The Thin White Duke versus The Purple One? (Bowie rest in peace)....

I have a confession to make.. my first album by David Bowie was "Lets Dance", I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it today... later I went back and discovered "Ziggy Stardust", "Scary Monsters" and others.

My first album by Prince was: "1999". Then "Purple Rain", "Controversy" and the others.

Today I own 8-10 albums by Bowie. And every album by Prince, = 30+ I guess.

Ok to answer my own question: Prince still had a bigger influence on me than Bowie did, maybe because I was in my teenage years in the 80s and also.. I just went nuts over Prince's 80s masterpiece albums 1980-1988 + the movies "Purple Rain" and "Sign O' The Times"...

But had I been a little older then maybe I would have been more influenced by Bowie.. as I understand he was huuge back in the 70s.... "Hunky Dory" and "Ziggy Stardust" and several more:

I feel the deepest respect for both of these "superstars".

Sad Bowie is gone now, he has always been a "gentleman" making fantastic music and now it feel so strange a world without Bowie, damn what a sad day this is.

And Prince is kind of "gone" as well, selling 7,000 copies of HnR Phase 1 (in case these figures are true?).

BUT back then in the 70s and 80s (mainly) - oh dear these 2 stars were the top of it ALL.



Now can you decide? Who (Bowie or Prince) had the biggest influence in your life?


(now: please don't answer "Dylan", "Beatles" or "Michael Jackson" - this is Bowie versus Prince)

Prince... but I am a big enough Bowie fan to have even tried to emulate him as a teenager, even did the Screaming Lord Byron makeup on my face for fun. Before I had bought a single Prince album I had made a best of cassette of Bowie (in 1984). It was played until it unspooled and got stuck in the player. It happened during "Starman".

I just discovered this blog to learn lots about Bowie and do aim to collect all his albums (and boots too if I can find them): https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com

But Prince inspiration has propelled me to attempt be creative in a productive and multitasking kind of way... and it's how I make a living right now as a freelancer through sound and video production as a one man production house.

Because of Bowie, I understood Prince.

[Edited 1/11/16 10:04am]

Couldn't this thread wait a couple of days?

Ugh... Forget it.

[Edited 1/11/16 10:14am]

I got into Prince first, so he had more influence on my tastes during my teen years. I got into Bowie from Lets Dance but really got into him later after Life on Mars? was introduced to my ears. Since then Bowie has become much more influential to my musical tastes than Prince. Blackstar is the work from an adult artist still stretching. AOA was a step forward, but both HitnRuns, while entertaining, sounds like an artist coasting.

You cannot compare the cultural impact of Bowie w. that of Prince. Bowie is on the level of the Beatles and Dylan. Prince is a supremely talented musician, but Bowie was so much more.

Rest in peace. Bowie, you were truly great! Even though I just own a few of his albums, I consider him one of the greatest of modern times.

I think Bowie has had more cultural impact, while Prince might have had more impact on sound and music styles. Prince was an inventor first, and chameleon next. Bowie was a powerful force in all styles, but instead of inventing completely new styles in music, he perfected what others had done before him, and added some new textures to it. It's a reason why he is called a chameleon. Prince was a music innovator. David was too. But he was imo more of a cultural innovator. I'm sure alot of people will disagree. I'm not a Bowie professor. I love his music though. His last album is very good. He'll be truly missed.

paulludvig said:

pernil said:

They're both titans, but Bowie probably has the bigger chair at the titan round-table. Love them both.

Don't you guys think you're underrestimating the power of Prince. I mean, sales wise no. But I don't know, there's something about his legacy that feels...holy, special, tranceding, otherwordly. Like you can't bring this huge catalog our output on your own, it's like too good to be true, but it really is true. I'm not only speaking about his own work, but that he took precious time and continued bringing amazing music to associated acts. When Prince passes away and people finally hear "Cool" "Get it up" "The Walk" "777-9311" "Nasty Girl" "If a girls anwers (don't hang up)" "Susannah's Pyjamas" etc etc they will think. "Holy Shit! This is funky! Which band is this?" "Prince baby" . I got into Prince when music journalists started talking about how unbelivable he is. And a Hip Hop program on radio said the same thing.

