Years ago I discovered Channel Awesome way back in 2009. The main reason, of course, because of The Nostalgia Critic. The site had a variety of internet shows ranging from old school gaming, nostalgic movies mostly from the 80's to reviews on exploited movies, even comic books. They even had a guy called Paw doing music movies and they had a strong connection with The Angry Video Game Nerd. So no, I'm not covering the whole internet "nerd" community, however I believe
that Channel Awesome was sort of an compressed version of that community.

The basic idea of doing these kind of reviews is showing the audience the absurdity of shitty movies, comic books, games etc and showing your own higher taste in analysis to bring forward the common answer, why said product is horrible in the context of other works in the same genre. Why crappy movie knockoffs are so less superior than the great work it's based on. Why horrible movies are hilarious to make fun of, especially if you put on alot of references and humour in the same spirit. Needless to say, alot of the material was a huge success.

I believe that most of you have seen at least one Nostalgia Critic episode. I became a big Prince fan back in 2011. I still visited the site from time to time to get some updates on people I liked on the channel. What I soon discovered was that Prince was almost never mentioned on any shows. You know the Music Movies guy Paw? Well, he did an episode on Purple Rain which I haven't seen since. His take on the movie was that it was cheesy and his view on Prince had the feeling of "Oh, not that Diva". He also picked the best and worst song, he thought Purple Rain was the best and "Sex Shooter" actually horrible. This actually tainted the song for me a little while. If he said it, then it had to be true. He was an self proclaimed music analyst. Well, Sex Shooter has become one of my favourite jams of Prince and I can't wait on The Originals version.

On to Doug Walker the co founder (together with his brother Rob) of Channel Awesome and the creator of the Nostalgia Critic character. The first tweet he uploaded after Prince passing was "Farewell you strange little man". I mean, come the fuck on. That is your lasting impression of our greatest musician the last half century?! Another show is called Todd In The Shadows who proclaim himself as a pop genius, analysing new songs and mostly the bad ones. He does a show based on Madonnas films and documentaries and adore her. He also makes a top ten list of the years best songs. And in 2015 (?) he put Bruno Mars (Uptown Funk) in the top spot with the motivation: " And you know what the best part is?! The production and style is Exactly like Morris Day And The Time!!" Nothing else!!!! Thanks for that you analyst.

The one guy who seems to appreciate Prince is The Cinema Snob aka Brad Jones. He is known for looking back on deep cut movies from the low end of the cinema history and mostly exploited genres and ,yes, Porn. He take a look on old cassetes that haven't seen the light of day until he brings them up. Mostly american but also European. His favourite movie is Caligula. I his V-log during his 30 year old party bash they played him "Batdance" at the bar they were hanging out in. My point with Brad Jones is that he is rather well known for doing reviews of new cinema movies that is on premier in his town Of Springfield, Illinois. Often with a group of friends.

Well, he and this girl called Obscurus Lupa, who is dressed like she want to be in the eighties watched Purple Rain which they showed since his passing on the big screen in Springfield. Brad loved it, of course, but Lupa said that this was the first time she had ever seen it. For me, this is both a very good and a very bad sign. Like I've said many times, Prince was never that charachter who was stuck in the eighties and never evolved from his projects. Definitely the opposite. He was his own entity and everything around him screamed 1980's. On the other hand. Lupa, you've never seen Purple Rain and you claim you love the 80's?!

My theory on the whole nerd consensus on Prince is that they can't separate his diva aura to his music which on some level doesn't have any connection. His hard work made it possible for him to act a certain way. Because no one can deny his genius, so why should he beg for apology to people who hasn't got his ability. And I believe these people felt threatened by that. The second theory is that they never really listened to his other music during his creative peak, only Purple Rain the title track. I bet you that no one has ever heard the SOTT album and especially IIWYGF, both the album and video version. And I bet you if I played them that specific song without any heads up, they would view Prince entirelly different and most likely as a bloody genius. My third and last theory is connected to his aura. These nerds might not be the best looking people and some have said they had a rough time in school with girls/boys. Prince are therefore also a huge threat to their lack of and in some cases their asexuality. He just oozed sex and so did his visuals and of course music. Many of the people I mentioned maybe couldn't relate to what he was saying, looking like or structured music including lyrics, he was just to far ahead of them still to this day. Do you share similar thoughts on my subject? I would LOVE to hear from you guys. Sorry for my english. I'm european.

