GhostChick said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah he definately was a Van Hallen fan
He started doing David's splits on the Parade tour

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

I don't think OldFriends was talking about the half-splits P does on the ground, but the airborne splits P / DLR do off the drum-risers, etc.

Just to add that I posted the Deep Purple lyrics above because I felt it contains certain themes in connection with Prince. The Bambi song mentioned prior to that has a (musical) similarity with Deep Purple's music in general. It was late at night when I posted and I forgot to clarify.

Dibblekins said:

Se7en said:

mtlfan said:

Before playing "Peach" at the 1994 Berlin MTV Awards, he gave Aerosmith a shout-out. It's somewhat eerie now: "Peace to George Michael... peace to Aerosmith... peace to MTV... and death to Prince."

Those props to George Michael and Aerosmith weren't necessarily because he was a fan. It was a nod to each of those acts who were going through (or had gone through) their own battle with their record labels.

Interesting. But given Prince's immersion in white American 70s rock and Aerosmith's funky chops, I'm betting he was a fan.

IsufferfromMPS said:

Dibblekins said:

DLR did the splits on the Van Halen II album packaging - released 1979. This is maybe the most inane thing I've bothered to look up.

mtlfan said:

Doozer said:

lwr001 said:

I hate rock and roll; who want some head?:

You can tell from "When Doves Scream" that he was no stranger to Johnny Rotten's vomiting ("Fock off!").
Or maybe was it The Ramones?

In the middle of the D.M.S.R.Pizza.Hamburgers.RootBeer.Pussy rehearsal, he quotes the Talking Heads.

The Vanity 6 eponymous album bears Blondie and the B-52's as obivous influences.
Maybe The Pretenders.

ATWIAD has The Beatles sprinkled all over.

"Sister" sounds like the first album of The Clash.

Let's not forget "Best Of You" by The Foo Fighters, during the Superbowl.

He did a cover Fleetwood Mac, an incredible cover, but I can't remember the title
and can't find it in my library. Please refresh my memory if you will.


And of course the Killer himself, Jerry Lee Lewis ("Whole Lotta Shake Going'On").



Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe and such? Not a chance.
Prince could kill these punks just with "Witness 4 The Prosecution".
K.O. in the first round.


The Musicology guitar medleys often included "Can't Get No (Satisfaction)" by The Rolling Stones,
and Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.

[Edited 8/21/16 14:29pm]

he covered Whole Lotta Love quite a few times. He covered Let's Go by The Cars with 3EG.

David Lee Roth @ the Purple Rain tour 2.19.1985

CherryMoon57 said:

"Smoke On The Water"

We all came out to Montreux
On the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn't have much time
Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun
Burned the place to the ground

Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

They burned down the gambling house
It died with an awful sound
Funky Claude was running in and out
Pulling kids out the ground
When it all was over
We had to find another place
But Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race

Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

We ended up at the Grand Hotel
It was empty, cold and bare
But with the Rolling truck Stones thing just outside
Making our music there
With a few red lights, a few old beds
We made a place to sweat
No matter what we get out of this
I know, I know we'll never forget

Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky
Smoke on the water

Great song!!!! Led Zeppelin used the Stones mobile recording studio, too. Robert Plant says "No, leave it, yeah," at the beginning of a song because a plane is going overhead. I think they were at Headley Grange.

OldFriends4Sale said:

David Lee Roth @ the Purple Rain tour 2.19.1985

Don't you know he was taking credit for those splits in the air!!! Love David Lee Roth, though.

Dibblekins said:

GhostChick said:

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

I don't think OldFriends was talking about the half-splits P does on the ground, but the airborne splits P / DLR do off the drum-risers, etc.

Okay, my mistake. Only James Brown were doing those kinds of splits. This was after Tap Dancers like The Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr. were doing them.

And Michael Jackson was doing those kinds of splits during his teenage days with his brothers pre-Off The Wall.

In other words, they were ALL doing the splits before David Lee Roth!

GhostChick said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah he definately was a Van Hallen fan
He started doing David's splits on the Parade tour

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

i think he's referring to the move where he jumps in the air and touches his toes with his fingers, I never saw Wilson orBrown do that one. Prince did it on the PR tour also.

