i feel an over looked factor in Prince's recent popularity is the recent trouble's for Michael Jackson and his weirdness..i started thinking about that today when i bought the new Entertainment Weekly with Prince on the cover and my grandma looks at the cover and said "oh Prince he's a nice man not like that Michael Jackson guy" i had to laugh at that because i would have never imagned her saying anything close to that 20 years ago when she thought Prince was some wierdo and i was crazy for liking him

i also thought about this when Chris Rock made that comment about when we used to argue who's better MJ or Prince and he said ...Prince won

it's like people have seen so much weirdness from MJ that they find Prince to be very normal & refreshing in comparison and by them doing that now they are giving Prince a chance and actually listening to his music and seeing the talent that he actually has

this is a small factor in the whoe scheme of things but a factor nonetheless

Sometimes the weirdest things Happen for a Reason. It's Actually Prince's Time . Personally I think Michael Lying so Much made him look bad. Plus ya Know after he had the children that People were Just Gonna Look for Things .

The only problem with this theory is that Prince's success has never hinged on Michael Jackson's success. Their fates were never tied together-although some would have you believe otherwise.

Look at the years that MJ had a major realease, you will find it is the same years of P's major releases...

"Your butt is mine ?" Who's saying that to whom ? I ain't saying it to him , and he definitely ain't saying it to me !" - P , in the Chris Rock interview , in response to being asked to duet on "Bad."

I thought of this too, and I agree . . . although it's on a "subconscious" level . . .

I just think the world was ready for Prince again - if not the MUSIC then the MAN. Does that make sense? Sorta like they need his "image" and "persona" more than they need his sounds (at the moment).

Of course their careers aren't dependent upon one another...nobody said that. But Mazerati, I agree with you totally...I've had several people make the same comment that your grandma did.

I just think the world was ready for Prince again - if not the MUSIC then the MAN. Does that make sense? Sorta like they need his "image" and "persona" more than they need his sounds (at the moment).

You know, I've firmly believe that the world's been ready for him to come back ever since he changed his name back to Prince in 2000. I remember reading here that MTV wanted him to perform on the VMA's that year but he never responded. I think that if anything and it's probly been said before, Prince was ready to do the Pop thing again. And I for one am very glad that he did.

Oh, one of my bosses copied my Musicology CD to listen to and he told me that he was ready to clown me cause he was one of those who thought Prince had lost it. Well, he told me that he thought the CD was alright. It was a nice way to end the day.

I never never never caught on to why people compare Prince and Michael Jackson. What makes them similar? I used to own the Thriller album, but as soon as I had 1999 in my ears, I dropped Michael and never looked back. He can never compare to Prince, can he?

edit: just the facts
[This message was edited Thu Apr 22 19:41:06 2004 by Jasziah]

Look at all the shit Michael has gotten himself into? It gets worse as the years go by.. He was a black man, and now he's a white man.

Prince aint all about that.. its obvious.. he's who he is.. There's a difference also by musicianship, and who's a true musician.

IMO, Michaels a big act.

Sadly but inevitably they are compared. Prince's resurgence has only resurrected the comparisons, which must be irresistible to the media given their reversal of images.

Chris Rock raised this years ago in his interview with P.

It's so bizarre to think that people are looking at Prince as "normal"; just thought that I would never see that day!
It's 2004: Prince doesn't curse anymore, Madonna writes children's books, & MJ is up for molestation charges. I didn't forsee this back in the 80's.

XtrueX said:

How true and how strange it is. You really can't compare the 2 cause they are so different but people are going to do whatever they want to do and the comparisons will probably never end.

Personally, I never understood howcome everyone -media included- seemed
to buy into this hyped facade that Michael Jackson was somehow the best
thing to hit the musical scene since Mozart.

Exactly in what way can MJ's efforts be compared to Prince's when Prince
released aprox 1 or 2 albums worth of material for the past
26 years? MJ releases roughly 1 album every 5 years. Two of
which were pretty darn good. The rest was just ok.

There is more diversity and artistic enigma on SignOTheTimes alone
than there is in MJ's entire euvre. Sure, that's my oppinion, but I think a
lot of people share that.

Back in -what was it?- 1991, MJ proclaimed HIMSELF to be the
KingOfPop. It wasn't a title anybody else came up with. He simply
bought that title and hailed himself king.

He proceeded to release a few semi-decent/semi-crap albums which he
then milked them completely dry for the next few years. I think that the
entire "Bad" album was released as singles.

Consequently the man was accused of many horrible things, as we all know
by now. The whole thing became rather messy and the music took a
proverbial nose-dive.

Now, years later, MJ finally has a new album again "Invincible" and
for some reason, everyone starts freaking out again. The media were
certainly ready to push this product again. Heck, even the local
evangelist network seemed willing to premier the video on primetime
when it was released.

I hate that. It's complete idiocy. And for once, the public seemed to
agree. The album was a moderate success but luckily the monstrous kind
of hysteria was held at bate.

After that he was accused again of child molestation and lied and did some
more weird ass stuff.

So, all of a sudden, this whole MJ-KING OF POP thing doesn't seem
salvageble anymore. The ship has cut adrift and it's best left to drift
into uncharted waters.

Now, understandably, the media look for ways to fill up this hole left by
MJ's rather sudden enthronement.

And what's more logical than to look at what the only other star of
that magnitude to have survived the 80's ? Fcuz, there's also
Madonna, but she's never really left the spotlight and she is getting
kinda dull at the moment with her techno drivell and her Kaballah.

