WhisperingDandelions said:

Agreed. His videos/single choices were often miss of course with some exceptions in each era, but generally... Like 80-85%.

The videos particularly with the bad miming... Someone here once said it was an 80s stylistic thing, uh..? It made sense though why most Joe 6-Pack people kind of get shocked he could actually rip on guitar post-R&R Hall o Fame or whatever if those videos were the prior context.

2022 music culture being more "hits" consumed and video-centric than prior generations what with their "visual albums" and TikToks and literally every podcast, a medium that is basically modern talk-radio, having a video component or else everyone in their YouTube comments complaining there isn't a video component... They want something fresh on their LED touch screens if they're gonna check out an artist and Prince videos look lower-budget with more minimalist concepts than their kid sister's TikToks.

Beyond that, though, younger gen does seem to love an old-school hit more than previous and are gleeful to add some classics to their gym playlists... but emphasis being hits. Generation-spanning hits, this is why your average teen/young adult will overrate MJ and seem perplexed this "Prince" guy with the same 80s purple puffy shirt outfit is even in the conversation.

From a purely hits perspective to the young gen that only knows old hits that went beyond the era, MJ kinda gets the kaleidescopic imagery and multifaceted aura we know is more apropos to Prince. Prince? "Yeah, 'Purple Rain' is okayy.." and they always mean just the song..

The album cuts and stuff he "gave away" are the true gems, but that's like a foreign language in 2022...

[Edited 8/26/22 22:51pm]

But....we used to listen to albums late into the night, catching every nuance of every song, even side 2 and the "B" sides! No streaming music where you can listen to only your favorites, and the hits. We were desparate for OUR music, so we really dove into it deep. (No Hank Williams tunes on the 8 Track player for us!)

MickyDolenz said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

It's only because they don't have time to really dig into his music.

Or maybe they don't listen to the type of music Prince makes. Some people like country music or easy listening or hip hop or salsa or death metal. I have relatives that only listen to gospel, they don't listen to any secular music. My mom doesn't listen to Prince. She likes stuff like Tyrone Davis, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Little Milton, Whitney Houston, Jerry Butler, Joe Tex, etc. With a younger audience, I don't think the average fan of BTS, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, Megan Thee Stallion, or Drake would be looking for Prince music. Like they weren't looking for Kate Bush & Fleetwood Mac until one of their songs got on Stranger Things & a viral TikTok video. There's younger people who do reaction videos to oldies, but 95% are hits or popular artists that their subscribers or people in the comments request, which is usually classic rock & 1980s Top 40.

Amen. Good explaination.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

Why do some of you guys act like EVERYONE likes MJ's music. I know so many ppl who dislike his music and only like his videos.

[Edited 8/27/22 17:00pm]

Mj was just more popular globally than prince. Everyone knows him. From rich to poor nations. Prince? Less so.

Yeah. We were at a pool party in Jamaica about 4 years ago, and I asked the young DJ there to play some Prince for me. He didn't really have a clue who I was asking for. AND, they speak the queen's English there, so it wasn't a language barrier thing!

prince is/was only really popular in western countries (europe, the UK, US, etc) or countries with 'advanced' economies (eg japan), or countries which were liberal democracies. he never tried to crack any other untapped markets AFAIK.

[Edited 9/1/22 11:53am]

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

he wasnt into american roots music really. or non-american or western/anglophone music, by and large. some older blues and jazz were as old as prince was willing to look back really. he wasnt jack white.

I've seen that name before, but never heard any of his music.

PJMcGee said:

You haven't heard the White Stripes?

No. If that's alternative rock, punk rock, or grunge, I've never paid much attention to those kinds of acts.

paisleyparkgirl said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

which official videos though? the recent ones?

his videos def got worse after around the mid 90s i think. def after he left WB.

black sweat wasnt bad actually. but i think there were many bad to mediocre ones. his videos and artwork took a big hit after he left warners.

I think his 80's videos were terrible, Mountains, Alphabet St most were low budget if not all.

Seems like he started investing in music videos in the 2000's.

He started investing in his videos when Paisley Park opened, i think he blew millions into the Gett Off video alone

MickyDolenz said:

black math is one of the WS' greatest songs. one of their hardest in any case.

if you want a good way in, something like their one more cup of coffee (dylan) or i just dont know what to do with myself (burt bacharach) cover might be a good one. or hardest button to button, for an original (this also has one of their best riffs).

JorisE73 said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

I think his 80's videos were terrible, Mountains, Alphabet St most were low budget if not all.

Seems like he started investing in music videos in the 2000's.

He started investing in his videos when Paisley Park opened, i think he blew millions into the Gett Off video alone

Yes that's true. Gett Off's video is great.

I remember in high school, a lot of people would say they didn't like Prince's voice (???).

I personally can't stand Bob Dylan's voice, but he's help up as musical royalty too. So I guess not all people like everyone . . .

Se7en said:

LILpoundCAKE said:

when people shit on prince or his music i don't say nothing. but i make a mental note.

lilpoundcake never forgets.

Se7en said:

I remember in high school, a lot of people would say they didn't like Prince's voice (???).

I remember when "Kiss" came out,one of my classmates asked me "Why does he sound like that? Why does he sound like a girl"? I rolled my eyes,thinking that this guy obviously doesn't know what a "falsetto" is! LOL

nosajd said:

Most of my friends who don’t like his music hate his voice, his lyrics, and his androgyny.

.

I believe it´s the biggest cause of rejection indeed. Prince was very feminine, and specially some men don´t like it.

.

IMO, another factor is the fact that Prince´s music was very much associated with 80s sound and aesthetics. Most people associate him with Linn drums and synths and don´t know he was capable of doing stuff like ´Chaos and Disorder´, ´The Vault Old Friends for Sale´ and even Musicology.

