....would it be 80s or 90s prince gentlemen? bwahahaha....choose hard, choose wise....if, like me, u choose 80s, it means u can never listen to 'get wild' again! suspend ur disbelief and make a choice...and state ur reasons...hope u're playing...

If I had a time machine, I'd go back to the 80s.

purplethunder3121 said:

If I had a time machine, I'd go back to the 80s.

imagine, u could never hear 'sexy mf'! and we could never distill the differences between the two most important phases of a world-class musician....i made the choice and i miss shoobedooh...

[Edited 8/18/15 14:32pm]

lol.

80s.

I can live without Sexy MF.

not without 1999 the album.

or Parade.

or ATWIAD.

or..........u get it.

id only be interested in the opinions of a fan who cqame aboard AFTER the 80's

purplepolitician said:

Id pick 00s Prince

Hmmm..... musicology onwards it sounds a bit flat to me....retreading old ground...but it's definitely listenable....2000s prince is prince shorn of the quirks, oddities, yips and yelps, profanities and religious confusion which made him a true hybrid....it is a prince who has found religion.

Rainbow Children is amazing, though....one of his best. 3121 is a nicely crafted pop record. AOA, well, I gotta listen to it more maybe...i kinda like 2010 too. if 80s prince was an artist, 2000s prince is an artisan. what does that make 90s prince?

luvsexy4all said:

id only be interested in the opinions of a fan who cqame aboard AFTER the 80's

i became a prince fan around 2010, and i'd choose the '80s

fusk said:

luvsexy4all said:

id only be interested in the opinions of a fan who cqame aboard AFTER the 80's

i became a prince fan around 2010, and i'd choose the '80s

interesting. I became a prince fan in the 80s. what prince album did you hear first?

80s. No question. My P top 20 is by and large made up of songs from the 80s.

[Edited 8/19/15 8:06am]

80's genius mode. ANYONE who was around at that time will say that because it was a societal cultural ground breaking musical magnificent time.

We were all young hot smart and talented - if you didnt GET Prince, pffftttt you weren't meant to and we were cool with that lolololol

it was so. much. fun.

terrig said:

80's genius mode. ANYONE who was around at that time will say that because it was a societal cultural ground breaking musical magnificent time.

We were all young hot smart and talented - if you didnt GET Prince, pffftttt you weren't meant to and we were cool with that lolololol

it was so. much. fun.

You read my mind

Guitarhero said:

terrig said:

80's genius mode. ANYONE who was around at that time will say that because it was a societal cultural ground breaking musical magnificent time.

We were all young hot smart and talented - if you didnt GET Prince, pffftttt you weren't meant to and we were cool with that lolololol

it was so. much. fun.

You read my mind

Funkyalien said:

fusk said:

i became a prince fan around 2010, and i'd choose the '80s

interesting. I became a prince fan in the 80s. what prince album did you hear first?

i think i downloaded SOTT and 3121 at the same time. I remember being pretty indifferent to both albums, but slightly preferring 3121. I remember thinking that SOTT was much weirder than I was expecting, and that was cool.

I listened to Parade, Purple Rain, the self-titled, Musicology and 20Ten sometime afterwards. The few songs I liked, I liked a lot. I thought Prince was this weirdo next-level pop star who didn't care at all how terrible some of his ideas were, because whenever the songs worked in spite of how goofy they were, they were AMAZING. It was so interesting to me. Around this time I started realizing that older Prince was just worse than younger Prince, because older Prince wasn't nearly as "stupid-genius" as he used to be.

Then I got around to listening to 1999 and I immediately got on the Prince wavelength. It was just such a good album full of fun music. I think at that point, the music that I wanted to hear became the same as the music 80s Prince wanted to hear. SOTT became my favourite album. I didn't bother listening to much '00s or '90s Prince for a long time.

Eventually I checked out some 90s stuff. It's good but to me it's only good in the context of what Prince did in the 80s. The enjoyment I get from something like "my name is prince" comes from the fact that i KNOW this is the purple rain guy trying sooooo hard, and he's going about it in a totally "prince" way. I think 90s prince is good, but if he weren't prince, i'm not sure i'd care.

The most recent album I discovered was Lovesexy, and it just confirmed that 80s prince is just better. After hearing a lot of music from all the eras, I was kind of getting over prince. I used to listen to prince almost exclusively for a few years, so I think I had the same level of prince-fatigue the average hardcore fan might have. Finally getting around to Lovesexy is the closest I can come to being a hardcore fan discovering a lost 80s album, and in my opinion, any argument that says, "if this new prince stuff were released in 88 people would love it" or "you guys are hating this but maybe it came from the vault circa 1988" in an attempt to put his new music on the same level as his old music is bogus. I listened to Lovesexy like I listened to 1999 when I first seriously got into prince.

[Edited 8/19/15 11:47am]

fusk said:

Funkyalien said:

interesting. I became a prince fan in the 80s. what prince album did you hear first?

i think i downloaded SOTT and 3121 at the same time. I remember being pretty indifferent to both albums, but slightly preferring 3121. I remember thinking that SOTT was much weirder than I was expecting, and that was cool.