What happened to people who could do real music?

Oh, wait a minute. Wasn't there Prince? What's he been doing the last decade?
I don't know, we kind of ridiculed him since his namechange and then we just
wrote crap about all his efforts. I mean, the namechange was so darn
silly that his albums MUST be crap, right? Plus, he releases so much
music that it all must be shit, right?

Anywho. It HAS been 20 years since Purple Rain and the guy just got
inducted into the R&RHOF. So uhm, does he have a new product??

He does? Oh and it's with a major label no less? Hmm, shall we...

*Grabs the Batphone*

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that People should have been
listening to Prince's output in the first place.

If "Musicology" gets these kind of reviews, than the artistic value
of an album like "The Rainbow Children" or "The Truth" have been
grossly and unbelievable overlooked.

I still don't understand how reviewers could barely spare 1 or two
lines in their entire Crystal Ball reviews back in 1997 for "The Truth"
when it was so obviously the best thing in the package, apart from
the CB title song.

Same thing with "The Rainbow Children". It's so easy to say that
an artist has gone off the deep end when you can't access his
latest body of work instantly.

Instead of giving him credit for the music and the compositions, it
seemed more easy to just jump onto the "let'sridiculePrincebandwagon"
and diss his work as erattic and weird.

Oh and let's not forget to end our reviews with "He needs to hire
someone to EDIT his output".



I'm telling ya, one of these days there are gonna be whole articles
devoted to Prince's grossly overlooked output from 1994-2003 and
that's when he may finally get some credit for all the pioneering &
bold work he's done this past decade.

possible the 3 greatest artist of our time
Madonna , Michael Jackson , Prince
tho individually and creatively seperate
they all have their quirks
Madonna is a Sex freak and a sort of "Shock jock" turn Religious Nut
Jackson was born ins a nutty religious house hold turned into some kind of monster that wants to be peter pan, now peter pan is on trial for child molestation
Prince is Prosex Arogant egotisticle musician who wasn't too business savvy, who turned his name in2 a symbol and now hes a religious nut creating wholesome entertainment for everyone

i think their all nutz
Prince...
"its 2 Am in minnesota, i really need a camel"
Michael
"I think its fine to sleep with children"
Madonna
"american Life, nuff said

now when Prince leaves his Faith
Madonna starts burning crosses again
and Mj decides to grow up
lets get these 3 nut jobs in a studio
have a rehabilitated R.Kelly as their Producer fresh out of prison
and create a Song
that will be known FOREVER!


to me their all nutz
but all i really care about is the music
and thats all that we AS FANS !
SHOULD care about
Ya dig?
[This message was edited Fri Apr 23 0:28:13 2004 by Luv4oneanotha]

IstenSzek said:

I think everything you said is absolutey right.

i don't remember him saying this, but my cousin has said the same thing at 2 in the morning, and all he meant was, "i need a smoke" -- a Camel cigarette.

IstenSzek said:

btw, i appreciate all u said in this thread -- right on, right on

Jasziah

I think it is fair to compare Prince and MJ. The Rolling Stones and the Beatles are always compared, why? They are as different as Prince and MJ are and their careers are not dependent on one another. It is because they were around at the same time at the height of their popularity, and were about the same age.

People make comparisons with all sorts of things, especially in sport. Bjorg/McEnroe, Shumacher/Senna etc. It is a lot harder to compare Shumacher/Fangio because they lived in different times.

You couldn't effectively compare Elvis to Prince, for example, because they weren't around at the same time and weren't effected by the same pressures such as the media.

MJ and Prince are different but there are also a lot of points to compare - for instance being some of the first black artists to break through on MTV with videos. And of course they are the same age and created very individual, colouful music.

Back when they were at their biggest, the media LOVED to seize upon any eccentricity - it sold newspapers. Both artists were tarnished with a CRAZY reputation at the same time.

MJ played upto those weirdities created by the press - 'Leave Me Alone', 'Black or White' anyone? Whereas Prince concentrated much more on experimenting with music.

Prince has stood the test of time and is appreciated for his music abilities much more than his oddities, whereas it is clearly the reverse for MJ and people have been forced to turn from him in droves.

In comparison, Prince's oddities don't seem so bad anymore and there's nothing there that the public can't put up with. He has emerged in comparison as the saner individual unique male pop artist of the eighties and as time goes by what he has done is appreciated more and more.

So yes, I do agree that MJs problems have allowed Prince to sneak through the door as a viable alternate 'cult status' candidate, whereas a few years ago that might not have been possible.

I remember journalists used to include Madonna and Whitney with MJ and Prince together, they were all born in the same year I believe. You can easily compare Madonna with Whitney, gee, I wonder who won that battle?!

Jasziah said:

no he needed an actual camel Lmfao...

in fawking january
in minnesota lol
hilarious!

Luv4oneanotha said:

There's no evidence he actually asked for a camel. It was just an example of the crazy requests he might make - see how she says 'like'. This was from the conversation between Kevin Smith and one of Prince's assistants - and there's no way of knowing whether Kevin was quoting verbatum or just putting a little humorous spin on the conversation, which is more likely.




Just seems this quote is going to turn into 'fact' the more people refer to it!

metalorange said:[quote]

Luv4oneanotha said:

hey if his request are remotely near that quote lol
the man is a bit nutz
but i don't hold it against him
its like MJ
he surrounds himself wit people who only say yes to him
hes not too much intune with reality either
aint nothing wrong with taht tho...
He's Prince!