Ever see Dylan in the early 80's? Leather pants, fingerless gloves, cutoff sweatshirts. Religious conversion. Insulting behavior towards fans. Long, overproduced greatest-hits tours. Divorce, secret marriges, alienation from former friends and aquaintances, and music that, though not terrible, hardly ranks with his best. Don't think there's just a geographical connection here. That said, I think Prince is coming back, in a big way, soon.

megamann said:

I agree with you. I feel soon something could happen, maybe like Santana with "Supernatural" or something like that. With this incredible tour, those marevellous musicians playing with him... He only needs a "commercial" but inspired album to be number one again.

i always think of prince like that in this current stage altho i understand that Dylan was truly awful at that time and Prince is no where near awful.
in fact, Prince is just great so nyaaah! there!

megamann said:

With 1980s Dylan you're also forgetting - alcoholism, heroin (rumoured), "Hearts of Fire", coonskin hats, THAT leather vest, Live Aid ...

If Prince fell so low at least he'd be interesting. Instead he's (temporarily, I hope) turned into a fascist bore.
[This message was edited Tue Oct 7 23:38:21 PDT 2003 by JohnnyTheFox]

BRILLIANT OBSERVATION!

I made the same in a post years ago! The similarities are amazing between the two artists. Apart from the music itself of course.

Two enigmatic mythic artists, both from Minnesota of all places...a black and a Jew, two minorities in one of the whitest states there is. With the religious shenanigans, alienating their fanbase, time and time again, the endless touring, the not so good music patch, (although I loved Infidels and Empire Burlesque).

I think Prince is worse off actually, because Dylan had already established himseld as a genius. I don't think most people equate something like Idiot Wind, Sad Lady of the Lowlands, Subterrenean Homesick Blues, or Just Like A Woman (to name but a few of thousands...another similarity...so many songs, so many bootlegs) with Little Red Corvette, Kiss and Purple Rain...They're both Geminis too! They should team up, that would be so cool!

I agree with you. Dylan, I think meant - and still means - a lot more to a lot more people than Prince ever did or will. I mean, "Sign O The Times", masterpiece that it is, is not an album of the stature of "Blonde on Blonde" - even though I play the former more than I do the latter.

Those awaiting a commercial comeback i think are going to be left wanting. He tried a Santana esque comeback in 1999 and it flopped big style. I wouldnt hold out for a successful return to the commercial market for some time...I dont think there's a sadder sight in music than Prince trying to chase the current R&B / Hip Hop trends. Trends that he played a big part in influencing are now the very thing that would be influencing him. It would be something of an oxymoron.

I agree about the Dylan comparison though, there are a few interesting parrallels, despite the two being imensely different people both personally and artistically.

Dylan is further reaching than Prince because of his words, but Princes innovations musically have had a bigger impact on popular music. Whilst I think Dylan structures songs brilliantly he doesnt really approach songs from a musical point of view, unlike Prince who I think does the reverse filling in words to fit with the music.

I've thought the same thing! Very interesting.

I don't think we are really expecting for a big comeback from Prince but it seems like he is in an odd spot right now and want him to get out of it (they way Dylan did with his latest records which sound more true to his style.

I love all your responses and wish I could contribute. I'm not a Dylan fan so I can't compare the two.

However, I do remember reading an article regarding this same conversation. This would probably be a good subject to submit to Uptown magazine.

Minnesota must "have something in the water."


Kinda even looked alike at one point.




OKAY a long, long point.

Didn't mean to say that Prince is coming back in a "big chart hit" kind of way, just that after listening to TRC and some of NEWS I think he's starting to move in a direction that will end up being artistically rewarding, for us and him (not that TRC or NEWS isn't, but I think it'll get better). It's difficult to compare the two artists musically, but it's obvious that both are innovators and, to me, musical geniuses. This coming from a huge Dylan fan who has only recently become aware of the awesome genius of Prince. Dylan's too good to have gone the rest of his life without producing another extraordinary album (Time out of Mind & Love and Theft), and I don't think Prince is any different in that respect. By the way, any future collaborative attempt by Prince will turn out just as horrible as Rave Un2 did. He's so good that "guest artists" just bring him down. (Sheryl Crow? Gwen Stefani? Come on.)

Hmmm. my two favourite artists.
I have to say, i don't think Prince is as lost as Dylan was 20 years ago.
I was watching the Cris Rock interview with Prince recently and made me laugh when Chris asked Prince about who he'd like in a supergroup of his contemporaries (a la Travelling Wilburys). Prince looked like he had no idea who the Wilburys were.

As odd as it might sound to some, I have often sensed there are striking artistic parallels between Dylan and Prince. The fact that both hail from Minnesota has little to do with it.

Great thought-provoking thread.

.

Seems that great minds think alike as I've also thought of this parallel.

To my mind there are strong similarities in their mix of "borrowing" and innovation, their behavior toward others and so on.

I can't wait till P wakes up from this religious coma he's in and gets back to his roots. (It took Dylan between 5-10 years to get back to form, whether you count only the Jesus-shit or include the post-Christian mediocre stuff as well.)

My two main men, unsocial extremists who both snub all accepted notions of normal behaviour.
Bob digs Prince and wanted to meet him once backstage during the Dirty Mind tour but P apparently snubbed him.
All dues to Bob tho, cuz even after that he was telling people that 'Prince can do anything. He's like Little Richard and Leadbelly and Mozart all in the one body'.
Both of these guys like to exaggerate and tell tall tales because both realise there is no such thing as truth and language is only composing with words.
But Bob likes black women and Prince don't, so maybe they got mixed up in that particular queue when choosing personality traits in Heaven.