SantanaMaitreya said:

Germanegro said:

I think that the Album style was pretty wild and cool! > It is another manifestation of Prince's image exotica--same as the ruffles, paisley and lace of The Revolution period were, IMHO. All signs of the times, however it strikes the viewer.

I loved that era aesthetically. The typhoon, the Godfather/Barbarella clothes, the brighter colors. It was like Purple Rain part 2 with the pomp and circumstance of it.

In contrast, I thought his Batman/Graffiti Bridge era (more the latter) was sloppy. The outfit he wore in "Tick Tick Bang" or "Still Would Stand All Time" was just messy and uninspired. The hair, the jacket (nice on its own, too top-heavy with a thin frame in a jumpsuit), the carved out scruff... it was a hot mess. It looked like someone on X trying to be cool and go out.

It became more tailored for D&P and . The long ties over the pants, the big cuffs, the more coiffed hair, some pin stripes here and there, etc. It was a tight look. The album was a great project. It was a step up from Diamonds and Pearls, which initially felt light and heavy at the same time. Fluff like "Strollin'" versus something a bit over-produced like "Push" and "Daddy Pop," and clumsy things like "Jughead." felt more even and varied. The visual aesthetic fit well with it all, too.

They are sister albums, and without Tony M. in them, I find them both even more listenable.

TrivialPursuit said:

The typhoon, the Godfather/Barbarella clothes, the brighter colors.

That's another thing wrong if Prince was trying to appeal to the hip hop generation. Barbarella is not a reference for 1990s hip hop. Maybe it was for Duran Duran. It was more like the Al Pacino Scarface, Dolemite, & Blaxploitation movies. It was 1970s Kung Fu movies for Wu Tang Clan, particularly from Shaw Brothers. It was Afrocentrism for groups like X Clan & Digable Planets.

MickyDolenz said:

TrivialPursuit said:

The typhoon, the Godfather/Barbarella clothes, the brighter colors.

That's another thing wrong if Prince was trying to appeal to the hip hop generation. Barbarella is not a reference for 1990s hip hop. Maybe it was for Duran Duran.

I don't particularly think Prince was trying to go after the Dr. Dre, NWA or whatever crowd. He wasn't gonna hustle "Love 2 the 9s" into an Ice Cube show. Just wasn't happenin'. I don't think Prince ever really tried to do that with any crowd, other than gettin' "some of that Duran Duran money."

Even as a primarily urban artist, he wanted general crossover appeal. And he got it before Purple Rain. So while I do agree about a touch of the afrocentrism, it was more just Prince being Prince. Something funky this way comes...and it was an exaggerated and futuristic gangsta glam.

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't particularly think Prince was trying to go after the Dr. Dre, NWA or whatever crowd. He wasn't gonna hustle "Love 2 the 9s" into an Ice Cube show. Just wasn't happenin'. I don't think Prince ever really tried to do that with any crowd, other than gettin' "some of that Duran Duran money."

What do you think he was trying to do then? Convert Prince fans into liking hip hop? That doesn't make any sense to me. Rap was already mainstream at this point and had been since the Run-DMC/Fat Boys days of the mid-1980s. MC Hammer's & Vanilla Ice's albums has sold 10 million copies each around 1990, which was more than any Prince album during that same time period including Batman. Maybe Blondie was trying expose it more to the mainstream in 1980 with Rapture. It was not needed in 1991 when he got Tony M. There had been singing & rapping hybrids since the early 1980s (Force MDs, The Sequence, New Edition). Other artists did it in the early days of hip hop too (Teena Marie, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Millie Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lakeside, Herbie Hancock, Stacy Lattisaw, etc). The Gap Band had a breakdancer called Baby Gap and the video for Party Train.

MickyDolenz said:

TrivialPursuit said:

I don't particularly think Prince was trying to go after the Dr. Dre, NWA or whatever crowd. He wasn't gonna hustle "Love 2 the 9s" into an Ice Cube show. Just wasn't happenin'. I don't think Prince ever really tried to do that with any crowd, other than gettin' "some of that Duran Duran money."

