I sometimes wonder if Prince realized the impact he would have had in the industry decades later and if he would have done anything differently+been more intentional.

What do you know that other artists don't know?

Surely, you know, considering how successful you are in the Org business?

Prince was always an advocate of his path. WHat he did right or wrong had lead him to where he was and his success bore this out. Like a giant jenga set you can't change something and not mess up the whole thing. I disagree as his stubborness hurt his career and legacy. I think potentially looking back he may have worked/collaborated with more people, embraced spotify and allowing more music to be played. I may be wrong, but I think he was reflecting on his life and he knew something was up. Was it the death of Vanity? Was it just the years passing by? I don't know but putting out an autobiography (almost) and doing the piano and microphone tour, even reclaiming the afro seemed to be thinking about the past. At the same time he was working with mono neon. I think with a little more time here and some reflection he may have thawed on some of his stances. But then again Prince's strength and weakness was being stubborn.

I feel like because people like to reflect and reflect upon how they would have done things differently they somehow conflate that into Prince, who was pretty expressively "of the moment" and generally avoided that kind of reflection like the plague

Believing he was going to become some master Yoda keeper of the funk force to teach to a league of apprentices or somehow go 180 on his war against streaming just seems like some fantasy fan ficton that doesn't even seem remotely like the dude.

Since his transition people even make stuff up to play into what the people want. Like Janelle Monae's fake "collaboration" on her recent album she was crowing all over press releases to pretend like he had something to do with her new material. You go to Prince spaces on the web and they're like "Boy he sure mentored that Janelle Monae," like my word did they lap that B.S. up with a purple spoon. Like these people got absolutely no interest in Jill Jones or Bria Valente records but they act like Janelle Monae was the handpicked successor.

Or how he performed with Beyonce for a coffee break at the start of her solo career and the very beginning of his bid to reclaim mainstream clout, so Prince fans are like, "see, SEE, Prince woulda been head of the Beyhive and personally endorsed every album she ever put out."

"See, SEE, he was writing an autobiography and mentioned Vanity, so he was going to reunite The Revolution and go tour Roadhouse Garden."

I feel like Prince was pretty easy to predict in the sense that he'd generally do the complete opposite of what his fans wanted and/or predicted. So by sheer virtue of Prince history you're all likely wrong.

[Edited 4/19/24 14:29pm]

I personally believe that he wouldn't have removed his music off youtube.

We all have things we would do differently in hindsight but it usually has more to do with personal relationships.

I definitely think he would have monetized his social media brand (Insta/YouTube) and licensed games like Guitar Hero/Rock Band if he would have known the reach they would have and that he likely could have commanded A-list royalties.

I also think he would have figured out a way to own or have a large stake in a streaming service (audio and video) had he known how instrumental they would become, since he was a very early adopter of web-based output.

I think he mght have gone 'independent' had he known he had to endure the 'slave' years. He liked the money, I'm sure, but great independent artists eventually amass great wealth as their fandom grows.

believing everything Larry told him

get in rehab before his death

picked a better Tony M

didn't make Grafitti Bridge movie

give The Time more space

released that second Jill jones album

let Paisley Park records run by someone else

released the Black Album as it was planned

never got married with Mayte

never got married

had a better 3rdEyeGirl band

reworked with The Revolution

started earlier with remastering done by others of his earlier work

tour the USA with SOTT

never released D&P album

sold paisley park and started all over again

I mean in "Moon Beam Levels" Prince wrote

He said he'll never keep diaries to learn from his mistakes
Instead he'll just repeat all the good things that he's done

When he did something wrong or made an error he seemed to almost double down on it. He was a stubborn little bugger.

He should have taken a break by 1990. Scrap Graffiti Bridge (record AND film) altogether and release The Hits instead then.

psyche2 said:

He should have taken a break by 1990. Scrap Graffiti Bridge (record AND film) altogether and release The Hits instead then.

To me, that "The Hits I, II, B-sides" has always been a very messy compilation.

It was even better if he didn't release that.

