Here is a few reason why by chapter ten of the new "Possessed: The Rise & Fall of Prince" I had to stop reading the book due to my bullshit meter going off.

Its quite apparent this guy (alex hanh) has some sort of axe to grind. He does apparently have alot of contributors to the book that were close to Prince. But there is also alot "A source says..." or "a inside source stated..."

This guy editorializes on topics of music & shows his true colors. In one passage he talk about the qualities of all the "innovative" bands/artists of the 80's. And references the police, Madonnan, Wacko Jacko, & U2. He then tells us the artistic value...citing that U2 were innovative due to "the electric guitar playing of BONO"(!?). Okay, okay...well let tha slide but he also states that Prince couldn't get a hit in the 90's due Snoop, Dre, & Cube...I'm sorry but didn't Diamonds & Pearls come out in the 90's?

And I'm also very skeptical of all these supposed altercations with Prince & his bandmates...u know all the stories where Prince acts out as some sort of tyrant & the band member wants to quit, cry, or even fight. I love the altercation is given a blow by blow account, but the "reconciliation" is given a sentence like "wendy ultimately decided against quitting..." Or "Miko decided to stay on the tour after all...". I'm not doubting there was altercations & that they got heated. But Its so obvious that this guy has got a
axe to grind, & its also apparent that he doesnt have much of a musical background either.

Just my thought...I'm going to go return it now.

Nero

The authors a lawyer..nuff said. Plus u betta pick that book back up and read it--I heard it cost a lot of money

Good call...

I've read this book 2 times now, it ain't all that good...

You wanna good book? Read "Dance, Music, Sex, Romance" by Per Nilsen.

Pozitivity said:

And A Pop Life

rdhull said:

I want this book: A Pop Life...
DMSR is a goody...so is Purple Reign...

Read DMSR...great book.


Far Superior...

rdhull said:

Not all lawyers write documents, much less books, without any direct corroboration. It's called hearsay. Doth thou slander all barristers with the same broad brush, hull? U know better.

namepeace said:

I meant as a writer Hahn makes an excellent lawyer...point blank, from 95% of accounts of people who have read the book,he needs to stick to law. And I didn't even get into the typical lawyer stuff as dropping things as hearsay to influence masked as writing either...be proud of me.

Here's my take on "possessed":

1. As supernova said, the author obviously had his own agenda.

2. Most biographies do tend to not always tell the truth, this being no different

3. Any book, and I do mean any book that just offers hearsay, I don't take very seriously. Unless I hear it from the horses' mouth, I don't beleive it.

4. This book doesn't surprise me at all i mean, look at the title. That immediatley tells me what the author's whole take on Prince is.

5. Finally, this was an entertaing book, i managed to get through it, but I probably won't ever read it again.

So basicly the only good positive thing I can say about this book was "well, the pictures were nice"

If anyone here loves to read juicy gossip and "he said, she said" stuff, well, this book is for you, otherwise, don't waste your money.
[This message was edited Sun May 11 14:00:20 PDT 2003 by lovebizzare]

lovebizzare said:

its basically a C&D contract -for services rendered payoff

Do you think there was anything in the book that was fabricated?

Personally I think not, but it seems to strike such strong reactions amongst fans, I find it funny that people would avoid reading it, or stop reading it a short way into it just because they didn't agree with what they were reading.

rdhull said:

you a trip, rd

VelvetSplash said:

Right, my whole feeling is that if you bought it, read it. If you don't agree with it, fine

Sounds like this guy doesnt kiss Prince's ass like some do...

Sdldawn said:

who? hahn?

Sdldawn said:

Yeah...he is too busy kissing Uptowns ass



shady lawyer edit
[This message was edited Sun May 11 14:32:06 PDT 2003 by rdhull]

rdhull said:

I flicked through the book reading a few pages here and there and I found it to be nothing but recycled garbage, heresay, especially with the people who Hahn conviently stated at the beginning he didn't interview ( which were quite a few people), and I found that it focused largely on his sex life. If Prince had this much sex when did he have time to work? And apparently no woman has ever turned Prince down, all of the women wanted him, they all loved him so they all put up with his cheating and abusive treatment. As beautiful as they are not one of them had any self-esteem, not one thought she could get a man other than Prince. In short it's not a good book...not a good book at all!

To Alex Hahn...

CocoSweet said:

---
You bring up some points that I wondered about. How could one guy be with so many woman and get any work done.

I think Mr,Hanh just belived anything anyone told him and just wrote it down. I just hope Prince can sue him.

neronava said:

Thankyouverymuch.


Thankyouverymuch.


I feel your pain. Seriously. That's just rifuckin'diculous.

æ
[This message was edited Sun May 11 16:13:36 PDT 2003 by Supernova]

Sdldawn said:

Well, I'd like to point out that Per Nilsen, who wrote DMSR, was perfectly capable of writing a well researched book on Prince while not "kissing his ass".


As stated many times here on the org and on this thread, Alex had some sort off axe to grind, that's quite obvious. It has abolutely nothing to do with not kissing Prince's ass
[This message was edited Sun May 11 18:06:28 PDT 2003 by lovebizzare]

i did not like the tabloid feel of the book, and i did not like how he referred to the ONA tour as "the so-called One nite alone tour" wtf? he seemed to be very bitter about something

doegx said:

"seems"???

CherrieMoonKisses said:

Purple Reign is as much hearsay as Posessed is. She quotes stuff off the Oprah show as if she had an actual interview That book is WHACK

rdhull said:

I agree RD! A Pop Life is a good one to read...
I think I read it in 2 nites...

neronava said:

And I'm convinced that most of those are reliable. They're the same people quoted by name elsewhere in the book, but they don't want to go on record for some of the sensitive issues (read: they don't wanna get sued).

neronava said:

The one with Miko is circulating on tape.
[This message was edited Mon May 12 3:53:52 PDT 2003 by BartVanHemelen]

lovebizzare said:

In the case of Prince, that's utter nonsense. Take out the oprah interview from 1996 and check out what Prince's take on the truth is.

Prince sued Uptown. Alex han is a lwayer. Nuff said: this book is a tentative trial. some sort of court of appeal thing...

BartVanHemelen said:

You are "convinced" because they suit your agenda. Yes we can hear Prince chastise Miko on that rehearsal but we still don't have a clue what the background was leading up to the outburst.