Seriously.

Are you measuring "success" in this way, simply curious or what?

I keep wondering why I don't care.

i guess because it's a prince fan site?

Anxiety said:

Always the conspiracy theorist, aren't we?

Prince obviously cares as he had his lawyer fighting to count the give-aways.

People seems to care because it has been engrained in us that charts/boxoffice/$$$$ made is success. However, it is not. TLC went broke, MJ is going to jail, and "The Wizard of Oz" was a box office failure when it came out and is now a classic for all time. Ask yourself this-What peak chart positions did "Parade" "Sign O' the Times" and "Lovesexy" hit? What peak position did "Diamonds and Pearls" Hit? Is "Diamonds and Pearls" better? More successful? I don't know, that's for Prince and yourself to ultimately decide.
[This message was edited Wed May 19 14:20:12 2004 by skywalker]

As a measure of *COMMERCIAL* success, it matters because that's the way the industry is. I DO think that Prince cares about chart success. I really do. Even if ultimately it's the music that matters most, I do think he cares about charting success because by commercial standards, people will judge his contribution/quality on how well he does on the chart.

With that said, I agree with you that it's not the charts that matter. I had people come up to me knowing that I am a P fan and make fun of the fact that Usher and Teena Marie are charting higher than P. They seem to imply that these artists are "better" just because they've charted higher. I had to remind them of all the disadvantages that P is confronted with, namely virtually NO radio play. It's difficult to argue that just because Beyonce has sold upwards of about 6 million, that doesn't mean that she's the most talented. What it means is that the radio stations, magazines, airwaves are flooding the market with her work. I'll say it again: if everytime you turn on the radio, you're hearing Beyonce, Usher and Mario Winans, then sure eventually those songs are going to grow on you and you'll be more inclined to buy those products. If everytime you turn on MTV, you see Usher; then I don't care how awful the song is, people are not that sophisticated. This is not a free-thinking society. They listen to the critics. They hear everyone talking about these artists. So they want to be like everyone else and succumb to the will of the market. That's the way it works.

PurpleKnight said:

that's me, always going out on a limb.

It's just cool to see him do good, commercially. Nothing complicated or serious about it, really.

herb4 said:

i do not measure success by chart position. the industry, however, does measure success this way. if prince charts well, radio and tv will take more chances with him and we will get to see more of our guy.

besides, wouldn't you want to see your favorite musician be commercially successful?

Commercial success is a great way to shut up the haters who like to proclaim Prince's career is over , thats why I'm interested

Anxiety said:

Yeah, but I come here every day and I could care less.

I own a LOT of music that never "charted", and again, I could care less. I don't appreciate the music any less just because it's not as popular as the stuff other people like. I own it. I like it. That's enough for me. Shit, 'thriller' has outsold ALL of Prince's albums, but I wouldn't trade it for any of them..well, maybe "N.E.W.S"....

I think some people here need "bullets in their gun" (bullets on the chart) to justify their appreciation for their favorite musician, and I think it's weird. Especially from an artist who, most of the time, could give a rat's ass about commercial success. Do any of us really believe that "Thriller" is a better album than "Axis Bold as Love" or, for that matter, that "The Eagles Greatist Hits" is a better record than "Sign O' the Times"?

Let it go, folks.

Any commercial success that Prince enjoys at this point in his career is a BONUS...icing on the so-called cake. I dig 'Musicology' and could really care less if the whole music-buying public agrees with me or not. I know a lot of you don't like it. I think we're past the point of "Purple Rain"-like dominance of a system that lost any artisitic releveance YEARS ago. Just be happy you've got a good disc to spin in your car that brightens that dreary drive to work.

And if you don't like it, you've always got Usher.
[This message was edited Wed May 19 17:17:35 2004 by herb4]

[This message was edited Wed May 19 17:51:03 2004 by PurpleCharm]

herb4 said:

yes but dont you understand if you like an artist and he does well on the charts..you get more video's from the album you get more talk show appearances you get more magazine interviews..you get a 5 channel simulcast of the Musicology special..now lets say your a fan of Lionel Richie and your like hey i love the album who cares if nobody else buys it! yes but after the inital push for the new album you'll never see him again! no videos no nothing..so for me i love when Prince is selling well that means more Prince stuff for us fans to enjoy