I just bought the Shockadelica CD by Jesse Johnson on amazon. The CD is aight, it'll take time for it 2 grow on me, but all I could think about was,who came out the title Shockadelica first, Prince or Jesse Johnson? If any of y'all got the record, you'll notice how Jesse Johnson looks similar 2 Prince during the Sign O' the times dayz in the mid 80's, BTW Jesse Johnson's Shockadelica came out in 86 while Prince versions came out later in 87 ...

So my question is, who's biting of who?

Was Prince biting off Jesse Johnson Or Jesse Johnson biting off Prince?

For all I know it could've just been a MPLS thing

not 2 mention Jesse Johnson was a talent brother, but I think he never really got far in his career basically because people saw him as another Prince...anyone agree?

I've once heard that Prince said every album has to have a title song and because Jesse's album hadn't got a song called "Shockadelica" Prince himself wrote a song called "Shockadelica".
Don't know if it's true...?

xtraloveable said:

Have heard the same so to answer the question ... Jesse came up first with this title.

Jesse was / is a very talented brother but in the media, he was always mentioned in connection to Prince.

But this is valid for almost all associates.

Here is the story from a Jesse interview somewhere around :

Apparently Prince loved the word "shockadelica" that Jesse came up with. So he wrote a song about it and gave it to Jesse to include in the 2nd pressing of the 'Shockadelica' album. Jesse rejected it asking, "what about the fans that bought the first pressing of the album".

That is why Prince just put it out himself.

Great song especially the extended guitar part !

DigitalLisa said:

Heck, the entire Revolution looked like Prince! (With the exception of Lisa, I guess)

Ronny said:

yep. that's the story i heard,too.
yes it is a HOT tune.
jesse dressed a bit like prince but to be truthful andre looked more like prionce than Jesse (check out the cover to
AC's "dance electric " single.

andre's skin tone is similar. he's just taller!

i think jesse's guitar playing and lower vocal register
gave people the impression he was a prince's clone.

but really he wasn't.
his guitar style is more LED zepplin-ish. and he's at his best doing ROCK.

jesse,sheila,andre,were and are my fave ex-prince "mafia"
members.
all 3 are underrated. especially jesse & andre!

he mentioned how people thought he was tryin 2 be prince on "free world" but all i know is that that man can play the hell out of a guitar and i would love 2 see him and pricne jammin 2getha...not 4 competitive reasons but 'cause they are my 2 of my guitar idols along with eric clapton, b.b. king, jimi hendrix, and carlos santana...

Jesse is so underrated... I love JJ, but did anyone else here that Prince played all the solos and not Jesse on the first 2 time albums. Is that true?

I have everything Jesse even some live stuff and all the videos on tape.I saw him in concert in 85 before my parents would even let me see nasty Prince shows. But they came through in the end. I am still a major fan of both. I got all the Andre stuff too. A female friend of mine that knew Andre said I look just like him and sound like him on the phone. She said we breathe alike or some something.

COCOMF said:

Prince played everything on the first 2 Time albums.

Jesse is Prince's pimp.

squirrelgrease said:

That's almost true, that's Jesse on 777-9311.

COCOMF said:

from what i heard prince played all the guitars on everythin
on the first 2 time records except 777-9311.
but it wasn't Bcuz jesse couldn't play the stuff-it was p
pullling da wool over everybody's butt that those albums were performed by a band!

cocomf i wish i had seen jesse live.
you're a lucky dude!
you look like andre?
back in the day the ladies dug him!

charles (youngca)

my dream guitar battle would be prince,with jesse,dez,mike
scott,miko,and levi!
(all these cats have different styles...and it would be
cool)

COCOMF said:

you looked like andre, huh? I'm guessing that a lot of girls liked you then.

JESSE is an excellent player.He's another one that can play all instruments.Prince must've had some of the most talented musicians around him out of any other artist of his stature.JESSE,ANDRE,LISA,WENDY,BROWNMARK,DEZ,SONNY,JIMMY JAM,MORRIS DAY...all multi-instrumentalists.OUTSTANDING!Prince wasn't afeared of 'em either.

Was Prince biting off Jesse Johnson Or Jesse Johnson biting off Prince?

good question. just to continue on that since it has already been answered?

i had heard that jesse did his albums on his own. in an interview he was saying it was all him. not that he could not have done it...but i was a bit suspect after i found an extended mix of 'do yourself a favor' with prince singing it. does anyone have more info on this? was it just that song that he did, or did p have any other contributions to jesse?if it is true that p did contribute, its not that big a deal. i would not even be surprised if prince encouraged jesse to keep it to himself just so that he could keep people from saying that he was relying on his association with prince.

dealodelandron said:

do yourself a favor is a PEPE Willie tune changed a bit
by prince and jesse. i'm trying to remember who did their
version first. (probably prince...but if you listen.)..jesse's
sounds different. more polished.

pepe was an old mentor of prince who was the leader of
94 east. i think his version was titled "if U see me".

i don't think prince helped jesse on this one...but then
again he might have!

i'm trying to remember...if this was a discarded Time
track .

Another interesting thing about prince and jesse.

supposedly when jesse quit the Time-he was really pissed at
Prince for the mean-spirited things prince did to him and
the group (over the years) yet on the first album in the liner notes,when he hands out thank U's to all his old
band buddies he says something about "prince:GOOD TASTE"
(check it out)

but more amazing was he recorded his album in his home
studio using prince's old 16 track recording console that
p used for dirty mind and some of 1999!

i think prince gave him the ezuipment!

if he was mad at prince why did he take p's equipment.
and why did prince do something nice like this for a guy
who was pissed off at him?

prince is a paradox.

then again jesse always said being a GEMINI too he understood prince and dealt with him straight-up.
of course prince is so SHarp (slick) he might have made
jesse pay big bucks for the equipment!

