Hello Purple People, as somewhat of an outsider looking-in, I was wondering whether the Prince fanbase considered any of his album artwork as iconic.

For me, I love the artwork of Parade, Sign o' The Time, and LoveSexy.

The artwork following Diamonds and Pearls often left a lot to be desired.

Did this coincide with his break from Warner?

For somebody that was visually appealling and would've have been an artistic directors dream to work with, the artwork was pretty much less than memorable - even on incredible abums.

well I can't believe you started this topic right when I was here. Yesterday I saw the back of the Dirty Mind album for the first time with that drippy black writing. I have seen that writing before associated with something satanic. Are there any thoughts on whether or not Prince was ever into satanism oh say from about the time of this album cover to the mid to late 90s????

or did he ever bear a hatred towards Christians at any point...say, because dez dickerson and denise matthews walked away from him and his band? just a passing question, thanks for your answers.

Give me strength. You've seen spray can paint used in something satanic? Of course, that must mean Prince was in with the devil. For crying out loud.

Prince was never even remotely close to being a Satanist!

Whispers of occultism, yes. The backwards vocals, the weird box of twigs and leaves he allegedly gave MJ, but nothing more than a flirtation with a few pieces of gothic imagery.

I dont really know what would constitute an iconic album cover. Purple Rain would be the most recognised and an image that most people would associate with Prince. Probably the Parade album too, though not so many would actually be able to name the album by looking at the image. The Batman cover is probably iconic by virtue that the bat symbol itself is iconic.

My favourite album covers are SOTT and TRC. But most of his album covers post, and including Graffiti Bridge range from being pretty average to down right awful. Lotus was terrible, AOA was pretty dire as were the HNR's in my opinion.

Emancipation was the first truly awful cover. I remember seeing it when it was new and thinking, prior to being a fan, that I couldn't even imagine buying something so ugly. Got there in the end, though.

For me, his strongest album covers are the ones in which he's straight on to camera. Put Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy side by side: they make a stunning triptych. His musical transformation is made visual.

Parade is graphically the strongest, Lovesexy the boldest. But the ones I've spent the most time studying are 1999 and Around The World In A Day. Or Madhouse.

Everything after Lovesexy is an inexplicable trainwreck.

Camille2016 said:

Militant said:

Prince was never even remotely close to being a Satanist!

Whispers of occultism, yes. The backwards vocals, the weird box of twigs and leaves he allegedly gave MJ, but nothing more than a flirtation with a few pieces of gothic imagery.

that's what you get for epicly losing at ping pong

Hey all, I did a bit of digging and discovered that those classic 1984-1988 album covers were from the mind of a young woman called Laura LiPuma (Nash).

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Doing some digging on Laura, I found this excellent, recent, interview with her where she describes how she got the gig in the first place and the working relationship she had with Prince.

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The interview also includes some pretty cool images, including a hand-written note from Prince telling her which font to use etc.

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And did you know the colour used for Purple Rain was PMS265?

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"One day -- and I'll never forget it -- right before lunch, at about 11:30, my boss at the time came in with this look of panic on his face. It was a big art room, lots of desks and T-squares, and he came running in and looking around and going, 'Where is everybody?'

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"I look up and say, 'Everybody went to lunch,' and he said, 'Prince just called and you gotta go meet him. He wants an art meeting, and it's gotta happen NOW!' ''

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Talk about a merger of joy and abject terror.

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"I couldn't believe what I was hearing,'' she said. "I had to go meet with him when he was shooting the video for 'When Doves Cry.'

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"I met with him, and I was so altered that I don't have that much memory of it,'' said Nash, who added that the artist always had a thing for the Hostess snack treat Ding Dongs.

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"He was magnetic, compelling, intimidating, ALWAYS smelled good,'' she said.

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Here's the full article: http://www.cleveland.com/...urple.html

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Have a great evening, everybody.

People, Laura LiPuma's name has been right there on the albums in the 80's in the credits. That's why there she's been mentioned on here and other fan articles and threads elsewhere since the message board days!

Just like Steve Katz took many of the 80's photos used on albums posters and singles.

mightycow said:

airth said:

Give me strength. You've seen spray can paint used in something satanic? Of course, that must mean Prince was in with the devil. For crying out loud.

I love your response... I can almost picture you clutching your pearls...

cindyt said:

Militant said:

Prince was never even remotely close to being a Satanist!

Whispers of occultism, yes. The backwards vocals, the weird box of twigs and leaves he allegedly gave MJ, but nothing more than a flirtation with a few pieces of gothic imagery.

how do you know...you don't know anymore than i do. and all i KNOW is he was a skinny guy with a jericurl.

If that's all you know, there's a whole load of people here that know far more than you.

From Lovesexy onwards his covers albums were very cheap and not good at all. Best ones for me are: Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Parade, Sign O' The Times, Come and The Rainbow Children.

airth said:

Give me strength. You've seen spray can paint used in something satanic? Of course, that must mean Prince was in with the devil. For crying out loud.

yes something like that. I think that some of his lyrics are what I really think lead me to wonder, and performances, and etc.

Marrk said:

cindyt said:

how do you know...you don't know anymore than i do. and all i KNOW is he was a skinny guy with a jericurl.

If that's all you know, there's a whole load of people here that know far more than you.

whats your problem and you spelled your name wrong mr. narc me out to the moderator. well, I also know he was a skinny SHORT guy with a jericurl who wore high heels and had fans who can't spell their own name.

cindyt said:

or did he ever bear a hatred towards Christians at any point...say, because dez dickerson and denise matthews walked away from him and his band? just a passing question, thanks for your answers.

I was serious here. Guess you don't know what some people are capable of.

cindyt said:

Marrk said:

If that's all you know, there's a whole load of people here that know far more than you.

whats your problem and you spelled your name wrong mr. narc me out to the moderator. well, I also know he was a skinny SHORT guy with a jericurl who wore high heels and had fans who can't spell their own name.