A new interview with Jani Lane, lead singer of the metal band Warrant, is on the Metal Sludge site. It's a long interview, so I just cut and pasted the relevant Prince bits below:

Jani: Mmmm, I haven't seen Prince in a while. He's a truly brilliant songwriter.

Tollywood: Didn't he finance your demos in 87 out of Paisley?

Jani: Yeah, out of Paisley Park. Didn't sign us though because I couldn't dance. Seriously.

Tollywood: That's the reason?

Jani: Absolutely. Absolutely. He could of had us but Columbia got us because Prince said, "dude, that white kid can't dance" and I don't want to get racial when I say this, but, I'm quoting this,
"This white kid can sing, and the band has potential, but mother fucker can't dance."

Billy: But I’ve seen you dance. You’re good.

Jani: Good enough guy to say, "You know what, I paid the money for the demos, you keep 'em and go your own way." Didn't charge us back. A truly small man. He's 5'2" in heels. Prince is one of the most brilliant people on the planet. As far as mixing hip hop and soul and R&B, uhhh, I don't have enough good things to say about the guy. Except he didn't think I could dance.

Tollywood: He's a very good guitar player.

Jani: He's a suck ass guitar player. But good lord, he can play everything else. I heard he used to lay under a piano with the lights out, make everybody leave the studio, while he sang his vocals. Because he couldn't stand for somebody to see him get in that mode. And I'm sorry but (Jani sings) "Sexy motherfucker" that's natural. End of subject though. That’s enough rhetoric.

Tollywood: Every Friday night he actually opens his place up after the bars close and might show up...

Jani: You know I believe that cause the guy seems like a real performer, seems like he really enjoys it. You know, like I said, I've been playing bars since I was 11, I see it in people's eyes when they don't want to do it and when they love to do it. You can tell the people who love playin'. Even when they're sick of doing it, they still do it. Does that make sense? He will never stop playing. It's not gonna happen, it's in his blood.

http://www.metal-sludge.c...ndJani.htm

A suck ass player?? WTF! Warrant blows

JAMIESTARR said:

Well, most of what Jani said was nice

what tha...

cool

JAMIESTARR said:

even I Saw Red and Heaven?

rdhull said:

I guess I dig Uncle Tom's Cabin

princey isn't too far a-waaa-a-ayy...

JAMIESTARR said:

I couldn't believe that shit! Warrant makes Whitesnake look like legends!

VinnyM27 said:

4 real!!! all that whitesnake had goin 4 them is tawny kitaen in all their videos...woo-phuckin-hoo.

speakin of which...whitesnake's supposed 2 be comin here 2 mpls pretty soon...them, dokken and someone else...

Invasion Of The Big-Haired Freex!

JAMIESTARR said:

I know! I couldn't belive he said that when I read that!

Prince&anything asscociated with Warrent seems fit for a USA Network marathon with Gilbert Goffrey Hosting it.Be Very Afraid&don't Look Back.

Nevermind that. What do Ratt, Poison, Winger, Slaughter, Mr. Big, and Dokken say about Prince?

Supernova said:

Aren't Ratt, Poison, Winger, Slaughter, Mr. Big, Dokken, and Twisted Sister all the same band?

GoldNigga said:

They've never been seen together! Something's amiss!

Paul Peterson of The Family can't dance either,but that didn't stop Prince from signing him

cant help it if the guy ifs a fuck knuckle
P a suck ass guitarplayer! HA!

however Cherry Pie is one of my all time fav songs,& *uncle tom's cabin* is wild

That Cherry Pie video had me walking with a boner all the time when I was 15...

So, Prince had the chance to sign a band that didn't have a record label, but they were doing well enough to have sell-out club gigs?

Prince rejects Warrant because he doesn't like the way Jani Lane dances. Warrant goes on to have platinum selling albums 2 years after being rejected by Prince.

Meanwhile, Prince, who was NOT impressed with a band playing sell-out shows at the Troubador, is impressed with "rapper" Carmen Electra's dancing, signs her to Paisley Park and proceeds to waste millions of dollars on her?

---> Prince <---

Well remmeber this was in 1987..Prince was all over the map and not concentrating on just geetar in his performances etc. Not saying that he was a slouch but Lane and Co. were metalheads seemingly and they were probably engulfed in the guitar moreso and Prince not showing his prowess at the time etc they thought he wasn't all that. And come on..it was in the early 90's that Prince actually started to "sleep" with the guitar so to speak.

DavidEye said:

but He could Sing&Play Straight Up.remember in the Book "DMSR" ST Paul was gonna Bring Prince that Duran,Duran Money?? I guess oh Boy from Warrent was gonna Bring Prince that Bon Jovi Money Huh?

rdhull said:

yeah but Prince still Signed the 3rd tier REM Three O'Clock???

Batdance said:

That album for Carmen Electra costed millions?

The story I heard is that Prince spent a lot of money financing Carmen Electra video shoots. Plus he gave her something like $2 million because she was to be his opening act on a tour. Carmen was supposed to use to use the money to pay her band, but she blew the money on some other BS.

Who knows how things would have turned out if Prince had signed Warrant. It's anybody's guess whether Prince would have taken a "hands off" approach and let the band do their thing, or if he would have tried to influence their music or change them in some way to fit in with the rest of the Paisley acts.

JOVIII HAAAIRRR!!!

Batdance said:

well at least he fucked her!

abierman said:

So,for $2 Million,I guess he got his money's worth after all?


(I'm just joking,folks)

DavidEye said:

Yeah, well, remember where his money goes the next time you're charged $150 for a "premium" Prince concert ticket

someone need's to tell those dude's in warrant that there is more to guitar playing than trying to be the next eddie van halen like many of the hair metal rockers were doing in the mid to late 80s although i will admit some were good player's but too many were just plain awful.

abierman said:

thats some expensive pussy