[Edited 5/31/19 14:20pm]

[Edited 5/31/19 15:35pm]

And could the moderator please cut up my text so it's readable. I can't make the format work from my computer. Sorry, I really want to share this text.

I am a so called "nerd". I've been reading comics since I was 11 and I love sci-fi and fantasy books and movies. I used to play D&D back in the day but first and foremost I'm a Prince fan since I was 9. I don't look to nerd or pop culture youtube or podcast for my prince fix. I don't expect them to talk about Prince on those channels. Prince fits in his own categorie by himself and there are all kinds of "nerds" who love Prince but don't really talk about him too much like Afronerd.

Wolfie87 said:

And could the moderator please cut up my text so it's readable. I can't make the format work from my computer. Sorry, I really want to share this text.

You have to hold down the "Shift" key when you hit "Enter", and you have to hit that combo three times in order to separate paragraphs.

It gets even weirder if you try to copy and paste multiple paragraphs from another site.

If you want to edit your post and put in the breaks, simply put your cursor in front of the first character of the new paragraph and hit "Shift + Enter". That should do it.

dbpdexter said:

I am a so called "nerd". I've been reading comics since I was 11 and I love sci-fi and fantasy books and movies. I used to play D&D back in the day but first and foremost I'm a Prince fan since I was 9. I don't look to nerd or pop culture youtube or podcast for my prince fix. I don't expect them to talk about Prince on those channels. Prince fits in his own categorie by himself and there are all kinds of "nerds" who love Prince but don't really talk about him too much like Afronerd.

D&D was another topic I forgot, which Noah Antwiler aka Spoony is my go to guy. He is in the truest form of a genius on the internet. I don't play it, but he explained it very well, and foremost extremely funny. But it is very interesting to read your response. I feel that other artists or bands get the attention, Metallica is often mentioned or on a t-shirt in videos for example. But I have yet to seen any bigger references before his death when I scroll through old videos.

RodeoSchro said:

Wolfie87 said:

And could the moderator please cut up my text so it's readable. I can't make the format work from my computer. Sorry, I really want to share this text.

You have to hold down the "Shift" key when you hit "Enter", and you have to hit that combo three times in order to separate paragraphs.

It gets even weirder if you try to copy and paste multiple paragraphs from another site.

If you want to edit your post and put in the breaks, simply put your cursor in front of the first character of the new paragraph and hit "Shift + Enter". That should do it.

I love you

Prince was a strange little man, even if misunderstood in many ways, and that tweet sounds more sincere than flippant. Todd's comment certainly sounds like an endorsement of Morris, and I vaguely remember him saying kind words about Prince in another video. Does he need to make an entire 30 minute video solely about Prince to prove that he doesn't dislike the guy?

There are so many different kinds of nerds out there that it's hard to claim the "nerd community" doesn't like Prince. For every semi-popular YouTuber who calls Prince cheesy, there are probably several who think he was rad. There are music nerds all over the web who adore Prince and discuss his work with enthusiasm whenever the topic comes up. Hell, all of us are nerds for signing up and spending our free time together on this site

mbdtyler said:

Prince was a strange little man, even if misunderstood in many ways, and that tweet sounds more sincere than flippant. Todd's comment certainly sounds like an endorsement of Morris, and I vaguely remember him saying kind words about Prince in another video. Does he need to make an entire 30 minute video solely about Prince to prove that he doesn't dislike the guy?

