David Bowie vs Prince ...

Who's the best...

I'm not talkin about who's the most talented, but who's the best "artist" ???

if i even tried to answer this objectively, my head would explode.

exactly fifty-fifty, for better AND for worse.

I like Prince's music more (although I adore Bowie), but Bowie seems truer to music as an art form overall.

You put Bowie's 70s output vs. Prince's 80s output and that's one heck of a battle! Artistic growth: check. Originality and uniqueness: check. Defying expectations: check.

i honestly will go back and forth. sometimes i'll be all about prince and i'm like "david WHO?!" and sometimes i'm 100 percent in ziggy mode and couldn't be bothered with anything purple. sometimes, like now, i'm way into both equally. i think it all depends on what project they've released, if they're touring, if some good archival stuff has just been released, or sometimes i might just get a song stuck in my head and it snowballs into a mini bowie or prince binge.

for twenty years i've been into prince and i've been into bowie for maybe 16 or 17 years - it's a pretty strong attachment i have to both.

Bowie.

Tell both to do a Rap Album.

Bowie would do it better.

Bowie would never have a shit stretch like Prince did. Imagine Bowie doing a 3-disc album with half of the songs being garbage.

closest better than/worse than i can say is: i think prince is a better musician. i think bowie has a better asthetic.

Lyric Wise/Artsy Wise/Better Live Performer/Weirder-Bowie

Musically-Prince

oh - and i think prince puts on a far better live show than bowie, and i can say this from experience. of all the times i saw the musicology tour last year, every show felt completely fresh to me, and there was always SOMETHING that was different from show to show. bowie might have a large repertoire of songs ready for a tour, but the arrangements rarely seem to allow for improvisation the way prince's do. if you've seen one show on a bowie tour, you pretty much know what to expect for the rest of the shows. if it weren't for the fact that it's DAVID FREAKIN' BOWIE!!! and that he has that amazing gorgeous voice that just fills your body, it could get really boring to see a bunch of bowie shows on the same tour.

Anxiety said:

See, to me, it's Prince voice that does that. But Purple Rain made me fall in love with music in general, so I kind of end up seeing everything through that perspective. My parents' friends liked Bowie (tho my folks were more into Crystal Gayle ) and I had friends' whose older siblings liked Bowie, but none of 'em liked Prince. He was really the first artist where I felt like I was drawn to the music completely on my own.

Bowie. It used to be 50/50, but I slowly but surely slid over to the Bowie side of the fence. I'd still say it's a 60/40 thing, though.

One thing I like A LOT more about Prince is that he seems to have a much larger catalogue of unofficial stuff out there. I never hear people talking about Bowie outtakes much, other than Zion.

HobbesLeCute said:

www.bowieaudio.com, my friend. that's all i'm sayin'.

Anxiety said:

Man, I've been ITCHING to get into that site forever, but I discovered it around the time they stopped accepting new registrations. It looks like that's still the case, sadly. Thanks anyway, though!

Anxiety said:

agree... and Prince is STILL the best live act out there.

HobbesLeCute said:

huh? no. all you have to do is start an intro thread about yourself and you're in. i had no problem and i only joined a month or so ago.

I honestly can't choose. I have a much longer history with Prince, but Bowie's come on so strong for me in the past decade that it makes it impossible to pick one. They're my 2 favorite artists, and I don't see that changing unless I finally start releasing my own work.

I think Prince has far greater creative muscle than Bowie. Prince has variations and stupifying twists and turns that bridge spectrums of sound, style, taste, sexuality, target markets, intellect, artistic integrity... plus prince came out in an outfit with a train that went on for like 15 feet at the xenophobia celebration.

Prince could sound kind of like bowie, and adopt his civilized cultured personality, but bowie could not be a "stupe" freak like prince, plus bowie doesn't seem to have it in him to ever put out a song as brilliant as Joy in Repetition and a song as stupid as We Gets Up.... that's range, and not even musical range. that's intellectual range. there don't seem to be many rules for Prince.

Yes I do consider it fascinating that someone can be tasteful and tasteless... Bowie seems to always be tasteful.

ufoclub said:

I can't get with a single thing you said there. Sorry.

well, not everyone can git wit it.

TRON said:

ufoclub said:

Did you miss The Laughing Gnome?

Anxiety said:

They in fact did not allow new members at all a while back. I think it had to do with people deleting files from their accounts.


