sorry if it's been done but what the heck; i know alot of people have these two as their fav artists
IN YOUR OPINION; O.k here's mine

songwriting; prince
guitar; Prince
piano;?
production; Bowie
who's the most prolific; ?

Prince advantages; amazing dancer, guitar solos, amazing falsetto

Bowie advantages; plays sax, more creative production(although he has help), more visually creative

Prince and Bowie dwell in diferent dimensions. Both are geniuses. I think this sums it up

no "vs." about it for me. they're 50/50 in my book. when i burn out on one, i fam out on the other. all i will say is that i think bowie's virtuosity as a musician and producer is shamefully underrated.

Shouldn't this be in the Prince section of the board?

Cinnamon234 said:

is the glass half-prince or is the glass half-bowie?

Anxiety said:

I'm with you on the no "vs". Different artists.

It's all about Blue Jean...

icke4presidant said:

Songwriting - They've both written their fair share of classics, but Prince's most recognisable songs (to the non-fans) are mostly concentrated on one album (Purple Rain), while Bowie's classics are spread at the rate of roughly one or two per album from Space Oddity to Let's Dance (again, to the non-fans).

Both released their last great albums in 1995. Outside and TGE. Everything since hasn't been without interest, but it's fallen way short of the innovative peaks the two were known for. Prince came the closest with Rainbow Children/Xpectation.

Guitar playing - 'cmon - is that a fair comparison? Bowie hires virtuosos (and Peter Frampton). Prince is a virtuoso.

Piano - Has anyone ever seen Bowie play piano and sing in concert (Extras doesn't count)?

Production - Prince needs a producer. And an editor. Maybe he should call Bowie. Bowie's produced The Stooges (badly), Lou Reed (greatly), Iggy Pop (greatly - thrice), himself (very greatly).

Prince is more prolific than Bowie. Bowie doesn't have much unreleased studio stuff in his vault - at least not for his peak period. Prince has at least twenty five CDs worth of unreleased stuff (the Work), and that's just what's leaked out ...

So, what does this prove? Prince is a better guitarist than Bowie? Check. In fact, he's a better musician than Bowie, but then he's probably the greatest popular musician alive. Prince has written more songs than Bowie? Check. Prince has written more stone cold classics than Bowie? No. But Bowie had at least eleven years head start on Prince. When Prince was at his artistic peak (SOTT - for the sake of argument), Bowie was coming out of a glass spider's ass.

I've done this thread a while ago.

Prince is a much better instrumentalist than Bowie, no question about that...

But musically, in terms of songwritings, composing and ecclectism, Bowie wins hands down

Prince is way to commercial and pop oriented
[Edited 7/4/07 8:28am]

I have to agree with these last 2 posts

Shapeshifter is 1 helluva likeable smartass and krayzie is pretty sharp but I hate his hate campaign against MJ.


(I'm hard on myself, too)
Thanks
[Edited 7/4/07 9:10am]

kate bush!

kidding..they are both good!

It's really hard to imagine David writing something like the chorus to "The Last December", so yeah, Bowie wins the songwriting part. He just has better taste in overall, being British and everything, you know?

But what I've always admired about Prince is that he is capable of producing upbeat dance numbers that do not have to utilize a heavily sarcastic approach to be classifed as artsy. Bowie (especially) has to always rely on the kitsch aspect to pull off basically anything with a faster tempo or a sexual lyrical content. For Prince it's second nature and he has to make no pretentions about it. In my experience there is no greater musical artistic achievemnt than being able to write a song that is genuinely "joyful" and "artistic" at the same time.

krayzie said:

Ahem! Let's Dance was deliberately commercial. Bowie then tried to repeat the trick and placate his new fairweather fanbase with Tonight (right down to the Iggy covers), with disastrous consequences. He then made Never Let Me Down - an attempt to reconcile his arthouse style with the stadium crowd. An even bigger disaster (he later confessed to "fucking off to lunch" while his band worked on it).

That's where they differ. Prince is and always a populist musician. His tastes and influences have always been mainstream - be they black or white. He champions Beyonce and Amy Winehouse for fucks sake!

Bowie isn't and never has been a populist, no matter how popular he's been. Prince couldn't have made Outside, Low, Heroes, Scary Monsters, Station to Station or Diamond Dogs. He could make an album sound like them, but he couldn't create them. Outside was influenced by modern art as much as it was by drum n bass. Do you imagine Prince getting creatively excited by Damien Hirst's see-through cows? Bowie was. Sick man.


Young Americans - although outwardly a blatantly commercial album - was a MASSIVE risk for a white English "rock" musician to take. A complete musical volte-face which bore no resemblance to its predecessor. Let's Dance - seemingly written with a calculator and Billboard charts instead of music ones - wasn't so risky. He worked with one of the hottest producers of the time and created a pop album that was a vehicle for three hit singles. A one tier piece of inoffensive, unchallenging, harmless fluff you liked but didn't exactly love.
[Edited 7/4/07 12:40pm]

Prince, by a hair. they're both in my top 3, and my top 3 are neck and neck, depending on who i'm obsessed with at the moment.


it could be that i've been into Prince much longer and he and Madonna are extremely important figures in my life, and their music is integral to my development Bowie I got into later, and love just as much. But I have amore visceral connection with Prince. my love of Bowie is more intellectual.

