Going by the conventional wisdom that P's best work is the 1978-88 time period (or even 82-88), with sporatic greatness thereafter, one element that sticks out from the classic era is the "humor component" in the music, lyrics, presentation, etc. Sometimes by proxy (Morris Day), sometimes direct (UTCM/Parade persona), a sense of playfulness marked the oeurve of 80s Prince. The Black Album was shelved for being "too bleak", "Dance w/ the Devil" kept off Batman etc...

The early/mid 90s was obviously marked by a somewhat darkly comedic record company spat that progressively turned darker. The early '00s became extremely self serious what with the JW conversion and LG connection.

However, a swing back to mainstream popularity was married to the more humorous vibe of the Musicology persona/interviews/album tour, that carried through to 3121 (Black Sweat video)... Did that sense of levity help restore popularity?

Why was the public less accepting of an angrier/darker Prince?

Notably the last few albums/years saw the darkness creep back in to the theme of AOA, comments to media, but for most of that time the persona stayed more outwardly buoyant.

Certainly for the modern music listening public persona and actual work go hand in hand and very much influence larger acceptance....

Any thoughts on this?

fourletterwords said:

Going by the conventional wisdom that P's best work is the 1978-88 time period (or even 82-88), with sporatic greatness thereafter, one element that sticks out from the classic era is the "humor component" in the music, lyrics, presentation, etc. Sometimes by proxy (Morris Day), sometimes direct (UTCM/Parade persona), a sense of playfulness marked the oeurve of 80s Prince. The Black Album was shelved for being "too bleak", "Dance w/ the Devil" kept off Batman etc...

The early/mid 90s was obviously marked by a somewhat darkly comedic record company spat that progressively turned darker. The early '00s became extremely self serious what with the JW conversion and LG connection.

However, a swing back to mainstream popularity was married to the more humorous vibe of the Musicology persona/interviews/album tour, that carried through to 3121 (Black Sweat video)... Did that sense of levity help restore popularity?

Why was the public less accepting of an angrier/darker Prince?

Notably the last few albums/years saw the darkness creep back in to the theme of AOA, comments to media, but for most of that time the persona stayed more outwardly buoyant.

Certainly for the modern music listening public persona and actual work go hand in hand and very much influence larger acceptance....

Any thoughts on this?

gosh i love when he is funny, but i guess artistically he wasn't a comedian so i think when he was it

was a great glimpse to a side to his personality but was not the major component to his musical personality. I think maybe his day to day still had humor and plenty of it, but musically he went with

whatever was driving the inspiration for the album. But i adore funny P.

purplefam99 said:

laurarichardson said:

purplefam99 said:

gosh i love when he is funny, but i guess artistically he wasn't a comedian so i think when he was it

was a great glimpse to a side to his personality but was not the major component to his musical personality. I think maybe his day to day still had humor and plenty of it, but musically he went with

whatever was driving the inspiration for the album. But i adore funny P.

--Everybody who knew him said he had a great sense of humor.

Exactly what I've heard too.

I thought Emanicpation had some very funny moments on it ("I ain't got a job - but I got STYLE! Right on!", "Shake yo ass, Shirley!", "Oh, great. Now you think you're my soulmate. You don't even know what cereal I like... WRONG!! Captain Crunch - with soy milk. 'Cause cows are for calves" are three examples that spring immediately to mind). Not bad for the bleak late '90s.

Mumio said:

laurarichardson said:

purplefam99 said: --Everybody who knew him said he had a great sense of humor.

Exactly what I've heard too.

Me too...

E V E R Y B O D Y !

I think humor was a big component of Prince's work and its most underrated component. Fans and hardcore fans know about his humor. Casual fans do not as much.

I do think the early 90's kind of lacked humor (except for a darker almost offensive humor occasionally present in songs like 18 and over..etc).

THIS ---- is a huge part of what i love about our PRINCE... and specifically the 1986 era.. (parade)

he finally showed us his personality after yaears of being kinda 'DARK' and mysterious..

(people actually thought he was into devil worship, voodoo, wild sex with varied genders ect..

in the early 80's!)

Why are Prince fans so obsessed with his declining popularity in the 90's? Are Stevie Wonder fans worrying about his last 30 years of no number 1 hits or major pop music popularity? Aretha fans? James Brown fans? Elton John fans? Prince owned a decade, which is about what a great artist gets if they are truly great. Enjoy the period he was on top and revel in the music he gave us that few know about. On the subject of his humor, Prince really did have a range of humor, he could be very dark and dry so even when he was being funny, it only appealed to a certain ear.

