BlueShakooo said:

Will.I.Am told the story in another interview as well.

As far as I remember he told there, that he had said to Michael afterwards something like:

"Well , that was just Prince's way of saying Hello".

I like that!

And I read Michael said " Prince is a meanie" lol.

jimmy3121 said:

cloveringold85 said:

.

It's a great interview and it makes me laugh every time I watch it. I agree; I can definitely see Prince doing something like this. He had a great sense of humor; and was probably trying to show MJ up by "playing the bass in yo' face!" LMAO!!

Yes, I heard how Prince was very upset when MJ passed. Both MJ and Prince's career was skyrocketing at the same time, so they were rivals, but I think they always had a love and respect for one another. I could see Prince distancing himself from MJ as to not take away his spotlight, if you know what I mean. That's how Prince was; very respectful of other artists. I don't think he ever disrespected another artists and even if he didn't like another artists, he would be very polite about it, LOL

With what I saw at shows he would take his swings here and there at MJ= Not Very Polite...add in the Chris Rock interview never led me to believe he was in awe of MJ.....the rivals question was brought up also his reply tells all.

.

I never heard Prince speak a bad word about Michael Jackson. I saw when he was talking about MJ wanting to do "Bad" with Prince, but he wasn't disrespecting MJ. Prince and MJ had a totally different style. They were both great. Prince did say MJ was a "genius", and Prince never said that word to describe many people he knew!

GoldDolphin said:

laytonian said:

klick2me said: . He was showing up MJ, who sang and danced only.

False information. MJ wrote, produced, choreographed (his dancing & shows), directed and played the drums (his first instrument was the bongas). Even if you remove the playing of instruments, it doesn't remove that he was a genius - that our beloved Prince, loved and respected. Michael's 70s music was ON REPEAT in Paisley Park. Ask anyone who went to see Prince in Jan 2016... Prince really respected Michael and acknowledged his genius, only bitter fans want to discredit the man. Also, Prince loved to tease and to me that's what he was doing to MJ, it was indeed odd but very much Prince.

.

Yes!! Yess!!

.

Prince had nothing but love for MJ. He was devestated when Michael died. Prince used humor a lot to deal with other people; he meant no disprespect.

Identity said:

Simply put, Prince had a robust competitive streak and no small measure of egotism.

.

Oh yes!! You don't get to be "Prince" without having a strong work ethic, determination and a major EGO!!

.

He toned-down his ego a lot in his later years, thank goodness!

.

Even when he had a big ego, he was still shy, humble and down-to-earth, but when he didn't agree with something or he didn't like someone, he made it known.

bonatoc said:

MJ was without a doubt an impressive figure for Prince the teen-ager.
Now I can't speak for afro-americans, but it seems to me The Jacksons 5 represented a step further into social ascension for black americans. Michael's qualities as a vocalist are indisputable.

But here's the catch: without Quincy Jones, Bruce Swieden, and the Toto Band (or even better, the fabulous session musicians that recorded "Off The Wall" the album), I doubt Michael would have gone very far in the cross-over area. That's not to diminish his fierce will (leaving Motown for Epic, wanting to sell more copies of "Bad" than "Thriller") and the craft of his art.

But Prince? He's way beyond. He doesn't have this "even-my-grandma-likes-it" voice which appeals universally, and that's the point. Michael wanted to be associated with Disney.
Prince is for grown-ups.

If this ever happened, it was probably a way for Prince to say to Michael: "When will you grow up? That's how a man does it!". But the pinnacle of manhood for Michael was to put on a leather jacket with tons of useless metal on it, and do a choreography in some subway station. Yeah, so macho.
So there can't be a real rivalry between a manchild, and a guy who goes to bed with Diamonds AND Pearls in a one-night stand. And that is the cleanest Prince. What I wouldn't give to see Michael's face in front of a 1980 Dirty Mind Tour show.

And last but not least, Michael sucks at ping-pong.
Prince was kind enough not to humiliate him with a game of Basketball.

[Edited 7/4/17 13:47pm]

.

Marrk said:

bonatoc said:

MJ was without a doubt an impressive figure for Prince the teen-ager.
Now I can't speak for afro-americans, but it seems to me The Jacksons 5 represented a step further into social ascension for black americans. Michael's qualities as a vocalist are indisputable.

But here's the catch: without Quincy Jones, Bruce Swieden, and the Toto Band (or even better, the fabulous session musicians that recorded "Off The Wall" the album), I doubt Michael would have gone very far in the cross-over area. That's not to diminish his fierce will (leaving Motown for Epic, wanting to sell more copies of "Bad" than "Thriller") and the craft of his art.

But Prince? He's way beyond. He doesn't have this "even-my-grandma-likes-it" voice which appeals universally, and that's the point. Michael wanted to be associated with Disney.
Prince is for grown-ups.

If this ever happened, it was probably a way for Prince to say to Michael: "When will you grow up? That's how a man does it!". But the pinnacle of manhood for Michael was to put on a leather jacket with tons of useless metal on it, and do a choreography in some subway station. Yeah, so macho.
So there can't be a real rivalry between a manchild, and a guy who goes to bed with Diamonds AND Pearls in a one-night stand. And that is the cleanest Prince. What I wouldn't give to see Michael's face in front of a 1980 Dirty Mind Tour show.

And last but not least, Michael sucks at ping-pong.
Prince was kind enough not to humiliate him with a game of Basketball.

[Edited 7/4/17 13:47pm]

Bollocks.

Prince was never and never will be as popular, or as beloved as Michael Jackson. You can claim talent until the cows come home, it will always be the case. The general public don't hold Prince in as high regard as Michael Jackson.

.

Please! I wish people would stop comparing Prince and Michael Jackson! It's not a contest! MJ appealled to the "masses", while Prince had more of a "cult" following. They were two completely different artists/performers.......they were both incredibly talented geniuses!! I have nothing but love and respect for both!

.

Please, people need to stop with the rivalry between P & MJ, because there simply was none!!

scorp84 said:

Why do some people always have to turn fun MJ/Prince threads into shit? Lmao In summary: Chris, Will & MJ had a guys night out in Vegas, took in a Prince show and had a hell of a time. It did happen. Chris AND Will have spoken proudly of that moment on several occasions. Michael loved Prince. Prince loved Michael. They're both laughing at all of us right now. None of this "Vs" shit matters. It doesn't fucking matter who did/didn't write "Thriller" or who tuned the snare on "Off The Wall". At the end of it all, every song MJ laid his vocals on became HIS song. Doesn't matter if Andre, Prince or their cousin's sister's baby daddy wrote "Do Me, Baby" back in '79. It's Prince's song. Now have at it.

.

I know, right??!! I started this thread because I love Will i Ams story about Prince playing the bass in MJ's face! I thought it was funny and cute......and people want to turn this thread into an all out war! .

No hate here, please!!

.

Prince did not hate MJ and MJ didn't hate Prince. They weren't at war with one another, smh

mjscarousal said:

This was funny and cute

But I kinda have a different take...

I actually think Prince was trying to indirectly give Michael a shout out with the bass playing. Prince usually shouts out all the celebrities that attends his show. However, MJ is obviously not like any celebrity AND Prince knew that. Prince didn't want to shout Michael out because he didn't want to draw unnessesary attention to him so instead he played guitar in his face. I think this was his way of saying (hey welcome and thanks for coming out to my show, I see you and I appreciate that)

Michael probably took it the wrong way because Prince has a history of being a asshole BUT I actually think Prince wasn't trying to be in this incident.

.

I agree. That was a good way to put it. Prince wasn't disrespecting MJ; people just take things too far here......

bonatoc said:

For the record, my first heavy rotation record was Thriller. I spent half of my twelfth year evenings with my walkman and an original CrO2 K7 release. Michael will always be Michael.

I was just trying to imagine what went up in Prince's mind at the moment.
I don't think we can expect what we would call "normal" reactions on stage from these two folks, where you have to fully embody the persona you built, in order to perform.
Meaning this Prince show-off did not necessarily reflect Prince's feelings about Michael (cf. the kind words about Michael during the press conference where Prince announced he was now Prince-formerly-known-as-the-artist-formerly-known-as-Prince).

And I think Prince was the one who was boasting about it the most, because it's fair to say that Prince had to overcome more challenges to reach global superstardom, whereas Michael's pop royalty was already acquired since the childhood (again, not diminishing Michael's subsequent own achievements).

But it also could be a problem of interpretation of the gesture: what if Prince was genuinely dedicating a piece of funk to Michael without any afterthoughts, and it's only Michael's paranoia mixed with will.i.am's mischevious judgment that turned this bass slap into an ass slap?

.

I agree. No one ever produced a record like Thriller. MJ had Thriller, Prince had Purple Rain.

.

Third paragraph.......on-point!

jimmy3121 said:

BlueShakooo said:

Will.I.Am told the story in another interview as well.

As far as I remember he told there, that he had said to Michael afterwards something like:

"Well , that was just Prince's way of saying Hello".

I like that!

And I read Michael said " Prince is a meanie" lol.

.

Well, Michael was so damn sweet, so anyone would be considered a "meanie" to him! LOL

.

Have you ever seen Michael get mad/pissed-off? Even when he was upset, he was still sweet and cool like a cucumber! I be like: "Get mad, Michael.......damn it!! Swear or something!!" LOL

cloveringold85 said:

jimmy3121 said:

And I read Michael said " Prince is a meanie" lol.

.

Well, Michael was so damn sweet, so anyone would be considered a "meanie" to him! LOL

.

Have you ever seen Michael get mad/pissed-off? Even when he was upset, he was still sweet and cool like a cucumber! I be like: "Get mad, Michael.......damn it!! Swear or something!!" LOL

Yea he was a sweet heart.

mjscarousal said:

cloveringold85 said:

.

Well, Michael was so damn sweet, so anyone would be considered a "meanie" to him! LOL

.

Have you ever seen Michael get mad/pissed-off? Even when he was upset, he was still sweet and cool like a cucumber! I be like: "Get mad, Michael.......damn it!! Swear or something!!" LOL

Yea he was a sweet heart.

.

I think he was too nice. The nice people always get hurt.

jcurley said:

What I never get is Prince seeing MJ as competition. I'm not denying it to be true, I've read the testimonies if Dez Dickinson etc. However my point is surely even Prince must have realised that something like Mountains or I wish you heaven et al couldn't compete with the immediacy of something like the Way you make me feel. I mean MJ songs were written purely for sales not to hang in an art gallery. Which is fine. Prince post Purple rain,apart from D&P didn't exactly do much to reverse his commercial appeal. If we're talking about talent, I don't believe MJ if anyone was on his radar in terms of competition. Like he said"My only competition is in the past" I don't get it

.

Well said. They both had a unique talent that will never be matched. People will follow in their footsteps, but nothing/no one will ever take the place of Prince or Michael.

cloveringold85 said:

jcurley said:

What I never get is Prince seeing MJ as competition. I'm not denying it to be true, I've read the testimonies if Dez Dickinson etc. However my point is surely even Prince must have realised that something like Mountains or I wish you heaven et al couldn't compete with the immediacy of something like the Way you make me feel. I mean MJ songs were written purely for sales not to hang in an art gallery. Which is fine. Prince post Purple rain,apart from D&P didn't exactly do much to reverse his commercial appeal. If we're talking about talent, I don't believe MJ if anyone was on his radar in terms of competition. Like he said"My only competition is in the past" I don't get it

.

Well said. They both had a unique talent that will never be matched. People will follow in their footsteps, but nothing/no one will ever take the place of Prince or Michael.

Maybe. But first, I think that is a sad view on what the future can bring or the world has still to offer.

There could be a Renaissance of some kind, once everyone gets fed up with crass culture, which may happen at some point. If AI and automation of tasks leave more time for the common people to increase their culture tenfold, they'll expect more from artistic expressions. I strongly believe there is no such thing as bad taste, only lack of knowledge. The more you know about a subject, the less you're subject to being easily fooled (brickwalled masterings come to mind).

Secondly, you seem to have this bizarre and very common fascination for success, which has very little to do with art. When you have access to the media output, you can build whatever emperor, God or star you can think of. Like Coca-Cola, you just need to make it universally appealing, or sexually provocative (can't avoid youth hormones) and repeat your image to death.

Personally, I think what happens to the music business for some year now is good: I really don't think the isolation from the world that last century stardom brought to them is something to envy. Look at the way they left this world. No human being can live such adulation and keep a sane mind, or at least a balanced relationship with the outer world.

