Ok, it's 11.30, I've ha a couple of beers, I'm listening to Stevie Wonder, I'm thinking of the muscial influences Prince mentioned on the Tonight Show, the track that's playin' on the stereo is 'You Are The Sunshine of my Life' by Stevie Wonder.. And I'm thinkng, how come both the song structure of this track & 1999 is similar... They both have male & female vocals singing the first two lines of the song. Ok, maybe i'm p*ssed, or maybe not, but I'm thinking, could this song have infleunced Prince with the novel idea at the start of 1999?

Ok, so I guess that no-one agrees with me. It must be the beer... but I'll carry on listening to Talking Book - hope no-one disagrees?? So, of all the muscical influences Prince has mentioned in the past (EWF, James Brown, Sly Stone), how come Stevie Wonder doesn't come into the equation? I mean, they were both musically gifted at an early age? I can see a definte relation in both their careers.

That is a good point - the intros do use the same male/female vocal timing . . . but the songs sound COMPLETELY different. So, maybe it was a subconscious influence . . .

The songs that REALLY sound like ripoffs to me are Erotic City (White Horse), Same December (Live And Let Die), and 3 Chains O Gold (Bohemian Rhapsody).

stevenevermind said:

For some reason, I'm tempted to say that Prince lists influences that he somehow feels superior to . . . I don't know why . . .

That would explain why he never lists Stevie Wonder or Hendrix as influences, because he knows that THEY'RE bigger than he is.

stevenevermind said:

Just go back to drinking your beers

Se7en said:

OR.... maybe he didn't really listen to much of their music. It happens.