I believe most Prince fans don´t care about him being extremely pop, but I really like when I see people putting him in the same ´tree´ of the funk and rock greats, and not Madonna and Michael Jackson.

PJMcGee said:

Interesting. I'd think a fan of Prince would like rock guitar based music generally. Jack is a skilled guitarist. I don't have any of his albums (he has multiple acts; I saw his band the Raconteurs twice) because, compared to Prince, I find him lacking. Yeah, he's got some good songs, but I don't feel much when he plays. His most known song is Seven Nation Army. You've probably heard it. Do you watch the Grammys? I remember one year he killed it. Hmm looks like that was 2004. The White Stripes performed Seven Nation Army and a Son House cover.

That's not necessarily so (Porgy & Bess ). Some people like slow jam Prince and not rock music at all. The last type of rock music I really liked was 1980s glam metal (aka hair rock). I didn't care much for the type of music on the MTV 120 Minutes show that was on in the 1990s. I was listening to dance music then like Ace Of Base & C+C Music Factory and also stuff like Des'ree, BBD, Lisa Stansfield, Jamiroquai, Color Me Badd, Aaliyah, Spin Doctors, En Vogue, Swing Out Sister, & Chanté Moore plus some hip hop, salsa, & country. I bought a lot of 12" remix singles. One of my favorite 1990s albums is Mi Tierra by Gloria Estefan. I did like Red Hot Chili Peppers and a few Limp Bizkit songs, like the remix with Method Man and also Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. If somebody right now played Pearl Jam or Smashing Pumpkins songs I wouldn't be able to identify who it is because I didn't listen to that. I knew who they were because I was still reading Billboard Magazine & Rolling Stone at the time. That's how I know that grunge was only popular in the mainstream for only a couple of years and then it was replaced by nu-metal, which was rock & hip hop mixed together. Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe put out a rap record. A big deal was made in the music press about Nirvana knocking Michael Jackson's Dangerous album from #1. But the next week after that Garth Brooks was #1 and Garth had 3 albums in the Top 20 at the same time. Country was bigger than grunge during the 1990s with Brooks & Dunn, Shania Twain, Alan Jackson, Wynonna Judd, Dixie Chicks, etc. Even Billy Ray Cyrus debut album sold 7 or 8 million. Without his success, there would have been no Hannah Montana. Country is still really popular today in the USA, when rock music in general has been out of style for years now with the younger mainstream audience, unless you count Maroon 5.

GustavoRibas said:

nosajd said:

Most of my friends who don’t like his music hate his voice, his lyrics, and his androgyny.

.

I believe it´s the biggest cause of rejection indeed. Prince was very feminine, and specially some men don´t like it.

.

IMO, another factor is the fact that Prince´s music was very much associated with 80s sound and aesthetics. Most people associate him with Linn drums and synths and don´t know he was capable of doing stuff like ´Chaos and Disorder´, ´The Vault Old Friends for Sale´ and even Musicology.

I remember a man talking about how embarassed he was to go pick up Lovesexy from the record store when it first came out.

Just don't go to Facebook or Twitter for that validation.

paisleyparkgirl said:

GustavoRibas said:

.

I believe it´s the biggest cause of rejection indeed. Prince was very feminine, and specially some men don´t like it.

.

IMO, another factor is the fact that Prince´s music was very much associated with 80s sound and aesthetics. Most people associate him with Linn drums and synths and don´t know he was capable of doing stuff like ´Chaos and Disorder´, ´The Vault Old Friends for Sale´ and even Musicology.

I remember a man talking about how embarassed he was to go pick up Lovesexy from the record store when it first came out.

.

- I wanted to know more about Prince, so I went to a record store and asked the sale guy to play the latest release: The Hits/B-sides. The guy played excerpts of the songs, and I remember I was very embarassed when songs like ´Dirty Mind´ were played loud in the store. I was a metal guy, and it was very strange to listen to those falsettos and keys. Too feminine for me. But I ended up buying it because I already loved When Doves Cry, Raspberry Beret, and decided to give it a chance.

MickyDolenz said:

PJMcGee said:

I'd think you'd eventually develop some appreciation, but to each their own.

I didn't say I didn't like rock n roll. I specifically said alternative rock, punk rock, & grunge. I like The Beatles, Genesis (both Gabriel & Collins), Little Richard, The Police/Sting, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Steely Dan, Marshall Tucker Band, Men At Work, Van Halen (not Van Hagar as much, but I like some of it), etc. Like what is called "classic rock" today. I mostly stopped paying attention to the newer rock acts after the 1980s like I didn't care all that much for neo-soul or the Chris Brown/Akon era mainstream R&B either. I thought neo-soul like Anthony Hamilton & D'Angelo was buppie music. It all sounded alike to me just like reggaeton does.

I know a lot of the kids at school called rock "white boy music" and so did some of my cousins. They didn't listen to that. They would listen to Teena Marie, Hall & Oates, Wham!, & Culture Club though, but that was basically R&B or had reggae elements. But until 11th grade, all of the schools I went to were 95% Black students. I would say most of my relatives either listened to R&B, blues, jazz, or gospel. If they had rock records, it was mostly R&Bish & jazz rock like the Doobie Brothers, Kenny Loggins, Ambrosia, Rare Earth, Chicago, & Steely Dan. I remember one older relative had the Iron Butterly Gadda Da Vida album. Some light rock songs used to get played on R&B radio. Songs like Baby Come Back by Player & Little Jeannie by Elton John.

Its personal taste. There are a ton of artists that sell millions whose music I can't stand