What do you think he was trying to do then? Convert Prince fans into liking hip hop? That doesn't make any sense to me. Rap was already mainstream at this point and had been since the Run-DMC/Fat Boys days of the mid-1980s. MC Hammer's & Vanilla Ice's albums has sold 10 million copies each around 1990, which was more than any Prince album during that same time period including Batman. Maybe Blondie was trying expose it more to the mainstream in 1980 with Rapture. It was not needed in 1991 when he got Tony M. There had been singing & rapping hybrids since the early 1980s

No. I never said he was trying to convert rap crowds. I thought I said that rather plainly. I never said rap wasn't mainstream by that point either.

We've all sorta noted that when Prince started putting rap into his music with TC Ellis or Tony M., he was following a trend, jumping on a band wagon, not setting trends in music. He just sorta embraced rap in his own ill-advised way. He thought he could trump all the rappers out there, which was sideways noted in "Dead on It." And this time he was doing it by putting rap in his music. Frankly, I think he was desperate for street cred again, and wanted to be hip again. Even Prince missed Prince.

A year later, after Batman and Graffiti Bridge, he was writing strong pop songs like "The Morning Papers" and "Cream," and "Damn U." I understand singing and rapping hybrids. I've been here 53 years. I'm saying Prince wasn't purposely trying to get rap fans into his music. He was just using what was out there, adapting trends in music - as noted before - instead of creating them. In short terms: Prince as a hybrid rap/pop artist never really worked.

In reality, most rap and hip-hop fans probably knew who Prince was anyway. At least their parents did, and no one can tell me those parents weren't playing Purple Rain around the house before their kids were buying Snoop records.

TrivialPursuit said:

MickyDolenz said:

What do you think he was trying to do then? Convert Prince fans into liking hip hop? That doesn't make any sense to me. Rap was already mainstream at this point and had been since the Run-DMC/Fat Boys days of the mid-1980s. MC Hammer's & Vanilla Ice's albums has sold 10 million copies each around 1990, which was more than any Prince album during that same time period including Batman. Maybe Blondie was trying expose it more to the mainstream in 1980 with Rapture. It was not needed in 1991 when he got Tony M. There had been singing & rapping hybrids since the early 1980s

No. I never said he was trying to convert rap crowds. I thought I said that rather plainly. I never said rap wasn't mainstream by that point either.

We've all sorta noted that when Prince started putting rap into his music with TC Ellis or Tony M., he was following a trend, jumping on a band wagon, not setting trends in music. He just sorta embraced rap in his own ill-advised way. He thought he could trump all the rappers out there, which was sideways noted in "Dead on It." And this time he was doing it by putting rap in his music. Frankly, I think he was desperate for street cred again, and wanted to be hip again. Even Prince missed Prince.

A year later, after Batman and Graffiti Bridge, he was writing strong pop songs like "The Morning Papers" and "Cream," and "Damn U." I understand singing and rapping hybrids. I've been here 53 years. I'm saying Prince wasn't purposely trying to get rap fans into his music. He was just using what was out there, adapting trends in music - as noted before - instead of creating them. In short terms: Prince as a hybrid rap/pop artist never really worked.

In reality, most rap and hip-hop fans probably knew who Prince was anyway. At least their parents did, and no one can tell me those parents weren't playing Purple Rain around the house before their kids were buying Snoop records.

they was playing it on their cassette decks in their Geo Storms and Yugos

well, I wasnt connected with His sound then, notta big follower of rap today especially and when He did the Batman album I really disconnected, I juss took the opportunity to tap more into other favorite artist like: David Bowie, Grace Jones, the Sundays, Fela Kuti...learned more about instrumentals

came back to Him after He was finished with all "that", very shortly afterwards He started to realllly produce great work...Im presently inside the Vault and its Amazingly mindblowing

funkman88 said:

As Prince finished the 80s he was the 3rd biggest artist of the decade behind Michael & Madonna.Then in the 90s he wasn't even a top 20 artist by 2000!Do u think the rise in popularity of rap caused the historic fall?