DigitalLisa said:

I don't think either were "biting off" eachother, they just happen(ed) to be similar.
I think the reason why Jesse never made it big was because Prince came first. People were so busy focusig on Prince that they just shut out anyone else associated with him in the past (I.E. jesse, morris, st. paul, dez, wendy & lisa). The only reason why Jam & Lewis made it big was beacuse they stayed behind the scenes, therefore no one could really compare them to Prince(lookswise at least), they also left and began working before the big Purple Rain phenomenum.
Jesse was a very talented guy (and MUCH easier to deal with) but he came out solo at the time Prince became a household name. The public only wanted Prince and anyone who was in the purple clan, not someone who used to be and went solo.
[This message was edited Fri Jul 18 18:17:20 PDT 2003 by lovebizzare]

I had a long conversation once with Jesse himself and once with Jon Mclain of A&M who signed Jesse. Jon thinks Jesse is a better guitar player than Prince, and after seeing theBare My Naked Soul tour around 1993, I must say, strictly as a gitar player, Jesse kicks Prince's ass, and I think Prince does respect him as well.

The long talk I had with Jesse was unbelievable. He was the coolest guy, and really humble. I wish him all the best and anyone who doesn't have his solo stuff, check it out cause it's all good and funky. At least get the greatest Hits!

DMSR said:

thanks dmsr. for the inside stuff on jesse, He is one hell
of a guitarist. whether he's better than prince is subjective. i like both of them! the only thing i'd say is
prince might have the edge vocally (more variety...although
if anybody has the Ultimate jesse johnsons cd ..hip-o records check out the unreleased cut VIBE...that sucker is
as good as anything p ever did and jesse's using falsetto in
parts of it!

i agree with kiki jesse (and andre) had the misfortune of
coming after prince and looking somewhat like him probably
hurt more than helped. i remember Owen husney lamenting that
he thought prince's success was a curse to many of his
peers after they left him bcuz everybody wanted to do the
solo-one man-(i can write,perform,produce just like prince)

and he felt some of the minny mafia didn't have as good a
material as prince did. (that's true with morris,brownmark)
andre's ability was as solid as his old buddy but his songs
overall weren't as good.

i agree with love bizarre about jam & lewis-being behind the scenes with SOS band & janet etc etc helped them a lot.

jesse's albums were consistantly better than anything MOrris
ever did alone and better than the GIRLs bros. (not that
their albums were bad...cuz they weren't)

hindsight being 20/20 if jesse was just starting out now could he be marketed ala lenny kravitz?
(as a rock artist)

BARE my NAked soul is a DAMN good album. its more jesse than
the 3 A & M ones he did.

jesse is a natural rocker like dez.
yep dmsr YOu ain't bullshittin'...the boy was BAD.

youngca said:

Maaan, that brotha would kick Lenny's corny ass with an easy breath

Once again ya'll, what do you think of "BARE MY NAKES SOUL"???

Jesse Johnson's first 3 solo albums were all great. I loved these albums when they came out and still appreciate them to this day. He seemed like a bit of a "head case" and could never get his career going well, but I just don't think there was a market out there for what he was doing...still great music though. It's not on Prince's level but still damn good.

TonyC said:

good points. i remember him having marital problems around the time of "Every Shade Of Love "album...he put a unloaded
gun to his head to get his wife's attention (so she wouldn't
leave him!)
no lie. this happened!

i think he left the minny scene to get his life together.
i think he lives down south..and is married. i don't know
if this wife is the same one or not.

but "head case" might be a good adjective.

he's a GEmini (like p is) and prince is an usual genius.
jesse may be more like prince than he cares to admit.

still he was my BOY...my fave minny guys besides p was
jesse,andre,dez,(i dug fink too) jimmy jam,terry and sonny t. jesse is my second fave to prince.

I have all four albums by Jesse, the first three sounding a lot like Prince. Bare My Naked Soul being the most original and real to Jesse's roots (pure blues and guitar). And I think Jesse gives Prince a run for his money, great musician and a really cool cat. We need something new from Jesse, don't cha think? My favorite: Shockadelica.

daydreamer said:

i agree every word you said.
nothing to add there!

Where's the title-track to the Symbol album?

JJ may have been ahead of his time. What if he'd hit c. 1991 when the black rock wave was rising? He certainly heped make Pandemonium such a winner!

The reason I prefer P's guitar-style is that it's more diverse - Hendrix meets Santana in a funky place, with the odd T-Rex vibe - whereas JJ's more in the one spot whic he does well.

youngca said:

Sorry, five albums including the greatest hits. There's some songs unavailable on albums including Free World, funky and punky as hell! Long live J.J.!

COCOMF said:

There is live stuff???!!!Oh,my!!I'd love to have that!!

I like some of the stuff he did with TAMARA AND THE SEEN.I that Jesse didn't play on anything and that was one reason he was so upset w/P.I still remember The Time on BET and Jesse was making wisecracks about P wearing a dress.One of the other members said that it was the style in Paris and Jesse said,"This ain't paris".

Jesse seems a very talented and tormented soul.I have a song on my computer ncalled "drive Yo' Cadillac",which supposedly,P wrote for him.I had never heard that before.