Today show
Updated: 10:51 a.m. ET March 15, 2004

He's won multiple Grammy’s and even an Oscar and yet another honor when Prince is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Now, with a new CD and preparations for a tour underway, Prince says he's ready to introduce himself to a whole new audience. “Today” host Matt Lauer talked to “The Artist”:

The moves, the sound and oh yeah, the color purple -- add it all up and you have the musical genius of Prince.

Today, he is preparing for a coast to coast tour, the first in six years, and has just completed his new CD "Musicology." prince treated me to a sneak preview during a recent visit to New York City.

Although he say's he's been around, in the past few years many fans wondered why prince had vanished from the spotlight.

Prince: “Well, originally, it started out as a feud between me and my record company. And then it ended up being sort of a period of time where I could just reflect and get my get my head on straight. The music -- the music has been ongoing. I've never stopped writing, never stopped recording.”

For more than a quarter of a century, prince has been making music, and entertaining audiences with his outrageous performances. But these days, his style toned down, his charisma almost effortless.

Prince: “I think throughout ages that I've been playing there was a great deal of emphasis put on the show -- the way we presented the material to props and gimmicks. And I think a lot of that detracted from the musicianship. And what we're trying to do now is focus on that and the songwriting.

Growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Prince started playing music at a very early age and taught himself to play more than 20 instruments by ear alone.

But "playing" the music wasn't enough. Prince wanted ultimate creative control and at the age of 19, he became the youngest producer in Warner Bros. history.

Prince: “There weren't a lot of artists who were free to say what they wanted to on records. And they were put into molds. The freedom that I had came from a long, hard fight of trying to get them to understand that I wanted to be different.”

That was 1978. At the time, overtly sexual performances were almost non-existent. Prince brought the concept into the mainstream.

Prince: “Well, you know, Matt, you really just, you can't help but be sexy. I mean, that's (Laughter) just is what it is. You know, sex isn't so much what you say. It's how you say it and the way you sing you know? We just, we like sexy music and it comes out that way.”

So how does the man who stretched the boundaries feel about where they are today?

Prince: “Back then there was an envelope to push.”

Matt Lauer: “Did you like pushing it?”

Prince: “I just said what I felt, you know? A lot of times I didn't know I was pushing the envelope until later. In today's climate you've got everybody thinking that that's a holy grail to do something explicit. And what happens is it's not explicit anymore because everybody's doing it.”

Lauer: “So if pushing the envelope came somewhat naturally to you, you're pretty convinced that today pushing the envelope is the way that a young artist makes a name for themselves.”

Prince: “Well, they seem to think so. But in reality I think to not push the envelope at this point is probably pushing the envelope.”

Prince believes part of the problem is that young artists are forced to use sex and show a lot of skin because they haven't taken the time to get a musical foundation.

Prince: “Well unfortunately a lot of kids didn't learn how to play music. One of the reasons we're going out on the road and we're titling this tour as 'Musicology' because we want to bring that back. We want to teach the kids and musicians of the future the art of songwriting, the art of real musicianship.”

Lauer: “If a young musician came to you today, what would you tell them?”

Prince: “Well, I'll just give you an example when I was rehearsing with Beyonce for the Grammy’s, I sat her down at the piano and I helped her to learn just some simple scales and then tried to encourage her to learn the piano because there's a language that musicians know that's a little different than, say, just a singer.”

1984's purple rain made prince a household name. Nine years later, he changed that name to a symbol as a form of protest against his record company. The media dubbed him, "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince." So what did his friends call him?

Prince: “Sir.”

Lauer: “What else?”

Prince: “Master, no, just kidding. (Laughs)

Four years ago, the symbol was out and Prince was back, recapturing the name that helped him sell more than 100 million copies of his 20 plus albums. But Prince never spent much time promoting them, and rarely granted interviews until now.

Lauer: “Is there a certain push to retain relevance in the music industry at this stage of your career?”

Prince: “I really feel a need to school a new generation of musicians. Technology is cool. But you've got to use it as opposed to letting it use you.”

Lauer: “But when you sit down for ‘Musicology,’ for example, and you're coming up with the tracks for that CD is there any conscious thought, Prince, to say, ‘Well, this sounds like what they're listening to. This'll get me on the radio for the young audiences.’”

Prince: “Absolutely not.”

Lauer: “You don't care?”

Prince: “No, I never really sat down and did music that way. ‘When Doves Cry’ came out it sounded like nothing that was on the radio. ‘Let's Go Crazy’ was number one on R&B stations and there's nothing that's been like that on radio since.”

He's won multiple Grammy’s, even an Oscar, and now at the age of 45, Prince is being inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Prince: “I never really needed approval for what it is that I do. I love that I'm appreciated and I love the respect that I get. But accolades and awards -- you know it's all still big business.”