TrivialPursuit said:

In reality, most rap and hip-hop fans probably knew who Prince was anyway.

Sure, that's why I said people who liked rap wasn't checking for Prince beats like they would for a Marley Marl. During that time New Jack Swing was all over radio. Although he wasn't the only producer of it, Teddy Riley was the face of NJS. New Jack was R&B singing mixed with hip hop & go-go style beats. Prince did not do a collabo with an already established rapper like everybody else (ig. Jody Watley & Rakim, Fat Boys & Beach Boys). It was "Cat, we need you to rap!". That part was not even on the single version.

No... I do not think it had much impact at all. At times I did see some of his apparent attempts to do what was popular at the time as a little cringe... not because it was not good...but because it was not HIM.

I do not think his career was ever destroyed...but as he said he only compeated against himself.

As he moved into the piano and microphone phase I was hopeful he was about to go into a much more basic and striped down mode. I was assuming a "guitar and microphone" tour was too follow.

but that last show at PP he said something that at time I took as "for now" but maybe he meant it as forever... that thing about how he can't play guitar anymore... I assumed he meant because he was focused on the piano shows. But I know guitarist that got to a point where they could not play as the repetitive motion destroyed their hands...

Don't blame the genre of rap for finding its own natural success. Prince's career took a downturn because 1) the tastes of the general public were shifting at that point, and 2) Prince wasn't exactly hitting the same quality highmark of his 80's albums.

MickyDolenz said:

TrivialPursuit said:

In reality, most rap and hip-hop fans probably knew who Prince was anyway.

Sure, that's why I said people who liked rap wasn't checking for Prince beats like they would for a Marley Marl.

I was thinking, as I wrote my reply, that probably endless street rappers were turntabling the shit out of "Erotic City" to rap over, back in the day.

bozojones said:

Don't blame the genre of rap for finding its own natural success. Prince's career took a downturn because 1) the tastes of the general public were shifting at that point, and 2) Prince wasn't exactly hitting the same quality highmark of his 80's albums.

Even in the 1980s, Prince didn't have the consistant Top 10 radio hits of others like Madonna, Phil Collins/Genesis, Wham!/George Michael, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, & Whitney Houston. For every big single like Kiss, there were 2 or 3 others that didn't do that well (Glam Slam, Let's Pretend We're Married). He also didn't have the multiple big album sales of Def Leppard, Journey, & Bon Jovi. A lot of Prince's stuff had little mainstream commercial appeal. He wasn't Bryan Adams, Bob Seger, or John Cougar Mellencamp who had heartland USA appeal, the Farm Aid audience. That's a lot of people, and they were not that likely going to buy Lovesexy with that cover photo, even if they liked the music. Some record stores put that behind the counter with the Richard Pryor comedy albums.

MickyDolenz said:

DJdirtymind said:

Rap didn't hurt his career. Releasing around the world in a day, and Parade pretty much dwindled the fanbase he had gained from Purple Rain.

It might have image wise. Particularly with the rise of gangsta rap in the early 1990s. Notice that when gangsta became a thing, the popularity of the more flashy dressing rappers like MC Hammer & Kid n Play started to decline. Vanilla Ice & MC Hammer attempted to get a harder sound and dress in street style, but failed. The androgynous look of the 1980s was not in, which is what the 1980s glam metal & new wave bands had. Maybe a few got away with it like Andre 3000 from OutKast. Look at Babyface in The Deele, he had eyeliner & makeup. He didn't in the 1990s. Grunge was mostly plain ordinary clothes too. The singing groups of the 1990s generally didn't wear the glitter clothing either. A lot of the girl acts had a tomboy look like TLC, Aaliyah, Xscape, Y-Nvee, Jade, Tracy Chapman, even Janet Jackson. They probably would be considered butch if they wore that stuff now.