There are so many different kinds of nerds out there that it's hard to claim the "nerd community" doesn't like Prince. For every semi-popular YouTuber who calls Prince cheesy, there are probably several who think he was rad. There are music nerds all over the web who adore Prince and discuss his work with enthusiasm whenever the topic comes up. Hell, all of us are nerds for signing up and spending our free time together on this site

If Todd was ever the kind of pop enthusiast he claims to be, he should've spent at least one minute discribing the Minneapolis sound. That is crucial pop facts if you ask me.

Wolfie87 said:

mbdtyler said:

Prince was a strange little man, even if misunderstood in many ways, and that tweet sounds more sincere than flippant. Todd's comment certainly sounds like an endorsement of Morris, and I vaguely remember him saying kind words about Prince in another video. Does he need to make an entire 30 minute video solely about Prince to prove that he doesn't dislike the guy?

There are so many different kinds of nerds out there that it's hard to claim the "nerd community" doesn't like Prince. For every semi-popular YouTuber who calls Prince cheesy, there are probably several who think he was rad. There are music nerds all over the web who adore Prince and discuss his work with enthusiasm whenever the topic comes up. Hell, all of us are nerds for signing up and spending our free time together on this site

If Todd was ever the kind of pop enthusiast he claims to be, he should've spent at least one minute discribing the Minneapolis sound. That is crucial pop facts if you ask me.

Well, he didn't. I don't think it diminishes the quality of his videos, but to each their own.

E319 said:

“The "nerd" community doesn't seem to like Prince at all.” That’s why they’re nerds! 🤓

There are more nerds on this forum than you think

E319 said:

“The "nerd" community doesn't seem to like Prince at all.” That’s why they’re nerds! 🤓

My experience is that it is pretty clear who knows about Prince who does not. I can accept that some people don't like Prince, but it is clear that people make up their mind by some pretty spurious reasoning.

For example if you think Prince is Michael Jackson lite you don't know Prince
If you think Prince can't play musical instruments you don't know Prince.
If you think Prince had no sense of humor you don't know Prince.

I feel that more people have to be educated about Prince. I hope that Prince doco on Netflix helps out.

robertgeorge said:

My experience is that it is pretty clear who knows about Prince who does not. I can accept that some people don't like Prince, but it is clear that people make up their mind by some pretty spurious reasoning.

For example if you think Prince is Michael Jackson lite you don't know Prince
If you think Prince can't play musical instruments you don't know Prince.
If you think Prince had no sense of humor you don't know Prince.

I feel that more people have to be educated about Prince. I hope that Prince doco on Netflix helps out.

It won't, because it takes a nerd to get into Prince.
It's vertical. It's Alice's rabbit hole.

Prince as a subject is so vast you can discuss it ad nauseam, which is precisely what we do here.

Like Dylan and a few other artists, Prince is a nerd's galore.
Prince is an artist no one really cares about because of the massive work and time it requires to get into him, his views, his agenda. They label him "genius" because they come across a performance where it's obvious, and then go back to atrocities such as Queen, and all the prefab shit their ears swallow, persuaded it's great musicianship.

The public just scratch the surface, they won't go past the hits that Prince needed once in a while to continue funding his crazy underground visions.

Who cares anyway?
Some are meant to Cross The Line, some are not.
You'll never sum up Prince in an hour.

[Edited 6/1/19 3:07am]

bonatoc said:

robertgeorge said:

My experience is that it is pretty clear who knows about Prince who does not. I can accept that some people don't like Prince, but it is clear that people make up their mind by some pretty spurious reasoning.

For example if you think Prince is Michael Jackson lite you don't know Prince
If you think Prince can't play musical instruments you don't know Prince.
If you think Prince had no sense of humor you don't know Prince.

I feel that more people have to be educated about Prince. I hope that Prince doco on Netflix helps out.

It won't, because it takes a nerd to get into Prince.
It's vertical. It's Alice's rabbit hole.