I really wish for mankind to drop this golden calf obsession. It destroys both the one on the pedestal, and the ones who adore the calf. And look, half of it is pure talent, half of it is planification and staging. The more one appears like a star, the more you'll believe s.he is one.

Prince's mystery was at times a calculated one (here's a guy who starts one of his rehearsal with "Pizza! Hamburgers! Root beer! Pussy! The perfect week-end!", who records "When Doves Scream", but all of a sudden he needs to hide behind Big Chick when he receives an award? Gimme a break), and Michael self-aggrandizing was even worse: who needs the military when one goes down the street? It's the suggestion that his mere presence could cause city-scale riots that made us believe he actually needed it. And that's the very trap he got stuck in.

[Edited 7/7/17 13:00pm]

That was Prince's way 2 say... listen MJ U are the reason there's bass in my boom, U are the reason I'm high.

bonatoc said:

cloveringold85 said:

.

Well said. They both had a unique talent that will never be matched. People will follow in their footsteps, but nothing/no one will ever take the place of Prince or Michael.

Maybe. But first, I think that is a sad view on what the future can bring or the world has still to offer.

There could be a Renaissance of some kind, once everyone gets fed up with crass culture, which may happen at some point. If AI and automation of tasks leave more time for the common people to increase their culture tenfold, they'll expect more from artistic expressions. I strongly believe there is no such thing as bad taste, only lack of knowledge. The more you know about a subject, the less you're subject to being easily fooled (brickwalled masterings come to mind).

Secondly, you seem to have this bizarre and very common fascination for success, which has very little to do with art. When you have access to the media output, you can build whatever emperor, God or star you can think of. Like Coca-Cola, you just need to make it universally appealing, or sexually provocative (can't avoid youth hormones) and repeat your image to death.

Personally, I think what happens to the music business for some year now is good: I really don't think the isolation from the world that last century stardom brought to them is something to envy. Look at the way they left this world. No human being can live such adulation and keep a sane mind, or at least a balanced relationship with the outer world.

I really wish for mankind to drop this golden calf obsession. It destroys both the one on the pedestal, and the ones who adore the calf. And look, half of it is pure talent, half of it is planification and staging. The more one appears like a star, the more you'll believe s.he is one.

Prince's mystery was at times a calculated one (here's a guy who starts one of his rehearsal with "Pizza! Hamburgers! Root beer! Pussy! The perfect week-end!", who records "When Doves Scream", but all of a sudden he needs to hide behind Big Chick when he receives an award? Gimme a break), and Michael self-aggrandizing was even worse: who needs the military when one goes down the street? It's the suggestion that his mere presence could cause city-scale riots that made us believe he actually needed it. And that's the very trap he got stuck in.

[Edited 7/7/17 13:00pm]

.

Whoa! You said a lot there! I agree with what you said here: "Secondly, you seem to have this bizarre and very common fascination for success, which has very little to do with art."

.

With regard to Prince's and MJs fame; the music business can do strange things to people. When Prince was first starting out, he was cocky and had a huge ego (well, after his first 2 albums); and it did change him. I remember reading an interview with Wendy and she was talking about the PR tour and she was saying that she did not even know who Prince was anymore because he let the success go to his "head". Wendy was like: "Who the fuck is this guy?"

.

But as Prince matured, he changed for the better and he mellowed-out. He was always humble and down-to-earth, and he never lost that aspect of his personality. He even said: "Don't make the same mistakes I did." There were certain things he would not do anymore or certain songs he would sing later in his career. I actually fell in love with him all over again around the time he turned 40! He seemed to be blossoming and becoming a better person, both in his personal life as well as his career.

.

It's not only the music industry who is to blame; it's society as a whole. Personally, I think humanity has been in decline for a long, long time, and it's only getting worse. People have no common decency or respect for each other anymore. I blame the parents, the internet; social media, the news; government.......it's not just one thing, it's so many other things. Kids are all screwed-up today; parents don't raise their kids with any values or morals it seems. Everyone is out for themselves and to hell with everyone else.

.

Sorry for this long post......We could talk about this all day! LOL

.

[Edited 7/7/17 13:25pm]

bonatoc said:

I think, and it may sound contradictory, that what we lack the most are real heroes, universally approved human beings. Souls that bring the idea of a common shared purpose. It's probably what we love about Michael and his naive (in a good way) mission to somewhat unite mankind. His thirst for universality was built on kind grounds.

