Yes, it's a corny song and I will never listen to it.

But I think a lot of people, particular non-US fans who aren't familiar with US sports traditions, don't realize the genre/style of Purple and Gold is exactly what a American football fight song is supposed to sound like.

In other words, people who were expecting a modern, high-energy, fist-pumping rock song weren't paying attention. Prince said he was making a fight song, and that's exactly the style of song he produced. To use a popular expression, it does what it says on the tin.

If you judge Purple and Gold based on what it aims to be -- a traditional fight song -- then the song succeeds.

If nothing else, Purple and Gold provef that Prince really could produce in any genre, even old fashioned genres

Here are examples of fight songs from other American professional football teams. When you hear these, Purple and Gold will make sense:

Philadelphia Eagles fight song: #mce_temp_url#

Washington Redskins fight song: #mce_temp_url#

[Edited 9/17/24 6:33am]

Just because he succeeded at emulating an old fashioned music style doesn't mean it sounds good

bozojones said:

Just because he succeeded at emulating an old fashioned music style doesn't mean it sounds good

True. Which is why I started my post by saying the song is corny and I'll never listen to it. My point is narrowly that people seemed to be confused at Prince's aim, expecting a rock song and not understanding the weird track he release. Once you know the background, the style of song at least makes sense... which isn't the same thing as saying it's good.

[Edited 9/17/24 12:38pm]

Um, you can't use the term R*dsk!ns anymore

lurker316 said:

bozojones said:

Just because he succeeded at emulating an old fashioned music style doesn't mean it sounds good

True. Which is why I started my post by saying the song is corny and I'll never listen to it. My point is narrowly that people seemed to be confused at Prince's aim, expecting a rock song and not understanding the weird track he release. Once you know the background, the style of song at least makes sense... which isn't the same thing as saying it's good.

[Edited 9/17/24 12:38pm]

@Bozojones: define "sound good". Does any sports (or national) anthem of this kind sound good to you? If not, then the argument is irrelevant.

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@lurker316: I entirely agree with you. Purple And Gold is undeniably the one released Prince song I'm the least interested in, but you are totally right: a work of art should be first evaluated in regards to whether it achieves what it tries to achieve, and while I'm totally uneducated when it comes to sports anthems (or anything related to sports and sports culture, for that matter...), I guess P&G achieves what it wants to achieve in that regard (though maybe someone who's an expert in sports anthems may tell me it's a shitty one, IDK, but for me it seems to do the job).

.

Even though Prince was kind of past this strategy in 2010, having already achieved what he wanted to achieve when it came to become an American icon between 2004 and 2008, it may have been yet another trick to seduce the redneck audience that despised him until then, just like the When My Guitar Gently Weeps and the Superball performances.

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On a sidenote, there's a strong and pretty cool kind of callback to Wendy & Lisa's typical background vocals harmonies in that song (Parade/Dream Factory era-style). But I assume W&L brought the most classical European music influences into his sound, so it makes sense since sports anthems are very European classical in inspiration.

One thing we tend to forget is that Prince and bad taste / kitsch often go hand in hand. Usually, it doesn't bother us, because he was a genius and you can most often find redeeming qualities in a song with, say, flute/trumpet synths or a Reveille sample.

The problem with P&G is that you won't find many hints in that song that Prince was a genius. For me, it's an example of a song where Prince was in "full bad taste" mode. Like some tracks on "Kamasutra".

databank said:

.

Even though Prince was kind of past this strategy in 2010, having already achieved what he wanted to achieve when it came to become an American icon between 2004 and 2008, it may have been yet another trick to seduce the redneck audience that despised him until then, just like the When My Guitar Gently Weeps and the Superball performances.

Dude, seriously???

nayroo2002 said:

databank said:

.

Even though Prince was kind of past this strategy in 2010, having already achieved what he wanted to achieve when it came to become an American icon between 2004 and 2008, it may have been yet another trick to seduce the redneck audience that despised him until then, just like the When My Guitar Gently Weeps and the Superball performances.

Dude, seriously???

Very much so, yes, but I agree this deserves a more elaborate explaination.

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I wrote about how I see this in more details some time ago in another thread:

.

"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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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 "

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"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).

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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."

databank said:

nayroo2002 said:

Dude, seriously???

Very much so, yes, but I agree this deserves a more elaborate explaination.

.

I don't need the elaborate explaination.

i already checked all that in real time when it happened.

i just can't believe that you, of all people in here, actually typed "redneck", "when my guitar gently weeps" and "superball"

[Edited 9/18/24 10:46am]

nayroo2002 said:

databank said:

To be honest, I couldn't care less for those two performances then nor now. I wasn't the target audience. They left me indifferent. No offense to to those who liked them. Just not "my" Prince.

Ah, OK.

So you named all that wrong on purpose.

Being cheeky.

I dig it.

That's "my" databank.

nayroo2002 said:

databank said:

To be honest, I couldn't care less for those two performances then nor now. I wasn't the target audience. They left me indifferent. No offense to to those who liked them. Just not "my" Prince.

Ah, OK.

So you named all that wrong on purpose.

Being cheeky.

I dig it.

That's "my" databank.

Ha ha I guess And to be clear I think those 2 performances are masterful at achieving what they're trying to achieve and obviously, one doesn't have to be a "redneck" to enjoy them. They were just aimed at a type of audience that I am not.

I finally just listened for the first time. Wow--that is long composition for a football team jingle!

Germanegro said:

I finally just listened for the first time. Wow--that is long composition for a football team jingle!

Welcome to the club.