Prince as a subject is so vast you can discuss it ad nauseam, which is precisely what we do here.

Like Dylan and a few other artists, Prince is a nerd's galore.
Prince is an artist no one really cares about because of the massive work and time it requires to get into him, his views, his agenda. They label him "genius" because they come across a performance where it's obvious, and then go back to atrocities such as Queen, and all the prefab shit their ears swallow, persuaded it's great musicianship.

The public just scratch the surface, they won't go past the hits that Prince needed once in a while to continue funding his crazy underground visions.

Who cares anyway?
Some are meant to Cross The Line, some are not.
You'll never sum up Prince in an hour.

[Edited 6/1/19 3:07am]

I like the way I have expressed your opinions here. While I would not call Queen an atrocity (I can accept they have a lot of dross in their catalogue) I have not seen their movie as it just looks cheap and dull to me.

Prince was pretty immediate to me, and I would think that this experience is not unique to a lot of fans on this site. (it would interest me to hear from people that disliked Prince and came to like him or if people had significant others or family won over to Prince).

Part of my love of Prince is his deep catalogue and the way you could study his songs, arrangements, guitar, drums, bass, keyboards, lyrics, production, album construvction, fashion, videos, interview and protogees, vocal hamonies and personas as well as live perfomorances and movies. I guess, I do go nerd deep when it comes to Prince and it is always nice to hear from people who have adored his music, "studied him" or just reacted viscerally to him.

Calling Queen atrocious was of course for emphasis.
Global audiences simply have no taste.
Education is poor, and musical education is worse.

It's a fine band, but their worldwide success and incredible sales figures is a puzzle to me.
Maybe because it speaks volumes about the unconcious male homosexuality in our societies: all these massive audiences for team sports, the smelling hairy armpits camaraderie, but gays still get beat or brutalized by macho guys who probably sing along with Freddie at the stadium. Personnally I can't quite reconcile it. But I digress...

Queen is a fine band,
has one masterpiece in their discography,
but is way, way, way overrated. And yes, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is atrocious. Atrocious in his subject (hearing crowds cheerily sing along "just killed a man" always shocks me), atrocious in its wannabe cultural references ("scaramouche", "fandango", rednecks sing along but have no idea what those are). In my book, anything that gets this kind of massive universal appreciation smells artistic fascism. It relieves ignorants from the need to go listen to classical music: they think this shit is enough.

robertgeorge, I hear you, Prince was immediate to me too. I was hooked.
But nothing suggested the universe behind, the vastness of it.
Nor the many subsequent metamorphosis of the man.

[Edited 6/1/19 4:19am]

I guess a reason why Prince may not appeal to "nerds" was because Prince himself acted anything but a "nerd" - his appearance of being cool and mysterious, and also a lady's man, would not fit in the "nerd" community.

However, Prince made references to pop culture that appeals to "nerds" - Star Wars, for instance. Also Prince's knowledge of issues like religion and history, that he sung of in his music, relates to "nerds"' thirst for information and research in areas that "cool kids" may not bother with.

[Edited 6/1/19 4:34am]

First we should agree on what a nerd is.
I don't get why it's all about Sci-Fi in people minds.

Au contraire, Prince was a big, big nerd. Take women, or rather feminity: he didn't stop at the mere surface of sexuality, he dug deep into the subject, up to "If I Was Your Girlfriend".
And he was a big introverted intellectual, in his approach to sensuality.

What appeared flowing naturally was the result of many years of relentless work. He just didn't became the Satin Lace Purple Kid out of nowhere. He wasn't born sensual and sexy.
Cute, maybe. He worked hard at the look he wanted to project, and the meanings behind it.

A nerd is someone who spents a lot of time overthinking and dissecting subjects the majority won't care about. It's about becoming a specialist on a very narrow, specific field.
Being a prince hardcore fan totally qualifies, methinks.

The OP was totally right to put "nerd" into quotes.
A genuine nerd will get naturally attracted to Prince
the minute she gets how rich and deep (and obsessive) his work truly is.