I understand when you say they may never get proper successors.
I think the main culprit is the feeling of urgency we got all hypnotized with: it brought down the attention span to dangerous levels, and reduced the digestion of events and subsequent reflections to virtually nil. Every event make the one that came before useless. I think it sends back the message stating we all are useless in a way, and none of our actions, good or bad, really matters. The result being each one of us feeling angry, because it reduces our very lives to existences devoid of profound meaning. And very few people turn their anger towards themselves, hence the society's dismantlement we're experiencing.

This sense of urgency is what capitalism needs to function properly. The last thing a system based on buying and selling wants is for you to sit down and think about the real value of an object that may seduce you. High level reflection is welcomed in elite schools, but certainly not in the streets (or Malls of America — heck, the world).

The other thing such a system needs is separation: in a society living in harmony, competition acquires new meanings and new goals. But with tribes, you make up an enemy, the illusion of "if I don't get it now, someone else will". Capitalism is all for tribes. It allows to multiply the range of products. The same shite, repackaged properly, can be sold to the bikers, the housewives, the LGBT, and so forth. We are killing the concept of a permeable society.
"Purple Rain" was a mass culture phenomenon because of its melting-pot spirit, something Magnoli was able to convey with his shots of 1st avenue, who suddenly becomes this perpetuous party club where everyone is welcomed, blondes, brunettes, portoricans, freaks, you know the drill.
It's not only the Kid who embodies the american dream, but also his audience.

Yeah, strange times. We've never been so close to free mankind from work, and yet the workplaces have become utterly savage, and the fear of losing your job is still used as the main motivation for everyone to keep up with, or worse, accept as natural, the stress and the oppression that is brought upon us. The constant need for results, even if said results cause collateral damages to the people or the world we live in.

We never had so many tools to access knowledge and education, and yet we use them to post pics about not much, mainly ourselves, in a desperate need for attention, induced by this artificial competition that has been put in place. My girlfriend and I used to call it "digital pollution". If you think about the enormous mass of the useless, vain videos and photos that the Facebook and Youtube servers are filled with non-stop, and when you think of all the energy consumption these servers need to operate, then this era of ego is direct cause for atmospheric pollution.

We need real heroes again, because mankind has always advanced thanks to those who were not afraid to step forward and point the flaws in our societies. Without them, we fall into acceptance and fatality, and we end up feeling empty.
The fragile ones become violent, mischevious or God knows what else, because the real enemy is unknown, far away, sheltered in secret and protected mansions: few will ever get close to the cynical and powerful minds that lead Goldman Sachs or Bayer/Monsanto, or whatever corporation that looks at humanity as an ant farm. It's way easier to pick a visible enemy, and even more convenient if it's a minority, in which case victory is much more probable.

I really believe we need personal dreams and hopes as much as we need shared and common ones. But at the moment our intimate dreams are suggested and forced upon us, and they've lost the purity of the ones everyone experiences at some point in his youth.
As for mankind's common goals, they have become too rare. It's no wonder Obama was met with such high expectations: whenever someone seems to embody a higher goal, we rejoice. Deep down, it's proof that we aspire to go forward as a species.

It's the same noble feeling that we experience with artists that seem to defy gravity, vocal ranges, musical abilities or society. They bring back the good meaning of competition: we can make art (or science) advance, it's not set in stone, there is something better to look for, a better life.

Maybe solar power cells and AI will free us, and force us to look at the Man In The Mirror, something we're not allowed to take the time for. Oh Happy Day, when the only competition left amongst two human beings will be of the kind of "Ha! I can play bass, and you can't".

[Edited 7/7/17 14:42pm]

jcurley said:

cloveringold85 said:

daniorU said:

jcurley said:

I think there have been a multitude of successors to MJ n to be honest more talented e.g. Bruno Mars. N many female artist that fit that audience demographic.

I think the difference is everything is so accessible n abundant
Today it would be hard to create n event that could become a phenomenon.

As for Prince as JeaN Simmons from Kiss said, Prince is a singularity. Yes he broke on the pop scene but he is so much more than that. He is one of those musical bridging figures that step stone through history. He's more than one in s generation, he's an historical stepping stone

Bruno Mars more talented than Michael Jackson?

cloveringold85 said:

bonatoc said:

rogifan said:

cloveringold85 said:

jcurley said:

What I never get is Prince seeing MJ as competition. I'm not denying it to be true, I've read the testimonies if Dez Dickinson etc. However my point is surely even Prince must have realised that something like Mountains or I wish you heaven et al couldn't compete with the immediacy of something like the Way you make me feel. I mean MJ songs were written purely for sales not to hang in an art gallery. Which is fine. Prince post Purple rain,apart from D&P didn't exactly do much to reverse his commercial appeal. If we're talking about talent, I don't believe MJ if anyone was on his radar in terms of competition. Like he said"My only competition is in the past" I don't get it

.

Well said. They both had a unique talent that will never be matched. People will follow in their footsteps, but nothing/no one will ever take the place of Prince or Michael.

Prince had more talent in his pinky finger than MJ ever had. IMHO of course. I hate that if you’re a Prince fan it’s automatically assumed that you must be an MJ fan too. But I know many are and god forbid anyone say the slightest wrong thing about MJ. I once said on Facebook (in a Prince group) that MJ could never have written a song like When Doves Cry. Ooh boy that didn’t go over well.

Michael never really had the chance to grow up, he had the mentality and emotional state of a school boy up until the day he passed. Guess that is the price you pay for having your childhood taken from you.

Not sure what Prince was gettin at by playing bass in his face, maybe he just wanted to do it cause it rhymed.

[Edited 7/9/17 11:08am]

Prince was an oddball womanizing eccentric who was hard to understand, was sometimes paranoid and socially awkward, overzealously religious, and had a snarky and somewhat cut-throat competitive streak. But Prince's worst qualities were mostly apparent and his better qualities of humor, tenderness, artistic intregrity, individuality, work ethic, genuine spirituality and even generosity (to this day) are underrated and underrappreciated. His more tragic qualities are still being determined.

MJ, on the other hand, I can't relate to in anyway whatsoever. He comes off so nice and frail and little boyish. He's like an alien to me. He seems absolutely phony (and I am not saying that because he was effeminate. I don't question the sincerity of effeminate men, just him).. I have tried to watch and listen to interviews of his and I can never get through them. PLus, I suspect that he could be fiercely competitive and might even be (in some ways) more egotistical than Prince was (at least as an artist). The child molesting accusations I have trouble wrapping my head around. A part of me thinks he was completely innocent but another part of me thinks that MJ was still inappropriate in some ways. (I am leaning toward innocent because MJ was reverting back to childhood in many ways.) I remember reading about biographer J. randy Tarraborelli (who wrote a balanced book about the complicated and contradictory Sinatra). He threw his hands up in dismay when he attempted a MJ biography...its like you could see MJ in action but you could never understand him even in moments or increments. When I watch a Prince interview (like on Tavis Smiley) or listen to radio interviews, there are moments when Prince is confounding, enigmatic, and confusing. But there are also moments where he is believably normal. He could shoot the breeze.He could joke convincingly in radio interviews about ghetto cake, basketball, tv shows, and condoms on cruise boats.. MJ never seemed capable of normalcy even in moments..

I think P admired MJ and maybe even sympathized with him but I also think he thought he was kind of full of crap and resented MJ's subtle superior attitude (asking Prince to play the Wesley Snipes character in Bad wasn quite frankly insulting---the first line of the song is MJ showing up Prince presumably..Why would Prince ever agree to that??). . Prince liked to tease. MJ didn't seem to able to roll with the punches or take a joke or fire back without crying to his friends or leaving in a huff. Prince being competitive while playing bass to MJ's face (in a setting that no one but MJ's circle saw)was no big deal. WillIam saw it as no big deal and he was probably right.

[Edited 7/9/17 12:06pm]

[Edited 7/9/17 12:16pm]

bonatoc said:

I think, and it may sound contradictory, that what we lack the most are real heroes, universally approved human beings. Souls that bring the idea of a common shared purpose. It's probably what we love about Michael and his naive (in a good way) mission to somewhat unite mankind. His thirst for universality was built on kind grounds.

I understand when you say they may never get proper successors.
I think the main culprit is the feeling of urgency we got all hypnotized with: it brought down the attention span to dangerous levels, and reduced the digestion of events and subsequent reflections to virtually nil. Every event make the one that came before useless. I think it sends back the message stating we all are useless in a way, and none of our actions, good or bad, really matters. The result being each one of us feeling angry, because it reduces our very lives to existences devoid of profound meaning. And very few people turn their anger towards themselves, hence the society's dismantlement we're experiencing.

This sense of urgency is what capitalism needs to function properly. The last thing a system based on buying and selling wants is for you to sit down and think about the real value of an object that may seduce you. High level reflection is welcomed in elite schools, but certainly not in the streets (or Malls of America — heck, the world).

The other thing such a system needs is separation: in a society living in harmony, competition acquires new meanings and new goals. But with tribes, you make up an enemy, the illusion of "if I don't get it now, someone else will". Capitalism is all for tribes. It allows to multiply the range of products. The same shite, repackaged properly, can be sold to the bikers, the housewives, the LGBT, and so forth. We are killing the concept of a permeable society.
"Purple Rain" was a mass culture phenomenon because of its melting-pot spirit, something Magnoli was able to convey with his shots of 1st avenue, who suddenly becomes this perpetuous party club where everyone is welcomed, blondes, brunettes, portoricans, freaks, you know the drill.
It's not only the Kid who embodies the american dream, but also his audience.

Yeah, strange times. We've never been so close to free mankind from work, and yet the workplaces have become utterly savage, and the fear of losing your job is still used as the main motivation for everyone to keep up with, or worse, accept as natural, the stress and the oppression that is brought upon us. The constant need for results, even if said results cause collateral damages to the people or the world we live in.

We never had so many tools to access knowledge and education, and yet we use them to post pics about not much, mainly ourselves, in a desperate need for attention, induced by this artificial competition that has been put in place. My girlfriend and I used to call it "digital pollution". If you think about the enormous mass of the useless, vain videos and photos that the Facebook and Youtube servers are filled with non-stop, and when you think of all the energy consumption these servers need to operate, then this era of ego is direct cause for atmospheric pollution.

We need real heroes again, because mankind has always advanced thanks to those who were not afraid to step forward and point the flaws in our societies. Without them, we fall into acceptance and fatality, and we end up feeling empty.
The fragile ones become violent, mischevious or God knows what else, because the real enemy is unknown, far away, sheltered in secret and protected mansions: few will ever get close to the cynical and powerful minds that lead Goldman Sachs or Bayer/Monsanto, or whatever corporation that looks at humanity as an ant farm. It's way easier to pick a visible enemy, and even more convenient if it's a minority, in which case victory is much more probable.

I really believe we need personal dreams and hopes as much as we need shared and common ones. But at the moment our intimate dreams are suggested and forced upon us, and they've lost the purity of the ones everyone experiences at some point in his youth.
As for mankind's common goals, they have become too rare. It's no wonder Obama was met with such high expectations: whenever someone seems to embody a higher goal, we rejoice. Deep down, it's proof that we aspire to go forward as a species.

It's the same noble feeling that we experience with artists that seem to defy gravity, vocal ranges, musical abilities or society. They bring back the good meaning of competition: we can make art (or science) advance, it's not set in stone, there is something better to look for, a better life.

Maybe solar power cells and AI will free us, and force us to look at the Man In The Mirror, something we're not allowed to take the time for. Oh Happy Day, when the only competition left amongst two human beings will be of the kind of "Ha! I can play bass, and you can't".

[Edited 7/7/17 14:42pm]

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I agree with much of what you said......real heros; the real meaning of life; having balance; our government; digital pollution........Good one!!

rogifan said:

cloveringold85 said:

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Well said. They both had a unique talent that will never be matched. People will follow in their footsteps, but nothing/no one will ever take the place of Prince or Michael.

Prince had more talent in his pinky finger than MJ ever had. IMHO of course. I hate that if you’re a Prince fan it’s automatically assumed that you must be an MJ fan too. But I know many are and god forbid anyone say the slightest wrong thing about MJ. I once said on Facebook (in a Prince group) that MJ could never have written a song like When Doves Cry. Ooh boy that didn’t go over well.

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Ha-ha!!

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I have the utmost respect for both Prince and MJ. They were both incredible artists/performers. They both made this world a better place. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say that I love every thing and every song they ever wrote, because I don't.