BUT many of us are getting down on Prince and his new directions in music. to that all i have to say is look who's hanging out here and getting in debates about post-1988 this, 90s that, post-WB the other, jazz leanings, bad quality DVD and on and on and on.
some of us have been down on Prince since damn well Diamonds and Pearls! that was 12 years ago. flip me since maybe Lovesexy - 1988! that was 15 years ago! and look at us still here, sitting around wondering when Prince is gonna come back hard. face it, you love Prince or else you wouldn't be here.

StinkyWeaselTeats said:

thank you, thank you very much.

I believe there is a Silent Majority of Prince fans that do love & appreciate his continuing output of music. We/they don't feel the constant need to argue & justify that point on message boards. Thats what makes them Silent.

ZAZA2 said:

good point.

I don't know what "being down" means. I like the stuff I like. Prince has done plenty of stuff throughout his career that I wasn't very keen on, but thankfully there has always been enough brilliant stuff to keep me coming back. It doesn't alter my opinion of NEWS, Xpectation and the DVD though, and nor should it. Why pretend to dig stuff that I don't? I ain't going anywhere... I love most of his stuff. I don't need to love it all do I? Or do I have to hand in my official Prince fan badge and membership card

As for the "silent majority" - actually I reckon the silent majority of Prince fans probably don't know much about NPGMC, and haven't heard anything since TRC or earlier I reckon. These are the people going to the concerts without actually being obsessed to rant and rave on fansites on a nightly basis Those people won't take notice of anything Prince does until it is released as a proper album in the high-stret record stores.

there isn't an era of prince that i don't like. yeah, there's stuff here and there that is under par, but usually i am very excited about his work. his work.

my problems with prince are his personal quirks.

today i went to the movies and in the theatre lobby, "wherever U go, whatever u do" was playing. i was so happy to hear a prince song (post kiss) in a public place...lol! it dawned on me that while i may not like the man, himself, i still love his work. i probably always will.

it is kind of hard, after 20 years of listening, to seperate the man from the music. think about it...the only people who have been more of a constant in my life are my brother and mother. but after 20 years, it is finally time to forget about the man behind the music and pay full attention to the music, alone. i don't like who he is. maybe he's always been this guy...maybe not. regardless, i don't like him.

but i love his music and life's work.

milty said:

I thought it was pretty obvious. The knee jerk "fams" accusation is their defense mechanism. Anyone who constantly feels abused, used, beaten and battered, as some here seem to insinuate, and continue to come to a Prince music forum to talk about every move he makes, yet proclaim they haven't dug any music by him for almost 20 years is famdom defined. Prince has got a hold on these folks. But don't expect them to admit such a thing.

Supernova said:

Hallelujah edit
[This message was edited Thu Aug 21 19:14:50 PDT 2003 by StinkyWeaselTeats]

SWT, you're too kind.

i'm here for the root beer, man...

milty said:

I'm simply impressed someone had the nerve to state the obvious.

I've been thinking about the complaints on the boards recently, and here's what I've come up with...

Prince's music has been diverse. He's given us a broad spectrum from rock to pop, funk and jazz etc. He constantly evolved. Sometimes it got pretty "out there" and was great for it.

IMO, it's this diversity that causes people to claim he's lost it. Many lovers of Purple Rain probably felt ripped-off by ATWIAD. Lovers of the 80's catalogue may have been disappointed by the 90's stuff. Now there's The Rainbow Children and instrumental material to complain about. But hey, Prince changes.

Many artists establish a genre and broadly stick to it. One broadly knows what it means to tell people that one is fan of such artists. Prince - intentionally or not - upsets this with name changes, different musical styles and new religious beliefs.

Seems to me, Prince makes and releases the music and message *he* requires and I respect him for this, though I have a few problems with his church. I try to explain this when I say I'm a fan, but people don't seem to get it.

Ultimately, we don't own his ass (though we've probably paid for those fancy trousers that clothe it.)

gusmcq said:

Thank you, lovebizzare.

I cant agree with you guys more. I have no problem with people not enjoying the new direction. I think thats what makes Prince so great, is the Controversy. The problem I hate is when people feel the need to go on a FAN site, and bitch about Prince's creativity. And not even so much as the bitching, but a few of them feel that just because they dont like it, means that its garbage and that its all of our opinion. I dont like much country music, but I dont think its horrible, just not my style. And if Prince had mainstream popularity, that would turn me off even more.

Prince has always accepted the diversity of his fan base, I think if you consider yourself a fan of his work, at any point in his career, you should appreciate his diversity.

And besides, if you love the old school guitar riffs on old school gems like Bambi and such, how the hell can you not like N.E.W.S? Man his guitar playing gets to me evertime..

who cares?

LaMont said:

you would say that.

NewPowerToad said:

very well said. we do expect the universe from him, don't we?

milty said:

Well, DUH! And um, why do you think we all ran out and bought the DVD? The only people that were questioning our enjoyment of him was all the positivity police who said, "if you don't like the DVD, YOU ARE NOT A TRUE FAN!! GET OUT!!"

ian said:

milty said:

That's right Milty. I've been a fan since 1983 and I'm still here 20 years later and there have been many ups and downs and Prince has done or not done many things that have made me shake my head, but the bottom line is he is an amazing musician and I love his music!