He already did write it, 33 years ago. Pull out Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, and the Time's first 2 albums, crank up authentic Uptown funk!

Mandingo said:

Prince could write 'uptown funk'by Bruno Mars in the space of a toilet dump session n record it in one take. P could be releasing albums of hits instead he releases bullshit. Embarrassing Its like Miley getting rich off twerking like she invented it and Beyonce not coming back with a killer song n moves. P.. sup? [Edited 1/31/15 6:24am]

imo AOA and Plectrum speak for themselves. neither miley's ass nor beyonce's bootay compare to real music.

Nah, I agree with OP. For some reason Prince trends closed up and negative while writing these days. He could easily make fun hits again, if he wanted to. But that's the biggest difference between Prince and Brunu Mars and a lot of pop acts: Prince's mood and personality go into everything he does. He can't write simple happy pop music anymore, because he doesn't really feel that way. He mad. And the music reflects that even when he isn't consciously trying to let it show.

It's not the kind of music he makes, it's the fact that he incorporates things like "hashtag" and "wall of berlin" into his lyrics. He's either catering to 14 year olds or making 20 year-old references.

Case in point. Putting Chappelle on cover of single like 9 years after the skit.

Prince as been too much about teaching things ever since his conversion to JW instead of focusing on making FUN jams. Uptown Funk is a fun song. I don't hate Gold Stardard but hearing a song with lyrics about what music should sound like and how people should behave isn't really fun.

[Edited 1/31/15 12:18pm]

funksterr said:

Nah, I agree with OP. For some reason Prince trends closed up and negative while writing these days. He could easily make fun hits again, if he wanted to. But that's the biggest difference between Prince and Brunu Mars and a lot of pop acts: Prince's mood and personality go into everything he does. He can't write simple happy pop music anymore, because he doesn't really feel that way. He mad. And the music reflects that even when he isn't consciously trying to let it show.

Fully agree. To me AOA is JOYLESS. It's production is amatuerish. I'm being objective here. For people to be perplexed as to why it isn't selling or wondering why radio isn't playing AOA are not being impartial. It really is that bad. Any music critic that gave it good marks has no bussiness being a music critic. Sure, USA Today and Vibe are not known for anything other kissing ass and we can ignore those critics off hand, but all the others who gave it high marks are either deaf or paid off.

Can anyone really listen to any of it and think, " if someone heard this on the radio, people would be blown away!"
There is nothing on the radio half as bad/mediocre/badly produced/out of touch/ boring as anything on AOA.

And even if he can't write something happy anymore, i would love for him to channel whatever he is feeling into something passionate, blues, whatever instead of pandering the Walmart Great Value brand of music. Nobody runs to Walmart to purchace any Great Value brand product. They settle for it.

[Edited 1/31/15 11:40am]

Bruno Mars is very popular right now with the his image and mannerisms. That's part of the pop battle.

ufoclub said:

Bruno Mars is very popular right now with the his image and mannerisms. That's part of the pop battle.

It's about the music. It's always about the music. People are making excuses. Bruno Mars today is making far better music than Prince. And far better produced that's for damn sure.

I completely disagree with the sentiment of this thread. AOA is a very good concept album that find Prince in very good spirits. One can easily tell he took his time putting together the trax for this cd and he seems supremely confident and at ease. So much so that he makes himself very vunerable with songs like time and way back home. So I find the idea that AOA is joyless to be just plain silly. If you feel that way you wouldn't know joy if it slapped you upside yo head! As far as comparing bruno mars to prince, again simply pointless. They are at very different points in their career. Prince in his 20's and 30's was the darling of the radio and played plenty of catchy stuff. He has matured and went on to bigger and better and deeper things. BTW the bigger and better and deeper things were defined by Prince, no one else. He lost interest in the radio charts. Sure would he like to top them again? I am sure they would be a bonus. But his music became very intro-spective and infact he developed a complete disdain for the music industry at large. We all know that. His music became experimental and he pushed himself in directions that were largely for himself not for the masses. People here are always talking about his ever diminishing fan base. Prince knows exactly what to do if he wanted mass appeal. He has had it and doesn't feel the need to chase it any longer. He is well respected in the musical community by both critics and muscians alike and is an icon in the entertainment world at large. What I am trying to say is that good for bruno mars. I am glad he is having fun and making good music. But don't get it twisted. Prince is doing Prince. He is firmly in control of his success or what others here call a lack of success. Should he be ashamed of himself? Absoutely not. If he read your post he would get one of those smirks on his face that says "fool, you don't even know what your talking about. But thats cool. Think what you want" Let Prince be Prince and just listen to the music he makes. I am sure he is not done with surprises.

vinaysfunk said:

I completely disagree with the sentiment of this thread. AOA is a very good concept album that find Prince in very good spirits. One can easily tell he took his time putting together the trax for this cd and he seems supremely confident and at ease. So much so that he makes himself very vunerable with songs like time and way back home. So I find the idea that AOA is joyless to be just plain silly. If you feel that way you wouldn't know joy if it slapped you upside yo head! As far as comparing bruno mars to prince, again simply pointless. They are at very different points in their career. Prince in his 20's and 30's was the darling of the radio and played plenty of catchy stuff. He has matured and went on to bigger and better and deeper things. BTW the bigger and better and deeper things were defined by Prince, no one else. He lost interest in the radio charts. Sure would he like to top them again? I am sure they would be a bonus. But his music became very intro-spective and infact he developed a complete disdain for the music industry at large. We all know that. His music became experimental and he pushed himself in directions that were largely for himself not for the masses. People here are always talking about his ever diminishing fan base. Prince knows exactly what to do if he wanted mass appeal. He has had it and doesn't feel the need to chase it any longer. He is well respected in the musical community by both critics and muscians alike and is an icon in the entertainment world at large. What I am trying to say is that good for bruno mars. I am glad he is having fun and making good music. But don't get it twisted. Prince is doing Prince. He is firmly in control of his success or what others here call a lack of success. Should he be ashamed of himself? Absoutely not. If he read your post he would get one of those smirks on his face that says "fool, you don't even know what your talking about. But thats cool. Think what you want" Let Prince be Prince and just listen to the music he makes. I am sure he is not done with surprises.

Nah... Though I wish what you were saying was true. That's like a Prince fan wetdream. But he isn't paying to have his songs placed into tv shows and radio, because he doesn't want hits. He didn't sell out musically with an outside producer so he can be content with mediocre to non-existent sales. He didn't release 5 singles last year hoping they go nowhere. He didn't quit promoting AOA because he was just so darn content with all those bought and paid for music critic reviews. Respect of one's peers does not pay ones' bills. He isn't just experimenting with sounds not caring if they sell or not, as long as he is happy. Maybe for a time Prince played that game, but not this go around. He would cream his pants to have Uptown Funk success with anything on AOA.

V10LETBLUES said:

funksterr said:

Nah, I agree with OP. For some reason Prince trends closed up and negative while writing these days. He could easily make fun hits again, if he wanted to. But that's the biggest difference between Prince and Brunu Mars and a lot of pop acts: Prince's mood and personality go into everything he does. He can't write simple happy pop music anymore, because he doesn't really feel that way. He mad. And the music reflects that even when he isn't consciously trying to let it show.

Fully agree. To me AOA is JOYLESS. It's production is amatuerish. I'm being objective here. For people to be perplexed as to why it isn't selling or wondering why radio isn't playing AOA are not being impartial. It really is that bad. Any music critic that gave it good marks has no bussiness being a music critic. Sure, USA Today and Vibe are not known for anything other kissing ass and we can ignore those critics off hand, but all the others who gave it high marks are either deaf or paid off.

Can anyone really listen to any of it and think, " if someone heard this on the radio, people would be blown away!"
There is nothing on the radio half as bad/mediocre/badly produced/out of touch/ boring as anything on AOA.

And even if he can't write something happy anymore, i would love for him to channel whatever he is feeling into something passionate, blues, whatever instead of pandering the Walmart Great Value brand of music. Nobody runs to Walmart to purchace any Great Value brand product. They settle for it.

[Edited 1/31/15 11:40am]

The are no such thing as objective opinions. It aint that serious. Prince's latest album is selling comparable to newer artists whose music share many attributes of Prince's earlier triumphs. Music is not sports. Prince is not in a contest against Bruno Mars or any other artist for that matter.

If Prince put out uptown funk no one would pay attention to it. It's not that people think the song is good i'ts about who's singing it and Bruno Mars is the hot artist right now. If Bruno Mars put out AOA with his vocals instead of Prince it would have been album of the year. Nowindays people don't buy music because it's good they buy music that is the latest fashion and hot artist at the time.

dbpdexter said:

V10LETBLUES said:

dbpdexter said:

If Prince put out uptown funk no one would pay attention to it. It's not that people think the song is good i'ts about who's singing it and Bruno Mars is the hot artist right now. If Bruno Mars put out AOA with his vocals instead of Prince it would have been album of the year. Nowindays people don't buy music because it's good they buy music that is the latest fashion and hot artist at the time.

Nonsense

There are other things that determine whether a song becomes a hit: career trajectories, popularity of that artist with people who buy new music on an on-going basis, branding and age. There are many talented artists who have songs that are great but they don't always catch on with the general public.

V10LETBLUES said:

ufoclub said:

Bruno Mars is very popular right now with the his image and mannerisms. That's part of the pop battle.

It's about the music. It's always about the music. People are making excuses. Bruno Mars today is making far better music than Prince. And far better produced that's for damn sure.

That is completely false. Even Prince capitalized on image and mannerisms that really were in line with tastes in the early 80's, at least up through Purple Rain. Even Michael Jackson suffered when his image stopped aligning with pop. It has NEVER only been the music in terms of teen and 20something tastes.

And...I don't think the music on "Uptown Funk" is anything too remarkable to my ears. If I imagine this exact song on a Prince album with his or Morris Days vocals, I wouldn't think it was remarkable. In fact I'd be a bit disappointed if Prince had put it out. It would be like family friendly retread for him.

I prefer Prince putting out stuff that sounds new to his catalog, or at least new to my ears.

If Prince released Uptown Funk would I be happy?

No, it's shit!

If Bruno Mars ever releases anything as good as Purple Rain, Parade, Sign O The Times, or Lovesexy, elt me know, but expecting Prince to dumb down to Bruno Mars level ain't going t impress me.

ufoclub said:

bashraka said:

V10LETBLUES said:

V10LETBLUES said:

ufoclub said:

Bruno Mars is very popular right now with the his image and mannerisms. That's part of the pop battle.

It's about the music. It's always about the music. People are making excuses. Bruno Mars today is making far better music than Prince. And far better produced that's for damn sure.

Sorry but thats not how the music industry works. it doesnt matter all that much if its good or its crap, you get played on the radio in part due to who you are and what the industry, your label and management do to keep you in the limelight.

As for songs like Uptown Funk, Prince knows very well if he wanted to have four people write a song and three people producing something that sounded like something he's already written and performed by himself dozens of times its not going to get played on the radio most likely, regardless, because he doesn't give his label any incentives to really do any work on his behalf.

V10LETBLUES said:

bashraka said:

There are other things that determine whether a song becomes a hit: career trajectories, popularity of that artist with people who buy new music on an on-going basis, branding and age. There are many talented artists who have songs that are great but they don't always catch on with the general public.

I listen to a small college radio station in Santa Monica, kcrw, that plays a lot of new independent music. This time last year I was driving and they played a track by an unknown artist that blew me away. I went online to the radio stations website where the post their playlist to find out who it was. I told all of my friends about it and even posted about the track here on music non-Prince thread. THAT'S how a song becomes a hit today. Passion from the listener. The track was Take Me To Church, a track that became a hit later in the year and was played ad nauseam. It was the music, not name recognition that made it a hit. The work itself. Same thing happened with High Ball Stepper by jack White and everything from Sam Smith and Beyoncé. Even artists I don't particularly like Taylor Swift's Shake it Off caused me to post about it and tell friends about it on first listen. To me it doesn't matter who the artist is, whether I like the artist or not, it's the music. And looking at sales, it looks like millions of people agree with me. [Edited 1/31/15 18:31pm]

The music industry is a business, you will be pushed on the radio if it will make money for the stations and the labels. Labels put a lot of money and manpower behind promotion of artists they think will be the next big thing to line their pockets. In a Clear Channel dominated world it has zero to do with what you liked on your local college radio station..