PeteSilas said:

GhostChick said:

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

i think he's referring to the move where he jumps in the air and touches his toes with his fingers, I never saw Wilson orBrown do that one. Prince did it on the PR tour also.

Yeah i believe DLR's split-kicks were from his karate influences, not Prince, or any other artist.

DollyDagger said:

CherryMoon57 said:

Great song!!!! Led Zeppelin used the Stones mobile recording studio, too. Robert Plant says "No, leave it, yeah," at the beginning of a song because a plane is going overhead. I think they were at Headley Grange.

Another cool connection with Led Zeppelin here, thanks!

IsufferfromMPS said:

Also from a musicians perspective, who do you think he would have given props to as fellow guitarists, bassists and drummers? Joe Perry Slash CC Deville?Vernon Reid Mick Mars. Nikki Sixx, Flea, Duff *drawing a blank on bass players and drummers names*Tommy Lee .....blank .... But u get the idea

The idea I get is that you really like Motley Crue. Nikki Sixx, BTW, can barely hold a bass much less play it.

Rock dominated the radio where he was from, so it should be fair to say that he was quite familiar with a lot of the artists and their music during his younger years. He got a lot of free music from WB as well, so his tastes were all over the place.

he tryied to sign Warrant to paisley park

Warrant is an American glam metal band formed in 1984 in Hollywood, California, that ... fame on the L.A. club scene, the band recorded a demo tape in September 1987 for Paisley Park Records, a record label owned by musician Prince.

[Edited 8/24/16 4:31am]

Not 80s, but I read somewhere (can't remember where) that Prince was a fan of Primus - maybe it was Alan Leeds who said he'd hear Prince listening to them at some point.

GhostChick said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

yeah he definately was a Van Hallen fan
He started doing David's splits on the Parade tour

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

not those splits lol these splits (others here said it)

I saw a pic or two where Prince did it on the PR tour but it looks like his pants weren't made for em and they split in the lower crotch/butt area lol

quote I found: "Apollonia stated that Prince showed off HIS ability to do that one day during the Purple Rain filming when she stayed with him and asked her who that reminded her of - David, her then boyfriend!"

GhostChick said:

Dibblekins said:

I don't think OldFriends was talking about the half-splits P does on the ground, but the airborne splits P / DLR do off the drum-risers, etc.

Okay, my mistake. Only James Brown were doing those kinds of splits. This was after Tap Dancers like The Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr. were doing them.

And Michael Jackson was doing those kinds of splits during his teenage days with his brothers pre-Off The Wall.

In other words, they were ALL doing the splits before David Lee Roth!

these splits

OldFriends4Sale said:

GhostChick said:

Okay, my mistake. Only James Brown were doing those kinds of splits. This was after Tap Dancers like The Nicholas Brothers and Sammy Davis Jr. were doing them.

And Michael Jackson was doing those kinds of splits during his teenage days with his brothers pre-Off The Wall.

In other words, they were ALL doing the splits before David Lee Roth!

these splits

I KNOW what splits you are talking about! There were tons of Dancers and people doing those splits BEFORE David Lee Roth.

MJ, James Brown, The Nicholas Brothers, Black Lindy Hop Dancers; so many more before David Lee Roth.

There have been plenty of dancers and singers doing these massive stage acrobats looooonng before Rock stars started doing it on stage. Prince ain't copied JACK from David Lee Roth. Prince learned from the greats!

[Edited 8/24/16 13:32pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

GhostChick said:

Um, he was doing those splits before the Parade Tour.

Mainly because James Brown AND Jackie Wilson used to do those SAME SPILTS; two people who influenced Prince in his stage performance.

And they came way before David Lee Roth.

not those splits lol these splits (others here said it)

I saw a pic or two where Prince did it on the PR tour but it looks like his pants weren't made for em and they split in the lower crotch/butt area lol

quote I found: "Apollonia stated that Prince showed off HIS ability to do that one day during the Purple Rain filming when she stayed with him and asked her who that reminded her of - David, her then boyfriend!"

See my answer below.

And for the record, these are toe touches.

GhostChick said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

these splits

I KNOW what splits you are talking about! There were tons of Dancers and people doing those splits BEFORE David Lee Roth.

MJ, James Brown, The Nicholas Brothers, Black Lindy Hop Dancers; so many more before David Lee Roth.

