I have always thought that Prince didnt listen to the original artists

when he was covering rock songs.

i think Prince was covering covers of rock songs instead

of going for original source.

for example i think that Honkey Tonk Woman is a cover

of Ike and Tina Turner take of the Rolling Stones classic

same goes to Whole Lotta Love.

His cover is more similar to Tina Turner 1975 cover of Whole Lotta Love.

Except for Grand Funk Railroad and Boston i

dont think Prince really went into catalogs

by old rock bands.

maybe latter in his career he did listen to Black Sabbath

but earlier on it seems like his hard rock influence was coming

from Funkadelic and Hendrix rather

that Led Zeppelin ,Thin Lizzy.

Thats what makes me wonder where did the punk influence come from??? was Prince in2 Clash or did he pick up punk funk from likes of Rick James.

nobody thinks so?

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

sro100 said:

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

No, he walked like someone who was disrespecting someone else. It was a low moment for him, and it was beneath him to do that. Same with squinting or snarling at a Madonna video. He wasn't squinted when he wrote a song with her less than a decade earlier. He had his hypocrite moments.

As far as listening to Black Sabbath, who knows. His band members and friends certainly hipped him to a lot of new things.

Andre Cymone said that he and P were big fans of Thin Lizzy. I was surprised to hear him cover "Let's Go" (by The Cars) live in concert....I thought his live covers of "Spanish Castle Magic" and "Foxy Lady"were interesting too...as the OP said, his band members turned him on to a lot of different stuff.

sro100 said:

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

well i think Sludge oriented sound he incorporated in his 3rd Eye Era are coming from Black Sabbath .HE never had that sludge rock sound b4.i think he got hipped to Black Sabbath in maybe lastt few years of his life

TrivialPursuit said:

sro100 said:

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

No, he walked like someone who was disrespecting someone else. It was a low moment for him, and it was beneath him to do that. Same with squinting or snarling at a Madonna video. He wasn't squinted when he wrote a song with her less than a decade earlier. He had his hypocrite moments.

As far as listening to Black Sabbath, who knows. His band members and friends certainly hipped him to a lot of new things.

Ozzy was putting on an act on that shit show on TV. Prince was just having fun at him, I don't see any disrespect in someone acting out some TV goofball. And about Madonna a decade before he did that and worked woth her she ws actually still pretty good.

Therer's something on Facebook from either his school music teacher or Chris Moon saying how much the young Prince loved to play & play Stairway to Heaven on piano...would love to hear that!

sro100 said:

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

Prince grew up in Minneapolis. The biggest radio station there was (and is still) their classic rock station KQRS. Sabbath, Zeppelin, Santana, Hendrix, Thin Lizzy, Rolling Stones....Prince would have been (over) exposed to all of these musicians.

skywalker said:

sro100 said:

Why would you think that Prince listened to Black Sabbath? Any sort of evidence for that?

Personally, I wouldn't think so.

But I do remember him imitating the Ozzy Ozbourne character from the reality series; walking as Ozzy.

Prince grew up in Minneapolis. The biggest radio station there was (and is still) their classic rock station KQRS. Sabbath, Zeppelin, Santana, Hendrix, Thin Lizzy, Rolling Stones....Prince would have been (over) exposed to all of these musicians.

I grew up in Minneapolis also.

I still don't see any reason to say he listened to Black Sabbath.