Prince = 56 years old

Bruno Mars = 29 years old

He is never going to have another big hit in today's world. I am perfectly fine with that, I just wish he would stop tyring and make more songs like way back home and Time and leave Funknroll out of it.

V10LETBLUES said:

lezama said:

V10LETBLUES said:

It's about the music. It's always about the music. People are making excuses. Bruno Mars today is making far better music than Prince. And far better produced that's for damn sure.

Sorry but thats not how the music industry works. it doesnt matter all that much if its good or its crap, you get played on the radio in part due to who you are and what the industry, your label and management do to keep you in the limelight.

.

Let's see:

.

A little less than two years ago, Andrew Hozier-Byrne sat down at the piano in his parents' home near Dublin to work on a song called "Take Me to Church." Hozier-Byrne was a struggling musician, often seen at open mics around town. In front of him was a notebook full of lyrics, some of which expressed his frustration with organized religion — and particularly the Catholic Church's history of mistreating gays and covering up child sexual abuse. "I was just fumbling around and I came upon the idea for a chorus," says the singer-songwriter, 24, who performs as Hozier. "Then I went up into the attic and made a little demo."

[...]

A soaring ballad that mashes together blues, gospel, folk and soul, "Take Me to Church" sounds like little else on Top 40 radio in 2015.

[...]

His rough attic demo got the attention of the indie label Rubywords, who teamed him up with producer Rob Kirwan, best known for working on U2's Zooropa, Pop and All That You Can't Leave Behind.

Kirwan heard tremendous potential in the crude demos. "He's got so much soul in his voice and he's only a youngster," he says. "He's a bit like Adele where his voice belies his age." They spent a few weeks replacing the programmed music with live instrumentation, though the original vocals on "Take Me to Church" were so powerful he dared not touch them.

[...]

To promote the song, Rubyworks hired the tiny Irish production company Feel Good Lost to create a "Take Me to Church" video. Working with a shoestring budget, they created a stark, black-and-white clip about a homosexual man who gets brutally beaten by a gang of thugs while his lover looks on helplessly. It gets right to the central message of the song.

[...]

The "Take Me to Church" video went viral after its September 2013 release (it's now up to 86 million YouTube views). "I remember someone texting me to say it was getting 10,000 views an hour," says Hozier. "I went home that night and watched the views rise hour by hour. It was just crazy."

[...]

The song first popped up on an Adult Album Alternative radio station in Nashville. "Just from that it was the most Shazam'd song in Nashville," says Eshak. "It's very unusual for that to happen just off Triple A radio. Shazam usually follows the Top 40. A programmer at the Top 40 station in Nashville saw that reaction, listened to the song and decided to take a chance."

It became an enormous hit in Nashville, quickly spreading all over America throughout the summer and fall of 2014.

.

Looks to me like the guy made a song that resonated with people, and the music industry had to play catch-up.

.

Note that Hozier's song is about something, and not just a whiney complaint about how all current music sounds the same and how he is soooo much better than everybody else.

V10LETBLUES said:

funksterr said:

Nah, I agree with OP. For some reason Prince trends closed up and negative while writing these days. He could easily make fun hits again, if he wanted to. But that's the biggest difference between Prince and Brunu Mars and a lot of pop acts: Prince's mood and personality go into everything he does. He can't write simple happy pop music anymore, because he doesn't really feel that way. He mad. And the music reflects that even when he isn't consciously trying to let it show.

Fully agree. To me AOA is JOYLESS. It's production is amatuerish. I'm being objective here. For people to be perplexed as to why it isn't selling or wondering why radio isn't playing AOA are not being impartial. It really is that bad. Any music critic that gave it good marks has no bussiness being a music critic. Sure, USA Today and Vibe are not known for anything other kissing ass and we can ignore those critics off hand, but all the others who gave it high marks are either deaf or paid off.

Can anyone really listen to any of it and think, " if someone heard this on the radio, people would be blown away!"
There is nothing on the radio half as bad/mediocre/badly produced/out of touch/ boring as anything on AOA.

And even if he can't write something happy anymore, i would love for him to channel whatever he is feeling into something passionate, blues, whatever instead of pandering the Walmart Great Value brand of music. Nobody runs to Walmart to purchace any Great Value brand product. They settle for it.

[Edited 1/31/15 11:40am]

I felt the album really not out of touch per se...it was about Princes where he IS, alienation from where everything is today, it's about his loneliness...the production speaks to the shallow place our culture is in....i found it to be honest.....happy - peppy no, but it was about his feeling the distance from everyone else....so in that respect he was just honest about where he is, and isnt that what we want?


he did channel where he is and used todays techniques, for those reasons it was actually perfect. He's not in sync with the 20-somethings and thats normal, if frustrating because 20 somethings run pop culture for the most part...

bashraka said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Fully agree. To me AOA is JOYLESS. It's production is amatuerish. I'm being objective here. For people to be perplexed as to why it isn't selling or wondering why radio isn't playing AOA are not being impartial. It really is that bad. Any music critic that gave it good marks has no bussiness being a music critic. Sure, USA Today and Vibe are not known for anything other kissing ass and we can ignore those critics off hand, but all the others who gave it high marks are either deaf or paid off.

Can anyone really listen to any of it and think, " if someone heard this on the radio, people would be blown away!"
There is nothing on the radio half as bad/mediocre/badly produced/out of touch/ boring as anything on AOA.

And even if he can't write something happy anymore, i would love for him to channel whatever he is feeling into something passionate, blues, whatever instead of pandering the Walmart Great Value brand of music. Nobody runs to Walmart to purchace any Great Value brand product. They settle for it.

[Edited 1/31/15 11:40am]

The are no such thing as objective opinions. It aint that serious. Prince's latest album is selling comparable to newer artists whose music share many attributes of Prince's earlier triumphs. Music is not sports. Prince is not in a contest against Bruno Mars or any other artist for that matter.

Don't try explaining to Violet she doesn't have a monopoly on objectivity and that her personal musings are not the absolute truth. She's honest and other people aren't. Violet knows so.

V10LETBLUES said:

funksterr said:

Nah, I agree with OP. For some reason Prince trends closed up and negative while writing these days. He could easily make fun hits again, if he wanted to. But that's the biggest difference between Prince and Brunu Mars and a lot of pop acts: Prince's mood and personality go into everything he does. He can't write simple happy pop music anymore, because he doesn't really feel that way. He mad. And the music reflects that even when he isn't consciously trying to let it show.

Fully agree. To me AOA is JOYLESS. It's production is amatuerish. I'm being objective here. For people to be perplexed as to why it isn't selling or wondering why radio isn't playing AOA are not being impartial. It really is that bad. Any music critic that gave it good marks has no bussiness being a music critic. Sure, USA Today and Vibe are not known for anything other kissing ass and we can ignore those critics off hand, but all the others who gave it high marks are either deaf or paid off.

Can anyone really listen to any of it and think, " if someone heard this on the radio, people would be blown away!"
There is nothing on the radio half as bad/mediocre/badly produced/out of touch/ boring as anything on AOA.

And even if he can't write something happy anymore, i would love for him to channel whatever he is feeling into something passionate, blues, whatever instead of pandering the Walmart Great Value brand of music. Nobody runs to Walmart to purchace any Great Value brand product. They settle for it.

[Edited 1/31/15 11:40am]

BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! Nothing on the radio half as bad as AOA?? Every time I go to the gym, a retail store, anywhere I'm likely to hear radio, I have to cover my fucking ears. Your disappointment with this album has turned into something so bitter that you won't stop trying to poison the rest of us with it. Take this bullshit elsewhere. If you don't like the album, THAT'S an objective opinion. The rest of your pronouncements are puerile bullshit.

[Edited 2/1/15 9:01am]