I was reading a thread on another forum and most of the fams were annoyed by his "real music by real musician" schtick. I'm confused because isn't it how it's supposed to be anyway ? I didn't even know some FAMS felt this way.

Some of the comments I saw :

"Well said. I also got annoyed with this fixation on ‘real instruments’ during the Musicology era. So elitist and arrogant. This from the man who could make a banger like 777-9311.

I was so happy to see him come back towards electronic instrumentation later in life, which came to full flower with Art Official Age. Also on that album he FINALLY found a co-producer he truly collaborated with."

"also think his experimentation production wise went back wards ..using "real instruments" is overrated IMHO...when u have a studio musician as genius as Prince and what he could do with computers and synths (and with his obv incredible vituosity on guitar bass piano etc)...1999 still sounds like the future to me .each album was a new unique soundscape (Camille, Parade, Lovesexy etc)..?

ShellyMcG said:

I'm not a FAM, whatever the fuck that is, but I don't have a problem with him using "real" instruments. I quite like the Musicology album. But either way, when I listen to a song I don't think about what instruments have been used, who wrote the song, who's singing the song, or any of that shit. I listen to the song and if I like how it sounds, then I like it. Whether it has so called "real" instruments or not makes no difference.

FAM means Prince fan. He didn't like the word fan.

You can't listen to anyone currently posting on the internet. All of it is bait.

I also got annoyed with this fixation on ‘real instruments’

There is no real "fam" ever complaining about Prince using "real instruments." That's who Prince was from day one, guitar in hand, playing a REAL damn instrument.

Everything on the internet now is just people with no talent and no life complaining about shit that they could never actually do themselves. There's no money in actual talent in 2025.

"Get off my lawn" and "rassum frassum" and whatever other old man term I can throw in. It's really very soul-crushing to read what some people actually complain about these days.

paisleyparkgirl said:

FAM means Prince fan. He didn't like the word fan.

No, "fam" refers to FAMILY.
He didn't like calling his followers FANATICS, "fan" being the shorthand.
Get it, PP girl?

Ndorphinmachina said:

His "real music by real musicians" thing was never about the actual instruments. His keyboards were all software. I think a lot of the pianos he used too. His albums weren't in-studio live recordings. It was simply a way of expressing the fact that he wasn't lip syncing or using backing tracks.

Actually, alot of his songs were based off in-studio/live recording with overdubs later on.
His live band was always his strongest instrument!

paisleyparkgirl said:

I was reading a thread on another forum and most of the fams were annoyed by his "real music by real musician" schtick. I'm confused because isn't it how it's supposed to be anyway ? I didn't even know some FAMS felt this way.

Some of the comments I saw :

"Well said. I also got annoyed with this fixation on ‘real instruments’ during the Musicology era. So elitist and arrogant. This from the man who could make a banger like 777-9311.

I was so happy to see him come back towards electronic instrumentation later in life, which came to full flower with Art Official Age. Also on that album he FINALLY found a co-producer he truly collaborated with."

"also think his experimentation production wise went back wards ..using "real instruments" is overrated IMHO...when u have a studio musician as genius as Prince and what he could do with computers and synths (and with his obv incredible vituosity on guitar bass piano etc)...1999 still sounds like the future to me .each album was a new unique soundscape (Camille, Parade, Lovesexy etc)..?

I think he was talking more about in concert playing live instruments rather than from tapes or exclusively samples, lip syncing, etc. The musicology tour didn't feature vastly different setups/instruments than he'd been using in his career. Keyboards, guitars, bass, drums, horns. Right?

tomds said:

I am a blues and soul guy so I used to be a snob about "real" instruments BUT not when it came to a pop artist like Prince. Horns? Definitely got to be real but programmed rhythm tracks, drums, etc..depends how it sounds. Are they good synthetic drums? Nowadays they can be phenomenal. I have a gulty pleasure in a genre called (Modern) Southern Soul up until around 2019. Most of that music is heavily programmed but it just bumps to me. Ecko Records circa 1995 to 2010. Ayybody familiar with it?

luv2tha99s said:

tomds said:

Talking about real music, I think the ONA was more like that than Musicology. I love the "real musicians" strategy but didn't like it with musicology because it was obvious Candy and Greg and Maceo were faking their sax/trombone parts while in fact it was partially pre-recorded. [Edited 5/13/25 20:17pm]

Whawhawhat? Hmm never heard that. What was the reason the horn parts were pre-recorded? Do u know why Candy was fired later on?

Didn't she quit ?

luv2tha99s said:

tomds said:

Talking about real music, I think the ONA was more like that than Musicology. I love the "real musicians" strategy but didn't like it with musicology because it was obvious Candy and Greg and Maceo were faking their sax/trombone parts while in fact it was partially pre-recorded. [Edited 5/13/25 20:17pm]

Whawhawhat? Hmm never heard that. What was the reason the horn parts were pre-recorded? Do u know why Candy was fired later on?

Didn't she quit ?

nayroo2002 said:

I've expressed irritance at the implication of the era that "real instruments" were somehow superior, and a noted a bit of hypocrisy considering honestly his artistic innovations are primarily via "fake" instruments like synthesizer and Linn drum machine,

That being said I have no "problem" with it, use whatever suits the style.

"FAMS" or "fans" (so silly), drinking the Kool-Aid and parroting his Musicology press release tidbits like it's reflective of his entire career, now that I maybe got a "problem" with, considering how much synth/Linn is surely on those "FAMS" playlists....

nayroo2002 said:

Ndorphinmachina said:

His "real music by real musicians" thing was never about the actual instruments. His keyboards were all software. I think a lot of the pianos he used too. His albums weren't in-studio live recordings. It was simply a way of expressing the fact that he wasn't lip syncing or using backing tracks.

