We stepped into a bar and gets what was playing? The Time's Get It Up, the long album version no less! I have no idea how this happened, it was stuck in a playlist between mostly chinese pop songs and a some modern Western club songs, that actually went in a loop and we heard it again an hour later.

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It was unexpected to hear a bit of Prince in an obscure bar in China, let alone a 37 year-old side project. If you look for "China 1980's" on YT, you can measure the distance that separated a song like Get It Up, the cultural atmosphere and economic environment that allowed such a song to happen, from the daily realities of China and its people back when the song was released in 1981. It's a HUGE gap! Of course it didn't mean anything to any of the Chinese people in the bar, who had no idea what this song was, when it was from, what that kind of music meant for young Westerners in 1981 or who Prince or The Time were, but it was a nice surprise for me and it made me think...

.

The world is getting smaller every year...

I love it when that happens. It sometimes surprises you. I've lived in Taiwan for a few decades now and I remember hearing "The Breakdown" in a convenience store - months before Art Official Age came out. It's not as odd considering it was a new song from a popular artist, but it was still exciting.

I hear it's on the playlist of most erectile dysfunction clinics.

jjam said:

I hear it's on the playlist of most erectile dysfunction clinics.

Oh, it's the rage right here in the nursery home.

I once went into a clothes shop in a small town in Spain and they played Like a Mac. It actually sounded quite good in the context...

Anyone heard Pussy Control being played at a vet clinic?

Dear Data, I fear it's due more to basic AI ("Get It Up" must be tagged "club", "funk", "party", "sex" and stuff) semi-random pick than intentional artistic choices on the playlist...

But that's cool anyway. Music lovers quickly feel the exuberance of Prince's arrangements. Anything that spreads the sound is welcome. Not to mention Prince's humour, a rare find in pop music. In a way, Prince brought smart Black Comedy into the whities homes and minds, with killer funk as a Trojan horse. No one in the pop world has so many sketches laid on tape.
It's ideal to get a club's mood up.

The most surreal was still hearing Prince's "Gold" in a supermarket...
No one was paying attention, and it sounded like some kind of prophet's lone cry in the feelings deprived desert of consumption.
No one steps aside and makes the way 4 those who want 2 go. Get back in the line, punk.

[Edited 10/4/18 3:21am]

lust said:

Not quite as impressive but a couple of weeks ago I was in a bar in Auckland and they were playing Chelsea Rodgers, could have just added Anthology to the playlist I suppose but when we left we walked about 50 metres and passed two other bars and both were playing 1999.

I was suprised to see "1999" well received at parties, more than when Prince was alive. It's slowly kicking in.
Can we help it if we were faster than anyone else?

IWBYL is also a dancefloor ass-wiggler. Can't wait for "Controversy" or "D.M.S.R." (drunken friends chants included) to take the lead, though. I'd sneak in Frisco's "Love Bizarre", but last time everyone stopped dancing and stared in awe at what was happeing on the screen. Like "How could have I miss that?!?".

[Edited 10/4/18 3:28am]

Thats some Indiana Jones steeze right there.

jjam said:

I hear it's on the playlist of most erectile dysfunction clinics.

jjam said:

I hear it's on the playlist of most erectile dysfunction clinics.

Silvertongue7 said:

I once went into a clothes shop in a small town in Spain and they played Like a Mac. It actually sounded quite good in the context...

Was that in a McDonalds - I could see "Like a Mac" moving a few more burgers.

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Seriously, Get it up in China - that is hilarious and did they play the part that goes "Get it up, get it up I'll fuck you all night"?

maybe they were celebrating their input in selling fentanyl to america....

Purplegarden said: