Tavis Smiley called Prince's fans musically sophisticated. What do ya'll think?

Well, I wouldn't generalize the whole group into either category- but if you go by some of the hardcores here, it would be very easy to place them in both categories. Some folks seem to be overly cynical music snobs, but at least they can back their opinions up with musical knowledge.

And then some people are just idiots....

Also, I have to admit that to appreciate a lot of Prince's less commercial work, you probably would have to have a level of musical sophistication.

The way I see it is this:

Many are called but few are chosen.

We are the chosen ones.

I see it more as appreciators vs. mere consumers.

There are those who really do attempt to appreciate the uniqueness of Prince's artistic vision and take the time to understand every song's diversity, and then there are those who just pass a lot of his music off as garbage before really looking more deeply to understand it.

So I don't really think it's a matter of just being musically sophisticated. I think it's more about just keeping an open mind and putting forth as much of an effort to understand the art as Prince did to create it.

I've been with Prince for 25 years. I'm not a snob, just a realist.

um...i don't know about all that. i mean, there are a lot of prince fans who like ANYTHING prince even breathed on, lol! objectivity is a pre-requisite for any music snob OR sophisticated fan of music. and there are a lot of prince fans lacking that requirement.

skywalker said:

AGREED!!! It is definately NOT 4 EVERYONE! Especially the jazz & blues genre he is now undertaking. Jazz has ALWAYS been 4 sophisticated music lovers. However, his music NEVER was VERY easy 2 understand. Still isnt, actually, in alot of cases, which makes it very interesting, inspiring, and funky, & sensual in most cases.