Horrific news and a depressing work day since I found out first thing in the morning.

[Edited 1/11/16 12:40pm]

For my money there is no comparison.

I own about 4 Bowies cds....................and about 500 Prince ones.

Prince

Graycap23 said:

tongueinthecrease said:

paulludvig said:

Couldn't this thread wait a couple of days?

That's what I was thinking, but I thought I was being too sensitive.

Nope, I was thinking the same thing. It's way too soon for this discussion.

David Bowie is and always will be far and away a more culturally respected artist, writer, musician, artist, actor and significant figure in history than Prince. Prince is great, but he isn't Bowie.

It's terrible how some of you are using this thread to spew even more venom about Prince. Why are you on this FAN SITE if you hate Prince so much? Leave already!

SeventeenDayze said:

V10LETBLUES said:

Prince never owned any part of the 90's. None of it. He was a joke in the 90's to everyone but 6 people here in the org. Bowie has never been a joke. He has always been an artist that people respected whether he sold records or not. He was an artist through and through. Prince began to pander and try to hock a cartoonish version of himself as a ploy to make money that didn't work. True artist don't dumb themselves down and exploit themselves without regard to themselves or their fans. That's called prostitution. Bowie never prostituted himself like that.

Indeed.

TOPIC- When I was younger Prince was my main influence but when he changed his name to the symbol, wrote 'slave' on his face, the multiple website debacles, and the two faced religious preaching’s I didn't believe in him any longer. Even his music suffered and some concerts he would actually belittle his past work saying things like 'if you came here for Purple Rain' you're in the wrong house, blah blah blah'. I've never experienced another artist do such a thing. The masses thought Prince was the Kid from PR but he really turned out to be a control freak crybaby bitch as he aged and it made it more difficult to seperate the person from the music.

-

Bowie's music has a longer standing impact on me than Prince as I've gotten older.

I would have loved to have dinner with Bowie. If Prince were over for dinner he would probably try to feel my wife's leg under the table while Bowie would just openly suggest a 3-some. Bowie seems genuine and Prince (the person) gives off all the creep warnings.

-

During the George Lopez interview with Prince, George made the comment that Prince's efforts for charities have raised 10 million dollars and Prince's response was 'that much?' That just stood out to me because I expected him to reply with something like 'I wish it could be so much more.'

Given Prince's history/battles over money I was disappointed with his answer and it influenced my opinion of him in a negative way.

-

Conclusion: Both Bowie and Prince have had significant influences on me but Bowie’s is the lasting.

I'm grateful for how Prince's music helped me through my teenage angst but somewhere along the way we lost touch as we grew older and changed. The same way he changed the lyrics of some of his songs.

SeventeenDayze said:

It's terrible how some of you are using this thread to spew even more venom about Prince. Why are you on this FAN SITE if you hate Prince so much? Leave already!

I still buy every Prince album and song release.

I even purchased the Baltimore single months ago out of respect and I hate that song.

Both--Bowie first, before there was a Prince, and then later, Prince. Bowie's loss is huge.

Prince's music has had a much bigger affect on my life. But I would much rather have a coffee and conversation with Bowie than Prince. Bowie came accross as an approachable person, Prince lives in a bubble where walking and talking like a superstar seems to be his primary goal. But, I never had coffee with Bowie and Im not going to meet Prince, so all that remains is the music and Prince has the upper hand for me. Im going to buy Blackstar today though, I havent heard any of it yet. I hear it is pretty good.

Everything has infuence on me. Or nothing. I don't know if *really* Prince or Bowie influences my life.

I think they can help us to keep living.

I'm 46 age old, and I feel Bowie more "adult". Blackstar is a mature album for mature people. Hitnruns are a nice toys. The Prince's world is funny but smaller. If Bowie is art & culture, Prince is joke & religion. Different, we can have all of those.

thedance said:

Now can you decide? Who (Bowie or Prince) had the biggest influence in your life?

Without a doubt, Prince.

I was always a fan of David Bowie's radio stuff, but i didn't really start to get into him until much later(the late 90's). Having said that though, David Bowie has been making vital music since at least 1970. And to be honest, a lot of people view David as being the superior "artist".

They both are legends though, and i respect the hell out of both of them.