A silly thing to care about, for sure. We can always listen to him whenever I want. And it certainly makes no difference to him

But...looking at the Billboard 200 Charts and not seeing a single Prince album, no Greatest Hits, no Purple Rain.

I feel sort-of sad for this generation of music consumers. They seem to have no interest in Prince.

Is it because his music isn't being put out there properly. I mean, tons of acts, that have sold less than him are on the current charts.

Here's some examples of "legacy" acts that are ALWAYS on the Billboard 200:

Michael Jackons, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Creedence, Eagles, Journey, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty, Abba, Lynyrd Fucking Skynyrd, Bob Fucking Seger, Sublime!, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Whitney, Blink Fucking 182, etc. etc.

Prince is not as big as Bob Seger???

Silly thing to care about, of course.

But, do any of you feel the same way.

TheFunkyNewAlbum said:

A silly thing to care about, for sure. We can always listen to him whenever I want. And it certainly makes no difference to him

But...looking at the Billboard 200 Charts and not seeing a single Prince album, no Greatest Hits, no Purple Rain.

I feel sort-of sad for this generation of music consumers. They seem to have no interest in Prince.

Is it because his music isn't being put out there properly. I mean, tons of acts, that have sold less than him are on the current charts.

Here's some examples of "legacy" acts that are ALWAYS on the Billboard 200:

Michael Jackons, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Creedence, Eagles, Journey, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty, Abba, Lynyrd Fucking Skynyrd, Bob Fucking Seger, Sublime!, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Whitney, Blink Fucking 182, etc. etc.

Prince is not as big as Bob Seger???

Silly thing to care about, of course.

But, do any of you feel the same way.

I do feel that way sometimes. No one my age even really knows who he was or what they're missing out on which is sad but I wish more of his stuff would be promoted more to people my age. I love Michael Jackson but even a lot of my friends only listen to him on occasion or not at all. It's sad but again we need more PROMOTION!!!

To answer the first question, no I don't get sad because there are bigger problems in the world right now.

However, he is being referenced in the middle of one of the biggest rap beefs in hip-hop history right now. I feel like current artists and celebs have been trying to put his name out there (Lebron James with his Purple rain shoe The Weeknd with his HBO show, the current Kendrick vs Drake beef) but something's missing. I don't know what. It seems like most ppl know him as an icon but don't bother to dig further into his music.

There's no reason that explains why Purple Rain isn't back on the charts this year.

[Edited 5/6/24 7:29am]

[Edited 5/6/24 7:30am]

[Edited 5/6/24 9:06am]

Prince being more popular than 99% of the artists I listen to, no, I don't get sad. He's among the 60 best selling artists of all times according to Wikipedia, which is remarkable given how often he put himself at risk by making unconventional, uncommercial artistic decisions. He had an exceptional career. He was established as a living legend and a musician's musician long before he passed and his legacy remains celebrated as one of the most influencial in the history of pop music to this day. Many talented artists never get to reach anything near Prince's level of popularity.

No because there are 1000 things that are 100% more important.

TrivialPursuit said:

In terms of charts, I don't really care much because numbers don't define greatness or quality but I do wish more people would actually listen to his music because it is very high energy and healing. It seems like charts and numbers matter more to the new generations than the actual content itself these days and the numbers come into play whether they would listen to it. But if one were to judge on numbers, having 11M stable monthly listeners on Spotify, selling over 100M records, being one of the best selling artists (mentioned before), a cult fanbase, and rising eyes from the public on the Estate's releases is pretty darn good especially with the way Prince released his content in the later years. The one thing that could be done about it is a documentary and promotion using vault footage based on his studio sessions and career which I thought Netflix was doing until it became corrupted with his personal matters.

paisleyparkgirl said:

To answer the first question, no I don't get sad because there are bigger problems in the world right now.

However, he is being referenced in the middle of one of the biggest rap beefs in hip-hop history right now. I feel like current artists and celebs have been trying to put his name out there (Lebron James with his Purple rain shoe The Weeknd with his HBO show, the current Kendrick vs Drake beef) but something's missing. I don't know what. It seems like most ppl know him as an icon but don't bother to dig further into his music.

