Ain't Easy" contains a few undeniable musical parallels to "The Beautiful Ones".

.

"I Am A Girl (The Lonely One)" is the other one I would include here but I'm having a hard time trying to find the video online. If anyone can locate it, please reply with a link.

.

I love both songs to this day. For me the first song really captures that rare intensity of emotion I find so emblematic of Prince's songwriting. Their sound is more Prince-influenced than a straight copycat act.

novabrkr said:

ashynevermind said:

But if you go there you have to account for "Purple Rain" sounding nearly identical to Journey's "Faithfully".

"Sounding nearly identical" is a ridiculous exaggeration on the resemblances between those two pieces of music.

Yeah, I had the exact same reaction to that statement as novabrkr. I don't see how on earth that is an accurate or fair comparison. "Sussudio" has a noticeably similar synth line to that of "1999", and maybe the drums are a bit similar in sound. On the other hand, I have never noticed anything even remotely similar between Journey's "Faithfully" and "Purple Rain", and I heard "Faithfully" more times than I can count due to the extremely heavy radio rotation back in the 80's. I'm not hearing any similarities in terms of sound, melodies, music, lyrics or vocal delivery.

.

Ashy, can you describe what your hearing? I'm curious what the basis is for your statement. I don't hear any kind of resemblence whatsoever between the two pieces. If "Faithfully" was an influence on PR, seems to me it is negligible at best--nonexistent as far as I can tell. To say these two pieces are "nearly identical" comes off as massive hyperbole. I'll hear you out but it'll take some work to convince me.

Roxette: She Got The Look
https://www.youtube.com/w...YXczDB8VrY

Lets also not forget some of the utter crap that Prince thankfully didnt put out in the 80's that we have heard as outtakes. Even Prince was not immune to immitating Prince unsuccesfully.

Bluu said:

novabrkr said:

"Sounding nearly identical" is a ridiculous exaggeration on the resemblances between those two pieces of music.

Yeah, I had the exact same reaction to that statement as novabrkr. I don't see how on earth that is an accurate or fair comparison. "Sussudio" has a noticeably similar synth line to that of "1999", and maybe the drums are a bit similar in sound. On the other hand, I have never noticed anything even remotely similar between Journey's "Faithfully" and "Purple Rain", and I heard "Faithfully" more times than I can count due to the extremely heavy radio rotation back in the 80's. I'm not hearing any similarities in terms of sound, melodies, music, lyrics or vocal delivery.

.

Ashy, can you describe what your hearing? I'm curious what the basis is for your statement. I don't hear any kind of resemblence whatsoever between the two pieces. If "Faithfully" was an influence on PR, seems to me it is negligible at best--nonexistent as far as I can tell. To say these two pieces are "nearly identical" comes off as massive hyperbole. I'll hear you out but it'll take some work to convince me.

Well, to be fair, Prince himself heard similarities there. He apparently even asked the guys in Journey if they thought"Purple Rain" was too close to their song before releasing it. I think the similarities are there obvious in the intro of Journey's song and the way Prince himself tends to play the chord progression of "Purple Rain" on the piano (like he did in the movie). There are also the "wo-oh-ooh"s and the guitar solo towards the end that have a similar vibe.

My problem here is that people use expressions like "nearly identical" when the similarities aren't of that level at all. You could find two apples that are "nearly identical", or you could use that expression when comparing fonts that look a lot like, things like that. But these are two different songs altogether, with different song structures, completely different melodies and so on.

Just because there are some similarites between two different things it doesn't mean that they are "the same". It's a very misleading argumentation manner and people should not use it.

"To be identical" means that a=a.

novabrkr said:

Bluu said:

Yeah, I had the exact same reaction to that statement as novabrkr. I don't see how on earth that is an accurate or fair comparison. "Sussudio" has a noticeably similar synth line to that of "1999", and maybe the drums are a bit similar in sound. On the other hand, I have never noticed anything even remotely similar between Journey's "Faithfully" and "Purple Rain", and I heard "Faithfully" more times than I can count due to the extremely heavy radio rotation back in the 80's. I'm not hearing any similarities in terms of sound, melodies, music, lyrics or vocal delivery.

.

Ashy, can you describe what your hearing? I'm curious what the basis is for your statement. I don't hear any kind of resemblence whatsoever between the two pieces. If "Faithfully" was an influence on PR, seems to me it is negligible at best--nonexistent as far as I can tell. To say these two pieces are "nearly identical" comes off as massive hyperbole. I'll hear you out but it'll take some work to convince me.

Well, to be fair, Prince himself heard similarities there. He apparently even asked the guys in Journey if they thought"Purple Rain" was too close to their song before releasing it. I think the similarities are there obvious in the intro of Journey's song and the way Prince himself tends to play the chord progression of "Purple Rain" on the piano (like he did in the movie). There are also the "wo-oh-ooh"s and the guitar solo towards the end that have a similar vibe.

My problem here is that people use expressions like "nearly identical" when the similarities aren't of that level at all. You could find two apples that are "nearly identical", or you could use that expression when comparing fonts that look a lot like, things like that. But these are two different songs altogether, with different song structures, completely different melodies and so on.

Just because there are some similarites between two different things it doesn't mean that they are "the same". It's a very misleading argumentation manner and people should not use it.

"To be identical" means that a=a.

I also think Bebop Deluxe's Crying to the Sky was an influence for Purple Rain especially the guitar solo. There are also references to rain.