It's 2017 and I have come to grips now what what I am and what I will be for as far into the future as I can see. I am now a fan of a deceased artist. Much like Elvis fans or Sinatra fans or 2Pac fans, we are now all supporters of an artist who will never play another live show or cameo on a Fox TV show or just give that bemused damn look that nobody could give better than Prince. It freaking sucks, his clock got punched way too early. But going forward Prince music has the potential to be passed to future generations or maybe, after a while, others will forget and it will be just us dissecting the songs and the albums and the memories that man provided those who followed him. I am listening to Prince music again, trying to, and I was listening to 4EVer this morning and of course remembering every note, every pause, every "owah" and then I had the thought that I wonder if anyone will discover a song like Glam Slam now that the man is gone. Or Sign o the Times will be rediscovered as one of the great albums of the 20th century. What will happen to Prince's legacy? But even more I have been thinking that the vast majority of great artists no longer walk this earth. Shakespeare has been dead for four centuries, Mozart, Hemingway, Brando, Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury...hell who isn't dead? But Prince...I'm just not there yet and not sure when I will be able to listen to Prince without feeling so much pain and regret for the man. I'm still having trouble watching Robin Williams movies because I was always a huge fan but I can sit down and watch a Chris Farley movie and not think twice. Prince is dead just like all these other artists and I just can't wrap my brain around it. Screw it, this made sense when I was thinking about it but now not exactly sure what I am trying to say except that this whole thing has just been so damn surreal.

U said exactly what I've been thinking since April 21st and with the passing of George on Christmas day. The two people who truely had the biggest influence on me since I was 12 are now gone. I feel as if a huge chapter has been slammed shut and I'm having a difficult time with it. For 34 years, I've maintained a Peter Pan sort of existance. From foster care at age 12 through an entire award winning 21 year Air Force career, these two men helped shape and even put into words my deepest thoughts, joys and fears. I am grateful that I did have the pleasure of telling both of them the impact that they had on me. It's ironic that you mentioned Robin Williams in your post because while not being a mentor in the same way that Prince and George were, he did influence my comedic skills. When I had my final mental evaluation before retiring from the Air Force, the psychologist wrote in my file "suffers from Robin Williams syndrome, always has a joke in his head." I loved that that made it into my files

I am not looking forward to this chapter of being in a world without these two guys. I never understood people who were huge fans/followers of an artist who had passed. Yes, we have the music but it'll never be the same...

They say time heals, but i'm not so sure about that. You just get used to it.

It is still very sad and surreal that P is no longer physically here because we will no longer have concerts and those surprise appearances at the Grammys, Golden Globes or Oscars ever again, however the music will always live on and so will his legacy. The same with so many others we have lost over the years.

Just be grateful you got to experience his artistry while he was alive. I remember discovering Bob Marley and Tupac as a teen, imagine my surprise when I found out they'd been dead for years.

wishuhvn said:

U said exactly what I've been thinking since April 21st and with the passing of George on Christmas day. The two people who truely had the biggest influence on me since I was 12 are now gone. I feel as if a huge chapter has been slammed shut and I'm having a difficult time with it. For 34 years, I've maintained a Peter Pan sort of existance. From foster care at age 12 through an entire award winning 21 year Air Force career, these two men helped shape and even put into words my deepest thoughts, joys and fears. I am grateful that I did have the pleasure of telling both of them the impact that they had on me. It's ironic that you mentioned Robin Williams in your post because while not being a mentor in the same way that Prince and George were, he did influence my comedic skills. When I had my final mental evaluation before retiring from the Air Force, the psychologist wrote in my file "suffers from Robin Williams syndrome, always has a joke in his head." I loved that that made it into my files

I am not looking forward to this chapter of being in a world without these two guys. I never understood people who were huge fans/followers of an artist who had passed. Yes, we have the music but it'll never be the same...

I have been a Prince fan since 85 but in the late 80s, early 90s the holy trinity for me was Prince, George, and Janet. The fact that two of the three are gone, even if I admittedly abandoned George a while back, freaks me the hell out. I agree with you that it will never be the same and I feel the same way about Robin Williams movies, it is hard to enjoy them as much as I did. Robin Williams and Prince are oddly similar; both were geniuses at what they did, showed a very broad range of talents, and both of them probably released some filler that had their fans scratching their heads. That's a cool thing to be added to a file. The music just seems different now, I am trying really hard to get back into it but the sound of freedom in so many great Prince songs has been altered now by the final price that the man had to pay. Thank you for your service!

Missmusicluver72 said:

It is still very sad and surreal that P is no longer physically here because we will no longer have concerts and those surprise appearances at the Grammys, Golden Globes or Oscars ever again, however the music will always live on and so will his legacy. The same with so many others we have lost over the years.

I think where it is so hard for many of us who grew up with Prince is that his music is intertwined with our memories. It's different with artists I appreciate but was not a superfan of. Like I love the music of Bob Marley but I never invested emotionally anything into him while a lot of us pretty much had Prince playing in the background of every major event from out teens to our 40s or 50s.

GottaLetitgo said:

Missmusicluver72 said:

It is still very sad and surreal that P is no longer physically here because we will no longer have concerts and those surprise appearances at the Grammys, Golden Globes or Oscars ever again, however the music will always live on and so will his legacy. The same with so many others we have lost over the years.

I think where it is so hard for many of us who grew up with Prince is that his music is intertwined with our memories. It's different with artists I appreciate but was not a superfan of. Like I love the music of Bob Marley but I never invested emotionally anything into him while a lot of us pretty much had Prince playing in the background of every major event from out teens to our 40s or 50s.

ya, i loved george michaels early stuff but I'm not mourning, i'm more just re-listening to his great songs but no, not mourning. Prince, i'll never get over, i'll get choked up out of nowhere. I have to say to, that it feels like he let me down. I always thought he'd be here til old age. I don't like saying that, i've been discouraged by most of my heroes, friends and mentors though so why should Prince be any different? Well, i thought he was.

You put that into some great words there. I have lurked in this board for years, and shortly after P passed I tried to get back in, couldn't from the overload of traffic (gotta host on Azure to handle those kinds of loads haha), and thought it would probably be better if I just stayed away anyway, too much heartache.

You are right, P is now lumped in with many, many, many other artists I listen to. it's crazy to classify Prince that way, but there it is. Of course, there will be songs of his released long after all of us are gone (I am thinking of probably hundreds of discretely different songs that will come out in a trickle over the next 100 years) thanks to the current content owners/holders, so it is kind of cool to know that people not even born yet will get to hear the music. Prince will still be gone in 100 years but there will be a community sized in the "White Dwarf Star Stage" that will be able to check things out. I get a little comfort out of that. If P lived for the next 40 years I still probably would not hear the stuff in the vault anyway.

[Edited 1/6/17 9:11am]

As sad as I was about his death, I'm excited for his artistic legacy - he created a vast catalog of music that can be studied and remembered for generations. His life was short, but it was meaningful and impactful. He surely made his mark on the world, and changed the course of music using sheer force of will and pushing his genius to it's limits.

we do get access to stuff he held back but having him back would make all that irrelevant, not even a close tradeoff.