RODSERLING said:

it was when he started to try and use modern slang or vernacular, coming from an artist to eschewed that in the 80s remember, that he started to sound esp silly. who wants to hear a guy in his 50s singing about going HAM and getting it turnt up etc, or ruining ballads with that kind of thing. just dumb.

[Edited 1/11/21 4:49am]

JayCrawford said:

1. 80s

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2. 10s (Because of the Super Deluxe Editions with previously unreleased tracks. These are the type of Prince tracks I have wanted for decades. Without these, the 2010s would be at the bottom of my list.)

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3. 70s

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4. 00s

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5. 90s

RODSERLING said:

vainandy said:

I'd say, musically he is like the sum total of 10 great artists. But artistically there are 3 of him: Prince, associated with the pre-2016 albums; Prince live; and Vault Prince. It will be Vault Prince (not to be confused with VaultHead - someone's awful pseudonym for Kirk Johnson over at Lipstick Alley) who will have people talking about him for centuries to come, thanks to the thousands of songs becoming heard and studied.

But to answer OP, the 80s are a 10 and every other decade is like a close 2nd.

JayCrawford said:

RODSERLING said:

JayCrawford said:

JayCrawford said:

1980s - 10/10 as I stated before, he was the king of music throughout the 80s in my opinion, he's the last artist to have that consistent classic period album era, before him you had Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and loads more before him (which is something that has been missing for many years, pioneer, trend setter, took Rick's woman, broke colour barriers, 2 great films Purple Rain and SOTT, his rivalry with Rick James, winning an Oscar and Grammy's and as a performer his shows were too amazing.. Man he was the best then. 1990s - 3/10 his career took a huge nose dive throughout the 90s, too many bad albums, he became a desperate trend follower and craving for more hits during the D&P era (considering that Prince stated many times that he didn't care for hits), he clearly didn't care about his craft anymore throughout that era is like he was just throwing out bad albums after bad albums. His overall performance were decent to bad. His only perfect show in my opinion were the Diamond and Pearls shows. The Nude tour, The Gold tour, Jam Of The Year and loads more were awful... The decade when he thought splashing powder on his face was gonna get him somewhere. Graffiti Bridge was awful. But the 90s was the end of Prince. He definitely wasn't in his prime then. The only good performance Prince he had was when he appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1991. Mayte is one of the worse things to have happened to his career.bitch couldn't dance at all. 2000s - 4.5/10 despite changing his name back to Prince, he became the most boring artist ever! Two good albums in my opinion The Rainbow Children and One Nite Alone but if you are struggling to fall asleep and you need something to knock you out? Go with the 00s era of Prince. But he was earning Grammy's again and won the golden globe award, his shows like One Nite Alone, Musicology were great stuff, his Superbowl performance is still the greatest performance ever, the rock and roll hall of fame performance was great, his stage duet with Beyonce was great No classic albums just like his 90s era, just like the 90s just throwing out bad albums after bad albums. So basically I'd say he was a better stage performer than he was as a recording artist. Musically he was boring but he was a Jehova witness then. 2010s - I can't give an opinion because I stopped following him then. Let us know your thoughts on each era.

This is absolutely the worst ranking i've ever seen. Are you even a fan?

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

it was when he started to try and use modern slang or vernacular, coming from an artist to eschewed that in the 80s remember, that he started to sound esp silly. who wants to hear a guy in his 50s singing about going HAM and getting it turnt up etc, or ruining ballads with that kind of thing. just dumb.

[Edited 1/11/21 4:49am]

He always used modern slang/vernacular lol ever heard soundchecks and rehearsals in the 80s?

tab32792 said:

Nuernberg72 said:

JayCrawford said:

1980s - 10/10 as I stated before, he was the king of music throughout the 80s in my opinion, he's the last artist to have that consistent classic period album era, before him you had Bowie, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and loads more before him (which is something that has been missing for many years, pioneer, trend setter, took Rick's woman, broke colour barriers, 2 great films Purple Rain and SOTT, his rivalry with Rick James, winning an Oscar and Grammy's and as a performer his shows were too amazing.. Man he was the best then.

