https://youtu.be/XXGJghooDJ4?si=3xmiuVdVSnn_q_9N

Prince was really on fire, re-invigorated, during this time. New band, new music. His performances had new oxygen in them.

The Glam Slam concert that came with D&P really surprised me by just how committed he was to this material and the show. Even songs that I wasn't overly thrilled with on D&P came to life in a live setting. "Daddy Pop" is a good example.

When Prince told his band, "gotta be better than the record," he wasn't kidding.

This "Daddy Pop" supercut encapsulates all that.

Irks me bad.

Silly music, clownesque looks (thank you MC Hammer),
ridicule choregraphies (don't start me on the assless pants sodomy mimicking, geez),
and the song is another narcissistic, self-indulging take ("Partyman" was already a thematic rehash of "Baby I'm A Star",
only saved by Jack Nicholson, a great 12 inches — in part because of Camille's Last Stand — and a funny video).

As time passes by, the periods that have aged poorly are becoming worse and worse.
The ecstatic reactions to the "Diamons & Love" batch leaves me speechless.
Everything about this period is lazy navel-gazing, screams desperation to stay relevant
by adopting the worst of pop, going after the imbecile hooks of the pathetic "New Jack Swing",
a genre whose corpse rightfully rots in a nostalgia bin placed at the end of the backyard,
for the awful stench it still emits.

Thank God he had the good reflex of shooting himself in the foot with the Warner feud,
so he could find new fuel and crawl back to a more honest and edgy stance.

Everything about this period screams self-indulgence, a sudden obsession
to become American again, and not in a good way, right at a moment where two decades of Reagan's unleashed Gekkos
had finally killed the last ounce of a Soul the country had (whatever soul they couldn't choke, killed itself in disgust anyway),
the moment in history where everything and everyone turned into a product, starting an age of global imbecillification
in which we're drowning, every year an inch deeper.

And so here we have Prince kissing superficiality, all tongue out,
eager to become a registered trademark, even before the symbol era.
The total opposite of the Pure Spirit that was brought out of darkness for too brief a moment.

Making holes in his pants (a rehash too: the conceptual well was definitely dry),
bending over and handing the vaseline to the corporate world and its shallow trends,
becoming a gizmo, yet another innocuous background noise for The Mall of America alleys.

"Dance commercial take one", yeah, you can say that again,
the whole era is artistically nutrient as half a bag of stale Cheetos.

[Edited 2/6/26 11:25am]

BonnieC said:

ShellyMcG said:

BonnieC said:

Irks me bad.

Silly music, clownesque looks (thank you MC Hammer),
ridicule choregraphies (don't start me on the assless pants sodomy mimicking, geez),
and the song is another narcissistic, self-indulging take ("Partyman" was already a thematic rehash of "Baby I'm A Star",
only saved by Jack Nicholson, a great 12 inches — in part because of Camille's Last Stand — and a funny video).

As time passes by, the periods that have aged poorly are becoming worse and worse.
The ecstatic reactions to the "Diamons & Love" batch leaves me speechless.
Everything about this period is lazy navel-gazing, screams desperation to stay relevant
by adopting the worst of pop, going after the imbecile hooks of the pathetic "New Jack Swing",
a genre whose corpse rightfully rots in a nostalgia bin placed at the end of the backyard,
for the awful stench it still emits.

Thank God he had the good reflex of shooting himself in the foot with the Warner feud,
so he could find new fuel and crawl back to a more honest and edgy stance.

Everything about this period screams self-indulgence, a sudden obsession
to become American again, and not in a good way, right at a moment where two decades of Reagan's unleashed Gekkos
had finally killed the last ounce of a Soul the country had (whatever soul they couldn't choke, killed itself in disgust anyway),
the moment in history where everything and everyone turned into a product, starting an age of global imbecillification
in which we're drowning, every year an inch deeper.

And so here we have Prince kissing superficiality, all tongue out,
eager to become a registered trademark, even before the symbol era.
The total opposite of the Pure Spirit that was brought out of darkness for too brief a moment.

Making holes in his pants (a rehash too: the conceptual well was definitely dry),
bending over and handing the vaseline to the corporate world and its shallow trends,
becoming a gizmo, yet another innocuous background noise for The Mall of America alleys.

"Dance commercial take one", yeah, you can say that again,
the whole era is artistically nutrient as half a bag of stale Cheetos.

[Edited 2/6/26 11:25am]

Call me crazy but I'm kind of picking up the vibe that you don't like this era In truth, I don't really like it either. The early 90s is by far my least favourite period in Prince's career. But even then, he still put out some great songs. Insatiable, Damn U, Cream, Peach, Money Don't Matter Tonight etc. Some great songs there. Unfortunately they can get lost in the shuffle of the Daddy Pops and Jugheads of the era but Prince is probably my favourite artist because even at his worst he was still capable of putting out something good.

For a whole slew of Prince fans....the early 90's (Diamonds and Pearls) was their intro into Prince. I knew 1999, Purple Rain, etc. because my parents had those albums. I got into Prince because of Batman....but I MF'N LOVE 90's Prince. As was said, he was reinvigorated in this era. Thus, to me: All this stuff still holds up.