This was a pivotal moment in Black History and led millions of Black men to destruction.

MickyDolenz said:

SantanaMaitreya said:

Prince was always about more than hit singles. Even the album he didn't release became the most talked about album of 1988!

I'm not sure about that. Maybe in your country. If the general public in the USA wasn't buying the albums he released in big numbers, why would they be talking about an unreleased record? Here's the Billboard year end biggest artists list for 1988. Prince is #48 on the pop list & #32 on the Black list, just 1 ahead of Alexander O'Neal. Alex's album was released in 1987, but was still selling in 1988. Alex did have a remix album and a Christmas album released in 1988 though. Bobby Brown's album is from 1987 too and he is 1 ahead of Prince on the pop list. A lot of the artists on the list albums were released in 1987. Prince had 2 albums in the same time period but is down at the bottom for pop.

Well people wont like this but PRINCE did most of the damage to himself, but as far as "Career" he didnt view MUSIC as a career, he didnt think like that, and honestly he didnt give a crap what you felt as most artists SHOULD THINK. Now the influx of "rap or hip hop" into his music kind of was always there, PRINCE first and foremost despite 1999 and Purple Rain, and those being massive albums and sellers, he knew and said himself to a band member "I look into the PR tour audience, and I know I am never gonna see these people again, most of them" and he accepted that right away, that the public in a massive way could NEVER handle his output, sure a loyal following could maybe a hundred thousand or so, but selling millions and millions ALL THE TIME, its not going to happen. As Elton John said "we all have our honeymoon period" and they do and then the sales and interest drops and you go on OR you buy into that million selling day and you lose your way and fall off the cliff. PRINCE just kept doing whatever he wanted, he embraced a lot of stuff that he maybe said he didnt like, he kind of did it his way. I dont think the use of rappers on his albums pulled his sales down, PRINCE and his output and just the times changing like anything else with an artist did that. Prince was always to me an underground local musician and he came in that way, blew up, and then went back to that and left that way. If you want to PICK a moment he really destroyed it, it was the battle in the press with the label, and then the name change, and the behaviour, the holding up a symbol, saying Prince is dead, I mean now artists benefit from what he did, and he predicted it all coming like this. BUT he paid the price, because the public left him big time, he became a JOKE to most, everyone had a Prince joke, I use to wear a symbol necklace back then and people who saw it there was always that person who would say "Oh cool thats the Prince thing" and then say "Oh cant call him Prince anymore" and I knew that was really the end that that nonsense had to run its course and it really talk awhile, I would say almost a decade till "the public" and fellow artists saw what he was doing. But the idea that Rap in his songs hurt or ruined him, please, Prince has done every type of thing in his music so it really doesnt matter.

lastdecember said:

Well people wont like this but PRINCE did most of the damage to himself, but as far as "Career" he didnt view MUSIC as a career, he didnt think like that, and honestly he didnt give a crap what you felt as most artists SHOULD THINK. Now the influx of "rap or hip hop" into his music kind of was always there, PRINCE first and foremost despite 1999 and Purple Rain, and those being massive albums and sellers, he knew and said himself to a band member "I look into the PR tour audience, and I know I am never gonna see these people again, most of them" and he accepted that right away, that the public in a massive way could NEVER handle his output, sure a loyal following could maybe a hundred thousand or so, but selling millions and millions ALL THE TIME, its not going to happen. As Elton John said "we all have our honeymoon period" and they do and then the sales and interest drops and you go on OR you buy into that million selling day and you lose your way and fall off the cliff. PRINCE just kept doing whatever he wanted, he embraced a lot of stuff that he maybe said he didnt like, he kind of did it his way. I dont think the use of rappers on his albums pulled his sales down, PRINCE and his output and just the times changing like anything else with an artist did that. Prince was always to me an underground local musician and he came in that way, blew up, and then went back to that and left that way. If you want to PICK a moment he really destroyed it, it was the battle in the press with the label, and then the name change, and the behaviour, the holding up a symbol, saying Prince is dead, I mean now artists benefit from what he did, and he predicted it all coming like this. BUT he paid the price, because the public left him big time, he became a JOKE to most, everyone had a Prince joke, I use to wear a symbol necklace back then and people who saw it there was always that person who would say "Oh cool thats the Prince thing" and then say "Oh cant call him Prince anymore" and I knew that was really the end that that nonsense had to run its course and it really talk awhile, I would say almost a decade till "the public" and fellow artists saw what he was doing. But the idea that Rap in his songs hurt or ruined him, please, Prince has done every type of thing in his music so it really doesnt matter.

