I'm really surprised to hear myself say this but I think this is the first time I've found Prince's music to be boring. Truly boring. I don't hate HitNRun, I just struggle to feel any emotion at all when I listen to it. I generally dislike most of it but not enough to say I hate it. I try hard to like 1000Xs&Os, in my opinion the strongest track, but its utterly underwhelming.

What on earth happened, Prince? You can be many things, often infuriating, but never boring... until now.

What IS interesting though is the general lack of promotion. Josh interviewed, not Prince, by a limited selection of national papers. Limited streaming release. And that's it. So its almost as if he knows its not worth promoting properly. So why release it?

Great album, just try again... open your mind..

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

databank said:

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

So what you disagree with is considered trolling? I dont think he/she is intentionally trying to be an annoyance just voicing their opinion..

funkyfine said:

I'm really surprised to hear myself say this but I think this is the first time I've found Prince's music to be boring. Truly boring. I don't hate HitNRun, I just struggle to feel any emotion at all when I listen to it. I generally dislike most of it but not enough to say I hate it. I try hard to like 1000Xs&Os, in my opinion the strongest track, but its utterly underwhelming.

What on earth happened, Prince? You can be many things, often infuriating, but never boring... until now.

What IS interesting though is the general lack of promotion. Josh interviewed, not Prince, by a limited selection of national papers. Limited streaming release. And that's it. So its almost as if he knows its not worth promoting properly. So why release it?

To me, no matter what the artists say, their music is for them. Hopefully, other people will like it, too. If not, oh well... I think Prince is at the stage where he is all over the place making music and if its a hit, its a hit; if not, maybe next time. "I'll keep doing what I do - make music."

[Edited 9/10/15 4:16am]

Dilan said:

databank said:

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

So what you disagree with is considered trolling? I dont think he/she is intentionally trying to be an annoyance just voicing their opinion..

Prince certainly isnt over and done. Its just a mis-step in my opinion. I'm just so surprised to hear a full album that, to me, gives nothing new, nothing interesting, nothing Prince.

pdiddy2011 said:

funkyfine said:

I'm really surprised to hear myself say this but I think this is the first time I've found Prince's music to be boring. Truly boring. I don't hate HitNRun, I just struggle to feel any emotion at all when I listen to it. I generally dislike most of it but not enough to say I hate it. I try hard to like 1000Xs&Os, in my opinion the strongest track, but its utterly underwhelming.

What on earth happened, Prince? You can be many things, often infuriating, but never boring... until now.

What IS interesting though is the general lack of promotion. Josh interviewed, not Prince, by a limited selection of national papers. Limited streaming release. And that's it. So its almost as if he knows its not worth promoting properly. So why release it?

To me, no matter what the artists say, their music is for them. Hopefully, other people will like it, too. If not, oh well... I think Prince is at the stage where he is all over the place making music and if its a hit, its a hit; if not, maybe next time. "I'll keep doing what I do - make music."

[Edited 9/10/15 4:16am]

But that suggests he doesnt care about the critical response and I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure thats true of any artist.

I also don't agree that artists only make music for themselves. They live in a commerical world and release music for sale. One ear is ALWAYS tuned to the audience. Why else integrate EDM now?

databank said:

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

Oh, but aren't the sycophants cute...

funkyfine said:

pdiddy2011 said:

To me, no matter what the artists say, their music is for them. Hopefully, other people will like it, too. If not, oh well... I think Prince is at the stage where he is all over the place making music and if its a hit, its a hit; if not, maybe next time. "I'll keep doing what I do - make music."

[Edited 9/10/15 4:16am]

But that suggests he doesnt care about the critical response and I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure thats true of any artist.

I also don't agree that artists only make music for themselves. They live in a commerical world and release music for sale. One ear is ALWAYS tuned to the audience. Why else integrate EDM now?

We can agree to disagree on that. I agree music artists typically want commercial success, and have to make changes for that sake, but if it was up to them, their own vision and their own music (what they have created) is what they would want to share, not what someone else wants them to release. I guess we're speaking about the difference between "true art" and "commercial art".

I think most people would prefer to say I did it the way I wanted, true to my vision; again, if commercial success / livelihood wasn't a factor.

I think Prince is at a place where he should make the music he likes and not cloud his head with what fans think and what would be a hit commercially. I bet he would hit another homerun.

Prince can still make plenty of money through back catalog and appearance fees.

pdiddy2011 said:

funkyfine said:

But that suggests he doesnt care about the critical response and I'm not sure that's true. I'm not sure thats true of any artist.

I also don't agree that artists only make music for themselves. They live in a commerical world and release music for sale. One ear is ALWAYS tuned to the audience. Why else integrate EDM now?

We can agree to disagree on that. I agree music artists typically want commercial success, and have to make changes for that sake, but if it was up to them, their own vision and their own music (what they have created) is what they would want to share, not what someone else wants them to release. I guess we're speaking about the difference between "true art" and "commercial art".

I think most people would prefer to say I did it the way I wanted, true to my vision; again, if commercial success / livelihood wasn't a factor.

I think Prince is at a place where he should make the music he likes and not cloud his head with what fans think and what would be a hit commercially. I bet he would hit another homerun.

Prince can still make plenty of money through back catalog and appearance fees.

I agree with a lot of that but I don;t think you can distinguish between true art and commercial art as simply as that. Does making art to a brief lessen the validity of it? I would think that all art has to have parameters during ist creation, even if the artist themselves imposes them in order to create a focus. Does it matter if those parameters are external?