Anyway, this really is a tough question as both are my favorites as well. Like Anx, I go back and forth between them.
Prince's attidute towards certain issues or his blabla can be at least frustrating sometimes, whereas Bowie just seems like a person you have to meet someday. Very bright, very intelligent.
I also like Bowie's lyrics better, especially nowadays. Though he can't/won't write a love song as great as Adore or others.

But if I had to choose, I'd take Prince. Bowie just can't do those intimate, loose aftershows which are Prince's best moments, IMO.

And, Bowie sucks as a dancer!

They're equal for me. The only male solo artists I like more are MJ and Stevie.

krayzie said:

who is Bowie compared to Prince

calldapplwondery83 said:

Yes. But he's a better live singer.

As much as I love the Thin White Duke and he is probably my 2nd fav artist...well its a tug of war between he and Hendrix 4 that spot really but the ultimate artist of all time for me is Prince. Its proven by the body of work...the growth...the conceptual nature , the live performances, the image changes,the bridging of ALL musical styles simply put he is number 1 in my book.

Bowie's career and work is the closet in terms of respect that I have 4 an artist outside of Rogers Nelson.



If we take Prince's so-called peak period (universally acknowledged 2 be the 1980's) and David Bowie's so called peak (1970's) and mark down year 4 year within that 10 year period
.....well just lets say 11 year period 1978-1989 Prince 1969-1980 Bowie there are some interesting parallels and as a result there are NO other SOLO artists EVER with this consistancy!!!



Bowie 1969 SPACE ODDITY
1970 THE MAN WHO SOLD THE EARTH
1971 HUNKY DORY
1972 THE RISE AND FALL OD ZIGGY STARDUST
1973 ALADDIN SANE
1974 DIAMOND DOGS
1975 YOUNG AMERICANS
1976 STATION TO STATION
1976 LOW
1977 HEROES
1978-(NO ALBUM)
1979 LODGER
1980 SCARY MONSTERS

PRINCE
1978 FOR YOU
1979 PRINCE
1980 DIRTY MIND
1981 CONTROVERSY
1982 1999 (DOUBLE ALBUM)
1983(NO ALBUM)
1984 PURPLE RAIN
1985 AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY
1986 PARADE
1987 SIGN O THE TIMES (DOUBLE ALBUM)
1988 LOVESEXY
1989 BATMAN


In terms of sheer quality and musical growth these are hard 2 beat....in fact they cant be.

And I culd go on all day about other achievments in this time frame in fact I will next post.

Yoda
[Edited 9/30/05 5:16am]
[Edited 9/30/05 5:17am]

TRON said:

Me either.

Most everything you said Bowie can't do, he in fact did very successfully during his Ziggy Stardust phase back in the early '70s.

And he also recorded some VERY silly songs in the mid '80s. Prince could never hire a rapper as bad as Mickey Rourke.

Please, don't ask such questions...

now, now, you can't even really tell that's Mickey rourke and that "making my love, like a shining star" song is my favorite on that album (and I think Never Let Me Down is well crafted pop as a song). Are you talking about one song off of Lodger being silly?

My stolen scientologist electro meter says that Prince operates on a 90% creative power, while Bowie operates on 86% creative power. I broke into Bowie's rooftop apt in NY in my ufo and measured his prowess, and I visited Prince while he fell asleep in flight from LA to Toronto (had to use the big ufo to catch the plane). Don't worry I told my little big headed minions to drydock the anal probe.

Believe me i'm a fan of Bowie. But no one seems to cut through it all in the way Prince does whilst still "keeping it real". I think the Ziggy Stardust stuff is still rooted in intellectually cultured discipline and seems very deliberate and staged. And it's fantastical in a way that is not honestly reflective of Bowie himself, sort of like a genius kid playing dressup. Prince, even at his most scifi, Lovesexy phase (or Rainbow Children), still seems to be emotionally drawing from urges and motivations that are true his personal experience and society, sort of like a savant who complicates things into granduer. Did I mis-spell that!

Anxiety said:

[Edited 9/30/05 6:43am]

PS I remember a direct comparison that illustrates what I'm talking about. compare the vibe of their two performances on the 1987 mtv music awards.

ufoclub said:

comparing prince in 87 to bowie in 87 is REALLY not fair!

or, if ya wanna get tit for tat about it...

compare 'rave un2 the year 2000' with bowie's 'live at the beeb 2000'