Noun[edit]

nerd (plural nerds)

1. (slang, sometimes derogatory) A person who is intellectual but generally introverted quotations ▼
2. (informal, sometimes derogatory) One who has an intense, obsessive interest in something.

[Edited 6/1/19 5:08am]

bonatoc said:

robertgeorge said:

My experience is that it is pretty clear who knows about Prince who does not. I can accept that some people don't like Prince, but it is clear that people make up their mind by some pretty spurious reasoning.

For example if you think Prince is Michael Jackson lite you don't know Prince
If you think Prince can't play musical instruments you don't know Prince.
If you think Prince had no sense of humor you don't know Prince.

I feel that more people have to be educated about Prince. I hope that Prince doco on Netflix helps out.

It won't, because it takes a nerd to get into Prince.
It's vertical. It's Alice's rabbit hole.

Prince as a subject is so vast you can discuss it ad nauseam, which is precisely what we do here.

Like Dylan and a few other artists, Prince is a nerd's galore.
Prince is an artist no one really cares about because of the massive work and time it requires to get into him, his views, his agenda. They label him "genius" because they come across a performance where it's obvious, and then go back to atrocities such as Queen, and all the prefab shit their ears swallow, persuaded it's great musicianship.

The public just scratch the surface, they won't go past the hits that Prince needed once in a while to continue funding his crazy underground visions.

Who cares anyway?
Some are meant to Cross The Line, some are not.
You'll never sum up Prince in an hour.

[Edited 6/1/19 3:07am]

I like this post a lot.

nerds will like him for other reasons

Some do, some don´t . I just saw some teenagers mentioning him in a VICE article on the 1980s.

skywalker said:

Bullshit. Kevin Smith is king of the nerds and he loves Prince.

True.

mbdtyler said:

Wolfie87 said:

If Todd was ever the kind of pop enthusiast he claims to be, he should've spent at least one minute discribing the Minneapolis sound. That is crucial pop facts if you ask me.

Well, he didn't. I don't think it diminishes the quality of his videos, but to each their own.

I like Todd--and I don't see much reason for him to dedicate a lot of time to Prince, really. Noting (as he did with Uptown Funk) that something is a re-creation of a Minneapolis type of sound is an indication that he assumes people already have that touchpoint in their mind. Prince isn't contemporary pop, and he isn't a one hit wonder. He's not going to get a full video from Todd, probably. But there's no real reason for him to get one.

MotownSubdivision said:

I'm a huge nerd. Love anime, cartoons in general, video games (though that's pretty mainstream now) and though it's not really labeled as "nerdy", am a big railfan (trainwatcher/lover). Love Prince too.

Trainwatcher - that reminds me of Strike (Meki Phifer) the character in clockers. He loves model trains but probably because he does not have access to trains, but ends up leaving a bad situation on a train.

I think trains would be considered nerdy and England is seen as a bit of an anorak activity (someone obssessed with an obscure activity). Personally I hate those labels. I think people who have different interests as fascinating. Trains seem cool. I mean we can't all like baseball, hamburgers and nascar.

Prince fans are dorks.

.

He was too black, too white, too gay, too weird, too girly. Being an outsider, being queer - that's being a nerd. A lot of people saw something in Prince that spoke to them because they felt the same way and his music spoke to them.

robertgeorge said:

In my experience, as something of "nerd" myself, this is decidely untrue.

I post on a website called Something Awful that epitomizes "nerd" culture in many ways and have never heard a bad word about Prince. Quite the opposite in my experience. They love "Batdance" and "Partyman".

herb4 said:

In my experience, as something of "nerd" myself, this is decidely untrue.

I post on a website called Something Awful that epitomizes "nerd" culture in many ways and have never heard a bad word about Prince. Quite the opposite in my experience. They love "Batdance" and "Partyman".

Wasn't that the site where Slenderman originated from?