robertgeorge said:

I heard Jamie Starr was a thief!

PeteSilas said:

violetcrush said:

Just listened to Jesse Johnson's interview with Questlove, which was great. Jesse tells of the first time he met and spoke to Prince after watching one of his shows. Jesse met Morris first, and Morris brought him to the show. Jesse said to Prince after the show, "wow that was great. I see you like Jimi Hendrix too". Prince replied, "oh no, I've never listened to him play". Jesse, not knowing Prince's personality yet at all, said, "oh, you gotta be f***cking kidding me man! That is some bullshit man!".....or something to that effect. Jesse said Morris was trying to motion to him to stop talking about it. He said Prince fell on the ground laughing hysterically. Then they became good friends.

*

Prince "borrowed" from many of the greats who came before him, but he blended, mixed, and morphed those things into his own unique style and sound. He really did create that certain sound in the 80's. That was his time, and his growth in that decade was amazing.

i hope they load that up on something other than pandora so i can hear it, i heard michael deans review of it, pretty interesting. also, he recounts that prince told jesse that he was too good to work with d'angelo, which sounds kinda wierd, maybe like he was trying to fuck with Jesse's head a little bit or maybe he really thought that.

Questlove has got to get his show over to the other side of the pond!! SOOOO many great ones! He's got Jimmy Jam (a 3-part series w/ sooooo much great info), Sheila E, The Revolution + Susannah Melvoin, and many more. Still waiting for Morris Day Jesse's interview was great. He's very relaxed and funny. Yes, he briefly talked about a message or text Prince left him about not being a "side" guy or something to that effect. I think it was more about Prince, in his mind, giving him some advice more than trying to play mind games.

rdhull said:

robertgeorge said:

I heard Jamie Starr was a thief!

And Joey Coco too!!!!

True original and limited because of it.

He had clear influences - 70s soul in general, James Brown, Santana, P-Funk, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, etc. - but it all came out sounding like Prince.

He developed his own approach to writing and building tracks, that became hugely influential in the 1980s as the Minneapolis sound.

But he got stuck in his ways and kept rehashing his same formulas in later decades. If he had been a brilliant musical thief, he would have been better able to reconnect with changing styles.

[Edited 8/26/18 12:36pm]

robertgeorge said:

He wanted to be trendy, his main conceit.

2freaky4church1 said:

He wanted to be trendy, his main conceit.

He wanted to "be" the trend, and the biggest pop success, which he definitely accomplished in the 80's.

sonshine said:

There is no one else quite like him. He's Prince. Really in a league of his own. Yep, I'm biased as hell. He may have been influenced by this or that style/artist/fashion. Aren't we all? But, he's Prince. A true original. There will never be another.

Prince is no different to many other creative people in that he was good at taking inspiration from the people and environment around him.

Over the decades Prince's music evolved and changed because he changed the people around him.

He was great at spotting talent but we have to remember those people Prince worked with massively contributed to the music we still enjoy today.

modified said:

True original and limited because of it.

He had clear influences - 70s soul in general, James Brown, Santana, P-Funk, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, etc. - but it all came out sounding like Prince.

He developed his own approach to writing and building tracks, that became hugely influential in the 1980s as the Minneapolis sound.

But he got stuck in his ways and kept rehashing his same formulas in later decades. If he had been a brilliant musical thief, he would have been better able to reconnect with changing styles.

[Edited 8/26/18 12:36pm]

[Edited 8/27/18 5:32am]

He had influences that's for sure. I was watching Sammyy Davis Jr. last night qand was shocked to see so much of Prince in him!

sonshine said:

There is no one else quite like him. He's Prince. Really in a league of his own. Yep, I'm biased as hell. He may have been influenced by this or that style/artist/fashion. Aren't we all? But, he's Prince. A true original. There will never be another.

Yes, no question he had influences and mentors - as he had mentioned in so many interviews through the years. I think his genius and originality stemmed from his unending determination to be a huge success in the business, combined with his amazing natural talent and genius with how to take his influences and make them his own.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

He had influences that's for sure. I was watching Sammyy Davis Jr. last night qand was shocked to see so much of Prince in him!

Yes, many influences, which he often mentioned - Stevie, Larry G, Santana, Sly, James, Jimi.....

modified said:

True original and limited because of it.

He had clear influences - 70s soul in general, James Brown, Santana, P-Funk, Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, etc. - but it all came out sounding like Prince.

He developed his own approach to writing and building tracks, that became hugely influential in the 1980s as the Minneapolis sound.

But he got stuck in his ways and kept rehashing his same formulas in later decades. If he had been a brilliant musical thief, he would have been better able to reconnect with changing styles.

[Edited 8/26/18 12:36pm]

I think he "aged out" of the changing styles of music, which is very normal. He connected with his roots and the era that made him very famous. Same with Michael Jackson and others. It's very hard to connect with the trends of people in their 20's when you're in your 40's. However, he was able to maintain success by appealling to his fan base, doing his live shows, and continuing to release some interesting music.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

He had influences that's for sure. I was watching Sammyy Davis Jr. last night qand was shocked to see so much of Prince in him!

What reminded you of Prince. I always saw a huge sammy influence on MJ. Sammy called both "friends" which in Prince's case probably meant he met him once or something.

RodeoSchro said:

He was darn near the perfect musician, at least for me. Thief? Hardly.

Thief? One of the biggest. As a trained musician it's not hard to hear where large parts of his music came from. The greats are all like that. They take what came before them, mix up the ingredients a little, use (or in some cases, create), the popular sounds of the day, and the masses don't recognize it. None of this is a diss, though you'll likely consider it so.

steakfinger said:

RodeoSchro said:

He was darn near the perfect musician, at least for me. Thief? Hardly.

Thief? One of the biggest. As a trained musician it's not hard to hear where large parts of his music came from. The greats are all like that. They take what came before them, mix up the ingredients a little, use (or in some cases, create), the popular sounds of the day, and the masses don't recognize it. None of this is a diss, though you'll likely consider it so.

Yes, he took many sounds, styles, and dance moves (he is James Brown Jr. on the live Baby I'm A Star performances during the PR tour), but he morphed them all into his own unique thing, as well as, creating that synthy/funk/pop sound in the 80's that so many other artists stole/borrowed for their music. As a teen, when I first heard Little Red Corvette and 1999, I thought, wow this sound is so different, and so great!

violetcrush said:

steakfinger said:

Thief? One of the biggest. As a trained musician it's not hard to hear where large parts of his music came from. The greats are all like that. They take what came before them, mix up the ingredients a little, use (or in some cases, create), the popular sounds of the day, and the masses don't recognize it. None of this is a diss, though you'll likely consider it so.

Yes, he took many sounds, styles, and dance moves (he is James Brown Jr. on the live Baby I'm A Star performances during the PR tour), but he morphed them all into his own unique thing, as well as, creating that synthy/funk/pop sound in the 80's that so many other artists stole/borrowed for their music. As a teen, when I first heard Little Red Corvette and 1999, I thought, wow this sound is so different, and so great!

that's what i'm talking about, during that era, before purple rain, you just knew thaat this guy was ahead of the pack and was leading them, the sound was fresh and you just knew it would impact music for the next few years, even if i couldn't articulate that as a 14 year old.

PeteSilas said:

why u think he was listening to Missing persons, Stevie Wonder and that other band??? at the same time???

Both. I think he was a one of a kind uniquely gifted man & was able to absorb from previous musical genuises and tranform it into whatever he felt like or needed to at the time.

He was brilliant and now he is missed