Actually, alot of his songs were based off in-studio/live recording with overdubs later on.
His live band was always his strongest instrument!

"a lot" in the grand scheme of his catalogue but not really "a lot" when you factor in what his "biggest" material was to casuals.

"When Doves Cry" and "Kiss", for example, two of his biggest hits and two of his biggest examples that technology ruled his world in the 80s.

It's no coincidence both of those tracks are terrible live--well, maybe that's the wrong word. Live they're definitely nothing like the versions played on radio, because they never ever could b, they're completely studio-based tracks.

LOL @ Fam.

thank you, next

paisleyparkgirl said:

I was reading a thread on another forum and most of the fams were annoyed by his "real music by real musician" schtick. I'm confused because isn't it how it's supposed to be anyway ? I didn't even know some FAMS felt this way.

Some of the comments I saw :

"Well said. I also got annoyed with this fixation on ‘real instruments’ during the Musicology era. So elitist and arrogant. This from the man who could make a banger like 777-9311.

I was so happy to see him come back towards electronic instrumentation later in life, which came to full flower with Art Official Age. Also on that album he FINALLY found a co-producer he truly collaborated with."

"also think his experimentation production wise went back wards ..using "real instruments" is overrated IMHO...when u have a studio musician as genius as Prince and what he could do with computers and synths (and with his obv incredible vituosity on guitar bass piano etc)...1999 still sounds like the future to me .each album was a new unique soundscape (Camille, Parade, Lovesexy etc)..?

I'd rather take real musicians that play real instruments than some button pushers to trigger samples.
Him using a co-producers is the reason why AOA sounds like shit

Yes, but Prince nearly/mostly/just probably understood and could physically play

all the basic musical intruments needed to compose and produce his sonic ideas.

All that computer shit was just an extention of his production.
Why wouldn't he try out new tech to get his message across?
He was definately a real musician who made real music.

Like, yeah, he actually was the G.O.A.T.

nayroo2002 said:

"Fam" and "Skipper".

Honestly I find "Skipper" borderline offensive. Like who t f are you to call him "Skipper"? His auntie?

lurker316 said:

Prince called his fans “fams” because he liked to think of them as family, rather than “fans” which is short for fanatics. In other words, “fam” is a term for Prince fans.

The real irony is that only the nuttiest fanatics ever use the term fam.

I always thought a distinguishing feature of a true fam was one who thought everything Prince did was perfect - Not just his music but always defended all his choices. Whilst a fan was more discerning.

As such a "fan" here may be critical of different sounds or eras from their favourite and would strongly criticise each new album. However a "fam" would love each new album.

Why would ANYONE have a problem with a musician playing real instruments?

paisleyparkgirl said:

luv2tha99s said:

tomds said: Whawhawhat? Hmm never heard that. What was the reason the horn parts were pre-recorded? Do u know why Candy was fired later on?

Didn't she quit ?

She turned up for one of the 21 Nights gigs, said the atmosphere was a bit strange, was told that the stage setup meant there wasn't space for her, played the aftershow that night (that I remember) and then left. She wrote about it on her blog. It would be interesting to know more about this.

pdiddy2011 said:

Why would ANYONE have a problem with a musician playing real instruments?

They don't. It's just click bait.

IanRG said:

I always thought a distinguishing feature of a true fam was one who thought everything Prince did was perfect - Not just his music but always defended all his choices. Whilst a fan was more discerning.

As such a "fan" here may be critical of different sounds or eras from their favourite and would strongly criticise each new album. However a "fam" would love each new album.

.

That is rubbish. Everyone's free to use whatever words they want to. Paisleyparkgirl is cool.

Kares said:

IanRG said:

I always thought a distinguishing feature of a true fam was one who thought everything Prince did was perfect - Not just his music but always defended all his choices. Whilst a fan was more discerning.

As such a "fan" here may be critical of different sounds or eras from their favourite and would strongly criticise each new album. However a "fam" would love each new album.

.

That is rubbish. Everyone's free to use whatever words they want to. Paisleyparkgirl is cool.

This response bears no relation at all to what I said.

There is no criticism of Paisleyparkgirl made or meant by me, nor any attempt to deny her coolness.

You need to look back at posts of old in prince.org where is was extremely regular that anyone who defended Prince against a criticism made here was written off as a just a "fam".

IanRG said:

Kares said:

.

That is rubbish. Everyone's free to use whatever words they want to. Paisleyparkgirl is cool.

This response bears no relation at all to what I said.

There is no criticism of Paisleyparkgirl made or meant by me, nor any attempt to deny her coolness.

You need to look back at posts of old in prince.org where is was extremely regular that anyone who defended Prince against a criticism made here was written off as a just a "fam".

.
Apologies if I misunderstood you, but knowing that the 'fam' label has always been used derogatorily by the majority of fans, I just thought you were referring to PPg as such just because she used the term too.

Kares said:

IanRG said:

This response bears no relation at all to what I said.

There is no criticism of Paisleyparkgirl made or meant by me, nor any attempt to deny her coolness.

You need to look back at posts of old in prince.org where is was extremely regular that anyone who defended Prince against a criticism made here was written off as a just a "fam".

.
Apologies if I misunderstood you, but knowing that the 'fam' label has always been used derogatorily by the majority of fans, I just thought you were referring to PPg as such just because she used the term too.

No problem - sorry for any unintended confusion