was there ever a period during the last 20+ years that you felt that you were losing your interest in Prince? that happened to me in about 2001 when the Rainbow Children came out..it was the 1st Prince record i didnt get on the 1st or 2nd day of release..and as i said in other threads i really really disliked the album...and to be honest it saddened me that this was happening because Prince's music was such a big part of my life since 1984..but it turned out to be a very short phase because after a few months i was back into Prince again like i was before....but those few months were scary times

yes. from the time COME was released in 1994 through, oh, say...around the time NEWPOWER SOUL came out, i just really couldn't be bothered much with prince. oh, i bought the new stuff when it came out and i would visit the web sites when they started up, and i saw the "jam o the year" tour once and i guess you could call me a "fan", but i was way more into other music during those years, and keeping up with prince's stuff was more habit/tradition than it was something that i was actually getting much enjoyment from. i remember in 1995, when "the gold experience" and bowie's "1.outside" album were released on the same day. i remember playing the bowie album over and over, and then listening to bits and pieces of TGE before bed, just to be polite. it just wasn't doing it for me, especially not compared to "1.outside".

over the past few months, i've spent some time re-acquainting myself with the prince stuff from those "lost" years, and i do have a greater apprecation of his mid-90s material now than i did then. i think during those years, i was going through an amazing amount of personal growth in a new environment, and prince represented something i grew up with in an old environment.

i kinda got back into prince a bit more when RAVE came out (don't ask me why, cuz i didn't like that album then and i don't like it now), and it's been steadily snowballing since then. i think after this summer, i might be going back into another dormant phase....

Anxiety said:

i think the same happened to me it was a time when my girlfriend who i loved very much left me and moved back to California..it was just a bad time overall
[This message was edited Thu Jun 17 19:27:56 2004 by Mazerati]

Been a fan for a long time. Mostly in the last 10-15 years. Though when I look back over that time, I have yo-yo'd a lot. Lost interest round GB/C&D...and got back in for the symbol album...then back out until Gold...then back out till CB...the back for TRC and then now again.

Funny it never seems like that much ever passes, but it does. Not a lot of time, but a lot of music...This is the hardest the purple bug has hit me and I don't want to lose interest in fear of not hearing something new or missing out...which is easy to do. And hanging out on here much more than I used and talking on threads like this keeps the interest there.

Honestly...No.

When I discovered Prince music, i feel that i discovered the fountain of youth,
the money tree, and the medical miracle pill.

No one has done it better...and even during the "lean" years, his music is
still

There have been albums that have disappointed me...namely "Rave" and "Graffiti Bridge"...but there's never been a time when I have fallen out of interest. Honestly, now I'm afraid I might miss a release if I don't watch the club and/or this site closely. I'm a paranoid fan!

Ive never lost interest in him. His music has changed through out the years, and thats whats great about him. The man is a genius. Once a true Prince fan, always a true Prince fan.

I have never lost interest 4 Prince, but i was very angry when he released TRC because i couldn't stand this album, especially because of the lyrics. But, fortunatelly, i knew it was just a phase he was going through. All i can say is that, many years ago, before becoming a P fan, i couldn't stand the man, i don't know why LOL

Doozer said:

It's nice to know I'm not the only one

No

Until 1989 Prince couldn’t do no wrong ……

And than ,there it was: Batdance => Batman => The Game Boyz / Rosie Gaines / the leaving of Dr. Fink / Nothing Compares To U live version.

He never was the same Prince to me anymore.

I still bought every album, and visited all the concert-tours (the european legs). But I ain’t that enthousiastic anymore. To be honest, I got more and more disappointed by the new releases. I’m totally not interested in the single-releases anymore (no B-sides or decent extended versions).

When Prince started to focus on the power-balads / smooth rock ….. he can’t be saved.

But, I’m still a giant fan ... of the 80’s material.

Mazerati said:

Oh, hell yeah. It started sometime in the early '90s and got to the point that if I were in a record store and saw a new Prince release I wouldn't even bother to pick it up and look at the cover, track listing, etc. He was musically phoning it in so much that I had no faith that he would come out of his fat cat state for a long time.

When my interest was rekindled sometime in the late '90s I made it a point to go back and find out what I ignored among his albums. It's not that my disinterest was because I didn't hear a single song I liked, but because his output became erratic, and largely devoid of the passion his music used to exude. So I decided; why bother? If he doesn't care, why should I? Fortunately he's redeemed himself since then.

Yes.

Around the time when Rave and NPS came out, I didn't bother buying them - I listened to Rave on headphones at the store and was not impressed...I didn't even bother listening to NPS cause the cover was so embarrassing.

