Sorry long post...

I grew up with Prince (well not actually *with* him but you know what I mean). I was 13 when 1999 came out and never looked back (with my pocket money I quickly snapped up all the albums that had come before) and had such huge anticipation for Purple Rain and every album since. In fact even as an adult I buy every album the day it is released.

People have been debating (for as long as I can remember now) whether the 80s or 90s were better or if the 90s were in fact complete rubbish (for Prince releases that is). For example see the thread:

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/76341

Reading this made me think...

Obviously I have a very strong emotional bond with the material released during the 80s because I was a teenager and I was growing up and rejecting the music of my parents and forging my own tastes (they hated Prince which made me love him all the more).

Is it only natural once you become an adult and other things begin taking priority in your life that the relevance and in fact reverance of Prince to you lessens. And is it not also natural for nostalgia to strongly influence our opinions of music?

However, if I am totally honest I would say that I was sometimes confused and even disappointed with Prince's output in both the 80s AND the 90s but that all albums grow on me with time and all albums feature material that I love (the number of good trax obviously effecting my overall opinion of the album)

As I remember here was my INITIAL reaction (in the order that I bought them:

1983 1999 = cool love this Prince bloke

1984 Controversy = hmm 3 or 4 excellent trax but the rest is poor

1984 Dirty Mind = love this album, it's so dirty, my Mum will hate it

1984 Prince = woah where did this soul artist spring from. Actually it's okay but maybe a bit dated

1984 For You = cool opening, okay trax. Guess he was only starting out. Doubt I'll listen to this much.

1984 Purple Rain = blew me away love it love it love it

1985 ATWIAD = what the hell is this (it took a number of listens to accept it)

1986 Parade = damn he's changed direction again but I love it

1987 SOTT = wow this is amazing (might have been better as 12 track single album - is that blasphemous?)

1988 Lovesexy = woah this is weird. Where did this all come from. What happened to the Black Album and what's all this God stuff. Actually most of it's funky and cool but I could lose 2 trax)

1989 Batman = hmm some cool trax but doesn't really grab me

1990 Grafitti Bridge = (first one I bought on CD instead of LP) what's up with that cover! Wait a minute there's non Prince trax on here. Great having some of those old trax finally. Damn wish this only had the Prince trax on it plus a couple more.

1991 D&P = wow Prince is back this rocks. Doh what's up with the rapping? Won't listen to those two trax again

1992 = yep like this but could lose a few of those trax (use the track skip button)

1993 The Hits = like those new trax. Wait a minute who decided on this track list? At least got the b-sides on CD

1994 Come = why does it say Prince on the cover? Can't stand the linking female voice and sea noises, fast forward. Hmm some good trax but feel quite disappointed

1995 TGE = why the hell didn't he release this in 1994 on the back of TMBGITW this album rocks and I love it! Could lose maybe two trax and where the f&*k is Days of Wild?

1996 Chaos & Disorder = oh damn another disappointing album and Prince please lose that Rasta Rapper jeez! Okay some trax are okay but this really feels like you don't care anymore (Warners and all that but hey I'm a fan)

1996 Emancipation = three CDs, damn this is gonna take some time to consume (after several listens) why wasn't this a 2CD set I can lose at least ten of these trax! Like it though, glad I got the track skip button!

1998 Crystal Ball = what the hell there's remixes on here? Oh cool The Truth acoustic album (see below). I like this but why the ordering? Rather the trax were grouped chronologically and there's so many more that could have been here! Nice to have though. Hope Prince releases some more from the vault!

1998 The Trusth = at last an acoustic album. Oh some of these trax are a bit poor. Half are great though so I will keep listening to them!

1999 Old Friends 4 Sale = well this has exceeded expectations. Nice jazzy feel. Trax work well together. Damn shame there's not a few more trax. Hmm I really like this

1999 RUTJF = damn that opening track sounds dated (might put it on tape with Lovesexy and Grafitti Bridge trax). Hmm not sure about these guest artists. Hey I quite like this album but it's a bit too easy on the ears. Why the hell didn't he have Beautiful Strange on this album?

2000 High + NPGMC stuff = (okay not real albums) hmm some of these trax are pretty good. Damn a lot of filler though. I could do a mix tape of the best of these plus RUTJF cause they sound the same and that would make a good album!

2001 Rainbow Children = oh damn a voiceover and it's really spoiling the music. Actually this is getting better. The voiceover has stopped! Hey this album is pretty good I really like all the trax. Now if I can just find a way to edit off the voiceover?

2002 One Nite Alone = at last a piano album. Oh dear some of these trax are kind of nothing special. This is a bit like The Truth as 50% of the trax are cool

2002 One Nite Alone Live = at last a live album yeah! Wait a minute why isn't this a single show? Oh well this rocks and cool aftershow as well (but London was better!)

2003 NEWS = hmmm I need patience with this one. Must listen to it again soon to appreciate the musicianship. Damn I miss proper songs and his voice. I'll put it on the shelf for now and listen later, now where's that copy of...

And that's me being 100% honest (and probably boring anyone still reading).
[This message was edited Fri Feb 6 4:52:15 PST 2004 by jaypotton]

Not bad at all; in fact, excellent. Just not as consistently brilliant.

Not that bad. Viewed as weak due to Prince releasing more songs overall, and because all the people who were younger in the 80's (me included) grw older and more cynical.

Yes, they were bad. It was a pretty uneventful decade for sci-fi film buffs. And I hardly got laid. But I sure got my poor ass heart broke. Friggin three times!
[This message was edited Fri Feb 6 7:51:07 PST 2004 by scififilmnerd]