independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Was Prince into David Bowies music?
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Page 1 of 2 12>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Author

Tweet     Share

Message
Thread started 11/09/19 9:12am

thebanishedone

avatar

Was Prince into David Bowies music?

I know Prince did Heroes and he went to Bowies 50th

birthday concert at Madison Square Garden

but was Prince into Bowie music or he just liked

Bowie as an icon and fashion inspiration?

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #1 posted 11/09/19 9:21am

violetcrush

thebanishedone said:

I know Prince did Heroes and he went to Bowies 50th

birthday concert at Madison Square Garden

but was Prince into Bowie music or he just liked

Bowie as an icon and fashion inspiration?

I don't think Prince ever covered songs by musicians whose music did not inspire him in some way, so I would say it's safe to say that Bowie inspired him both musically and sytlistically.

*

He also spoke kindly about him after his death at the first P&M show at PP.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #2 posted 11/10/19 2:34am

andrewm7

there is also a little Ziggy stardust guy cartoon on The Gett Off 12" drawn by Prince smile

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #3 posted 11/10/19 2:44am

pernil

Morris Day in his new autobiography talks some about Bowie being in "Prince's mind mix", etc.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #4 posted 11/10/19 7:16am

novabrkr

Ever compared the "Heroes" and Parade album covers?

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #5 posted 11/10/19 7:39am

jdcxc

The Prince/Nile Rodgers cover of “Lets Dance” at Essence was cool.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #6 posted 11/10/19 10:34am

pernil

Bowie sang on "Zeroes" (1987): "And me my little red Corvette has driven by..." He was very impressed with Prince and talked about him in numerous interviews. On the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour he played Prince's 1999 before the concerts - it was actually my introduction to Prince's music. I immediately went out and bought 1999.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #7 posted 11/12/19 6:03pm

violetcrush

pernil said:

Bowie sang on "Zeroes" (1987): "And me my little red Corvette has driven by..." He was very impressed with Prince and talked about him in numerous interviews. On the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour he played Prince's 1999 before the concerts - it was actually my introduction to Prince's music. I immediately went out and bought 1999.


That’s great. Bowie was also publicly speaking out about MTV refusing to play black artists during prime time slots.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #8 posted 11/12/19 9:10pm

WhisperingDand
elions

avatar

violetcrush said:

pernil said:

Bowie sang on "Zeroes" (1987): "And me my little red Corvette has driven by..." He was very impressed with Prince and talked about him in numerous interviews. On the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour he played Prince's 1999 before the concerts - it was actually my introduction to Prince's music. I immediately went out and bought 1999.

That’s great. Bowie was also publicly speaking out about MTV refusing to play black artists during prime time slots.

Bowie gives a sardonic smirk when the MTV interviewer tries to rationalize that they have to program for "some town in the midwest that would be scared to death by Prince" or "a string of other black faces" about 1:35 in:

https://www.youtube.com/w...ZGiVzIr8Qg

[Edited 11/12/19 21:13pm]

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #9 posted 11/13/19 3:49am

PURPLEIZED3121

Love the story of P giving Bowie & his crew a tour of Paisley Park when the Glass Spiders tour hit MPLS. ..this was SOTT era Prince so c'87?

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #10 posted 11/13/19 7:57am

LoveGalore

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Love the story of P giving Bowie & his crew a tour of Paisley Park when the Glass Spiders tour hit MPLS. ..this was SOTT era Prince so c'87?



Didn't P say on the p&m tour that he never met Bowie but heard he was a nice guy?

The two were definitely parallel in their artistry. While I probably would've loved a collab since I'm obsessed with both, it would likely have come out a hot ass mess.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #11 posted 11/13/19 8:23am

AZStreet

avatar

LoveGalore said:

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Love the story of P giving Bowie & his crew a tour of Paisley Park when the Glass Spiders tour hit MPLS. ..this was SOTT era Prince so c'87?

Didn't P say on the p&m tour that he never met Bowie but heard he was a nice guy? The two were definitely parallel in their artistry. While I probably would've loved a collab since I'm obsessed with both, it would likely have come out a hot ass mess.

Yup i thought he said that too

"You know, this is funky but I wish he'd play like he used to, old scragglyhead son of a...*smack* OOH!"