However, I rediscovered Prince when the Rainbow Children came out as I'd heard some glowing reviews about a return to Princelyness.....and that album made me buy everything in his back catalogue, including Rave and NPS (both of which I can handle in small doses and I even like some of the songs off them now).

anastesiatalk2me said:

I agree 100% - I have been a fan from the beginning - I have everything on record and had to repurchase on CD format - I love the way Prince never lets the media tell him what his music should be - even when some people don't like what he writes he still writes. There have been times that I had to listen to a release over a few time - but I find that I end up loving it as much as the last one. I guess I am a true fan.

I lost interest in the mid-90s,around the time of the 'Come' CD.His previous CD 'Love Symbol' was one of my favorites,I played it constantly and I love every song on it.But after that masterpiece,it seemed like Prince began to release less-than-brilliant material.I felt that his inspiration was running dry,and the feud with Warners only made matters worse.Overall,the rest of the 90s was a spotty decade for him...some great stuff ('The Gold Experience') and alot of weak music ('New Power Soul','Rave',that awful "Girl 6" theme song,etc).Around this time,I became more interested in artists like Jamiroquai,Santana,etc.

But I've been a fan since 1980,so there's no way I could ever give up on him totally.And like many have pointed out,most of his mediocre stuff is still better than 90% of what you hear on the radio these days.

Mazerati said:

I feel ya! It happened to me when he realeased D&P. To me he definitly lost it. I still don't listen to that record. The only song that really entered my mind is "money don't matter 2night". But lets face it, the rest is ok but not the Prince I liked so much. I was still following him to see what he was doing. But I was very disappointed with his music.

By the time he released "Gold exp." I knew he was back!

For me personally the moment he began to take (his) rap serious.... Never stopped being a fan but losing the feeling of "worshipping his music" started then....

Never Have....Never Will.

Mayb I'm lucky, and I don't wanna hear "well, ur just brainwashed in2 liking everything - damn, if he released a 4 Volume set called 'NPG Operator - The Lost Segues', u'd buy it!", but my parents were so diverse in their musical tastes that I'd already developed a liking for everything from Jazz, Blues, R&B, Classical, Rock, Soul, Funk...well, u name it, that I've never had a problem crossing over with Prince when he tries new stuff.

2 b honest, the only stuff I don't think is 'Right Up There' is the Commercially Friendly material, such as portions of D&P, Batman and the like.

2 like all of P's catalogue, this is just my opinion, u need a well-rounded musical taste, and b willing 2 take journeys in2 new stuff even if at first or second listen u may not fancy the ride. There have been countless 1st listens 4 me that have distinctly 'unimpressed & frustrated', however perseverence always told thru.....somewhere along the line it just 'clicks', and all of a sudden u seem to get what Prince is doing with that album.....and from songs u didn't like all that much 1st time around blossoms one of ur favourite albums.

I guess 4 some followers it may be harder 2 transcend some of the more inaccessable styles he seems 2 drift off in2 from time 2 time - hence some of the N.E.W.S and TRC haters out there. I developed my musical taste years b4 Prince came crashing thru my world, and at that time he not only epitomised every style of music I'd ever heard, but he just seemed 2 do it so much better than anybody else!

I spent a lot of time defending Prince, no matter what he did. So when he changed his name, I found that he had become so "crazy" in my mind that I could no longer defend him. As for the music, I lost interest when TRC was released. I was so disappointed in that album...

became a fan in 1984 at the age of 14 (damn how time flies . I was a "buy on the first day of release" fan up through Emanciaption..after that my interest started to wane. The Crystal Ball ordering fiasco. New PowerSoul was a hugh disappointment and after Rave , I figured it was over..that he had lost it but I would always have great memories of 15 years of great music. I did buy the Raindow Children eventually , was not my cup of tea and to this day I do not own N.E.W.S .

But 2004 has brought back that "back in the day" feeling and excitment. Musicology is great and teh an can still put ona show like no other. Looking forward to the years to come.

I had decided years ago that I was going to be a fan all the way till the end and I've done that, through thick and thin. But I've only had 3 times when I thought that I would lose it with him. In 2000, when I realized that Rave wasn't what I thought it was, a good album. It really bothered me when I got that revelation. Then hearing about TRC from the 2001 celebration scared me because I was hearing so many mixed reviews that I thought that it was going to be really bad and then last year when I heard about N.E.W.S., I thought that he was going to be stuck doing jazz stuff, which isn't bad but that wasn't the man I became a fan of. When I finally heard TRC and N.E.W.S., I saw that I had nothing to be worried about. Then when Musicology came out, I realized that I wasn't going anywhere.

I was a closet fan ever since I was 7-8 years old and watching the videos from ATWIAD and Parade. It wasn't until high school that I bought a Prince album of my own; until that point, I just listened to all of the singles that my mom bought for some reason (the ONLY music ever played in the car for a significant period of time during 1989 was "Partyman." Kill me).

