I was just reading an earlier thread where people are saying what year they thought "the musical rot" set in ,and its interesting,because if you look at the profiles of some orgers and the date some of you were born its HIGHLY unlikely that certain people were even sufficiently knowledgeable fans of Prince at the time ,e.g one person was aged 9 in 1989 when the album they consider the 1st poorer release of Prince's came out.I'm not saying that any of you are consciously trying to act like long-time fans since day one , but presumably ,even if you think the Batman soundtrack was where the musical wane began , its logical to assume you werent even a long-time fan of his much before that,maybe even you became a fan after 1989,If that is the case , and you became a fan of Prince AFTER you consider his musical decline started , have many of you therefore changed your opinions on certain albums of his that you loved initally but have since gone off after listening to his earlier work.Also it'd be nice to state your age when you consider the musical decline occurred

i actually did live through it but, in regards to those who didn't, do they lose the ability to have an opinion about his career simply because they weren't following it at the time. i mean, i wasn't around when the dinosaurs were here but i sure nuff can tell you the approximate time they became extinct.

SassyBritches said:

yes,but thats not really relevant , as its more a fact than an opinion.I'm just saying, some of you ,according to the ages on your profiles,were only aged 9-11 when you considered Prince's music went downhill ,does this mean you were long time fans from age 5 (unlikely) or that you became interested in his music after that period but have changed your minds.Don't take it personally , its not a personal attack,just a question.

I was 19 in 1989. Old enough to know there was a problem with Batman.What followed in 1990 confirmed it.

.
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 13:54:59 PST 2004 by Marrk]

moonshine said:

i began listening to prince at about 5 or 6...purple rain was my 2nd or 3rd concert actually ...but if someone were to get into prince, say, through an older sibling listening to dirty mind in 1989 and then hears the current album and back tracks, they are bound to notice a drastic difference in style and content. it wouldn't take a magician to compare. actually living through it makes no difference when you are talking about substance instead of nostalgia.

i don't mean to be rude or dismissive but, really, the question is rather subjective.

Marrk said:

I liked Batman, it just lacked an artistic theme. It was built around the concept of a movie.

Graffiti Bridge is unfairly maligned IMO because some of the tracks on this LP make up some of his better work ( especially "Joy In Repetition," which is among his very best songs). That being said, the album does have a New Jack-ish quality to it at times, the title track is dreadful, and the guest appearances give it a disjointed quality.

I started listening to the man when I was 13 years old and "Purple Rain" had just hit. Sure, I have a lot of "history" and "experience", but I don't hold that over the head of someone who's younger than I am - they might have a perspective based on their life experience that I never considered.

Yup, got into P around 1999, when I was a preteen. So, yes, the mid- to late-1980s, to me, were his peak. Doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed a lot of what's followed. But that was the top, to me.

I'm 22 years of age.

My earliest memory of Prince was my dad playing 'Little Red Corvette' in the car. I was real young.

I remember when 'Diamonds and Pearls' came out i always use to sing the words to 'Thunder'. My school friends use to think it was quite cool. I remember a good school mate asking why i liked "gays" lol!

'Diamonds & pearls' was the first Prince concert i went to.
It was from this point that i can say i truly became a Prince fan. becoming more hardcore with each release.

- The irony of course being that from this point he had apparently reached his peak and had begun to fall into decline -


I loved 'diamonds and pearls' and 'the symbol' album. They made me a fan. I went back to my dad's collection and listened to his earlier stuff. I fell in love with it. At first it was Parade, then Purple Rain, then 1999, and then last year (can't believe it took me so long!) i finally 'got' 'LoveSexy'. It took me so long to get into that record. It's now my favourte.




Maturity has shown me that prince's best music came during the 80's.
I still have a lot of love for D&P and Symbol. They have some great tracks on them, but if you listen to them as albums they have some pretty dire stuff on them. that's difficult to deny.

I don't think there's any shame that prince has seemingly hit his peak. It happens to all artists.

It aint doom and gloom. look at it this way:
On every album since 'LoveSexy' there have been at least a few classic songs. And Prince is still something to behold live.


In short:
i haven't changed my mind on 'd&p','the symbol' and the rest of the 90's output. It's good. But if it wasn't for his 80's stuff i wouldn't of remained a Prince fan.
Does that make sense?
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 14:40:16 PST 2004 by Sly]
[This message was edited Thu Jan 15 15:10:50 PST 2004 by Sly]

Just to make a comment in general on this subject... I do think that having lived though a certain musical era as oppossed to just going back and discovering it for yourself will certainly give one a different perspective (depending on which side of the spectrum you fall).

But with that being said, I didn't live through the beginning of Miles Davis' musical career, but I can certainly hear the transformation that took place in his career by reviewing his vast catalog for myself. But does my review of his work compare to someone who actually bought The Birth of Cool, for instance, in 1949 when it was originally released? Of course not, The Birth of Cool was cutting edge jazz at the time - it was totally radical at the time. Nowadays, something like the Birth of Cool is considered "standard" or "traditional" jazz.

But strictly from a music lovers point of view, I can clearly listen to the various albums released throughout Miles Davis career and come to my own conclusion as to whether or not there was a point where his work started to decline. And I believe that in general, the same thing holds true for Prince and his work.

Sly said:

Yes, it does make sense... and I undertand where you're coming from...even though I'm older than you

FutureShock said:

Thanks

I remember 1999 and LRC when I was a kid. PR introduced me to Prince, it was after this song that I actually knew of Prince. For me, Raspberry Beret elevated him to genius.

After that, Kiss was a bit of a set back for me, I didn't apreciate this song until years later. It was a this time that I lost touch with his music, not because of this song but relocating to another contry was a huge factor,

I missed out on the SOTT and L'sexy era but BatDance and Thieves in the Temple reinstated Prince as #1 on my list and that's where he's been ever since...

My mom was sorta a fan and she always says she got me hooked with the "Sexy Dancer" 12" when I was a lil kid...
Every year she bought the next album untill "1999" where she hooked off and me and my sis hooked on, well my sis only for a couple of years, after "Purple Rain" she discovered Madonna, and I was still hooked getting all 12"'s and records each year for my birthday/Sinterklaas/Christmas...
My dad always dragging me and my sis around to record fairs, concerts and the yearly "North Sea Jazz Festival" in my hometown (my dad's a music junkie in the truest form and damn proud of it)...
The "Parade" picture disc was the first Prince album I bought from my allowance in 1986 and I was the happiest kid around that whole summer...
And that's how Prince became my hobby/obsession until about 1990 when I (finally) discovered David Bowie, Joy Division and NIN...

Neversin.

Hey, I know this isn't the P&R Forum, but er ... um ...



I lived through the Reagan-Bush 1980s...


I rather enjoyed the Prince 1980s.







There's a world of difference...

ThreadBare said:

As is there a world of difference in having gone back and listened to Lovesexy, rather than lived it at the time. Watched Purple Rain 10, 15 or 20 years after it's release or lived through it in real time. Travelled the journey leading up to the 90's then the path that has followed since.

The same with everything, unless you have experienced it you will never truly know or understand it. If you haven't lost a child, you have no comprehension of what that is like, if you have never been in love you cannot understand or describe it.

If you listen to Prince you have no understanding of him in a way that those who hear him.

Neither is right and neither is wrong but this is the unique thing about Prince and being a fan of Prince.