He openly talks about his music, but when it comes to the subject of his personal life, Prince is sure to keep the two separate.

Prince: “Well, people speculate on your personal life all the time anyway. So I just think it's important to keep my private life private and my public persona more into music, you know? I'm really a musician at heart. That's what I do.

Lauer: “Does it add to the mystery, though? I mean, do you think it adds an air of mystery that perhaps sells records and gets and sells tickets to concerts?”

Prince: “No, I'm not that mysterious. I'm a pretty open book. Yeah, people know my music I would say know me.”

© 2004 MSNBC Interactive
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4531634/

The interview is cool BUT WHY NO INFOS ABOUT THE MUSICOLOGY ALBUM & NO QUESTIONS FROM THE INTERVIEWER ABOUT THIS?????



[This message was edited Mon Mar 15 10:11:04 2004 by love2thenines2003]

Wow! best interview he's done in a looong time. simple clear answers, not revealing too much all the same.

katt said:

I disagree with him on this point. I don't think what he was doing on stage detracted from the musicianship. That's another of his multi-tasking abilities that separates him from other performers.

Great interview, for sure. He was engaged and present. 5 Stars!!!!

Great interview!! Loved it!

Can't wait 4 musicology 2 drop!

I found myself shaking my head at that point too. When you are looking at an artist in addition to listening to them (concert or music video), there is the need to have some sort of visual appeal, rather than just standing or sitting there. He knew that then and he knows that now. This may be just a way of explaining why a 40+year-old artist doesn't need to do splits. The musicianship was, and still is, there.

'Props and gimmicks' I've always felt Prince has used them very well in a balanced effect.

I'm glad he never done a Zoo TV or Pop tour, that was waay over the top and detracted from a great band. Previous U2 tours and the Elevation tour proved that.

Great interview. Wish I was there

I don't understand this: "coast to coast tour, the first in six years". Last I checked, ONA went from one side of the country to the other side, and then hopped over to Europe.

::dorkenfresh::

Anyone know why they havent put highlights up on the site?

Will that be 2morrow u think instead?

I also disagree about the "performances" took away from the musicianship. The Sign O The Times/LoveSexy Band was one of, if not his best band and he was all over the stage on those , and those tours are arguably most of his fans favorites.

I am admittedly biased when it comes to tours of "just" performances and tours where he puts on a "show". I love the change of clothes, I love the lights, I love the splits and his sliding across stage, I love the ThunderBird and him on top of rising platforms playing the guitar, and I love his having a dancing partner. The only drawback to the "shows" is the fact that many times entire songs aren't played. But I would take that over him in the same suit going back and forth on stage with a guitar for 2 1/2 hours anytime. Also, considering America missed 9 musically rich years of Live performance from him.

Prince's "musicianship" has gotten him the respect he has from mostly his albums. Although he is a great musician Live, his legendary Live performance reputation has come from the "PACKAGE" he would deliver in Live performances that included more than just him on a guitar or a piano. Out of all the "shows" Prince put on from Purple Rain to Sign of The Times, to LoveSexy, to the Diamonds and Pearls tour and the props and dancing that went along with them, I'm sure very few people left those shows second guessing whether Prince is a great muscian or was disappointed due to lack of quality music. Prince creating great music is set in stone and all of the music industry knows it. At this point, Prince could get on stage in his underwear and sing his ABC's into the microphone and everyone would still know he is a great musician.

Prince "performances" are great, but long live the Prince "Show".

Ok on the soap box agian ...Some of you are and lucky to have seen these shows and some mainly from bootlegs videos..Prince shows have been like Circus Circus, Carnival etc and he's right with the lights on or off you're going to get off period. What i think is funny is that the net give use to much info at times it was cool when 1999 came out cuz u didn't know it was coming get it that was fun .....My best friend mom told me this ..when growing up she and her friends where having fun and all was cool till Television came along and they realized they where poor ...by the TV standards. This is the same box Prince fans put him in ..let him have his fun cuz whats on TV today ain't reality.

ScottNPG said:

It's a fact of pop music that visuals are important - Prince came to the notice of the world by being at the fore of the MTV generation. Why do artists make music videos if the visuals aren't important?

The biggest tours are those that engage the audience both musically AND visually, they are often a piece of theatrics after all. If you don't like the theatrics, just shut your eyes during the concert!

I think U2 experimented and pushed back the boundaries of concert performances with their tours and good on them for trying that - they've been doing 'basic' concerts for years, it was time for a change. Prince is doing the opposite, going from consistently over-elaborate back to a simpler concert style - hang on, he's doing concerts in the round isn't he?! That's as destracting as you get!

