I remember from somewhere that he liked Fleetwood Mac. Then didn't he say that he appreciated Bowie's music at one of his shows this year? That's all I know about his rock interests. I'm now interested though.

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

IsufferfromMPS said:

I've always wondered if P and EVH met up at the 1991 MTV awards...Both of them played that evening: P with 'Gett Off'; VH with 'Poundcake'.

rogifan said:

IsufferfromMPS said:

Yes he definitely had a wide range of tastes musically as well as influences but im talking about that time period of rock. The mtv headbangers ball era of rock.

I don't remember him ever specifically mentioning 80s hair bands. Though I always thought some of the guitar work in Let's Go Crazy was either inspired by or a response to Eddy Van Halen.

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

lwr001 said:

IsufferfromMPS said:

Like him hearing welcome to the jungle, paradise city. Wonder did he think damn!! GnR is badass, they're gonna change up the rock game. Tight band as a whole and Slash is a bad mfkr. Maybe dr feelgood. This is tight! Nikki sixx is killin that bass line. Wild side Tommy's got some skills on the drums and I like his showmanship. Im feelin the Crue. EVH is the shit! Me and him could do some badass music together. Give it away now, hmmmm could kinda see myself doing that song Wow. I see a whole bunch of these dudes took their style cues from me.

He liked the guy who was drumming for Tom Petty et al - we know that much, as there was a great article put out about their interaction after the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction.

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He clearly always had a liking for guitar-driven rock - as early as 'I'm Yours', that comes through...Plus, in MN, he had no choice but to be quite eclectic in his tastes.

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With regards to EVH, no way would he have wanted to play with Prince - mainly because EVH struggles to adapt to any other sort of style (or music) other than his own. Prince, on the other hand, is a great mimic - I'd like to have seen him going toe to toe with EVH. And, as I say, SURELY there must be some record of the two of them meeting backstage at the 1991 MTV awards? Surely!?!?

purplemajesty23 said:

I remember from somewhere that he liked Fleetwood Mac. Then didn't he say that he appreciated Bowie's music at one of his shows this year? That's all I know about his rock interests. I'm now interested though.

ya, i was surprised when i read that in alan lights' bio, calling them "Prince's beloved Fleetwood Mac"

all the years I'd followed him, i don't remember hearing any particular mention of them. He did mention Led Zepplin and everyone knows that he was a fan of Grand Funk Railroad. Prince had so many influences it's impossible to list them all. I know he liked T-Rex, Elvis,The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bowie, Also, he must have had his ear t the ground in the PR days as he realized Purple Rain was structured Like the Journey song. He must have had some heavy metal faves too because so many of his songs showed that, but I can't remember him mentioning any of the great bands of his time. There was the imagery of the apocalypse in common with Iron Maiden, I've also read that Pink Floyd influenced some of the SOTT material as well as the kinks. He listened to so many things, even watched so many things. I caught on to this fact long ago when i saw music shorts from the 30's and forties and noticed that Prince imitated a lot of their little mannerisms. The guy was wide open in his prime.

IsufferfromMPS said:

Views to comment ratio ... Hmm. Interesting The question is purely speculation as pretty much anything related to his likes or dislikes is. Unless u heard it directly from the horses mouth or u actually knew him and had discussions with him, it's all speculation and opinions. This was not spoken about by him really, and again it's probably due to the fact they were all out at the same time period and he didn't speak much during that time anyway. That's what made me think about it. Real musicians and artists always listen to other peoples music. When he made comments about not listening to other peoples music, it was when music died and became garbage so thats totally understandable but that wasnt the case in the 80s to early 90s

naw, he was saying that even in his prime, i think it was just to ad mystery though. I was a kid so I believed that shit, now I don't. He was obviously familiar with punk, new wave and a lot of the lesser known funk groups from that time. It's not what you say, it's what you do and he threw a lot of stuff into the gumbo. I always thought his keyboard motif in the beautiful ones was reminiscent of one of the eagles guys, henley or something, "Dirty Laundry" also, we know he loved culture club which you would think he'd hate or think is beneath him, but no, he loved the stuff. The "i don't listen to anyone else's music" was just for effect.

[Edited 8/20/16 14:25pm]

You can definitely hear some Deep Purple influence in Bambi, but that's 70's rock.

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."

"Smoke On The Water"

mtlfan said:

I read somewhere that P and Andre Cymone both dug Thin Lizzy?

OldFriends4Sale said:

rogifan said:

IsufferfromMPS said: I don't remember him ever specifically mentioning 80s hair bands. Though I always thought some of the guitar work in Let's Go Crazy was either inspired by or a response to Eddy Van Halen.

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.

luv2tha99s said:

I feel like P Got a lot of influence from the people listed above As well as groups like Steely Dan And Chicago. [Edited 8/20/16 19:59pm]

Yes, I remember him officially mentionning Steely Dan (along with Carlos Santana and other names) at an award show (can't remember what show / year but it was post 2000).
Perhaps someone can refresh my memory.