>

I believe similarly, . Prince, like everyone, liked seeing big success and more importantly--the results of that success, and while he did some things musically to surf trends for a while to get some of that 80s attention back, at the same time he wasn't going to dive completely into anybody else's "trend" to be something that he wasn't. Being as that is, those looking at Prince's chart placements to try to dechipher the man's artistic and commercial intentions are just looking in the wrong place to see what he was getting at.

>

Simply put, the guy was an artistic experimenter who followed his whims, and that is what happened to his slow rise, roller-coaster, and plateau "career."

>

Also, I'll say that I view the whole "symbol" phase as a fascinating endeavor that not everybody would accept. It took big nuts to try that publicity track and, well, actually was nutty! Entertaining as hell, though, to me, and maybe others who are into the idea of combating the central powers of media conglomerates. Regardless, while that scene cut off some of his following and potential listeners, his focus had again shifted--necessarilly, for him, because he made a big-mess-of-a-contract-agreement that didn't give him what he really wanted in the publication of his works. He was desparate to regain some control in his usual manner of weilding control in his work. It was unpopular in its way, but also WOW, what a way to keep your image in the media during a phase of commercial downturn and put an altruistic spin on it to benifit industry talent broadly, to boot.

>

The man was brilliant all the way, IMHO, no matter to what degree his popularity went south.

Anywho, my

The dude never understood it. He didn't seem to get the genius of it. The rapping is complex, mentally high minded. He would purposely hire bad rappers to help him look better when he rapped. He eventually did get it better with the banging Gold Ex, which Robert Christgau says he transforms hip hop.

2freaky4church1 said:

The dude never understood it. He didn't seem to get the genius of it. The rapping is complex, mentally high minded. He would purposely hire bad rappers to help him look better when he rapped. He eventually did get it better with the banging Gold Ex, which Robert Christgau says he transforms hip hop.

You know, there could be some truth in that. Maybe Prince, not exactly being a street-wise guy like that only saw rap from a musical standpoint; rhythmic talking, etc. He didn't get the heart of it, per se. Because he didn't have the same life experiences that rappers have had to talk about those things in that way.

As far as purposely hiring bad rappers - I think him picking these yokels to rap on his music was more of him not being fully in touch with the nature of rap or hip-hop to know a good rapper from someone like Tony M. or T.C. Ellis.

TrivialPursuit said:

2freaky4church1 said:

The dude never understood it. He didn't seem to get the genius of it. The rapping is complex, mentally high minded. He would purposely hire bad rappers to help him look better when he rapped. He eventually did get it better with the banging Gold Ex, which Robert Christgau says he transforms hip hop.

You know, there could be some truth in that. Maybe Prince, not exactly being a street-wise guy like that only saw rap from a musical standpoint; rhythmic talking, etc. He didn't get the heart of it, per se. Because he didn't have the same life experiences that rappers have had to talk about those things in that way.

As far as purposely hiring bad rappers - I think him picking these yokels to rap on his music was more of him not being fully in touch with the nature of rap or hip-hop to know a good rapper from someone like Tony M. or T.C. Ellis.