1990s - 3/10 his career took a huge nose dive throughout the 90s, too many bad albums, he became a desperate trend follower and craving for more hits during the D&P era (considering that Prince stated many times that he didn't care for hits), he clearly didn't care about his craft anymore throughout that era is like he was just throwing out bad albums after bad albums. His overall performance were decent to bad. His only perfect show in my opinion were the Diamond and Pearls shows. The Nude tour, The Gold tour, Jam Of The Year and loads more were awful... The decade when he thought splashing powder on his face was gonna get him somewhere. Graffiti Bridge was awful. But the 90s was the end of Prince. He definitely wasn't in his prime then. The only good performance Prince he had was when he appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show in 1991. Mayte is one of the worse things to have happened to his career.bitch couldn't dance at all.

2000s - 4.5/10 despite changing his name back to Prince, he became the most boring artist ever! Two good albums in my opinion The Rainbow Children and One Nite Alone but if you are struggling to fall asleep and you need something to knock you out? Go with the 00s era of Prince. But he was earning Grammy's again and won the golden globe award, his shows like One Nite Alone, Musicology were great stuff, his Superbowl performance is still the greatest performance ever, the rock and roll hall of fame performance was great, his stage duet with Beyonce was great No classic albums just like his 90s era, just like the 90s just throwing out bad albums after bad albums. So basically I'd say he was a better stage performer than he was as a recording artist. Musically he was boring but he was a Jehova witness then.

2010s - I can't give an opinion because I stopped following him then.

Let us know your thoughts on each era.

The same reviews over and over again. Prince created his own galaxy in the eighties. Not many have made it. to believe that something like that can be repeated is naive. Every artist, regardless of their field, has its peak phase. I find your statement about some phases in Prince's career almost funny Tell me about your constant top performances. Excuse my english my friend

JayCrawford said:

tab32792 said:

JayCrawford said:

Nuernberg72 said:

The same reviews over and over again. Prince created his own galaxy in the eighties. Not many have made it. to believe that something like that can be repeated is naive. Every artist, regardless of their field, has its peak phase. I find your statement about some phases in Prince's career almost funny Tell me about your constant top performances. Excuse my english my friend

Whenever people use that "tell us what you have done in your life" argument is normally a sign of them not having anything else better to say but cry.

Is fine "my friend."

I've been a fan since 1983 after first hearing 1999 and LRC in high rotation on Detroit radio. 6th Grade. Here's my ranking:

1. 80s. His ultimate run of masterpiece albums. Just the fact that 1999, PR and SOTT exist in the 80s is the deciding factor. The highs: almost the entire decade. The lows: the UTCM didn't do so well, and Batman "seemed" like a backstep after Lovesexy.

2. 90s. The first half of the 90s is basically a continuation of his 80s energy. D&P, , Come, The Gold Experience. C'mon. The highs: The Come/Gold-era New Power Generation, the D&P "comeback" (he was all over TV, which was great). The lows: WB feud, NewPower Soul, 1999: The New Master.

3. 00s. The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone, 3121, LotusFlow3r. His spark seemed to dim only a little bit, but the Musicology "comeback" was nice for the fans, even if I think 3121 is a much stronger album. The highs: 2004 "comeback", R&RHOF induction and performances, and of course the Superbowl performance. The lows: Planet Earth, LotusFlow3r.com website, N.E.W.S.

4. 70s. This decade was originally at the bottom, but I can't in good conscience put the self-titled "Prince" album at the bottom. This album is an absolute masterpiece that I feel is often overshadowed by Dirty Mind as Prince's breakout album. But "Prince" is where it all starts to feel like something special is happening, and it has several timeless songs on it. "For You" (to me) is almost forgettable, something I have barely listened to. Highs: Prince. Lows: For You.

5. 10's. This decade brought some of the longest gaps between albums that we ever had as Prince fans. Art Official Age (which I feel is a masterpiece) and HNR2 are albums I revisit quite often. I'm not really a fan of the 3rdEyeGirl stuff, but I do recognize that he was re-energized a bit with them. Highs: AOA, HNR2, the New Girl appearance. Lows: PlectrumElectrum, HNR1 and of course losing Prince.

Posthumous highs: Originals, 1999: SDE and SOTT: SDE. Seeing Paisley Park.
Posthumous lows: Piano & Microphone 1983

Se7en said:

JayCrawford said:

RODSERLING said:

JayCrawford said:

Se7en said:

I've been a fan since 1983 after first hearing 1999 and LRC in high rotation on Detroit radio. 6th Grade. Here's my ranking:

1. 80s. His ultimate run of masterpiece albums. Just the fact that 1999, PR and SOTT exist in the 80s is the deciding factor. The highs: almost the entire decade. The lows: the UTCM didn't do so well, and Batman "seemed" like a backstep after Lovesexy.

2. 90s. The first half of the 90s is basically a continuation of his 80s energy. D&P, , Come, The Gold Experience. C'mon. The highs: The Come/Gold-era New Power Generation, the D&P "comeback" (he was all over TV, which was great). The lows: WB feud, NewPower Soul, 1999: The New Master.

3. 00s. The Rainbow Children, One Nite Alone, 3121, LotusFlow3r. His spark seemed to dim only a little bit, but the Musicology "comeback" was nice for the fans, even if I think 3121 is a much stronger album. The highs: 2004 "comeback", R&RHOF induction and performances, and of course the Superbowl performance. The lows: Planet Earth, LotusFlow3r.com website, N.E.W.S.

4. 70s. This decade was originally at the bottom, but I can't in good conscience put the self-titled "Prince" album at the bottom. This album is an absolute masterpiece that I feel is often overshadowed by Dirty Mind as Prince's breakout album. But "Prince" is where it all starts to feel like something special is happening, and it has several timeless songs on it. "For You" (to me) is almost forgettable, something I have barely listened to. Highs: Prince. Lows: For You.

5. 10's. This decade brought some of the longest gaps between albums that we ever had as Prince fans. Art Official Age (which I feel is a masterpiece) and HNR2 are albums I revisit quite often. I'm not really a fan of the 3rdEyeGirl stuff, but I do recognize that he was re-energized a bit with them. Highs: AOA, HNR2, the New Girl appearance. Lows: PlectrumElectrum, HNR1 and of course losing Prince.

Posthumous highs: Originals, 1999: SDE and SOTT: SDE. Seeing Paisley Park.
Posthumous lows: Piano & Microphone 1983

The only 4 high profile moments of Princes career were 1999, Purple Rain, D&P and Musicology if you think about.

Hmmm. I'll agree that not every album release was a high-profile event, especially after the late 90s.

But there are quite a few more that you're missing. Batman alone defined Prince in 1989, but others such as Parade (UTCM movie, MTV concert sweepstakes), The Gold Experience (Love4OneAnother VH-1 special, multiple nightly talk show performances) and 3121 (album, Las Vegas residency) were high-profile.

I thought Emancipation would be a lot bigger than it was, as his first post-WB abum, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Se7en said:

JayCrawford said:

Se7en said:

Hmmm. I'll agree that not every album release was a high-profile event, especially after the late 90s.

But there are quite a few more that you're missing. Batman alone defined Prince in 1989, but others such as Parade (UTCM movie, MTV concert sweepstakes), The Gold Experience (Love4OneAnother VH-1 special, multiple nightly talk show performances) and 3121 (album, Las Vegas residency) were high-profile.

I thought Emancipation would be a lot bigger than it was, as his first post-WB abum, but unfortunately it wasn't.

Hmmm, I suppose you can say that. 3 high profile moment of the 80s, 1999-Parade 2 high profile moments of the 90s, D&P and TGE 2 high profile moments of the 00s. Musicology and 3121

And, of course, the Superbowl Halftime show. That might have been the last high-profile moment that Prince had.