Find "Virginity" by Yvonne Gage - some fairly lame Prince rip that is about obscure as it gets from the early 80s

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.

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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.

Fair enough. And I do appreciate the explanation on the similarities between the two songs and the backstory to Prince's approaching Journey about it. I will check "Faithfully" out on Youtube and listen closely for the features you described to see if I can hear them now.

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But yes, to say the two are nearly identical" just in no way was matching the reality of what I was hearing and it struck me as quite inaccurate. But if Prince is quoted for acknowledging a resemblance between the two songs then I stand corrected.

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.

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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.

Hey Ashy. I just took a close listen to "Faithfully". I'll concede you on one point: the guitar soloing toward the end sounds like Prince may have been influenced by Journey's ballad. And lrn36 provided some more specific info on that likelihood. Though if I hadn't been looking for those specific similarities, I'm honestly not sure I'd have picked up on it. They are still two very different sounding compositions with their own unique texture, story, style of playing and overall emotional tone. To my ears at least, they both are their own song and not similar enough that I would describe them as being "nearly identical". But at least I have a better sense now of where you were coming from with your assertion. I appreciate you sharing your point of view and enlightening me about this area of influence on "Purple Rain". I always enjoy finding out more about the history and creation of P.'.s music.

TonyVanDam said:

Private -- We Got Some Breaking Up To Do

This is a GREAT find. I'm kinda loving this jam. Serious copycat act but the song has that "1999" era Prince sound from that just turns me out. I checked out Yvonne Gage and Be Bop Deluxe, which were good catches as well. Fascinating how widespread Prince's sound was in the 80's and still continues to be heard in songs today.

This 1997 track from Australian band Regurgitator.

If the song itself doesn't give it away, its title surely does. At least they were being as blatant as you could get about it though.