MooMooMooMoo

From Dirty Mind - Parade imo the man was an innovater, & while he rearely shows it anymore, He is a very goof guitarist.

MooMooMooMoo

Re the 2 unreleased: Is Chaos & Disorder one of them? & totally curious what the other is/was & if they're "around" to be heard.

cungar

Sorry I just don't agree that those albums rival the Beatles run. Other than Purple Rain, each of those albums had maybe 1 or 2 songs that had an effect on the public consciousness. From Rubber soul to Abbey road, almost every song on their albums are well known classics that are easily recognizable. We're talking 50+ songs vs maybe 10 in Prince's case.

boredsilly

But then you're comparing Prince, who is great, to what many people call the greatest band of all time. Just because he isn't on their level in that one category, doesn't mean he isn't in that conversation to me. How many music acts could claim to have multiple albums where most songs are well known like that of the Beatles?

The Infidel

If he's referring to Chaos & Disorder, then the other has to be Old Friends 4 Sale, both of which were basically just "vault" compilations intended to fulfill Prince's contract with WB. He could also be referring to the Crystal Ball project, though.

nodeerforamonth

He's a gay primadonna. What's not to like about him?

auto

If Starlover returns from his 7 year absence he is going to feel the burn on that one!

Supermallet

One was Camille, an album he intended to release under that name with the vocals sped up to see if people could tell it was him (the song If I Was Your Girlfriend came from those sessions). The other was Dream Factory, which was his most collaborative effort with Wendy and Lisa. When their partnership soured he scrapped the album and released Sign O' The Times instead.

And yes, Sign O' The Times was also tentatively set to be a triple album called Crystal Ball at one point.

As someone else said, almost every musical career pales in comparison to The Beatles. Even Bob Dylan, who was as lauded as The Beatles, doesn't have as many songs lodged in the public consciousness as The Beatles do. The Beatles ruled the 60's pretty much unchallenged. It was an incredible cultural zeitgeist that will never be replicated. But to say that any artist who didn't have that level of penetration cannot be a genius is laughable.

And on those albums, we got those songs that I would say are known to the public at large:

When You Were Mine
Controversy
1999
Little Red Corvette
Delirious
Let's Go Crazy
Darling Nikki
When Doves Cry
I Would Die 4 U
Purple Rain
Raspberry Beret
Pop Life
Kiss
Sometimes It Snows In April
Sign O' The Times
Ballad of Dorothy Parker
U Got The Look
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Adore

And that's not including b-sides and singles like Erotic City or songs he wrote for other artists like Manic Monday, Nothing Compares 2 U, etc.

He was easily one of the most important artists of the 80's, has written an amazing range of songs in a diverse group of styles, has produced hit albums for others, written hit songs for others, half the time plays all the instruments on an album himself, and plays some of the meanest guitar I've ever seen. You may not think his music is as good as The Beatles, but the man is a musical genius.

Or, to put it another way, how many songs did any of The Beatles have in their solo careers that are as well remembered as when they were a group? Prince did most of this by himself, sometimes all by himself. Credit where credit is due, come on.

Mike86

Prince has never really been my thing. I get that he's talented and I respect him but I wouldn't listen to his music by choice. To me he's always felt like an artist who is too much a product of his time and I just have a hard time getting into his music. Some artists such as Elvis, The Beatles, Sinatra, Springsteen, Dylan, and a bunch more just have a wide appeal that stretches for generations and it doesn't matter what era they're from will always have some level of popularity, I guess personally I don't see Prince as being on that level. He seems like an artist who you liked if you grew up with his stuff but doesn't translate well in the modern times. I might be wrong but that's my opinion.

Supermallet

Well, he just did 21 sold out shows in Los Angeles to people of all ages, races, creeds, etc., so I'd say he's got a pretty wide appeal.

But then again you couldn't pay me to see Springsteen in concert.

Mike86

Well but the thing with Prince is I think that the fans that he has are pretty hardcore and loyal. So it's not all that surprising to me that he played 21 shows that were sold out. I could be wrong but I just don't see him having that wide of appeal.

Supermallet

But again my point is that the shows (at least the two I went to) had people crossing all demographics. And while most people I know saw him twice during this run, that still wouldn't account for 21 separate shows.

I believe his latest tour is one of, if not the highest grossing tour of the year. At what point does this translate to not much wide appeal?

Mike86

Fair enough I guess I wasn't aware of that. I guess I should re-phrase and say I don't think he has that much appeal to the younger generation of 20-30 somethings. I'd be pretty willing to bet that a lot of people in that age group know who he is but most probably don't really care.

gmanca

To expound on a previous point, Prince was involved with so many other bands and artists that he really was at a genius level that has yet to be touched. The Time/Morris Day/Jesse Johnson, Sheena Easton, Maserati, The Bangles, Vanity 6/Apollonia, Stevie Nicks, Sheila E., Kenny Rogers! and that's just off the top of my head.

Numanoid

Fixed


I was a huge fan back in the '80s, but lost interest when he got all pissy with his label and started releasing crap to piss them off. What little I've heard of his later stuff bores me rather than intrigues. But still, I would never deny that he's a musical prodigy.

Supermallet

I know plenty of people who are not big Prince fans who sing along to those songs when they pop up.

Spiderbite

I just have to give a big to this statement.

PopcornTreeCt

Never got into him, never understood the appeal and never met anyone in real life who liked his music. And Bruce Springsteen fucking rules. That is all.

Sean O'Hara

Prince is as great an artist as Madonna.

And I hate Madonna.

cungar

I was responding to your comment that he had a run of albums that rivalled the Beatles. Rival means to equal or supass. I would heartily disagree that Prince's run of albums rivals the Beatles.

Rob V

Prince was fantastic in the 80's and early to mid-90's. His music post 1995 never did much for me but his "classic" stuff is as awesome today as it was the first time I heard it.

Numanoid

They may have been local hits in L.A. or something. I'm not exactly a music slouch and I can't recall what any of those I struck out even sound like.

foofighters7

I'm a bigger Beatles fan than Prince but I was always the one kid who loved Prince while others called me a *** and said he was gay and his music sucked. I was in 6th grade when I really got into Prince and by 8th Grade he was my favorite artist. I hate seeing the title of 'genius' spread around so haphazardly but Prince is a musical genius. My musical genius list is rather short (Tom Waits, Lennon & McCartney, Prince) but he may be the most deserved one of the group simply because it's just him. Lennon had McCartney, Waits has Brennan for most of his career. Prince flew solo and played everything, made some of the most interesting music of the past 100 years, had a slew of Top 10 Songs and did it all his own way.

One of the best of all time and btw I'm still basically the only person I'm friends with who loves Prince...shoot, my wife won't hardly listen to him either! I think the music can be over some people's heads...hehe

Supermallet

Agree to disagree. Those are classic albums that I listen to even more frequently than I do The Beatles. And I love The Beatles.

wm lopez

I agree, but if I was to listen to every Prince song and vote "I LIKE", "DON'T LIKE" I would not like like most of his music. His radio hits are very good.