There's no reason that explains why Purple Rain isn't back on the charts this year.

[Edited 5/6/24 7:29am]

[Edited 5/6/24 7:30am]

[Edited 5/6/24 9:06am]

Prince was referenced only in response to Drake's constant comparison of himself with MJ, if we are being genuinely honest here the general public and people outside of the Prince camp only know him for Purple Rain and being the "competitor" to MJ (even when he wanted nothing to do with that shitty comparison). Prince is his own blempt to not being as popular due to his decisions with not being on streaming platforms, neutering his reach with the younger generations from 2009-2017, but that was his perogative and he obviously knew how bad streaming was for individual artists and their freedom in art.

Bean0Wild said:

paisleyparkgirl said:

To answer the first question, no I don't get sad because there are bigger problems in the world right now.

However, he is being referenced in the middle of one of the biggest rap beefs in hip-hop history right now. I feel like current artists and celebs have been trying to put his name out there (Lebron James with his Purple rain shoe The Weeknd with his HBO show, the current Kendrick vs Drake beef) but something's missing. I don't know what. It seems like most ppl know him as an icon but don't bother to dig further into his music.

There's no reason that explains why Purple Rain isn't back on the charts this year.

[Edited 5/6/24 7:29am]

[Edited 5/6/24 7:30am]

[Edited 5/6/24 9:06am]

Prince was referenced only in response to Drake's constant comparison of himself with MJ, if we are being genuinely honest here the general public and people outside of the Prince camp only know him for Purple Rain and being the "competitor" to MJ (even when he wanted nothing to do with that shitty comparison). Prince is his own blempt to not being as popular due to his decisions with not being on streaming platforms, neutering his reach with the younger generations from 2009-2017, but that was his perogative and he obviously knew how bad streaming was for individual artists and their freedom in art.

I agree that it was his choice hence why there's no reason to "feel sad" about it.

It bugs me sometimes when you see and hear general media go crazy over an artist that doesnt come close to Princes talent. Yes I know there arent many anyway. It still can get to me sometimes Im not going to lie!

TheFunkyNewAlbum said:

Here's some examples of "legacy" acts that are ALWAYS on the Billboard 200:

Michael Jackons, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Creedence, Eagles, Journey, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty, Abba, Lynyrd Fucking Skynyrd, Bob Fucking Seger, Sublime!, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Whitney, Blink Fucking 182, etc. etc.

Prince is not as big as Bob Seger???

You must not realize that in the USA, a large area is known as "Middle America" or "The Bible Belt". This audience is less likely to be into somebody like Prince or Top 40 like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Justin Bieber, etc. They all have the wrong kind of look/image/music. This is the Farm Aid audience where country music and what is called Americana (John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Eagles, southern rock, hick hop) is more popular. Garth Brooks has 9 diamond (certified 10 million sold) albums, nobody else including The Beatles & Michael Jackson has done that.

No. I like his music and it makes me happy, end of story.

Stilll, here in mid Europe, they play Prince songs on a regular basis.

Indirectly, "Manic Monday" and "Nothing Compares 2 U".

Directly, "Kiss", "Purple Rain" & "Diamonds and Pearls".

Not hot 100 stations, though.

paisleyparkgirl said:

To answer the first question, no I don't get sad because there are bigger problems in the world right now.

However, he is being referenced in the middle of one of the biggest rap beefs in hip-hop history right now. I feel like current artists and celebs have been trying to put his name out there (Lebron James with his Purple rain shoe The Weeknd with his HBO show, the current Kendrick vs Drake beef) but something's missing. I don't know what. It seems like most ppl know him as an icon but don't bother to dig further into his music.

There's no reason that explains why Purple Rain isn't back on the charts this year.

[Edited 5/6/24 7:29am]

[Edited 5/6/24 7:30am]

[Edited 5/6/24 9:06am]

The Tik Tok generation know him from Purple Rain and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony playing "My Guitar Gently Weeps," yet they always consider him an icon??

RODSERLING said:

Prince popularity is weak nowadays, because of his refusal during his lifetime to appear on streaming Platforms : Spotify, YouTube...That killed any potential interest many years ago.

I'm certain that didn't help.

