Now these few years of being a prince fan, it has made me wounder, why isn't PRINCE a household name? ok he isn't in the limelight now, but hes work as an artist is just amazing, but why dont people now days know who prince is? i ask my friend if he knew who PRINCE was, and he thought i was talking about the royal family lol, but is tht because im asking the wrong age group? but surly PRINCE deserves to be known by a lot of my age group?

I wouldn't be particularly surprised, or that bothered personally, that Prince isn't as well known as perhaps you think he deserves to be. Most people of your generation will usually like what is fashionable in their neck of the woods at the time (and they won't necessarily be interested enough to want to know who wrote, arranged composed or performed it) - it was ever thus.

I met teenagers in the early '80s who knew about The Sex Pistols, but had no understanding of The Beatles' musical legacy. Years later, I can recall speaking to people who worshipped Kurt Cobain, but had only vaguely heard of The Sex Pistols.

If someone's interested in music, then their interest will possibly lead to discovering Prince, when they can decide whether they like or appreciate his work. It's plain to anyone who makes reference to most popular music encyclopedias that Prince is recognised as a major composer, musician and performer, whose impact on western popular music culture in the 1980s was considered significant. And no doubt there will be a resurgence of interest at some stage.

But it requires perspective:

1. Lots of people aren't that interested in music.

2. There are many, many artists (musicians, artists, sculptors, dancers, painters etc..) who people will think deserve to be household names. We could equally talk about (or debate) the genius of Palestrina or Corelli, Bessie Smith or Mahalia Jackson, Robert Johnson or Wes Montgomery - and that's simply discussing musical forms popular at some time in the 'west'. But they aren't likely to be household names even if we were to agree they should be.

Prince already is a name that will feature in the vocabulary of people discussing popular music in the 1980s; he's still a relatively common reference point for music journalists and musicians, even when reviewing today's music scene; he probably performed live to over 10,000 people in the UK last year who, I venture to suggest, probably rated his performance in both musical and entertainment terms as one of the best live acts they have seen in years.

However, expecting him to be a well-known subject of everyday teenage discussions on music is probably plain unrealistic.

Lay down the law, Langebleu.