Blixical said:

Prince has been wise to avoid singing on any track written by or involving Michael Jackson, and as a Prince fan, I deeply from the very bottom of my stone cold black heart thank him.

We are the World was a huge, annoying joke. Prince gave them a song [4 the Tears in Ur Eyes] and was quite clear with them that he didn't not want to sing on the album's title track.

Big name stars at the time like Rick Springfield, David Lee Roth, Joan Jett, Billy Ocean, and Olivia Newton John didn't make appearances on the track, either. Although Prince was arguably the biggest name in pop at the time, I don't get why he should be chastised for not singing on thet track.

Additionally, Prince has given to numerous charities in a more low key manner, to include inner city school projects and community development projects. He just didn't need to be praised and glorified publically for doing so.

In the end, Prince has been relatively generous to various charities. He reserves his stingyness, rath, and unadulterated ire for his fans instead.


/

[Edited 6/24/15 1:04am]

This pretty much sums it up. He did get some backlash from this. But his song should've been noticed more as it was truly a heartfelt effort. We are the World, the song, sucked, and was totally pretentious. Prince said it 30 yrs ago on Hello...his record stands tall when it comes to caring about kids. He just did it in more of a thoughtful and less public way.

KoolEaze said:

kae510 said:

I don't remember where i read an article much later on that these same musicians/artists of We Are The World that were blasting Prince, they were actually drinkin Champagne , eating Caviar & gettin high all through that session . Who can be inspired through all of that nonsense ?

Prince, on the other hand, wrote his contribution (For the Tears in Your Eyes) while on tour, sipping on some warm Pepsi Cola from a can, eating a salami sandwich. Both were from the lunch boxes of the workers at the venue.

Exactly

kae510 said:

I don't remember where i read an article much later on that these same musicians/artists of We Are The World that were blasting Prince, they were actually drinkin Champagne , eating Caviar & gettin high all through that session . Who can be inspired through all of that nonsense ?

I know right? They shoud've eaten cold sandwiches and hot soda...Better yet, they should've fasted for the entire session in honor of those less fortunate. Nobody gives a damn what they ate, drank or shoved up their noses. They put time in and got the shit done. You don't stuff music's greatest stars in a studio without aiming for some type of publicity, at a minimum. That generates public interest. They captured the nation's attention better than any politician ever could. Prince had every right not to show up, but it was only a matter of time before his "aloof"/"too cool for school" persona would bite him in the ass, and unfortunately for him, this became that moment. Award shows are the biggest popularity circus there is. Everybody knows that. Prince "played the game" and managed to show up for that lol.

databank said:

Awesome excerpt, I really have to read this book!

.

It's just a rehash of things you already know, with a surprisingly high amount of utterly irrelevant personal details that matter to no one except the writer.

BartVanHemelen said:

databank said:

Awesome excerpt, I really have to read this book!

.

It's just a rehash of things you already know, with a surprisingly high amount of utterly irrelevant personal details that matter to no one except the writer.

I have to say that the excerpts I've read online so far gave me details I never knew of, so I think it's worth me giving it a try, but thanks for the warning that I might end-up being disappointed

Poplife88 said:

Blixical said:

This pretty much sums it up. He did get some backlash from this. But his song should've been noticed more as it was truly a heartfelt effort. We are the World, the song, sucked, and was totally pretentious. Prince said it 30 yrs ago on Hello...his record stands tall when it comes to caring about kids. He just did it in more of a thoughtful and less public way.

'Hello' is a crap song. '4 The Tears In Your Eyes' is good (though only in its video version) and ironically proved that Prince didn't know the meaning of the word 'dumb'.

Poplife88 said:

Poplife88 said:

daingermouz2020 said:

Poplife88 said:

This pretty much sums it up. He did get some backlash from this. But his song should've been noticed more as it was truly a heartfelt effort. We are the World, the song, sucked, and was totally pretentious. Prince said it 30 yrs ago on Hello...his record stands tall when it comes to caring about kids. He just did it in more of a thoughtful and less public way.

Was it really backlash. It seems Mike and Quincy was willing to work with Prince on BAD. So it doesn't seem as if they took it to personal.

The backlash came in the form of media and public support for Prince.

He was untouchable at the beginning of Purple Rain up until the night of the grammys.
Things went south pretty quickly for him in the way he was portrayed. Before the body-gaurd incident and We are The World, Prince was in more or less in charge of crafty his public persona--I mean, it was almost like his career was an Apple Store, and he was Steve Jobs--he controlled every aspect of the presentation of himself and protege groups around him.