But, one viral Tik Tok could do it.

A movie could do it; think of how Bohemian Rhapsody made Queen's popularity with the current generation explode.

It's not over yet....

Nope.

I have never cared even for one second about what anyone else thinks about Prince, and have never understood why anyone else cares and wants to 'evangalise' about Prince.

And it's completely crazy to wish Prince was on the charts. Not only are the charts meaningless/little more than a pay-to-play record of who the record labels want to be popular at a given moment, messily merged with the randomness of who people listen to on streaming, but Prince is a deceased, legacy artist.

How many deceased legacy artists are taking the charts by storm, ever?

I think you would need very few fingers to count them.

No offense to anyone, but chasing that is only going to lead to disappointment.

I have absolutely no interest in who else likes Prince. None. Zero.

If they are interested in music and curious, they will find him. It's not like they have to search hard these days. Don't even have to leave the house. It's all there online.

It's just natural.

My grand parnets listened to Vera Lynn, my parents never did.

My parents listened to Elvis, I never did.

I listen to Prince, my kids never do.

Artists come and go and none will maintain the level of popularity in death that they did in life. And Prince wasn't even the most popular when he was alive. Each of those previous generations probbaly also felt that the new generation wasn't as good as their generation. Things change, people change, hairstyles change, interests rates fluctuate. Taste in music changes too.

TheFunkyNewAlbum said:

SoulAlive said:

a biopic would suck.

the best thing would be a documentary, something like whats been done for bowie. or a multi episode thing like they did for OJ simpson, not sure what the narrative would be exactly, but that could be done too.

there should be more docs on prince really. there's enough on the stones, etc already.

but a longform doc using all the private footage would be best, as there is so much of it, deep archival docs are very much in fashion at the moment, and i cant think of a better way to make a film on prince.

[Edited 5/7/24 3:53am]

I was thinking about this...

I've been a Prince fan since 1982 with 1999. This is when his popularity was on the way up and exploded of course with Purple Rain. It did feel great knowing everyone loved all things Prince at the time.

However from ATWIAD through to Lovesexy he was on his way down in the US. I didn't care, I still loved his music...but back then I DID care that his popluarity was waining. Esp with SOTT which I could not stop playing...I couldn't figure out why people didn't get it like I did. I remember always pushing his stuff on my friends and most were like, enough!

He came back, popularity-wise, for a bit with Batman and Diamonds and Pearls.

It was around that time I stopped caring about the charts...probably due growing up.

Now I couldn't care less. I do remember people talking when he did the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame show and were like, man Prince can play...I was like DUH!!

But I still love his stuff...and I know some of my friends who do too and we stick together...been to a few Revolution shows which were a blast! But it really doesn't mater if he isn't more popular...Its what I like. That goes with all music/entertainment.

MickyDolenz said:

TheFunkyNewAlbum said:

Here's some examples of "legacy" acts that are ALWAYS on the Billboard 200:

Michael Jackons, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Marley, Creedence, Eagles, Journey, Hall and Oates, Tom Petty, Abba, Lynyrd Fucking Skynyrd, Bob Fucking Seger, Sublime!, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Whitney, Blink Fucking 182, etc. etc.

Prince is not as big as Bob Seger???

You must not realize that in the USA, a large area is known as "Middle America" or "The Bible Belt". This audience is less likely to be into somebody like Prince or Top 40 like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Justin Bieber, etc. They all have the wrong kind of look/image/music. This is the Farm Aid audience where country music and what is called Americana (John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Eagles, southern rock, hick hop) is more popular. Garth Brooks has 9 diamond (certified 10 million sold) albums, nobody else including The Beatles & Michael Jackson has done that.

And yet, of your list Mellencamp, Brooks and Springstein are being let down by "Middle America" as demonstrated by the fact that they are not in the current Billboard 200.

No I am not sad that Prince is not more popular. Even during his peak in Australia there were always people that did not like His Royal Badness. Many of these were more comfortable with what was sometimes called "mid-western American boring" here - See the above.

IanRG said:

And yet, of your list Mellencamp, Brooks and Springstein are being let down by "Middle America" as demonstrated by the fact that they are not in the current Billboard 200.