I listened to Parade, Purple Rain, the self-titled, Musicology and 20Ten sometime afterwards. The few songs I liked, I liked a lot. I thought Prince was this weirdo next-level pop star who didn't care at all how terrible some of his ideas were, because whenever the songs worked in spite of how goofy they were, they were AMAZING. It was so interesting to me. Around this time I started realizing that older Prince was just worse than younger Prince, because older Prince wasn't nearly as "stupid-genius" as he used to be.

Then I got around to listening to 1999 and I immediately got on the Prince wavelength. It was just such a good album full of fun music. I think at that point, the music that I wanted to hear became the same as the music 80s Prince wanted to hear. SOTT became my favourite album. I didn't bother listening to much '00s or '90s Prince for a long time.

Eventually I checked out some 90s stuff. It's good but to me it's only good in the context of what Prince did in the 80s. The enjoyment I get from something like "my name is prince" comes from the fact that i KNOW this is the purple rain guy trying sooooo hard, and he's going about it in a totally "prince" way. I think 90s prince is good, but if he weren't prince, i'm not sure i'd care.

The most recent album I discovered was Lovesexy, and it just confirmed that 80s prince is just better. After hearing a lot of music from all the eras, I was kind of getting over prince. I used to listen to prince almost exclusively for a few years, so I think I had the same level of prince-fatigue the average hardcore fan might have. Finally getting around to Lovesexy is the closest I can come to being a hardcore fan discovering a lost 80s album, and in my opinion, any argument that says, "if this new prince stuff were released in 88 people would love it" or "you guys are hating this but maybe it came from the vault circa 1988" in an attempt to put his new music on the same level as his old music is bogus. I listened to Lovesexy like I listened to 1999 when I first seriously got into prince.

[Edited 8/19/15 11:47am]

very well put, and you echo a lot of views. you know, just to tell you a story, i have a lot of blues-fan, rock-fan friends who are not prince fans but slightly familiar with his work, and they hate the linn drum, digital-drum sounds of the 80s and prefer his live bootlegs (thanks to me) or some of the more organic 2000s work where he segregates styles and makes it simpler.

i find their outlook weird, and they are obviously not familiar with pop philosophy, or even front 242 or kraftwerk etc. prince was pop-electronica in a weird, wonderful way, and if you challenge him he'll play rock and organic sounds because he can.

i think the "goofy-but-it-works" philosophy you're getting at is simply the power of a good composition, ensconced in a style which showcases the magnitude of his pop philosophy. another important reason why 80s prince still resonates is the poetry of the lyrics. although sometimes they were insufferably goofy (which he doesn't do anymore), it had intelligent humour and good metre and diction. he was just young and wanted to rule the world, i guess.

that said, some of his 90s stuff is not prince as we had come to know him, but still good. sometimes better, even. not so sure bout the 2000s. when we became prince fans, we would never talk about things like production. we accepted the music and soaked it in, it exuded an aura.

[Edited 8/19/15 14:02pm]

Funkyalien said:

purplethunder3121 said:

If I had a time machine, I'd go back to the 80s.

imagine, u could never hear 'sexy mf'! and we could never distill the differences between the two most important phases of a world-class musician....i made the choice and i miss shoobedooh...

[Edited 8/18/15 14:32pm]

For those of us around in the 80s, it's not even a choice influenced by Prince.

Funkyalien said:

....would it be 80s or 90s prince gentlemen? bwahahaha....choose hard, choose wise....if, like me, u choose 80s, it means u can never listen to 'get wild' again! suspend ur disbelief and make a choice...and state ur reasons...hope u're playing...

You make it sound like thats a bad thing.

The 80's! 80's Prince styled his own genre of music... 90's and 2000 Prince was more like he was trying to fit in with what was hot... Sexy MF would have been better in my opinion if he didn't rap, he could have sounded funky like he did on We Can Funk

Without a doubt I'd choose the 80's. It would suck to never be able to hear I Hate U, again, but i would survive. As far as the reasons why? The quality of the music and the memories that Prince's 80's output, gave me. I got fond memories of Prince's 90's output as well. But not like i do of the 80's.

Also, I'm with purplethunder3121 and the time machine thingy. I wouldn't hesitate to go back to the 80's.

[Edited 8/20/15 23:08pm]

"Lovesexy" is the one!

80's Prince -- hands down. That being said, I'm not complaining about his work since then. But Dirty Mind thru Batman? . . . just . . . wow.

Only if I had to choose -because I would dearly miss many tracks from after the 80s -I would choose the 80s. I couldn't give up tracks from PR, SOTT, Parade, Lovesexy etc, and those b-sides and outtakes! Tell ya what though, I'm keeping 'We Can Funk', doesn't have to be the final one on GB, I'll have one recorded in the 80s

nonamesleft said:

Only if I had to choose -because I would dearly miss many tracks from after the 80s -I would choose the 80s. I couldn't give up tracks from PR, SOTT, Parade, Lovesexy etc, and those b-sides and outtakes! Tell ya what though, I'm keeping 'We Can Funk', doesn't have to be the final one on GB, I'll have one recorded in the 80s

Huh, what I call the original is the only one I listen to.

dadeepop said:

80's Prince -- hands down. That being said, I'm not complaining about his work since then. But Dirty Mind thru Batman? . . . just . . . wow.

true but 92-96 is wow also...

luvsexy4all said:

dadeepop said:

80's Prince -- hands down. That being said, I'm not complaining about his work since then. But Dirty Mind thru Batman? . . . just . . . wow.

true but 92-96 is wow also...

Yup.