_

Daddy Pop is the same vibe that he had Wally, Greg, and Jerome in the 80's. I mean, you look at the Glam Slam '92 concert and is some peak Prince shit. I realize some fans don't like certain eras, but to me this is a golden era.

BonnieC said:

skywalker said:

ShellyMcG said:

BonnieC said: Call me crazy but I'm kind of picking up the vibe that you don't like this era In truth, I don't really like it either. The early 90s is by far my least favourite period in Prince's career. But even then, he still put out some great songs. Insatiable, Damn U, Cream, Peach, Money Don't Matter Tonight etc. Some great songs there. Unfortunately they can get lost in the shuffle of the Daddy Pops and Jugheads of the era but Prince is probably my favourite artist because even at his worst he was still capable of putting out something good.

For a whole slew of Prince fans....the early 90's (Diamonds and Pearls) was their intro into Prince. I knew 1999, Purple Rain, etc. because my parents had those albums. I got into Prince because of Batman....but I MF'N LOVE 90's Prince. As was said, he was reinvigorated in this era. Thus, to me: All this stuff still holds up.

_

Daddy Pop is the same vibe that he had Wally, Greg, and Jerome in the 80's. I mean, you look at the Glam Slam '92 concert and is some peak Prince shit. I realize some fans don't like certain eras, but to me this is a golden era.

His best onstage to me was until D&P era then the 2010's with Shelby and them. Then from the Slave era until the 2000's, I don't get the impression that he was having fun onstage. Don't like the Prince/Mayte raunchy stuff.

skywalker said:

ShellyMcG said:

BonnieC said: Call me crazy but I'm kind of picking up the vibe that you don't like this era In truth, I don't really like it either. The early 90s is by far my least favourite period in Prince's career. But even then, he still put out some great songs. Insatiable, Damn U, Cream, Peach, Money Don't Matter Tonight etc. Some great songs there. Unfortunately they can get lost in the shuffle of the Daddy Pops and Jugheads of the era but Prince is probably my favourite artist because even at his worst he was still capable of putting out something good.

For a whole slew of Prince fans....the early 90's (Diamonds and Pearls) was their intro into Prince. I knew 1999, Purple Rain, etc. because my parents had those albums. I got into Prince because of Batman....but I MF'N LOVE 90's Prince. As was said, he was reinvigorated in this era. Thus, to me: All this stuff still holds up.

_

Daddy Pop is the same vibe that he had Wally, Greg, and Jerome in the 80's. I mean, you look at the Glam Slam '92 concert and is some peak Prince shit. I realize some fans don't like certain eras, but to me this is a golden era.

His best onstage to me was until D&P era then the 2010's with Shelby and them. Then from the Slave era until the 2000's, I don't get the impression that he was having fun onstage. Don't like the Prince/Mayte raunchy stuff.

skywalker said:

BonnieC look away.

Everyone else: https://mccullough.gosimi...llough.com

[Edited 2/6/26 17:37pm]

ShellyMcG said:

skywalker said:

For a whole slew of Prince fans....the early 90's (Diamonds and Pearls) was their intro into Prince. I knew 1999, Purple Rain, etc. because my parents had those albums. I got into Prince because of Batman....but I MF'N LOVE 90's Prince. As was said, he was reinvigorated in this era. Thus, to me: All this stuff still holds up.

_

Daddy Pop is the same vibe that he had Wally, Greg, and Jerome in the 80's. I mean, you look at the Glam Slam '92 concert and is some peak Prince shit. I realize some fans don't like certain eras, but to me this is a golden era.

Yeah I can understand how people might like that stuff if they were around for it as it was happening but from my point of view as someone who grew up after the whole new jack swing craze, it just falls flat. Not all of it though. Like I said, he was still putting out some brilliant work. But if I were given access to the vault and allowed to listen to anything that's in there I think I'd leave 1990 to 1993 until last.

I hope you guys aren't basing your judgements of New Jack Swing upon Prince's interpretation of it. That's like basing your opinions of rap on Cat. I'm not saying it was the end all be all but there were good songs in that style.

As for Daddy Pop, I didn't care for it in real time because there were many better songs out in that style. Later on, it became more palatable for me.

whodknee said:

skywalker said:

ShellyMcG said:

whodknee said:

I hope you guys aren't basing your judgements of New Jack Swing upon Prince's interpretation of it. That's like basing your opinions of rap on Cat. I'm not saying it was the end all be all but there were good songs in that style.

As for Daddy Pop, I didn't care for it in real time because there were many better songs out in that style. Later on, it became more palatable for me.

To be honest, I'm basing my judgement primarily on Michael Jackson and Bobby Brown.

So, Teddy Riley.

No matter how much I appreciated every moment of Prince while he was still here with us, it's moments like these depicted in this video that leave me feeling like I still missed out on so much (...especially around this period). I never got my fill of Prince, but these are the days he prepared us for in nearly every one of his songs.