I don't know about Mellencamp, but Garth & Springsteen are definitely not being let down on the touring circuit, which is more money than whatever is on the Billboard 200, including the Top 10. Artists make little money from streaming. It's the streaming companies & the record labels that make the majority of money.

Poplife88 said:

I was thinking about this...

I've been a Prince fan since 1982 with 1999. This is when his popularity was on the way up and exploded of course with Purple Rain. It did feel great knowing everyone loved all things Prince at the time.

However from ATWIAD through to Lovesexy he was on his way down in the US. I didn't care, I still loved his music...but back then I DID care that his popluarity was waining. Esp with SOTT which I could not stop playing...I couldn't figure out why people didn't get it like I did. I remember always pushing his stuff on my friends and most were like, enough!

He came back, popularity-wise, for a bit with Batman and Diamonds and Pearls.

It was around that time I stopped caring about the charts...probably due growing up.

Now I couldn't care less. I do remember people talking when he did the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame show and were like, man Prince can play...I was like DUH!!

But I still love his stuff...and I know some of my friends who do too and we stick together...been to a few Revolution shows which were a blast! But it really doesn't mater if he isn't more popular...Its what I like. That goes with all music/entertainment.

Prince's strategy between 2004 and 2007 was remarkably successful. At the time, I'd say Prince had little to prove to two types of scenes. One was Black music: Prince was already certain to be remembered as one of the most influencial R&B artists of all times, on an equal level with Sly, James, George or Stevie. He was equally important to urban club culture: his "Minneapolis Sound" had shaped dance music in the 80s and beyond (80s esthetics were enjoying a comeback that lasts to this day), and his androgynous and sexualized attitudes had made him an important countercultural figure, akin to Madonna. But the one, true dominant musical culture of the second half of the 20th century was rock n roll.

.

It's like Prince got up one morning and realized he had to cement his American status as a rock icon. He couldn't just be in James Brown's and Madonna's league, he had to be in The Beatles' and Elvis'. And for that, he did have to reach out to "Middle America", as some posters called it above.

.

This led to a lot of things that would have sounded unlikely for the "hip, sophisticated" Prince who once aimed to seduce New York and Europe:

- An acoustic TV special to make-up for the MTV Unplugged he never did (MTV Unplugged featured all kind of genres, but its most iconic 90s shows were by rock artists such as Clapton or Nirvana).

- A Rock n Roll Hall of Fame performance with rock artists he had pretty much nothing in common with, all centered around a spectacular guitar solo (the one instrument that defined rock n roll sound and imagery the most).

- A Superball (= sports event) performance focused on material from Purple Rain (his most "crossover" album) and covers from non-R&B artists (Queen, Dylan and Foo Fighters of all people).

- A residency in Las Vegas of all places, a city that, in the collective mind, is pretty much the exact symbolic opposite of "sophisticated" scenes like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco.

.

It's also interesting to note how most of the above is connected to a strong imagery of masculinity: rock n roll, guitar, American football, the city of gambling and strip bars...

.

To be 100% honest, at the time, those things sometimes felt to me as if Prince was courting rednecks (and I guess he was). But I had to admit the strategy was brilliant: after nearly a decade of progressively disappearing from public consciousness, Prince re-established himself as a dominant force in pop culture, not just with some ephemerous charts success (though he did that a little, too), not by simply maintaining his somewhat acquired Black and metropolitan audiences (though he also made sure to not lose them in the process), but by becoming a "culturally and historically significant" legacy artist who, one way or another, appealed to every layer of Western society regardless of ethnicity, social class and lifestyle. By 2008, Prince had nothing left to prove. And he'd achieved this transition from declining superstar to cultural icon in the course of a mere four years

.

[Edited 5/8/24 9:59am]

^ Hats off @databank. We can look at it all from many different perspectives but I guess you pretty much nailed it.

databank said:

Poplife88 said:

I was thinking about this...

I've been a Prince fan since 1982 with 1999. This is when his popularity was on the way up and exploded of course with Purple Rain. It did feel great knowing everyone loved all things Prince at the time.

