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Post by thwhtguardian on Apr 22, 2016 11:42:00 GMT -5
I mean, even after he stopped having huge hits (though sometimes people forget how massive "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" was, he was raking in the money with his throwaway song "Nothing Compares 2 U" being turned huge by Sinead O'Connor (or was it the song that made her a huge star?), or the Ray Charles song from the Pepsi commercial, "U got the right one baby, uh-huh". And the 14th remix of Chaka's "I Feel For U." I can pretty much pinpoint the release of "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" as the moment when I totally lost interest in Prince. That's a truly f***ing awful record. Syrupy, bland...a "housewive's favourite" type of record. And of course, it was a huge hit. The writing had been on the wall though with the preceding "symbol", Diamonds & Pearls and Rainbow Bridge albums. While some of the stuff on those albums is great ("Gett Off", "Cream", "Diamonds & Peals", "Sexy MF", "7" etc), they also marked the point where this once cutting edge innovator of the 1980s began to start playing catch up. As the '90s dawned, Prince was starting to sound dated for the first time in his career. Interestingly, the same thing happened at almost the same time to Michael Jackson too, with the release of his Dangerous album, which had some great tracks, but was also full of overly-earnest, overly-sentimental rubbish like "Heal the World" or vaguely tuneless R&B like "Who Is It?" (and I say that as a big Jacko fan). Of the '80s big pop three, only Madonna managed to still sound relevant in the '90s, with songs like "Justify My Love", "Vogue", and a little later in the decade, "Frozen" and "Ray of Light". For a ten year period between 1979 and 1989 though, Prince was arguably the most innovative, daring, genre-splicing and interesting pop star on the planet. And that run of 10 albums between Prince and Batman (two of which were double albums) is pretty much faultless. Oh, by the way, Sinead O'Connor was already a fairly well known name here in the UK, but there's no doubt that "Nothing Compares 2 U" took her to a whole other level of global success. I think Musicology was a pretty decent album and it came after the Most Beautiful Girl, sure it wasn't innovative like his previous work but it was a pretty great listen. |
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 22, 2016 11:53:48 GMT -5
I think you mean Graffiti Bridge, and I loved that album... Thieves in the Temple was soo god.
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 22, 2016 12:01:31 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 12:01:45 GMT -5
Rest in peace Prince!
My favorite Prince songs are Let's Go Crazy, Raspberry Beret, Hot Thang, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man, and Erotic City.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 12:11:36 GMT -5
Saw Prince in an arena show in Phoenix on 3/31/83 (I knew the month but looked up the exact date yesterday online). The legendary D.C. hardcore punk band Minor Threat played the city that same night, but luckily they also played Tucson (100 miles or so down the interstate) the night before, so I was able to drive down for that gig. That, in a nutshell, probably encapsulates the breadth of my musical interest back then, & Prince played an integral role in making that happen, thanks to the "Controversy" single reigniting my interest in soul/funk/r'n'b when I inadvertently encountered it on the radio in the fall of '81. (The B-side, "When You Were Mine," taken from the previous LP, turned out to be even better.)
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Apr 22, 2016 12:57:40 GMT -5
(The B-side, "When You Were Mine," taken from the previous LP, turned out to be even better.) Really liked Cyndi Lauper's cover of that song. For a few years, the quality and prolific amount of music Prince produced was absolutely amazing. I don't like to bandy the words genius around too much, but he did fit that category |
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Post by Rob Allen on Apr 22, 2016 13:10:36 GMT -5
The reports I've heard say that Prince left behind a vault filled with thousands of hours of recorded but unreleased music.
There will be new Prince albums coming out for the rest of my life.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2016 22:25:43 GMT -5
RIP to Michelle McNamara, crime writer and wife to comedian Patton Oswalt, who passed away in her sleep yesterday. She was only 46.
-M
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Apr 23, 2016 5:50:34 GMT -5
I think you mean Graffiti Bridge, and I loved that album... Thieves in the Temple was soo god. Ha! Yes...Graffiti Bridge. I'm getting my Hendrix and Prince mixed up.  |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
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Post by Confessor on Apr 23, 2016 5:54:21 GMT -5
Prince played an integral role in making that happen, thanks to the "Controversy" single reigniting my interest in soul/funk/r'n'b when I inadvertently encountered it on the radio in the fall of '81. (The B-side, "When You Were Mine," taken from the previous LP, turned out to be even better.) "When You Were Mine" is a fantastic song. One of my absolute favourites. |
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Post by Warmonger on Apr 23, 2016 13:57:42 GMT -5
I was never really big into Prince, but I'll say this...he put on the best damn Superbowl halftime show in history.
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Post by the4thpip on Apr 25, 2016 3:54:35 GMT -5
Philly Soul star Billy Paul, remembered both for socially conscious songs like "Am I Black Enough For Ya?" as well as the massive pop hit "Me and Mrs Jones", passed away at the age of 81.
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Post by Spike-X on Apr 25, 2016 5:27:55 GMT -5
Part of the change in his music around 2000 or so was his religious epiphany and joining the Jehovah's Witnesses. While the music wasn't ever bad to an extent the lyrical preaching like The Rainbow Children, and changing The Cross to The Christ and disavowing his former music was a turn off to a certain extent. Which despite being a life long fan made my blind purchasing of his albums less and less. It's funny. While I was hiding his music as a kid raised JW from my parents until I moved out he was putting out some of his best stuff. Now after I left and he joined he won't acknowledge a lot of his best stuff and puts his religion pretty heavy into his music. At least up until Lotus Flower, which was the last album I bought. I found it interesting that his lyrics were actually less shallow when he was just singing about rooting all the time. |
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Post by Spike-X on Apr 25, 2016 5:29:46 GMT -5
I was never really big into Prince, but I'll say this...he put on the best damn Superbowl halftime show in history. He definitely put on the second-best damn Superbowl halftime show in history. |
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Apr 25, 2016 9:18:31 GMT -5
Part of the change in his music around 2000 or so was his religious epiphany and joining the Jehovah's Witnesses. While the music wasn't ever bad to an extent the lyrical preaching like The Rainbow Children, and changing The Cross to The Christ and disavowing his former music was a turn off to a certain extent. Which despite being a life long fan made my blind purchasing of his albums less and less. It's funny. While I was hiding his music as a kid raised JW from my parents until I moved out he was putting out some of his best stuff. Now after I left and he joined he won't acknowledge a lot of his best stuff and puts his religion pretty heavy into his music. At least up until Lotus Flower, which was the last album I bought. I found it interesting that his lyrics were actually less shallow when he was just singing about rooting all the time. I'm certainly not one to admit that bias isn't a factor in disliking the change in his music. And it's not all of it, post joining the JW's was bad. It was his own thoughts about his music previous that tended to me being able to see how that particular religion works. 3121 and Planet Earth had good music on them. And Musicology showed he still had the flair that he did before that. The Rainbow Children's Last December would be something I could 100% relate to in the evaluation of my life. But being that his most controversial music got popular or more spoken about, even pre internet, because it was just that; Controversy, Do Me Baby, Cream, Sexy MF, P***y Control, 319, Come, etc, it's forgotten that he did write music with lyrics about more things than sex; Free, Sometimes It Snows In April, The Cross, Adore, Money Don't Matter 2 Night, etc. Just my two cents. I at some point may explore more of his music in the last few years, just hoping there's a jem. But between Lotus Flower/MLP Sound, I can only think of two songs I really enjoyed on the album. |
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