They've both sort of found themselves again, with their last 2 albums. (you could make the same observation about, say, U2 and Paul McCartney as well.) Bowie definitely had a longer creative rebirth (Tin Machine or Black Tie, White Noise through Hours vs. The Rainbow Children), but I think they're both in a place where they're no longer trying to re-invent themselves or the wheel, and they're better for it. they're just being themselves and incorporating what they've done well over their entire careers into their current work. same for U2 and McCartney.

of course it's more interesting when any of them is trying new things, but i'd prefer a contented album that done well than another string of failed experiments from any of them.

Raze said:

Call me contrary, but Prince and Bowie's failed experiments have been a lot more interesting than their current water-treading exercises. The first Tin Machine album was pretty good, and there were parts of the second that were good. That led indirectly to Buddha of Suburbia (superb), which resulted in Outside (his last masterpiece).

Prince's "experimental" stuff - let me see: Xpectation, Kamasutra - both superb - TRC - brilliant as a jazz-funk album; The Black Album - superb; Around the World in a Day - great ...

When they don't experiment, they're sometimes great, but boredom's waiting to mug you just after. Heathen was ok, Reality was not. Musicology and 3121 sent me to sleep. As did SNOOZE.

Neil Young experimented too - Trans, Landing on Water in particular, The Bluenotes and Shocking Pinks less so - and was confounding and contrary, but never boring. Bob Dylan experimented plenty - went electric, went country, went gospel - never went boring. Miles Davis's entire career was built on experimentation. As was a considerable chunk of John Coltrane's. The Who were - and still are - highly experimental. As were Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. artists need to be restless, perpetually chasing their muses down whatever paths they go down.
[Edited 7/4/07 14:08pm]

Shapeshifter said:

while I agree that their failed experiments are more interesting than their last 2 albums, I'd rather listen to to something I enjoy almost all the way through that isn't trying too hard, than something that is trying too hard and falling flat on its face and is damn near unlistenable.


but Heathen is, to me, probably one of Bowie's best albums ever, so ...
[Edited 7/4/07 14:16pm]

I aint touchin this thread...
and i think most people will say that they dwell in different realms of music...

EmbattledWarrior said:

i agree. but they do have comparable images and career trajectories.

or, rather, they are exactly the same being from alternate, parallel, but diverging universes. know what i mean?

Raze said:

Freaky as that does sound, it might be possible...Could Bowie be Bizzaro Prince?

idk bowie was the only person ik that looked awesome in a red mullet. i cant see prince rockin the red mullet.

millivanilli said:

Really...
I can...
feels a photoshopped picture comin...

Shapeshifter said:

First of all, glad to see you around again...but I've got to ask - are you including Blah Blah Blah in that "greatly - thrice" comment? I'll happily allow that Shades is a great song, but the rest of it can take a hike as far as I'm concerned.

I finally bought the last Fall album this past weekend by the way, purely out of obligation, certainly not because it warranted my money.

damosuzuki said:

Hola senor Damo. Que pasa?

Blah Blah Blah is indeed the third well produced Iggy album. Turned Iggy into crooner and made the most of his baritone. Hell, Bowie even turned Iggy into a damn SINGER. Plus Blah Blah Blah paved the way for one of my all time favourite Iggy albums, Avenue B. Yeah, I know, most people hate it and it sold about seven copies, but it's great. I think.

I told you not to buy that crappy Fall album. First four songs aere fine, the rest crap. Mark's now sacked that band and has got a whole new outfit. Bet that came as a surprise.

What I DO recommend is the Von Sudenfeld albul, Troxmatic Reflexxions (sic) - Mark and Mouse on Mars. It's the best Fall album you'll hear this year.

Raze said:

Heathen's good, for the most part, but it's not one of his greatest. Too much retreading of old ground for my liking. I saw him play the whole thing (and Low) at the Royal Festival Hall. My poor wife fell asleep during Heathen. Ha, ha!

Raze said:

Prince has never made an unlistenable album, merely dull ones. SNOOZE. Musicology (nothing interesting on that). And 3121 ... Black Sweat aside it's very very boring. Dull version of The Dance. And Te Anus Cornhole has to be the worst single he's ever released.

Even when he put out some iffy albums before - Chaos & Disorder, NPG Soul - they had their redeeming qualities, bolts of oure purple lightning flashing through the dullness, but his last two Sony distributed albums had next to nothing you could out alongside the best moments from dire albums.

Shapeshifter said:

i was one of the seven people who bought 'blah blah blah' when it came out, completely guided by iggy's performance of 'real wild child' on letterman when he was promoting the album. it may have even been my intro to iggy, come to think of it. i went through a long phase of loathing/dismissing the album after the first few spins, but you know what? i think it's one of iggy's best VOCALS albums, too. the arrangements are dated and bloated for the most part, but it's true - it's the first album where iggy was allowed to really CROON and play the part of a pop singer rather than a mangey proto-punk rabblerouser (though there are MANY great iggy vocal moments all throughout his catalogue, don't get me wrong).

i feel the same way about "tonight" - i can't completely abandon that album because there are moments where bowie's voice sounds incredible. and both were shat out at around the same time...

EmbattledWarrior said:

do it!

Anxiety said:

hmmph, maybe I'm being too harsh. I haven't heard it in years.

Mr. Shifter, that Von Sudenfeld thing has been on my agenda since I first heard of it. I've always liked MoM's albums. They tower over their peers for the most part.