Given D&P / Symbol album period had good sales, some chart success, and a pretty decent tour,

had his 1980s output never occurred, how big would he have gotten, and would you be a fan?

(the "never musically the same after lovesexy" thread spurred this thought)

Well, I would have enjoyed Get Off and Sexy MF but would probably have lost interest soon after.

Dimonds and Pearls would have been a great debut album.

People likely wouldn't have claimed he was chasing hip-hop so much as helping bring it to the mainstream. Especially on the follow-up album.

He likely wouldn't have been quite so cocky with WB if he was new to the game. But there are so many variables it's impossible to speculate. D&P, , Come, Gold, C&D, would have still been a blazing run of albums.

Hell, I'd just take Tony M to one side and tell him to ditch the high voiced guy with the weird hair, and he'd be a major star .

I suspect Tony'd just lay it on the line and slap my face tho .

Stupid question. It didn't.

We are what we are. No ifs, no buts. Luminous beings are we.

I probably wouldn't have even heard of it. First, not many people would have, and the general market for poppy R&B would have been different.

.

But even if it had been as successful as it was in the real world, I wasn't still at the point where I was likely to latch on to an artist in quite the same way. In 1991 I was moving into going back into Lennon, Cohen, and Dylan's discographies (largely through buying used LP's). I might not have even noticed a new pop act, and even those that I did notice at the time I tended not to follow into their next album. I followed Prince because I'd already invested time and interest, and figured he'd repay it (and I still feel he does)--but I didn't give anyone "new" that sort of attention at the time. I'm sure that there were artists turning up then that would have been worth my focus--but they didn't get it. Prince wouldn't have either. (Of course, I might not have been paying that much attention to music at all if Prince hadn't hit me when he actually did as a young teen--he was one of the basic touchstones from which my musical tastes and knowledge grew. Without becoming a Prince fan I probably wouldn't have become anywhere near the music fan I am.)

.

That has nothing to do with the quality of the two albums--although I feel D&P is much weaker than --but mainly to do with where I was in my life at the time. But that's the case with any artist I've become a fan of--I have to experience the work at the right time. I'm just glad the timing was right for me to find Prince in the real world.

Nope

Marrk said:

Stupid question. It didn't.

We are what we are. No ifs, no buts. Luminous beings are we.

douche´

Since I love some of his 90s work just as much, if not more, than the 80s, I would still be a big fan.

This is an interesting question, for me at least, because it reminds me how integral Prince's boundary-pushing in the early/mid 80s was to his appeal. It wasn't just that he was a musical wunderkind -- he was challenging societal conventions as well. If he'd started with D&P, well, there wouldn't have been that foundation of controversy behind him.

Probably the artist closest to this scenario is R. Kelly. Granted he probably wouldn't/couldn't do something like The Rainbow Children, but he's a hyper-sexual/religiously-reverant R&B singer who can write a decent tune when he feels like it, is prolific, can be completely ridiculous ("Trapped In The Closet" anyone?), and has had his fair share of controversy. And while he may not always have huge hits he remains somewhat in the public consciousness. That sounds the most like 1991-present Prince to me. Artists like Maxwell and D'Angelo are nowhere near as prolific and don't usually take on the more absurd qualities Prince (and R. Kelly) display.

I'm not saying it's an exact parallel but it's the closest one I can think of. So if Prince had started in 1991, I would probably like several songs and respect his talent but not really consider myself a huge fan or follow the minute details of his career. Which I suppose is how I feel about R. Kelly's body of work.

LasgnaHog said:

Given D&P / Symbol album period had good sales, some chart success, and a pretty decent tour,

had his 1980s output never occurred, how big would he have gotten, and would you be a fan?

(the "never musically the same after lovesexy" thread spurred this thought)

There is an entire generation of people that were in junior high/high school during this era that are Prince fans MOSTLY because of the successes from this era.

-

In the USA, after Purple Rain, Diamonds and Pearls was Prince's biggest commerical success up to that point.

-

You know what happens when your first lasting impression of Prince is the "Gett Off" video, or his appearance on Arsenio in 1991?

-

You don't think it's odd that Prince raps or has hip hop mixed in his sound because that was how you were introduced to him.

-

Also, early 90's Prince was fairly controversial. Sexy MF was still a bit much for the mainstream back then.

[Edited 2/19/15 20:28pm]

aiden said:

A pretty massive one... My favourite era! Can't beat Michael B on the sticks

I agree!! I actually don't really care to much for his 78-79 and 85-88 stuff. Batman is where I really started liking him. 89-97 is where it is at for me as a fan but that is also the general music time frame that I like the best also. 1999 and Purple Rain was good but the rest of the 80s Prince stuff I honestly don't care about. After 97 its very spotty for me for him.

4 of my top 5 Prince albums are from this period

Diamonds and Pearls

Symbol album

The Gold Experience

Chaos and Disorder

1999

followed by

Exodus

Batman

Purple Rain

Emancipation

For me these are the essential Prince albums to own. The rest may have a song or two off of each album but they suck to me as albums. To each there own though. In the 80s I knew who he was but really didnt care that much for him after Purple Rain and Batman is the album that drew me in.

Have you included the butterfly effect? Because if Prince hadnt existed in the 80s, the musical landscape at the end of the 80s, going into the 90s would be somewhat different. D&P could well have been so ground breaking because of that, Prince may well have had his 80s success in the 90s instead.

skywalker said:

LasgnaHog said:

Given D&P / Symbol album period had good sales, some chart success, and a pretty decent tour,

had his 1980s output never occurred, how big would he have gotten, and would you be a fan?

(the "never musically the same after lovesexy" thread spurred this thought)

There is an entire generation of people that were in junior high/high school during this era that are Prince fans MOSTLY because of the successes from this era.

-

In the USA, after Purple Rain, Diamonds and Pearls was Prince's biggest commerical success up to that point.

-

You know what happens when your first lasting impression of Prince is the "Gett Off" video, or his appearance on Arsenio in 1991?

-

You don't think it's odd that Prince raps or has hip hop mixed in his sound because that was how you were introduced to him.

-

Also, early 90's Prince was fairly controversial. Sexy MF was still a bit much for the mainstream back then.

[Edited 2/19/15 20:28pm]

Yeah, every fan I personally know became a fan during the early-90s. Myself included.

By that point it wasn't universally decided that the 1980s were "amazing" and the 1990s is when "he lost it". That he was following the times seemed just natural and I can't imagine there being too many people in 1991-1995 thinking he should seriously revisit his "old sound". All the throwback tracks to the 1980s era he's done more recently would have sounded just absurd then.

whoa. GETT OFF as a DEBUT single for an artist?! that was a massive funk bomb and then SMF as a follow up?! (i forget the order of the singles) i'd be like DAYUM. who IS this dude. i think i'd be afraid he was JUST a provacatuer but Thunder, W&A, MDMT, and L4L would have confirmed he genius, breadth, depth and kept me interested for the long haul

I hate to say it but D&P is an album I don't care much for so I probably might not have even bought it had it been his debut. I also hated all the name change crap in the 90's so whilst I might have ended up buying some of his stuff there is no way I'd be as big a fan as I am now.

I'm sure a great number of very big Prince fans started listening in with Diamonds and Pearls. No doubt about that.

If a frog had a glass booty.................would he break it?

Graycap23 said:

If a frog had a glass booty.................would he break it?

Diamonds & Pearls and this period to me was 'clean' it wasn't transgressive, didn't have feel of underground or avant garde. I was always into that aspect of Prince. And in the 1990s underground music had my attention. I watched what he did, liked songs, but I don't think I would be a fan

I stopped caring in 1990 and didn't care again until TRC. I wouldn't have been a fan. D&P was a major disappointment for me.

The best part of D&P was the 12" mixes for Gett Off and Cream.

No 80's ... No Prince for me...

I cant imagine it.

Ego101 said:

No 80's ... No Prince for me...

I cant imagine it.

This.