I don't think I ever listened to it again after I found it years later for $5 in a Chicago thrift store.

For me, there still isn't a decend Best of or Hits compilation.

Vannormal said:

psyche2 said:

He should have taken a break by 1990. Scrap Graffiti Bridge (record AND film) altogether and release The Hits instead then.

To me, that "The Hits I, II, B-sides" has always been a very messy compilation.

It was even better if he didn't release that.

I don't think I ever listened to it again after I found it years later for $5 in a Chicago thrift store.

For me, there still isn't a decend Best of or Hits compilation.

Honestly, same for me - it's a pointless collection (like any other Best of compilation for that matter). But it would have meant a full stop and a closure of the 80's, a well deserved break and avoiding the commercial and critical failure of Graffiti Bridge.

When I said : "For me, there still isn't a decend Best of or Hits compilation",

I hope the current Estate million-suckers aren't reading this. )))

psyche2 said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

I sometimes wonder if Prince realized the impact he would have had in the industry decades later and if he would have done anything differently+been more intentional.

I believe that Prince was smart enough to know he would be most appreciated by the public once he had left us.

TheTruth123 said:

SoulAlive said:

psyche2 said:

He should have taken a break by 1990. Scrap Graffiti Bridge (record AND film) altogether and release The Hits instead then.

I agree.He really should have taken a break after Batman.The GB movie was a poor way to start off the 90s.

We got some great songs out of it though : The Question Of U, Thieves in the Temple, Joy in Repetition.

Vannormal said:

believing everything Larry told him

get in rehab before his death

picked a better Tony M

didn't make Grafitti Bridge movie

give The Time more space

let Paisley Park records run by someone else

released the Black Album as it was planned

started earlier with remastering done by others of his earlier work

tour the USA with SOTT

I agree with those.

Vannormal said:

believing everything Larry told him

get in rehab before his death

picked a better Tony M

didn't make Grafitti Bridge movie

give The Time more space

released that second Jill jones album

let Paisley Park records run by someone else

released the Black Album as it was planned

never got married with Mayte

never got married

had a better 3rdEyeGirl band

reworked with The Revolution

started earlier with remastering done by others of his earlier work

tour the USA with SOTT

never released D&P album

sold paisley park and started all over again

If he could have embraced Jam and Lewis' growth as writters he could have had Minnesota as the Motown of the eighties (yes I know Motown was still creeping along in the eightires). He tried to do that under his Paisley Park umbrella but couldn't create Prince hits for artists that weren't Prince (in a sustained fashion that the public would buy into of course he had his share of wins as a songsmith). Imagine Prince, Jam and Lewis (who bring in Janet Jackson with all of the hits she gets) and Prince head hunts bigger artists to join him, gets tony toni tone, by the nineties draws in L.A Reid, Babyface, D'angelo, Van Hunt..... Well I can dream can't I. It would have been brilliant but Prince could only focus throught the lense of Prince, and we might have missed his Lovesexy, Rainbow Children and other unique works.

paisleyparkgirl said:

I sometimes wonder if Prince realized the impact he would have had in the industry decades later and if he would have done anything differently+been more intentional.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-- Teddy Roosevelt, former United States President Paris, France April 23, 1910

in some vague sense, im sure he knew that he wouldnt be fully appreciated until he was gone, or at least until he aged considerably more, but i also dont think he really thought that far ahead overall.

he was always very much about the present.

he wasnt that bothered about the future, or his legacy.

if he was, there are lots of things id imagine he might have done differently (eg - preparation, either to preserve or destroy, the vault material; plan for back catalogue reissues but there was a disinterest in his own past more or less, as if that didnt matter for his future, which isnt what most artists of his age do).

but he wasnt thinking that far ahead, and definitely not far back.

tbh i doubt he would have done anything that differently - his MO was to basically release as much as he could, keep on recording and recording, keep on touring and touring, just keep on going and going, that was it. i dont imagine he would have stopped that until he was no longer physically capable anymore.

[Edited 4/28/24 12:34pm]