Very appreciable thread. Humor and comedy should not be confused here, though. Whatever happened to Prince after Lovesexy, it took a lot of the humor out of his music. The playfullness, the ambiguity had been keystones in his heyday. And they were door-openers, at least to me. Parts of his records right up to Batman featured a lot of musical verbosity, which were always funny to me. Bits and pieces used to pop up here and there in his later work (the silly little dialogue right after the instrumental middle-part in The Everlasting Now, for example), but as far as humor is concerned, his later work pretty much sucked. But then again, not many religious fanatics have ever displayed much of a sense of humor. Maybe because the bible's (or whatever other book it might be) impact is being achieved by spreading guilt and atonement. „All praise and glory to Johavo god" - now, how much fun can you actually place around that?

dave1dmarx said:

I thought Emanicpation had some very funny moments on it ("I ain't got a job - but I got STYLE! Right on!", "Shake yo ass, Shirley!", "Oh, great. Now you think you're my soulmate. You don't even know what cereal I like... WRONG!! Captain Crunch - with soy milk. 'Cause cows are for calves" are three examples that spring immediately to mind). Not bad for the bleak late '90s.

Good point. I LOVE Emancipation - and both of those songs! - and it definitely had some great, light moments (and some heavy, deep ones too). I just find it interesting that when Prince brought out that side of his personality more overtly in/about '04, he seemed to regain that more universal popularity.

Polo1026 said:

Why are Prince fans so obsessed with his declining popularity in the 90's? Are Stevie Wonder fans worrying about his last 30 years of no number 1 hits or major pop music popularity? Aretha fans? James Brown fans? Elton John fans? Prince owned a decade, which is about what a great artist gets if they are truly great. Enjoy the period he was on top and revel in the music he gave us that few know about. On the subject of his humor, Prince really did have a range of humor, he could be very dark and dry so even when he was being funny, it only appealed to a certain ear.

Absolutely agree. I cherish the mid-90s stuff and introducing others to stuff they missed (or ignored). I just find it interesting how when that "lighter touch" was reintroduced to his approach to fans/media/subject matter he was re-embraced like it was 1984 again. The buzz lasted for several years, too.

Unlike Stevie or Elton, I believe Prince's quality of released material did not depreciate (at least at the same pace). For me, Elton post 1983 and Stevie post the late 70s, saw a pretty big dip. Prince, if anything, strengthened certain talents but saw less and less appreciation, until it came storming back...

nonesuch said:

Very appreciable thread. Humor and comedy should not be confused here, though. Whatever happened to Prince after Lovesexy, it took a lot of the humor out of his music. The playfullness, the ambiguity had been keystones in his heyday. And they were door-openers, at least to me. Parts of his records right up to Batman featured a lot of musical verbosity, which were always funny to me. Bits and pieces used to pop up here and there in his later work (the silly little dialogue right after the instrumental middle-part in The Everlasting Now, for example), but as far as humor is concerned, his later work pretty much sucked. But then again, not many religious fanatics have ever displayed much of a sense of humor. Maybe because the bible's (or whatever other book it might be) impact is being achieved by spreading guilt and atonement. „All praise and glory to Johavo god" - now, how much fun can you actually place around that?

Good points. Perhaps the humor in the music was less effective, but he at least tried to re-introduce a bit of fun.

Persona-wise, however, I think he made a concerted effort to lighten up post 2003. Such as the Jay Leno interview pre-Musicology tour, Black Sweat video, the "New Girl" TV Show appearance as himself, Chapelle dressed as Prince on cover art of "Breakfast Can Wait" ....

fourletterwords said:

nonesuch said:

Very appreciable thread. Humor and comedy should not be confused here, though. Whatever happened to Prince after Lovesexy, it took a lot of the humor out of his music. The playfullness, the ambiguity had been keystones in his heyday. And they were door-openers, at least to me. Parts of his records right up to Batman featured a lot of musical verbosity, which were always funny to me. Bits and pieces used to pop up here and there in his later work (the silly little dialogue right after the instrumental middle-part in The Everlasting Now, for example), but as far as humor is concerned, his later work pretty much sucked. But then again, not many religious fanatics have ever displayed much of a sense of humor. Maybe because the bible's (or whatever other book it might be) impact is being achieved by spreading guilt and atonement. „All praise and glory to Johavo god" - now, how much fun can you actually place around that?

Good points. Perhaps the humor in the music was less effective, but he at least tried to re-introduce a bit of fun.

Persona-wise, however, I think he made a concerted effort to lighten up post 2003. Such as the Jay Leno interview pre-Musicology tour, Black Sweat video, the "New Girl" TV Show appearance as himself, Chapelle dressed as Prince on cover art of "Breakfast Can Wait" ....

I see what you mean, but his humor/quirks in the 70s and most of the 80s added to his mystique, if you like. Look at the other two. Jackson? Taking himself way to serious. There was not humor in his music, not at all. Same with Madonna and Springsteen. Prince didn't need to take things as serious as the other three. That might be due to his musicality, which none of the other "superstars" even dared to question. Humor is a great way to win people over. And those who got Prince's, will cherish those days, I'm sure.

Prince's understood that there were parallels between funk and humor. Both are rhythmnic, hard to define, a bit off, and a twist on the usual.

As for 2000's Prince humor, I think due to his religion it was forced to be more subtle. But I have to say clean humor is harder to pull off than dirty humor and there were times when he incorporated suggestively dirty humor quite well in some of his song and certainly on stage. What is that song when he sings about wondering which one of them had stinky breath in bed and I says "I had the regular chips; you had them other kind"..LOL.

purplerabbithole said:

Prince's understood that there were parallels between funk and humor. Both are rhythmnic, hard to define, a bit off, and a twist on the usual.

double post

[Edited 8/3/17 5:17am]

Lovejunky said:

this has been posted before but needs to be read again if youve already seen it..

kind of On Topic....

http://www.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2013/04/18/an-incomplete-and-disorderly-catalog-of-princes-dirty-songs

My fave......

Poom Poom—

wherein Prince has been writing dirty songs for two decades and

has completely exhausted the English language

his funniest song is movie star...

go 2 hades, boy!

ForbiddenFruit said:

his funniest song is movie star...

go 2 hades, boy!

Seriously Funny..

I had to grab the Lyrics....

"Movie Star"

and what about Calling Cindy Crawford

a Superfine Heifer !

after telling her, that h,d pay her usual fee

Lovejunky said:

ForbiddenFruit said:

his funniest song is movie star...

go 2 hades, boy!

Seriously Funny..

I had to grab the Lyrics....

"Movie Star"

Incense - check
Environmental records - double check!
I'ma get some serious drawers 2night, think I ain't?
Let's see, if I tell Gilbert and 'Rome 2 meet me 11 then I creep at
10
That'll give me an hour of free reign
Mo' drawers (Mo' drawers)

9:30 - gettin' dressed
I had a couple sips of wine
Boo! - I swear 2 God
My suit was hangin' fine
Everybody at the club freaked
When I stepped from the limousine
They said - "Ooh, it's good 2 see ya"
I said - "Oh, it's good 2 be seen
U know what I mean?"

Tell U what's good
It's a good thing we live close cuz I almost suffocated in that car
Next time I won't wear so much Paco Rabinni or whatever that
stuff...
I wonder if they got potato chips up in this...
Man, this ain't like them house parties we used 2 go 2
That's alright, I'm clean

2night, hey, I'm a movie star
I see myself on a silver screen, huh
2night, it don't matter who U are
I'm the only star on the scene
U know what I mean?

Man, I hate makin' movies
But I like that money, think I don't? Hmph

Check me out
I just walk in, don't even find a seat
Just threw my coat right on the floor
Grab somebody 4 a quick dance
Boy or girl - it don't matter no more, I'm hot!
Ha, ha, ha - shit
Mix was right
Bold, Lord

Ouch! Ha, ha
Baby, do U wanna, do U wanna get off?

2night, I'm a movie star
I see myself up on the silver screen
2night, it don't matter
I'm the star on the scene
Ouch!

Mix was right
On the 1 the kick drum hit the triple beat
Baby, I was poppin'
Did one spin, did a second, did the splits
Came up, looked around, the joint was hoppin'
Hoppin'! The joint was hoppin'!
Somebody say "Movie Star!"

So check it out, U wanna dance?

Are U wearing that Paco Rabbit or whatever U call it?

Oh wow, that's dog

What? Speak up, I can't hear over that suit

Maybe U can hear this?

Am I supposed 2 be impressed?

That's right, Rolls Royce
Check it out, baby
U wanna dance now?

Maybe next song

Yeah right, dance floor is not big enough, fat cow

Ooh, the mix, it's about the mix
Ooh baby, I like that, but the kid gonna show U a few tricks
Can I play with U?

Baby, let's creep, I had enough of this action
Bartender, on the house
Give everybody in here somethin'
Man, I don't care
I got money 2 spare, U're cute and your music's thumpin'
Yo baby, get the check

"Yo baby" my behind, I need my money

Say Brother Carothers, can I get some credit?
No? Much money I done spent in this nasty joint?
U need 2 be slapped!
Darlin', shall we leave now?
Go 2 Hades, boy!

So U like my crib?
It's not mine, it's rented
Say, how much did U have 2 drink?

What's the biggest lake U've ever been in?

So, do U like environmental records?
Crickets chirpin', water rushin'
Supposed 2 make U horny
It just make me wanna go 2 the bathroom
Actually this one's not bad, check it out
So like, what's your name?
Oh wow, that's dog!

One of the better examples.