There have been plenty of dancers and singers doing these massive stage acrobats looooonng before Rock stars started doing it on stage. Prince ain't copied JACK from David Lee Roth. Prince learned from the greats!

[Edited 8/24/16 13:32pm]

you'd have to show me pics of wilson and james doing that move, sure, i know they could, they were great athletes, but i never saw them do that one. come to think of it, i've never even seen jackie wilson do the splits at all, show me if you find footage. he did lots of stuff but not splits.

[Edited 8/24/16 15:11pm]

GhostChick said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

not those splits lol these splits (others here said it)

I saw a pic or two where Prince did it on the PR tour but it looks like his pants weren't made for em and they split in the lower crotch/butt area lol

quote I found: "Apollonia stated that Prince showed off HIS ability to do that one day during the Purple Rain filming when she stayed with him and asked her who that reminded her of - David, her then boyfriend!"

See my answer below.

And for the record, these are toe touches.

lol still splits. I think you thought I was disputing the down 2 the ground splits.
But we never saw Prince do them to this calibur till 1986

And I posted the quote of a quote of Apollonia stating that Prince was definately recognizing David Lee Roth when he started doing them. Nothing wrong with that. David was a fantastic rock lead/front man. And Apollonia was dating David at the time.

PeteSilas said:

GhostChick said:

I KNOW what splits you are talking about! There were tons of Dancers and people doing those splits BEFORE David Lee Roth.

MJ, James Brown, The Nicholas Brothers, Black Lindy Hop Dancers; so many more before David Lee Roth.

There have been plenty of dancers and singers doing these massive stage acrobats looooonng before Rock stars started doing it on stage. Prince ain't copied JACK from David Lee Roth. Prince learned from the greats!

[Edited 8/24/16 13:32pm]

you'd have to show me pics of wilson and james doing that move, sure, i know they could, they were great athletes, but i never saw them do that one. come to think of it, i've never even seen jackie wilson do the splits at all, show me if you find footage. he did lots of stuff but not splits.

[Edited 8/24/16 15:11pm]

I've never seen any of them do those karate / cheerleader jump-splitst

this is the farthest James Brown ever got. He had the movies though

when I see these photos of Prince jumping, it gives me a little zap of pain, know how much pain he was in later

OldFriends4Sale said:

PeteSilas said:

you'd have to show me pics of wilson and james doing that move, sure, i know they could, they were great athletes, but i never saw them do that one. come to think of it, i've never even seen jackie wilson do the splits at all, show me if you find footage. he did lots of stuff but not splits.

[Edited 8/24/16 15:11pm]

I've never seen any of them do those karate / cheerleader jump-splitst

this is the farthest James Brown ever got. He had the movies though

when I see these photos of Prince jumping, it gives me a little zap of pain, know how much pain he was in later

i had been a martial artist for many years, i wouldn't think that move would be that bad, i think it's all the jumping around, wearing high heels and the splits which did the real damage. My hips bother me but i don't really know if it's from the kicking or the weight gain with age. lots of older athletes need those hip replacements. One of Prince's faults in my opinion was he just would not entertain the idea that his body was getting older, none of us like to face that but as an athlete myself, when my body started to tell me, i listened up loud and clear.

I don't care what Apples said about Prince recognizing DLR doing the splits. You know why? Because he also mentioned the "greats" of the past and their stage presence and doing splits, toe touches and dancing on stage. Apples didn't know that history.

The Nicholas Brothers practically invented doing the "toe touches" in dance routins. And NOBODY, not MJ, not Prince, not James Brown himself, can dance like The Nicholas Brothers did.

GhostChick said:

I don't care what Apples said about Prince recognizing DLR doing the splits. You know why? Because he also mentioned the "greats" of the past and their stage presence and doing splits, toe touches and dancing on stage. Apples didn't know that history.

The Nicholas Brothers practically invented doing the "toe touches" in dance routins. And NOBODY, not MJ, not Prince, not James Brown himself, can dance like The Nicholas Brothers did.

Which reminds me of a great video I saw a few years ago on YT, it's called Jumpin Jive - Cab Calloway and the Nicholas Brothers, a must watch for all dance lovers (they start at about 1:30 but the whole video and music is excellent).