ShellyMcG said:

whodknee said:

I hope you guys aren't basing your judgements of New Jack Swing upon Prince's interpretation of it. That's like basing your opinions of rap on Cat. I'm not saying it was the end all be all but there were good songs in that style.

As for Daddy Pop, I didn't care for it in real time because there were many better songs out in that style. Later on, it became more palatable for me.

To be honest, I'm basing my judgement primarily on Michael Jackson and Bobby Brown.

Wow! They're the cream of the crop (outside of Guy) so if you didn't like their forays into New Jack Swing you probably wouldn't like any of it. To each their own.

whodknee said:

BonnieC said:

Irks me bad.

Silly music, clownesque looks (thank you MC Hammer),
ridicule choregraphies (don't start me on the assless pants sodomy mimicking, geez),
and the song is another narcissistic, self-indulging take ("Partyman" was already a thematic rehash of "Baby I'm A Star",
only saved by Jack Nicholson, a great 12 inches — in part because of Camille's Last Stand — and a funny video).

As time passes by, the periods that have aged poorly are becoming worse and worse.
The ecstatic reactions to the "Diamons & Love" batch leaves me speechless.
Everything about this period is lazy navel-gazing, screams desperation to stay relevant
by adopting the worst of pop, going after the imbecile hooks of the pathetic "New Jack Swing",
a genre whose corpse rightfully rots in a nostalgia bin placed at the end of the backyard,
for the awful stench it still emits.

Thank God he had the good reflex of shooting himself in the foot with the Warner feud,
so he could find new fuel and crawl back to a more honest and edgy stance.

Everything about this period screams self-indulgence, a sudden obsession
to become American again, and not in a good way, right at a moment where two decades of Reagan's unleashed Gekkos
had finally killed the last ounce of a Soul the country had (whatever soul they couldn't choke, killed itself in disgust anyway),
the moment in history where everything and everyone turned into a product, starting an age of global imbecillification
in which we're drowning, every year an inch deeper.

And so here we have Prince kissing superficiality, all tongue out,
eager to become a registered trademark, even before the symbol era.
The total opposite of the Pure Spirit that was brought out of darkness for too brief a moment.

.

.
Good God,

sometimes you can be a "bit" too harsh with your criticism of Prince, don't you think?
I'm not saying he shouldn't be criticised, but perhaps a reminder is in order: hello, this is a POP record you're talking about, so of course it's not deep, it's silly in a lot of places, it's downright ridiculous at certain moments, but guess what: Prince was certainly having great fun AND he made a chart topping album that sold several millions, AS INTENDED.
And regardless of how you rate it, it has brilliant musicianship, originality, quite a few absolutely great songs – AND Prince was busy playing and recording a shitload of other kinds of music as well, creating several amazingly beautiful pieces, so it wasn't like he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a hit record and then just partied non-stop for years.
What's your problem with him having tried his skills at deliberately producing a hit record that spoke to the youth then? Do you know how many amazingly skilled jazz musicians keep dreaming about doing just that from time to time, until they realize they just don't have those skills pop producers have? Prince was amazing even when he produced "shallow"(?) and silly pop songs, and he was certainly having fun playing them, so give the man a rest, already.

.
And you bring up this Sinead O'Connor performance as an example of a "true spirit"? (Unless I misunderstood.) I'm sorry to break it to you, but Sinead's performance is showbusiness too. Yeah, she could be emotional, but God, you really want to compare that to Prince's performances? P could be so gut-clenchingly emotional in his performances that my tears are flowing from watching him, even if I'm re-watching something for the 500th time. And Sinead's singing (at least on this performance you linked) is simply out of tune, it hurts my ear. She constantly over-intonates. Too sharp. And the arrangement of the song is pedestrian. Boring.

[Edited 2/19/26 19:08pm]

skywalker said:

..........Daddy Pop is the same vibe that he had Wally, Greg, and Jerome in the 80's. I mean, you look at the Glam Slam '92 concert and is some peak Prince shit. I realize some fans don't like certain eras, but to me this is a golden era.

Absolutely agree, one hundred percent. As a fan since 1999, I loved the early 90s when it was happening, and I love it now.

Really, the first time I actually felt disappointed at the time was Emancipation, although I mostly came around on that one and have listened to that album a *ton*. (with real instruments and less plastic production it would be a killer record)

Rave was also pretty disappointing, and then Planet Earth - and on both of those there are still plenty of tracks that I love.

Personally I can't imagine being a Prince fan but being closed off to early 90's Prince - like WHAT?! Absolute peak sexiness.

paisleyparkgirl said:

........ Then from the Slave era until the 2000's, I don't get the impression that he was having fun onstage. Don't like the Prince/Mayte raunchy stuff.

L O mother effin; L.

Love the idea of being a Prince fan who holds their nose at "the raunchy stuff." So comical.

BonnieC said:

...
The total opposite of the Pure Spirit that was brought out of darkness for too brief a moment.

Okay, I forgive the absurdity of your post because you recognize Sinead for the absolutely brilliant ball of fire that she was,