However from ATWIAD through to Lovesexy he was on his way down in the US. I didn't care, I still loved his music...but back then I DID care that his popluarity was waining. Esp with SOTT which I could not stop playing...I couldn't figure out why people didn't get it like I did. I remember always pushing his stuff on my friends and most were like, enough!

He came back, popularity-wise, for a bit with Batman and Diamonds and Pearls.

It was around that time I stopped caring about the charts...probably due growing up.

Now I couldn't care less. I do remember people talking when he did the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame show and were like, man Prince can play...I was like DUH!!

But I still love his stuff...and I know some of my friends who do too and we stick together...been to a few Revolution shows which were a blast! But it really doesn't mater if he isn't more popular...Its what I like. That goes with all music/entertainment.

Prince's strategy between 2004 and 2007 was remarkably successful. At the time, I'd say Prince had little to prove to two types of scenes. One was Black music: Prince was already certain to be remembered as one of the most influencial R&B artists of all times, on an equal level with Sly, James, George or Stevie. He was equally important to urban club culture: his "Minneapolis Sound" had shaped dance music in the 80s and beyond (80s esthetics were enjoying a comeback that lasts to this day), and his androgynous and sexualized attitudes had made him an important countercultural figure, akin to Madonna. But the one, true dominant musical culture of the second half of the 20th century was rock n roll.

.

It's like Prince got up one morning and realized he had to cement his American status as a rock icon. He couldn't just be in James Brown's and Madonna's league, he had to be in The Beatles' and Elvis'. And for that, he did have to reach out to "Middle America", as some posters called it above.

.

This led to a lot of things that would have sounded unlikely for the "hip, sophisticated" Prince who once aimed to seduce New York and Europe:

- An acoustic TV special to make-up for the MTV Unplugged he never did (MTV Unplugged featured all kind of genres, but its most iconic 90s shows were by rock artists such as Clapton or Nirvana).

- A Rock n Roll Hall of Fame performance with rock artists he had pretty much nothing in common with, all centered around a spectacular guitar solo (the one instrument that defined rock n roll sound and imagery the most).

- A Superball (= sports event) performance focused on material from Purple Rain (his most "crossover" album) and covers from non-R&B artists (Queen, Dylan and Foo Fighters of all people).

- A residency in Las Vegas of all places, a city that, in the collective mind, is pretty much the exact symbolic opposite of "sophisticated" scenes like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco.

.

It's also interesting to note how most of the above is connected to a strong imagery of masculinity: rock n roll, guitar, American football, the city of gambling and strip bars...

.

To be 100% honest, at the time, those things sometimes felt to me as if Prince was courting rednecks (and I guess he was). But I had to admit the strategy was brilliant: after nearly a decade of progressively disappearing from public consciousness, Prince re-established himself as a dominant force in pop culture, not just with some ephemerous charts success (though he did that a little, too), not by simply maintaining his somewhat acquired Black and metropolitan audiences (though he also made sure to not lose them in the process), but by becoming a "culturally and historically significant" legacy artist who, one way or another, appealed to every layer of Western society regardless of ethnicity, social class and lifestyle. By 2008, Prince had nothing left to prove. And he'd achieved this transition from declining superstar to cultural icon in the course of a mere four years

.

[Edited 5/8/24 9:59am]

Beautifully put. I agree that by 2008 he had nothing left to prove and I also think that's why he wanted the memoirs to end with the Superbowl performance.

paisleyparkgirl said:

databank said:

Prince's strategy between 2004 and 2007 was remarkably successful. At the time, I'd say Prince had little to prove to two types of scenes. One was Black music: Prince was already certain to be remembered as one of the most influencial R&B artists of all times, on an equal level with Sly, James, George or Stevie. He was equally important to urban club culture: his "Minneapolis Sound" had shaped dance music in the 80s and beyond (80s esthetics were enjoying a comeback that lasts to this day), and his androgynous and sexualized attitudes had made him an important countercultural figure, akin to Madonna. But the one, true dominant musical culture of the second half of the 20th century was rock n roll.

.

It's like Prince got up one morning and realized he had to cement his American status as a rock icon. He couldn't just be in James Brown's and Madonna's league, he had to be in The Beatles' and Elvis'. And for that, he did have to reach out to "Middle America", as some posters called it above.