"Who's the foo singing will it's would"
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #12 posted 11/13/19 11:06am

fms

avatar

Somehow I don’t see Prince as a Bowie fan. More like with Springsteen, lots of respect for what he does, but not his musical cup of tea.
Having said that though, the squealing synths on Head seem to indicate that Prince (or maybe Fink) had had at least heard the “Heroes” album.
Stand at the crossroads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths...(Jeremiah 6:16) www.ancientfaithradio.com

dezinonac eb lliw noitulove ehT
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #13 posted 11/13/19 11:20am

LoveGalore

fms said:

Somehow I don’t see Prince as a Bowie fan. More like with Springsteen, lots of respect for what he does, but not his musical cup of tea. Having said that though, the squealing synths on Head seem to indicate that Prince (or maybe Fink) had had at least heard the “Heroes” album.

I'm sort of inclined to agree that it isn't necessarily a natural fit. But I would say that if Prince didn't make it abundantly clear in some situations, you wouldn't consider the fact he was a massive fan of Joni Mitchell either. Of course, there is no abundance of clarity in this scenario - don't think Prince ever mentioned Bowie, at least I don't recall times where he did other than right after he passed. But I do know that they were imminently aware of each other (Bowie did love Prince's stuff) and it is entirely possible that he was into more than just "Heroes". One could sort of see there might be some inspiration taken from The Idiot with the New Power Trio stuff - I could easily see parts of The Idiot inspiring parts of The Undertaker, for example.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #14 posted 11/13/19 11:22am

rdhull

avatar

Not just into his music, his career as well.

"Climb in my fur."
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #15 posted 11/13/19 5:59pm

violetcrush

AZStreet said:



LoveGalore said:


PURPLEIZED3121 said:

Love the story of P giving Bowie & his crew a tour of Paisley Park when the Glass Spiders tour hit MPLS. ..this was SOTT era Prince so c'87?



Didn't P say on the p&m tour that he never met Bowie but heard he was a nice guy? The two were definitely parallel in their artistry. While I probably would've loved a collab since I'm obsessed with both, it would likely have come out a hot ass mess.


Yup i thought he said that too


No, he said, “I only met him once and he was very nice to me...”. Cat Glover knew Bowie back in ‘87 and was going to dance on his tour, but she had already been offered to join Prince’s band so she introduced her friend who was also a dancer to Bowie for his tour. Per Cat, David showed up outside of one of Prince’s after-shows and she got him through the back door to see the show. Cat detailed this in an online interview in 2013.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #16 posted 11/13/19 6:48pm

khill95

Long story short...no. I think that Prince no matter how experimental he was, always had a limit to how “out there” he went with what he chose to listen to and with what he was influenced by. For example, we know he was into a lot of the 70s classic rock guys like Santana, Chicago, and Zeppelin. However, we never hear of him listening to, at the time, newer and younger artists like Slayer or Nirvana, or even more aggressive stuff from the 70’s like the Sex Pistols. Same with dance music. He created stuff like “Batdance” and he had his dance remixes of his songs, but he had nothing that sounded like the newer more experimental dance music of the time, stuff like house/techno. This is one big difference I’ve seen between Bowie and Prince, Bowie was open to everything
[Edited 11/13/19 18:53pm]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #17 posted 11/13/19 7:47pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

CAT Glover:

David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour... It's a funny thing: Prince asked me to join his band on a Friday and David Bowie asked me (to join his tour) on a Saturday -- the same weekend. I said "Oh my God, when it rains, it pours." I love Bowie, because, I grew up in the "neo" days, the punk days and that was the music I danced to. I had a dilemma.

.
Troy Beyer (the actress/director) was dating Prince at the time and she lived in my (apartment) building. I said "Troy, Prince has called and Bowie just called. I don't know what to do." I was so confused. She said "Cat, do what your heart says." I said "Prince!"

.
I turned down Bowie and I accepted the job with Prince. But, what I did was I replaced myself on Bowie's tour with one of my best friends, Constance Marie, who played George Lopez's wife on The George Lopez Show. I got her to do the Glass Spider Tour instead of me. I think everything that Marie did as a lead dancer is what I was supposed to do. I actually saw it. It was awesome.

.
We were on tour at the same time. Bowie was staying across the street from us in Italy. It was really weird. The good thing was that when we were on tour, Bowie and I hooked up. He was in a limo trying to get into a club where we were doing an aftershow. One of the security guards knew I was inside and he said "Bowie wants to see you, he's outside." So, I snuck out the back door and I jumped into his limo. I asked "What's wrong?" He said (speaking with a British accent) "Cat, there's too many bloody people out here. You know me. I just want to bloody get in." I got him in safely through the back door.

.
We ended up at Paisley Park together about a year later when Prince threw a party. I was with Bowie, Constance Marie and Prince, standing against a wall. Prince said "Yeah, that's my girl" (referring to Cat). Bowie said "No, that's my girl." Prince said "Well, I had her first" and Bowie said " No, she was supposed to be with me first!" It was funny. That was the conversation. It was amazing. Me and Constance Marie are sitting there looking at each other like "Wow, is this really happening?" We were just two little hip-hop dancers from the club. It was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #18 posted 11/13/19 8:00pm

ISaidLifeIsJus
tAGame

avatar

OldFriends4Sale said:

CAT Glover:

David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour... It's a funny thing: Prince asked me to join his band on a Friday and David Bowie asked me (to join his tour) on a Saturday -- the same weekend. I said "Oh my God, when it rains, it pours." I love Bowie, because, I grew up in the "neo" days, the punk days and that was the music I danced to. I had a dilemma.

.
Troy Beyer (the actress/director) was dating Prince at the time and she lived in my (apartment) building. I said "Troy, Prince has called and Bowie just called. I don't know what to do." I was so confused. She said "Cat, do what your heart says." I said "Prince!"

.
I turned down Bowie and I accepted the job with Prince. But, what I did was I replaced myself on Bowie's tour with one of my best friends, Constance Marie, who played George Lopez's wife on The George Lopez Show. I got her to do the Glass Spider Tour instead of me. I think everything that Marie did as a lead dancer is what I was supposed to do. I actually saw it. It was awesome.

.
We were on tour at the same time. Bowie was staying across the street from us in Italy. It was really weird. The good thing was that when we were on tour, Bowie and I hooked up. He was in a limo trying to get into a club where we were doing an aftershow. One of the security guards knew I was inside and he said "Bowie wants to see you, he's outside." So, I snuck out the back door and I jumped into his limo. I asked "What's wrong?" He said (speaking with a British accent) "Cat, there's too many bloody people out here. You know me. I just want to bloody get in." I got him in safely through the back door.

.
We ended up at Paisley Park together about a year later when Prince threw a party. I was with Bowie, Constance Marie and Prince, standing against a wall. Prince said "Yeah, that's my girl" (referring to Cat). Bowie said "No, that's my girl." Prince said "Well, I had her first" and Bowie said " No, she was supposed to be with me first!" It was funny. That was the conversation. It was amazing. Me and Constance Marie are sitting there looking at each other like "Wow, is this really happening?" We were just two little hip-hop dancers from the club. It was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling.

thumbs up!

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #19 posted 11/13/19 9:23pm

LoveGalore

OldFriends4Sale said:

CAT Glover:

David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour... It's a funny thing: Prince asked me to join his band on a Friday and David Bowie asked me (to join his tour) on a Saturday -- the same weekend. I said "Oh my God, when it rains, it pours." I love Bowie, because, I grew up in the "neo" days, the punk days and that was the music I danced to. I had a dilemma.

.
Troy Beyer (the actress/director) was dating Prince at the time and she lived in my (apartment) building. I said "Troy, Prince has called and Bowie just called. I don't know what to do." I was so confused. She said "Cat, do what your heart says." I said "Prince!"

.
I turned down Bowie and I accepted the job with Prince. But, what I did was I replaced myself on Bowie's tour with one of my best friends, Constance Marie, who played George Lopez's wife on The George Lopez Show. I got her to do the Glass Spider Tour instead of me. I think everything that Marie did as a lead dancer is what I was supposed to do. I actually saw it. It was awesome.

.
We were on tour at the same time. Bowie was staying across the street from us in Italy. It was really weird. The good thing was that when we were on tour, Bowie and I hooked up. He was in a limo trying to get into a club where we were doing an aftershow. One of the security guards knew I was inside and he said "Bowie wants to see you, he's outside." So, I snuck out the back door and I jumped into his limo. I asked "What's wrong?" He said (speaking with a British accent) "Cat, there's too many bloody people out here. You know me. I just want to bloody get in." I got him in safely through the back door.

.
We ended up at Paisley Park together about a year later when Prince threw a party. I was with Bowie, Constance Marie and Prince, standing against a wall. Prince said "Yeah, that's my girl" (referring to Cat). Bowie said "No, that's my girl." Prince said "Well, I had her first" and Bowie said " No, she was supposed to be with me first!" It was funny. That was the conversation. It was amazing. Me and Constance Marie are sitting there looking at each other like "Wow, is this really happening?" We were just two little hip-hop dancers from the club. It was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling.

Awesome

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #20 posted 11/14/19 3:30am

JorisE73

khill95 said:

Long story short...no. I think that Prince no matter how experimental he was, always had a limit to how “out there” he went with what he chose to listen to and with what he was influenced by. For example, we know he was into a lot of the 70s classic rock guys like Santana, Chicago, and Zeppelin. However, we never hear of him listening to, at the time, newer and younger artists like Slayer or Nirvana, or even more aggressive stuff from the 70’s like the Sex Pistols. Same with dance music. He created stuff like “Batdance” and he had his dance remixes of his songs, but he had nothing that sounded like the newer more experimental dance music of the time, stuff like house/techno. This is one big difference I’ve seen between Bowie and Prince, Bowie was open to everything [Edited 11/13/19 18:53pm]


I heard Prince was pretty heavily into Nine Inch Nails. I never really listened to them so I don't know what kind of music it is.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #21 posted 11/14/19 4:11am

callimnate

avatar

Prince appreciated great music and artists.

Solely based on that......... the answer is yes. wink

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #22 posted 11/14/19 5:35am

violetcrush

khill95 said:

Long story short...no. I think that Prince no matter how experimental he was, always had a limit to how “out there” he went with what he chose to listen to and with what he was influenced by. For example, we know he was into a lot of the 70s classic rock guys like Santana, Chicago, and Zeppelin. However, we never hear of him listening to, at the time, newer and younger artists like Slayer or Nirvana, or even more aggressive stuff from the 70’s like the Sex Pistols. Same with dance music. He created stuff like “Batdance” and he had his dance remixes of his songs, but he had nothing that sounded like the newer more experimental dance music of the time, stuff like house/techno. This is one big difference I’ve seen between Bowie and Prince, Bowie was open to everything
[Edited 11/13/19 18:53pm]

I think you could not be more wrong. We have confirmed information on how diverse his interests were with music and artists. Just because funk was his “base” sound does not mean he was not open to other styles, and he experimented with many different sounds and styles. He loved many different artists.
*
He would never have covered Bowie’s song or spoken highly of him had he not enjoyed or appreciated his music. Prince didn’t do many covers. If he did it was a big deal and it meant he liked your music.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #23 posted 11/14/19 5:37am

violetcrush

OldFriends4Sale said:


CAT Glover:


David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour... It's a funny thing: Prince asked me to join his band on a Friday and David Bowie asked me (to join his tour) on a Saturday -- the same weekend. I said "Oh my God, when it rains, it pours." I love Bowie, because, I grew up in the "neo" days, the punk days and that was the music I danced to. I had a dilemma.


.
Troy Beyer (the actress/director) was dating Prince at the time and she lived in my (apartment) building. I said "Troy, Prince has called and Bowie just called. I don't know what to do." I was so confused. She said "Cat, do what your heart says." I said "Prince!"


.
I turned down Bowie and I accepted the job with Prince. But, what I did was I replaced myself on Bowie's tour with one of my best friends, Constance Marie, who played George Lopez's wife on The George Lopez Show. I got her to do the Glass Spider Tour instead of me. I think everything that Marie did as a lead dancer is what I was supposed to do. I actually saw it. It was awesome.


.
We were on tour at the same time. Bowie was staying across the street from us in Italy. It was really weird. The good thing was that when we were on tour, Bowie and I hooked up. He was in a limo trying to get into a club where we were doing an aftershow. One of the security guards knew I was inside and he said "Bowie wants to see you, he's outside." So, I snuck out the back door and I jumped into his limo. I asked "What's wrong?" He said (speaking with a British accent) "Cat, there's too many bloody people out here. You know me. I just want to bloody get in." I got him in safely through the back door.