After that night, the media turned on him to some extent. SNL did a "I am the World" parody of him, and Bob Hope poked fun at him several times. It was a very strange and abrupt shift in public perception of him. He was made out to be the "wierd" one in comparison to MJ until MJ's firstmolestation scandal.

SoulAlive said:

Yes,Prince did experience a slight backlash over this,but it wasn't just because of this one incident.Throughout 1985,he did alot of "weird" things that people just couldn't understand.

He showed up at Elizabeth Taylor's house for dinner,but he insisted that his bodyguards inspect her house before he entered.Taylor was pissed and went to the media with this story."I asked him,did you think I hired assasins?!"

He cussed out a young fan who asked him for an autograph.

He had his bodyguards beat up a photographer who got too close to him.

Things were getting so out of hand that even The Gap Band had to comment on it Their 1985 video "Disrespect" is clearly directed at Prince.

The video simply told it like it was, and still is! Prince is a shitty human being. (even though I still love his old music).

I've heard that too -- that powerhouses like Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger suddenly cooled their praise for him after this incident, with the media completely turning on him and painting him in a negative, weird light. It happened to Michael Jackson too with the skin lightening/sci-fi/oxygen chamber rumors. Both were weirdos. But I wouldn't say it affected him too much in the long run. Not long after, Raspberry Beret went to No. 1 on Cashbox and became a huge hit, and in the UK re-releases of 1999 and Little Red Corvette were going to No. 2.

I think this incident was one of the reasons why the Prince v. Michael Jackson rivalry was pushed more by the media. The fact that Prince refused to show up to Michael's song. Couple this incident with his supposed Elizabeth Taylor diss, and I think things were less than friendly in 1985.

If Prince said in advance that he didn't want to come, then why is Wendy going on and on about that shit? I don't understand her totally overblown reaction. Prince not wanting to appear at that sappy celeb get-together doesn't mean anything lol..

ComeHereLetMeCutYourHair said:

“I believe that moment [Prince's choice to go to Carlos and Charlie's nightclub instead of the 'We are the World' recording session] is what made people ambivalent about his greatness. When you get negative press going, you need twenty years for people to stop reflecting on it. And if guys like Springsteen or whoever are talking about how great he is, like they used to, it would add to the legend. But instead, everybody kind of backed off, like, ‘What the fuck kind of idiot is he that he would go to some dance club instead of just going there and singing two lines in the song?’”

“It was horrible. He had us go to Carlos and Charlie’s and have a fucking party. I remember it perfectly, thinking, ‘This is so wrong. This is so wrong.’ We were embarrassed. Everybody in the band was horrified. And that’s where it felt like, there’s something shifting here, where he’s getting nasty. The entitlement—it was almost like a kid with too much candy.” -Wendy

The only one in the history of the music industry to turn their back on Quincy Jones and every major recording artist of the time is unfortunately Prince. In my opinion, that's why Lionel Ritchie's 'Can't Slow Down' won the grammy for best album over 'Purple Rain' because every Prince turned his back on all of them. Purple Rain should have won 10 grammys (it had 10 nominations) and would have broken Michael Jackson's record of 8 grammys for 'Thriller', but Prince disrespected every other rock star with his stint after the AMAs (when they recorded We are the World). Prince was right, he should have played guitar on the song, but all he had to do was sing Michael Jackson's second verse. His head was blown up too big with the success of Purple Rain... that's why it's taken all these years to get Prince back in the music industry's good graces... it was the night his life and career as the Purple Great One ended.

"Prince did not appear in the big USA for Africa video because he was busy bailing out his bodyguards after they beat up some of his fans outside of a Hollywood restaurant.”

To read the full article:

https://medium.com/cuepoi...0babc363b9

Excerpted from:

"Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain" Alan Light
Published by Atria Books. Copyright © 2014

IDK man. I can't speak for the masses, but for me, i didn't have a problem with Prince not doing WATW. Hell, the only reason i brought WATW, is because of 4 the Tears. Honestly, if Prince was just another voice on the song, and had not contributed his own song to the album, i probably wouldn't have brought either one(WATW song or the album). I'm sure there were a few people out there like me, so in that respect, i think prince not singing on the song, and instead, contributing his own composition, maybe helped WATW(album) sales. Hard to know though, but by the looks of it, it didn't really matter.

Anyway, to try to answer the op. I think Prince not doing WATH(and the stuff that came directly afterwords), definitely damaged his reputation with people who were general fans of his, but moreso with people within the music business(as i think the op alluded to). As far as the lasting effect of the WATW fiasco and if that was the beginning of the end of Prince's greatness(in the opinion of his musical peers)? Honestly IDK.

I will say these two things though. I thought him doing the song Hello, kinda put things in prospective, and was a sufficient answer to all the controversy surrounding the WATW era stuff. Also, personally, i think the lovesexy cover, probably did more lasting damage(within the general public and with casual fans) to Prince's career(or image) than the WATW stuff. The lovesexy cover backlash was pretty cruel. For the most part, since prince became famous, people thought that he was 'unique" and "different", but after the lovesexy cover, some people really started to think that Prince was really, 'out there'.

Anyway that stuff was a long time ago and i mainly fault other things for the negative impressions that some people have of Prince.

Thanks for the article. Pretty cool.

[Edited 6/25/15 17:49pm]

"I tried 2 tell them that I didn't want 2 sing
But I'd gladly write a song instead
They said okay and everything was cool"

[opening lines of 'Hello']

I believe he said in the French 1985 interview to launch ATWIAD that he felt he would have clammed up with all those great people. So maybe the opposite of arrogance.

Scarfo said:

JoeyC said

IDK man. I can't speak for the masses, but for me, i didn't have a problem with Prince not doing WATW. Hell, the only reason i brought WATW, is because of 4 the Tears. Honestly, if Prince was just another voice on the song, and had not contributed his own song to the album, i probably wouldn't have brought either one(WATW song or the album). I'm sure there were a few people out there like me, so in that respect, i think prince not singing on the song, and instead, contributing his own composition, maybe helped WATW(album) sales. Hard to know though, but by the looks of it, it didn't really matter.

YOU MUST HAVE NOT BEEN AROUND WHEN WATW WAS RELEASED...IT WAS THE BIGGEST SELLING SINGLE EVER and Prince chose to not sing on the single.

Anyway, to try to answer the op. I think Prince not doing WATH(and the stuff that came directly afterwords), definitely damaged his reputation with people who were general fans of his, but moreso with people within the music business(as i think the op alluded to).

I will say these two things though. I thought him doing the song Hello, kinda put things in prospective, and was a sufficient answer to all the controversy surrounding the WATW era stuff. Also, personally, i think the lovesexy cover, probably did more lasting damage(within the general public and with casual fans) to Prince's career(or image) than the WATW stuff. The lovesexy cover backlash was pretty cruel. For the most part, since prince became famous, people thought that he was 'unique" and "different", but after the lovesexy cover, some people really started to think that Prince was really, 'out there'.

THE LOVESEXY ALBUM WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF PRINCE as a musical innovator who didnt doesnt don't care about what anyone else thinks, I'm a do what I do

Anyway that stuff was a long time ago and i mainly fault other things for the negative impressions that some people have of Prince.

Thanks for the article. Pretty cool.

SoulAlive said:

Yes,Prince did experience a slight backlash over this,but it wasn't just because of this one incident.Throughout 1985,he did alot of "weird" things that people just couldn't understand.

He showed up at Elizabeth Taylor's house for dinner,but he insisted that his bodyguards inspect her house before he entered.Taylor was pissed and went to the media with this story."I asked him,did you think I hired assasins?!"

He cussed out a young fan who asked him for an autograph.

He had his bodyguards beat up a photographer who got too close to him.

Things were getting so out of hand that even The Gap Band had to comment on it Their 1985 video "Disrespect" is clearly directed at Prince.

Hilarious!

During this period Prince was very arrogant. I always thought it was petty and arrogant that he declined to sing on the song. He still could have submitted his own song as well as sing on the song. I still didn't see what the big deal was till this day. Whether the song is cheesy or not, it is a classic and it was all for a good cause which is the bottom line.

"4 The Tears In Your Eyes" eclipses every other song on the WATW album, title track included.
And with the shortest timing.
"Our record stands tall". Hell yeah.

Was it wise not to go? Of course not.

Was he the one asking people to bring food cans to the PR Tour venues, without much publicity? Bet yo ass.

"There's just as much hunger here at home".

All Prince had to say about this incident is in "Hello".

bonatoc said:

"4 The Tears In Your Eyes" eclipses every other song on the WATW album, title track included.
And with the shortest timing.
"Our record stands tall". Hell yeah.

Was it wise not to go? Of course not.

Was he the one asking people to bring food cans to the PR Tour venues, without much publicity? Bet yo ass.

"There's just as much hunger here at home".

All Prince had to say about this incident is in "Hello".

yes it is--his careful public version of the story

JoeyC said

IDK man. I can't speak for the masses, but for me, i didn't have a problem with Prince not doing WATW. Hell, the only reason i brought WATW, is because of 4 the Tears. Honestly, if Prince was just another voice on the song, and had not contributed his own song to the album, i probably wouldn't have brought either one(WATW song or the album). I'm sure there were a few people out there like me, so in that respect, i think prince not singing on the song, and instead, contributing his own composition, maybe helped WATW(album) sales. Hard to know though, but by the looks of it, it didn't really matter.

ComeHereLetMeCutYourHair said:

YOU MUST HAVE NOT BEEN AROUND WHEN WATW WAS RELEASED...IT WAS THE BIGGEST SELLING SINGLE EVER and Prince chose to not sing on the single.

Yep i was around back then. And then some. Been listening to Prince, MJ, The Jackson's, Lionel Richie/The Commodores, and Quincy Jones, since the 70's. AND that was way before that USA For Africa, group. Anyway, so after thinking about that whole WATW backlash( after not thinking about it for 30 years or so), the shit was kinda stupid. Big deal. Prince didn't sing on the song(no matter how big it was). He still contributed to the cause(4 the tears). What the hell do(did) we know about Prince's charitable giving, back then? Maybe he gave to a bunch of charities. If his current charitable giving is any indication of his past giving. Then he did his part.

Either way, i remember that whole period, and feel the same way about it today as i did back in 1985. Much ado about nothing(as it relates to prince). I guess i can maybe see Quincy Jones and a few other people getting upset about the way Prince handled it, but as far as fans of Prince and the general public? Who the fuck are we ??Once again. I probably would have a different view of it if Prince was never known to be a charitable person, but by most accounts, that's not the case.

I like both Prince & Michael Jackson,

However I think the bad blood between the 2 stars started with the We Are The World incident,

All the negative press Prince got out of it and the backlash - must have been so hard to handle and hard to forgive.

I understand Prince why he refused to be on Bad (the song), cool that he offered Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me instead... but of course this was just a joke, I don't think Prince was that serious to even make this song a MJ song on Bad.

Imo Prince has more in common with Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder (musicians), and actually very little in common with Michael Jackson (singer).

"you need twenty years for people to stop reflecting on it".

It's been over 30 years...and you're still reflecting on it

XNY said:

"you need twenty years for people to stop reflecting on it".

It's been over 30 years...and you're still reflecting on it

Because it impacted his musical career and his music in a shocking manner. He would have collaborated with industry musicians sooner than having to wait 25 years until this new generation of musicians who weren't around back then like Alicia Keys and Mary J and Esperanza Spalding and Janelle Monae to collaborate with in concerts.

thedance said:

I like both Prince & Michael Jackson,

However I think the bad blood between the 2 stars started with the We Are The World incident,

All the negative press Prince got out of it and the backlash - must have been so hard to handle and hard to forgive.

I understand Prince why he refused to be on Bad (the song), cool that he offered Wouldn't U Love 2 Love Me instead... but of course this was just a joke, I don't think Prince was that serious to even make this song a MJ song on Bad.

Imo Prince has more in common with Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Wonder (musicians), and actually very little in common with Michael Jackson (singer).

I think the bad blood kind of faded after the '80s, when Prince and MJ weren't fresh, new artists anymore. https://lacienegasmiled.w...-prince-2/

But the media perception of P changed. The 'mysterious, quiet' persona backfired. No wonder UTCM was released, and why he looked WAY too happy in 'Raspberry Beret'

SoulAlive said:

Yes,Prince did experience a slight backlash over this,but it wasn't just because of this one incident.Throughout 1985,he did alot of "weird" things that people just couldn't understand.

He showed up at Elizabeth Taylor's house for dinner,but he insisted that his bodyguards inspect her house before he entered.Taylor was pissed and went to the media with this story."I asked him,did you think I hired assasins?!"

He cussed out a young fan who asked him for an autograph.

He had his bodyguards beat up a photographer who got too close to him.

Things were getting so out of hand that even The Gap Band had to comment on it Their 1985 video "Disrespect" is clearly directed at Prince.

.

OMG, I don't remember ever seeing that before! And if I only heard the song I may not have realized they were aiming it at P! Good stuff, thanks for sharing.

I don't blame Prince at all. Sitting in that room for hours doing various takes while cameras were rolling the entire time for the documentary would be an introvert's nightmare. Here is the SNL skit:

http://www.dailymotion.co...n-mr-t_fun

3rdeyedude said:

I don't blame Prince at all. Sitting in that room for hours doing various takes while cameras were rolling the entire time for the documentary would be an introvert's nightmare. Here is the SNL skit:

http://www.dailymotion.co...n-mr-t_fun

thanks 3rdeyedude!! That's great! I've never seen that before