.

This led to a lot of things that would have sounded unlikely for the "hip, sophisticated" Prince who once aimed to seduce New York and Europe:

- An acoustic TV special to make-up for the MTV Unplugged he never did (MTV Unplugged featured all kind of genres, but its most iconic 90s shows were by rock artists such as Clapton or Nirvana).

- A Rock n Roll Hall of Fame performance with rock artists he had pretty much nothing in common with, all centered around a spectacular guitar solo (the one instrument that defined rock n roll sound and imagery the most).

- A Superball (= sports event) performance focused on material from Purple Rain (his most "crossover" album) and covers from non-R&B artists (Queen, Dylan and Foo Fighters of all people).

- A residency in Las Vegas of all places, a city that, in the collective mind, is pretty much the exact symbolic opposite of "sophisticated" scenes like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco.

.

It's also interesting to note how most of the above is connected to a strong imagery of masculinity: rock n roll, guitar, American football, the city of gambling and strip bars...

.

To be 100% honest, at the time, those things sometimes felt to me as if Prince was courting rednecks (and I guess he was). But I had to admit the strategy was brilliant: after nearly a decade of progressively disappearing from public consciousness, Prince re-established himself as a dominant force in pop culture, not just with some ephemerous charts success (though he did that a little, too), not by simply maintaining his somewhat acquired Black and metropolitan audiences (though he also made sure to not lose them in the process), but by becoming a "culturally and historically significant" legacy artist who, one way or another, appealed to every layer of Western society regardless of ethnicity, social class and lifestyle. By 2008, Prince had nothing left to prove. And he'd achieved this transition from declining superstar to cultural icon in the course of a mere four years

.

[Edited 5/8/24 9:59am]

Beautifully put. I agree that by 2008 he had nothing left to prove and I also think that's why he wanted the memoirs to end with the Superbowl performance.

Interesting, I didn't know this.

.

I forgot to mention it, but some other TV appearances from those years seemed part of the "reconquest plan" (at least more than his "usual" talk show appearances such as Tavis Smiley):

- Playing Fury at SNL seemed like yet another attempt to seduce rock audiences (note how he'd chosen to play the one rock song from Batman the previous time he'd been there, so I assume he knew the show's audience was somewhat rock oriented).

- Performing twice on TV with Wendy (+ Lisa the second time), once on US TV, once on UK TV, was, IMHO, a very deliberate way to remind audiences from both sides of the Atlantic that he was that same guy from Purple Rain (and, I guess, a tacit refutation of earlier allegations that he'd declined to work with them again because of their sexual orientation: Prince wouldn't go down in history as homophobic).

- In another kind of nostalgia approach, this time more targetet as his traditional audience, the NAACP Awards performance featuring The Time and Sheila E songs with Morris and Sheila guesting, alongside covers of songs by Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Carlos Santana sounded very much like a way of properly inscribing himself in a Black music lineage, while at the same time claiming, "hey, I wrote R&B hits besides my own, I'm truly part of this heritage we share" (NAACP being the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People").

- Whoring at a very popular TV program like American Idol in 2006 seemed like at way to conquer younger mainstream audiences that may have not known him in his peak years (I say "whoring" because American Idol certainly was the incarnation of everything Prince despised about "fabricated stars" vs. his "real music by real musicians" work ethics, and it's interesting to note that on that same day, NPGMC showed a Bible quote saying “Therefore, my beloved, shun the worship of idols.”, as if to admit to his core fanbase that he somehow compromised himself by playing on that particular show).

- Finally, playing the Grammys also seemed to be another attempt at maximizing his mainstream exposure outside of promoting any specific record, with a carefully balanced choice of nostalgic Purple Rain material (for older viewers) and a duet with Beyoncé (who was at the peak of her career and appealing to younger viewers).

.

It's also interesting to note that it's also during those years that Prince, this time cultivating his usual audience (and not neglecting his loyal European fanbase in the middle of all this "Americana") finally played the legendary Montreux festival, while the 21 Nights in London residence aimed to cement his reputation as a legendary, tireless live performer.

.

[Edited 5/8/24 15:05pm]