Would you say that Francis Bacon or Lucian Freud are commercial artists because they knew what sold and what their public liked and continued to make it... or is it impossible to judge? We can't even say that Van Gogh was, by your definition, a true artist because although he wasn't a huge commerical success in his lifetime, he did have to sell paintings to survive and therefore had to create FOR the buying public.

funkyfine said:

Dilan said:

So what you disagree with is considered trolling? I dont think he/she is intentionally trying to be an annoyance just voicing their opinion..

Prince certainly isnt over and done. Its just a mis-step in my opinion. I'm just so surprised to hear a full album that, to me, gives nothing new, nothing interesting, nothing Prince.

Wouldn't Prince giving you something Prince be Prince being boring? This is Prince tryign something different, which is the opposite of being boring and doing something the same. Whether it's good or bad and something you like or not is a different matter and I respect the opinion of those who don't like it. But this really isn't Prince being boring!

how can u listen to indeifference and say that??

funkyfine said:

Dilan said:

So what you disagree with is considered trolling? I dont think he/she is intentionally trying to be an annoyance just voicing their opinion..

Prince certainly isnt over and done. Its just a mis-step in my opinion. I'm just so surprised to hear a full album that, to me, gives nothing new, nothing interesting, nothing Prince.

A thread titled "Prince became boring" certainly isn't the same as a thread saying "HnR is boring".

Don't say one thing then claim u said another. I ain't sayin' u're bad faith but purposedly or not u did create the P is over and done thread of the week.

TheEnglishGent said:

funkyfine said:

Prince certainly isnt over and done. Its just a mis-step in my opinion. I'm just so surprised to hear a full album that, to me, gives nothing new, nothing interesting, nothing Prince.

Wouldn't Prince giving you something Prince be Prince being boring? This is Prince tryign something different, which is the opposite of being boring and doing something the same. Whether it's good or bad and something you like or not is a different matter and I respect the opinion of those who don't like it. But this really isn't Prince being boring!

I'm obviously not making myself clear... its not HIM being boring, its his music.

Dilan said:

databank said:

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

So what you disagree with is considered trolling?

No. I think Lovesexy is a masterpiece but if there was a new thread saying Lovesexy is a masterpiece every week I'd call lock and trolling, too.

LittlePurpleYoda said:

databank said:

Prince is over & done thread of the week.

+

Oh, but aren't the sycophants cute...

funkyfine said:

pdiddy2011 said:

We can agree to disagree on that. I agree music artists typically want commercial success, and have to make changes for that sake, but if it was up to them, their own vision and their own music (what they have created) is what they would want to share, not what someone else wants them to release. I guess we're speaking about the difference between "true art" and "commercial art".

I think most people would prefer to say I did it the way I wanted, true to my vision; again, if commercial success / livelihood wasn't a factor.

I think Prince is at a place where he should make the music he likes and not cloud his head with what fans think and what would be a hit commercially. I bet he would hit another homerun.

Prince can still make plenty of money through back catalog and appearance fees.

I agree with a lot of that but I don;t think you can distinguish between true art and commercial art as simply as that. Does making art to a brief lessen the validity of it? I would think that all art has to have parameters during ist creation, even if the artist themselves imposes them in order to create a focus. Does it matter if those parameters are external?

Would you say that Francis Bacon or Lucian Freud are commercial artists because they knew what sold and what their public liked and continued to make it... or is it impossible to judge? We can't even say that Van Gogh was, by your definition, a true artist because although he wasn't a huge commerical success in his lifetime, he did have to sell paintings to survive and therefore had to create FOR the buying public.

OK. You just schooled me. You've gone too deep for me. I'm certainly not claiming anyone's art is more "real" than anyone else's (not that you said I did). The original poster asked why release boring, non-promoted music? My short answer - because it's his creation... and he can.

A little bit of a longer answer - he doesn't feel it's boring or uninspired and it's what is flowing out of him creatively at this time. (I can't speak on why he engineers things the way that he does.)

As a side note - why do so many people seem surprised that Prince doesn't promote his music? He never seemed very comfortable when in front of a mic other than performing and he has never sounded comfortable talking about himself or his process. He seemed/seems to promote his music only when he absolutely has to. He clearly doesn't want to do it. Actually, we wouldn't have nearly as many "remove foot from mouth" moments that people get so riled up about on the org if he wouldn't do promotion interviews. Why do so many people think he is going to start promoting his music at 60? (And I'm not counting Purple Rain/Under the Cherry Moon because he was still in "world domination mode".)

[Edited 9/10/15 6:42am]

databank said:

LittlePurpleYoda said:

Oh, but aren't the sycophants cute...

I'm gonna assume u're new to the Org and pretend u didn't say that

Only as new as anyone who has been visiting since the late 1990s & remembers the site's black background.

Or should I assume you don't know the meaning of the word troll?

LittlePurpleYoda said:

databank said:

I'm gonna assume u're new to the Org and pretend u didn't say that

Only as new as anyone who has been visiting since the late 1990s & remembers the site's black background.

Or should I assume you don't know the meaning of the word troll?

I should assume u have not been here so often and have never read my posts, then

Or u wouldn't be calling me names

KingSausage said:

A) Databank is far, FAR from a sycophant. That's just silly. B) I don't love HnR by any means, but I don't find Prince boring right now. Or even the album boring. It's too shitty to be boring. Planet Earth was boring. Bland. A non-event. HnR is something very different for P, love it or hate it. C) Prince was boring between 2010 and 2014 when he wasn't releasing new albums.