When Emancipation came out, my Prince fandom started to lessen a bit...the CB fiasco really bit my ass, as did the horror of NPS...Rave brought me back briefly, as did some of the Park shows/parties around that time...

The first Celebration killed my Prince appreciation. That Celebration sucked, IMO, even though the Northrop show wasn't too bad. The NPGMC downloads that friends kindly sent to me never really did all that much. Some stuff was good, but a lot of shit. TRC was great, but his attitude toward many things which will go unsaid at this time sort of erected a barrier. ONA piano and ONA Live were okay, but nothing to shit over.

I thought I was done with Prince. Even considered packing the CDs in my closet to save space, this becoming literally a closet Prince fan. But Musicology brought me back big time. Now I'm driving my wife insane daily. She doesn't think Prince is all that great, aside from SOTT and a few songs here and there. She heard me playing Bob George the other day, and I swear I was about three inches from getting divorce papers shoved in my face!

After RadicalMan2045 was released on the Bamboozled soundtrack, I was so disgusted that I had a major temper tantrum and sold everything From the For You CD to collectible stuff like The Undertaker CD and The War. ( Yes, it would have made sense to keep what I deemed as classic material and sell the rest, but I was very emotional at the time )Emancipation was the turning point for me and with every release (with the exception of Crystal Ball) the music got worse. By the release of Rave I finally had to admit to myself that Prince's music was not creatively up to par with my listening standards. By the release of RadicalMan2045, it had been 4 years that Prince's music was not doing "it" for me any more. A year later he released The Rainbow Children and restored my faith in the music again.
[This message was edited Fri Jun 18 10:15:09 2004 by psykosoul]

I'd say right now, ironically enough considering that I'm here, I'm starting to loose serious interest. This recent string of mediocre albums (TRC, Xpectation, NEWS, and Musicology) is bringing me down. Prince’s standards are just too low and I’m not sure how much longer I can justify paying for self-indulgent crap like NEWS or, the much stronger but equally vapid, completely impenetrable TRC. Musicology is decent but it’s stale, just makes me want to listen to earlier records when Prince brought the edge and actually sounded vital. Where is the pulse going? Prince needs to get some fire breathing red ants in his pants.

NEVER

I lost it the nanosecond I heard "Arms Of Orion" on that ass-crap BATMAN record. up to that point I was a monsterous first-day-of-release,camping-out-overnight-for-tickets,cant-get-enuff Prince fan.I liked "Get Off" on D&P but "Daddy Pop" and the like killed me and I didnt buy another P record for ages. I didnt even remember that NPS came out and I remember laughing at the "Come" title (so f'n obvious) and cemetary cover. I was excited about the prospect of "emancipation" but then the first release "Betcha.." stopped that cold. and so my Prince-love stayed quiet. I got CB when it came out because I was intrigued by the idea of old songs. I ended up just listening to "the Truth" A friend gave me ONA and thats when things came back. I said "what the fuck is he doing releasing the best thing hes made in 10 years only to his fan club? So I bought TRC and I loved it. (Except for that horrific "A feast! A feast! part) saw the ONA tour both nights and came a lil further back and then for some reason (loyalty?) I decided to buy EVERYTHING i had missed. the symbol, Emancipation,come,Old Friends,all of it. even NEWS(i threw it away). and I dont knowe if my P standards got really low so even his crap didnt smell so bad but i realized that I fuckin love this shit! I love COME I love Emancipation I love Rave (except for the guest spots). I think Musicology is fine. not the return of greatness people think but not bad. ICPC is the funkiest thing hes done in eons. I also like the fact that people are waking up and realizing what we have in Prince. I love seeing him get the respect he deserves. Especially when in the last few years weve been barraged by Michael Jackson is God media hype ( self-produced TV celebrations, the MTV artist of the millenium bullshit etc.) So like Chris Rock said; "Guess what? Prince WON!"

Yes...After "Around the World in a Day" until..."Musicology"! That whole time span, I am just now rediscovering.

I like loads of other music ,so I guess there have been occasions where I aint listened to P as much,but thats only natural.I find it hard to believe that anyone would only listen to the same music.His new stuff dont give me the same buzz as the old but I'd never loose interest.

Hmm,,Ive never LOST interest,,,But when TRC came out,,I did a dble take~ WTF??? It was just sooo different. I found myself listening to Rave,,& the symbol album all over again~~~Now I have started buying his old stuff,,(the vault),,,which I LOVE!!

~~~ The more I listen to his stuff,,,the MORE I like it~

Mazerati said:

felt that way with new power soul/rainbow children (I give them c's). I wish prince would dump his back up band. get rid of all those sax/trumpets/horns. larry grahm is too boring and adds nothing. stay away from the preachy songs like "sacrfice of victor" "we march" "right the wrong" "when will we be paid" (prince gets paid more than the rest of us. hard to feel sorry for a multi millionaire complaing about money).