.
We ended up at Paisley Park together about a year later when Prince threw a party. I was with Bowie, Constance Marie and Prince, standing against a wall. Prince said "Yeah, that's my girl" (referring to Cat). Bowie said "No, that's my girl." Prince said "Well, I had her first" and Bowie said " No, she was supposed to be with me first!" It was funny. That was the conversation. It was amazing. Me and Constance Marie are sitting there looking at each other like "Wow, is this really happening?" We were just two little hip-hop dancers from the club. It was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling.


I was going to post the whole interview with my synopsis but I was too lazy. Thanks for doing it biggrin
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #24 posted 11/14/19 8:14am

PliablyPurple

Bowie in the late 80s v/s P in the late 80s? Please, Prince was to the 80s what Bowie was to the 70s. Cat made the right choice smile.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #25 posted 11/14/19 8:18am

AZStreet

avatar

violetcrush said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Prince threw a party. I was with Bowie, Constance Marie and Prince, standing against a wall. Prince said "Yeah, that's my girl" (referring to Cat). Bowie said "No, that's my girl." Prince said "Well, I had her first" and Bowie said " No, she was supposed to be with me first!" It was funny. That was the conversation. It was amazing. Me and Constance Marie are sitting there looking at each other like "Wow, is this really happening?" We were just two little hip-hop dancers from the club. It was pretty cool. It was an awesome feeling.

I was going to post the whole interview with my synopsis but I was too lazy. Thanks for doing it biggrin

Am I the only who immediately went to the Girl is Mine in my head after reading this? The Bowie/McCartney/Prince/MJ parallels are stunning LOLOLOLOL

[Edited 11/14/19 8:21am]

"You know, this is funky but I wish he'd play like he used to, old scragglyhead son of a...*smack* OOH!"

"Who's the foo singing will it's would"
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #26 posted 11/14/19 8:24am

rusty1

i think Prince was influenced by Bowie.
David would change his appearance album to
album.. and sound as well..
Let's face it, Prince copied Bowie's yellow suit
look in his " Parade" era phase.
If you watch that Modern Love video
there's Bowie with that yellow suit
BOB4theFUNK
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #27 posted 11/14/19 9:48am

OldFriends4Sal
e

PliablyPurple said:

Bowie in the late 80s v/s P in the late 80s? Please, Prince was to the 80s what Bowie was to the 70s. Cat made the right choice smile.

Yes, but Prince in the late 80s was floundering in music scene too. It was a weird time the 88-90 period

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #28 posted 11/14/19 9:59am

Militant

avatar

moderator

pernil said:

Bowie sang on "Zeroes" (1987): "And me my little red Corvette has driven by..." He was very impressed with Prince and talked about him in numerous interviews. On the 1983 Serious Moonlight tour he played Prince's 1999 before the concerts - it was actually my introduction to Prince's music. I immediately went out and bought 1999.

Nice to see you posting again, Per smile

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #29 posted 11/14/19 10:01am

jdcxc

violetcrush said:

khill95 said:

Long story short...no. I think that Prince no matter how experimental he was, always had a limit to how “out there” he went with what he chose to listen to and with what he was influenced by. For example, we know he was into a lot of the 70s classic rock guys like Santana, Chicago, and Zeppelin. However, we never hear of him listening to, at the time, newer and younger artists like Slayer or Nirvana, or even more aggressive stuff from the 70’s like the Sex Pistols. Same with dance music. He created stuff like “Batdance” and he had his dance remixes of his songs, but he had nothing that sounded like the newer more experimental dance music of the time, stuff like house/techno. This is one big difference I’ve seen between Bowie and Prince, Bowie was open to everything
[Edited 11/13/19 18:53pm]

I think you could not be more wrong. We have confirmed information on how diverse his interests were with music and artists. Just because funk was his “base” sound does not mean he was not open to other styles, and he experimented with many different sounds and styles. He loved many different artists.
*
He would never have covered Bowie’s song or spoken highly of him had he not enjoyed or appreciated his music. Prince didn’t do many covers. If he did it was a big deal and it meant he liked your music.


Exactly...never underestimate Prince’s musical vocabulary. And what real innovative musician seriously listens to Slayer or the Sex Pistols? 😂 Just kidding.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Page 1 of 2 12>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Prince: Music and More > Was Prince into David Bowies music?