Prince never liked making music videos fact .... music in the 70's and before didn't have videos sometime u didn't know what the artist looked like fact. Like he said open your mind and heart if you can't grow u will die ...seems to to me he got a new position and you can't dance to it just like Parade AWTID and the list goes on don't hate or dicourage if u don't like a cd that no one on this site has heard silence is best...cuz what if he never put out anything else what would u do.

Prince loves to apologize for what he has done in the past...from the dirty words to the "props and gimmicks" of past tours. He did that stuff for a good reason back then. He just has a poor memory and likes to rewrite history.

Oh well, I am not a fan of Prince the orator. I'm a fan of Prince the musician, so his lame interviews mean little.

Prince: “Well, I'll just give you an example when I was rehearsing with Beyonce for the Grammy’s, I sat her down at the piano and I helped her to learn just some simple scales and then tried to encourage her to learn the piano because there's a language that musicians know that's a little different than, say, just a singer.”


I found that very interesting. Funny thing, I heard from Beyonce fans that she could play piano.

I think that interview is great for Prince.He delivers a simple message with no double talk, no talk about the "truth" etc.

gman1966 said:

If she could really play, she would sit down to a piano onstage and do it like Alicia Keys - who is far more talented

Funny. Seems like he's seeing himself as some kind of teacher now. Personally, I would expect that to make him less of a musician.

Oh well, he's been a rock star and a brilliant musician, a preacher and a brilliant musician, a slave and a brilliant musician, a husband and a good musician - let's see how he's going to handle this...

NPGPIMP said:

I'M SURE HE DID TRY 2 TEACH HER HOW TO PLAY...COUGH COUGH..PIANO.

MoneyMade said:

Funny I was thinking the same thing!!!!! Love it!

VelvetJ said:

You make some very, very good points, and I agree with pretty much everything you said. But I think one thing to keep in mind is that even though Prince will never admit it, a lot of his newfound interest in focusing on musicianship has a lot to do with the fact that Prince is simply getting older and cannot do some of the things he once use to do with ease. He's at the point in his career where focusing on the musicianship is a good transition for him. But don't kid yourself, if Prince could still do the splits and other acrobatics, I believe he certainly would.

Having said that, I believe that a concert of "The Rainbow Children" material in a "Sign O' Times" skit-like performance would've done wonders for that album. Sign o the Times is a wonderful album on its own. But the Sign o The Times concert movie is what really brought that album to life. And basically, TRC plays like the soundtrack to a movie or play anyway, and if he had provided timely skits and things of that nature while performing the material, I believe that would've added a lot of depth to the performance and made the show much more interesting. All the while, I don't believe the musicianship would've suffered because of the inclusion of theatrics, so on that point I agree with you 'VelvetJ'.

I think that you are totally off with this one.I believe that Prince stopped doind the splits etc. because he wanted to concentrate on the music more. He wanted to put the focus on the music . We all know that he can still do the splits and dance with the best of them. Didn't he do about 15 straight splits on the rave dvd?He know longer wants to take away from the music. I personally would like to see him do alittle more dancing, but as long as he continues to make great music I can settle for the less active Prince.

i liked the interview but i thought

the focus should have been more

on prince: the artist

instead of prince: the sexual revolutionist

he's being inducted into the

rock and roll hall of fame

4 his innovative musicianship

not 4 his sexy stage shows

however, with prince u get

the total package

cool interview

Bull said:

I agree that I have no proof that Prince can't do the splits anymore, but I don't think you have any proof to the contrary either. It is known that Prince had injuries as late as 2001, which may also have something to do with why he doesn't do splits anymore. But I just think that in general, his age is finally catching up to him. Now that doesn't mean that Prince couldn't force himself to do a split or two if he really wanted. But at 45 plus, it is HIGHLY unlikely that Prince can do the same types of splits and acrobatics night after night that a concert tour would demand of him. And I think that Prince would rather choose the timing of his own transition away from such things than to visibly show signs that he has lost a step.

Just my guess, but I think that when you look at video tapes of his performances from earlier in his career and compare them to what he does now at this stage in his life, there simply is no comparison to make. There is a glaring difference in energy level and theatrics. Aside from that, I would have to believe that in a nationally televised performance such as Leno or Ellen where his own playing/musicianship on songs like "Kiss" or "Musicology" is not the center of focus, that if he could still do the splits, he would have done them. So I know it's hard for some fans to accept. But I think the reality is just that Prince is getting older and that is a big reason why he doesn't do certain things anymore.

sumtymes said:

I agree. But at least Lauer didn't stoop to the level of asking Prince what he had for breakfast. That is an all time low. How ignorant can you be to ask such a question???

madartista said:

I see his point in reference to say the Lovesexy concerts where he drove on stage in Tbird