Prince kept it local with his choices plus a lot he got he knew, I don't think he really cared about or too much about rapping skills, I mean he knew Tony M for years personally. I also think he didn't want it to overshadow him either I mean think of the times he got more skilled rappers on tracks like Chuck D and Doug E Fresh he was getting legends that were past their point of appealing to the public anymore, I think people thought he was going to team with the flavor of the month to get played, or team with the hip producer of the month for a new sound, he was never going that route.

Prince was doing T.C. Ellis--a local homeboy with recording goals--a favor. And Tony Mosley was a Game Boy, one of those club dancers appearing in the balcony shots at First Avenue in the Purple Rain film. He's another a local person been given an opportunity to hang with his entourage of creatives. Chuck D., Eve, Doug E. Fresh, and all the other lesser-prominet rappers who spat on his tracks were all toastings, kind of like what you might hear on other pop listenings of the day and if you weren't into rap, you just didn't like anyway.

>

Rap wasn't Prince's lane, really, as a musician instrumentalist and singer, but we heard the rap stuff that he did do on a minute level, opening himself up to some broad criticisms while at the same showing some solidarity with the brothers and sisters trying to make their own in that entertainment lane. That particular style inclusion didn't make him a new star in entertainment, but at the same time I wouldn't take the leap to say that there were messages delivered by the rap artists that Prince could not comprehend or understand the heart of the endeavor!

>

The art of Hip Hop has its own skill set and methodologies; playing instruments and singing music have their own skill sets and methodologies as well. Unless the guy was going to incorporate a production team that would make the rap stye mesh well with own--which is laughable if you know what kind of artist Prince was--which would've been a necessary step if you were going to ever see Prince as or think of him as holding down hip-hop creditworthy craftwork, we can all just forget about the notion of Prince trying to become a notweworthy rap artist. Come on, peeps!

TrivialPursuit said:

2freaky4church1 said:

The dude never understood it. He didn't seem to get the genius of it. The rapping is complex, mentally high minded. He would purposely hire bad rappers to help him look better when he rapped. He eventually did get it better with the banging Gold Ex, which Robert Christgau says he transforms hip hop.

You know, there could be some truth in that. Maybe Prince, not exactly being a street-wise guy like that only saw rap from a musical standpoint; rhythmic talking, etc. He didn't get the heart of it, per se. Because he didn't have the same life experiences that rappers have had to talk about those things in that way.

As far as purposely hiring bad rappers - I think him picking these yokels to rap on his music was more of him not being fully in touch with the nature of rap or hip-hop to know a good rapper from someone like Tony M. or T.C. Ellis.

lastdecember said:

I mean now artists benefit from what he did, and he predicted it all coming like this.

You mean all of those performers today who sign 360 deals, where the record labels get a part of touring & merchandising income? I think Madonna, Jay-Z, Rolling Stones, & U2 did that. What about Taylor Swift re-recording her stuff? The 360 thing started because Napster happened and many people stopped buying CDs. The labels weren't making as much money from record sales. It was MP3s to streaming today. A certain amount of streams is equal to an album sale. There's also those veteran artists who are selling their publishing and/or recordings for a big amount.

Germanegro said:

Prince was doing T.C. Ellis--a local homeboy with recording goals--a favor. And Tony Mosley was a Game Boy, one of those club dancers appearing in the balcony shots at First Avenue in the Purple Rain film. He's another a local person been given an opportunity to hang with his entourage of creatives. Chuck D., Eve, Doug E. Fresh, and all the other lesser-prominet rappers who spat on his tracks were all toastings, kind of like what you might hear on other pop listenings of the day and if you weren't into rap, you just didn't like anyway.

Yeah, I know who those folks are, and Prince doing anyone a favor like that benefited no one. The listener, his music at the time (thank God it only really lasted 2-3 years), sales, whoever/whatever... no one liked it or benefited from it.

Chuck was good on that track, but it felt like it didn't quite indulge his full talent. Eve - same thing. She's so good. I love her voice, but what a trash song to put her on. But wasn't she on the remix of another song? "Hot Wit U?" (Been a minute since I listened to that record. haha)

Doug E... well. Okay. We'll just leave that where it sits.

TrivialPursuit said:

MickyDolenz said:

lastdecember said:

I mean now artists benefit from what he did, and he predicted it all coming like this.

You mean all of those performers today who sign 360 deals, where the record labels get a part of touring & merchandising income? I think Madonna, Jay-Z, Rolling Stones, & U2 did that. What about Taylor Swift re-recording her stuff? The 360 thing started because Napster happened and many people stopped buying CDs. The labels weren't making as much money from record sales. It was MP3s to streaming today. A certain amount of streams is equal to an album sale. There's also those veteran artists who are selling their publishing and/or recordings for a big amount.

But again the artists you cite, Madonna, JayZ, U2 they all own their work, PRINCE didnt get his ownership till 2014. Prince was not in this position because HE signed bad deals in the long run. BUT also where PRINCE went very wrong was re-signing in 91-92, and it was EGO that led him to that payday, and VP title they gave him, but he failed to realize what was in that deal, you get such and such if you SELL such and such, and if you take out Purple Rain prince never would even have a platum album after or even close, he should have realized what that 120 million dollar deal was really, it was an advance if you do this, not heres your money now do what you want. Second with Taylor Swift, there is no comparison to what PRINCE wanted to do and how wrong he was on re-recording. Prince had that wonderful idea but he possibly did the worst re-do of a song in history, close second was Bon Jovi re-doing Livin on A Prayer in 1994 for a best of set. Prince's re-do of 1999 was awful in every way, so bad that the original was still outselling it when the new one came out, the idea to put lame raps from Doug E Fresh to also alter the song style, this song is cringe worthy. Taylor is in a totally different league with what she can do, what she does and what her fan base will do for her, PRINCE does not have that. Taylor was smart enough to realize people love these songs and my albums, and they are still fresh in their minds, and also her base is younger than Princes at that time, so she in every way won out, to a point where the sale of her old music is a disaster to those who purchased it, and she is just starting, beware of what she has in store for her bigger sellers. And selling your publishing, Prince again never was in this position, his assests are all over the place, he had deals with mutilple labels and he also had eras of time where stuff was not selling at all. And this goes back to loyality in the fan base, not one of Taylors fans doubted her or deviated, I mean just one example would be Prince doing things like "The Rainbow Children" the record sold 140,000 in america overall, now fans complained it was a new sound style his not cursing anymore, do you think Taylors base would deviate from her, this girl technically was labelled a country artist and no one had a issue going pop and now she is almost in singer songwriter mode and rumor is she could be going for a keyboardy 80 synth type record next. As for the streaming world, it may be how its done now, BUT artists not able to make these deals, are going to force streaming companies into more money for their work, which is going to translate to higher subscription fees, but lets be real streaming music has never gone up, compare it to all other outlets of film tv which ALL have raised prices numerous times, I think people are in for a shock with streaming music soon.

Thanks for posting this. It really brought back the times for me and yes by 1988, Prince was commercially a footnote and already starting (because of the LS tour) to be thought of mostly as that guy you needed to see live (but that his new stuff is not as good). Batman gave him a lay up #1 because it was Batman and that was that.

Hate to say it but if anything hurt Prince's brand commerically it was not "rap" but rather the Under The Cherry Moon movie and to some exent Parade (before you go crazy, its literally my favorite Prince album- timeless and beautiful). But if we're only counting $$$, 1986 was already a bit to "precious" and dare I say "white" (ducks!) for the market those days. The LoveSexy cover and its dayglow aesthetic only buried him deeper.

Lenny Kravitz made his whole career, copping the SOTT hippy look, harder sound and 60s denim. Prince should have stayed there for another minute.

MickyDolenz said: