Did Prince invent the sounds of the eighties. After 1999, everyone was using senths and trying to make the same sounds like him.

i wouldnt say invent...

defined maybe...

but i'd normally think of him as beyond a generational thing.

"helped shape" maybe.

if you're looking for inventors, check out a band called kraftwerk...i'm sure there would be those who'd say it goes back even further than that, but kraftwerk was responsible for bringing electronic music into pop and hip hop...afrika baambataa & grandmaster flash both recognize them bigtime, as has bowie, blondie, and lotsa other 80s icons.

check em out. it's good stuff.

He dominated the '80's sound' and evermore...

I thought the Cars used synth before the album 1999...but I know who mastered the sound of the 80's, 90's, and beyond...

Prince jumped on the synth band-wagon relatively late, although he did something with it no-one else was doing.

Anxiety said:

kraftwerk phuckin rox, man...

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Sho Nuf. Ya dig.

This maybe off topic but there was an LA Punk band called the Screamers that excluively used Synthesizers when every other punk band was using guitars and bass circa 1977. Sadly, they never releaesd anything officially. I have a live video of them and they're just amazing.If you like that kind of stuff...

PhilG said:

oooh...sounds interestin.

He definetly is 1 of the names that pops in2 people's minds (regardless if they only know the HITS) when the 80's are mentioned.

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Yes, I think he totally invented the 80's sound - Oberheim synths, Linn drum etc..
He influenfced Jam and Lewis (Janet Jackson)
He contributed to a lot of Madonna's songs
A lot of english superstars were influenced by him (Phil Collins - Sussudio, George Michael - I want your sex)
He even influenced Teddy Reilly and New Jack Swing

...what doesn't mean that he didn't kick ass with it.

gainsbourg said:

Yeah, everytime I hear that, I start to sing 1999 over the top of it - the keyboard riff is almost exact!

It's hard to say who "invented" a style, because it's hard to say when it starts and stops. Miles Davis didn't "invent" modal jazz (Kind Of Blue stuff) but he was the dominant figure of that style and hugely influential.
Like Miles, Prince didn't invent synths and Linn drums, but he was the one who used them the best IMO.

Exactly, musicians don't really 'invent' things. Inventors do! The Beatles never invented guitars or drum-kits or whatever. Prince used synths to amazing effect; and some of the sounds he created with the linn machine are amazing.

IIRC that was the whole point of "Sussudio"... it was intended as some kind of tribute to 1999


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Yeah, everytime I hear that, I start to sing 1999 over the top of it - the keyboard riff is almost exact!

invent, no...he took that ball and ran for the goal though.

what made his sound so special?

i think the fusion of rock, soul, funk, pop, dance... genius i tell u, genius !!