What do you guys think of Prince?

[StrongBad]

I love most of his work. Favorite songs:

When Doves Cry
Little Red Corvette

Yeah, he's shamelessly pretentious but I think he is allowed to be because he's so damn unique.

[arcos]

1. oh, you mean...

the artist formerly knows as ?

:D

I like a few of his songs... more than a singer, he's a great musician.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. Big Fan Since The Early 80's

Also like the song "When You Were Mine". Later covered very well by Cyndi Lauper.
The Professor

[Michael Daniels]

3. The second greatest example of career suicide

Right behind Michael Jackson.

Prince was undoubtedly a great talent and while his case against his record company was sound and noble he decided to punish his fans during that time by releasing sub-standard work for years that should never have been put on tape to begin with.

After three willfully underdeveloped albums (The Gold Experience probably being the last "good" album) all but the hardcore gave up on him and his career has pretty much gone south from there with the exception of a single or two.

There used to be a time that an average Prince record was still a good arm's length better than 90% of the rest of whatever else was released that year. That's no longer the case and probably won't be again.

[Terwilliger]

17. 80 to 88 he shined

Dirty Mind all the way through Lovesexy

Sign of the Times had to be the best album of even that whole group

[Lady Freedom]

4. Hey don't forget...

Raspberry Beray (sp?)! I LOVE THAT ONE! and Little Red Corvette,Rummmmmm Rummmmm!

[Skittles]

5. wildly overrated

the way he tries to come off as sexy is laughable. I find him as endearing as a paper towel.

[radwriter0555]

6. Prince is like picasso or matisse, or escher. I don't like his whole body

of work, but appreciate the genius behind some simply brilliant compositions and works.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. Who?

n/t

[mac56]

8. Once vital performer who pissed away his talent.

See also "Stewart, Rod."

[vi5]

9. Big fan.......Some of his work is genius....

He no doubt released a boat load of sub-par work as well, and hasn't released anything I personally have cared about in at least 10 years. But in his prime, which IMHO was from his first album all the way up until Sign O' The Times, he was unbeatable. As a musician, a songwriter, arranger, etc. Just phenomenal.

I was lucky enough to see him live twice after 1999 came out and purple rain.

[bif]

10. Total fruitcake.

n/t

[skypilot]

12. H e should never, never, EVER...

...do movies. I sat through "Under the Cherry Moon" several years ago and it was jaw-droppingly bad. I still can't quite get my mind around the fact that Kristin Scott Thomas was in it. Prince himself came off like the most annoying kind of high school boy that thinks he's a "playa". I used to like him when I was in high school and I actually thought he was kind of sexy back then. Now, he looks like the love child of Michael Jackson and Little Richard. Musically, I got my fill of him during the '80s.

[Kolesar]

11. I think Michael Jackson ripped him off

Jackson stole his style when he released the "Thriller" album and henceforth became Mr. Mega-mega-star. Oh, well, that's show biz.

[Laughing Mirror]

13. funny you would say this

Prince always gave me the impression that he was doing a lot of ripping off himself. Whenever I would see him I would always think, oh, who's he thinking he is today? Sly Stone? James Brown? Jimi Hendrix? I do understand how fans could overlook Prince's obvious thefts, particularly younger fans who did not know the earlier greater artist, but I think that between Michael Jackson and Prince that it was the latter doing the ripping off, not the former. Michael Jackson already had a well-established (from the 1960s) career and a constantly evolving style by the time Prince happened along in the early 80s.

[jus_the_facts]

15. Prince's career started in the late 70's.....

...he never ripped off Micheal Jackson....Prince is 1,000x's the musician MJ will ever be....*ahem* ...when MJ can write, compose, arrange, and ***play all the instruments the song calls for***....then sing it and dance while doing it then he might be concidered in the same league as Prince...but he can't so there is NO compairing those two much less any 'ripping off'...all MJ can seem to do is sorta sing and do the same lame dance moves he's done since the 60's...the difference between these two in talent is fathomless :eyes:


on edit...and yeah Prince admits his being influenced by Sly...Jimi and James....so what...ALL music is derived from the same basic notes and cords....the 'ripping' off of other music has been done from the conception of it...that's nothing new....Prince is a genius plain and simple...and that's jus a fact! :D

[arcos]

25. I couldn't agree more. n/t

[MissMillie]

14. Amazingly talented

And he never does the same thing twice. Good stuff.

[noiretextatique]

16. great guitarist, composer, arranger...& singer

like some have mentioned, i don't care for his recent work, but his earlier stuff was da bomb. i predict a reawakening, at some point.

[last_texas_dem]

18. He's OK

Not one of my very favorites, but I like a lot of his singles and think he's really talented. "I Would Die 4 U" is one of my favorite songs of all time, while "Kiss" annoys the snot out of me, so he's a mixed bag for me...

[Paragon]

19. Prince is way too talented to be popular these days

Take a hook from an old record, loop it, add a beat and sing -- instant millionaire.

[MnFats]

20. my wife had the best evaluation..

she said: "He's a little worm, but he's a damn sexy little worm."


I've been fortunate to see him a half-dozen times in various settings...the first couple times was long ago after hearing stuff on the radio I believed he could not possibly duplicate live....and holy shit but they were BETTER! (Let's Go Crazy being one example).
He probably owes equally to James Brown, Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix, but he's his own man.

He's nuts, but Prince is always fascinating.

as an aside: The God-Squad always hated him for his blatant sexuality, but he probably got more kids to THINK about God than the top ten radio/tv preachers do in a decade.

[alfredo]

23. He could really dance. I loved his song "Kiss." The video

was killer too. The guitar solo ripped.

He was an unselfish artist, giving a lot of people a shot at the industry. Sure he may have screwed over some people, but I don't know of any particular cases.

His song "Nothing Compares to You." helped make Sinead O'Conner a bigger star.

He shot his wad with the legal battle, it seemed to sap the creative juices out of him.

[Kat45]

21. I love two of his songs and that's it.

"When Doves Cry" and "Purple Rain' Didn't really like anything else.

And I don't get the word 'sexy' applied to him. I find it weird when he acts sexual because in terms of looks, I find him to be asexual (as Michael Jackson also is, IMHO). I also find him somewhat weird looking, certainly not good looking.

[geniph]

22. I think he's sexy and so does my husband

Neither one of us would kick him out of bed. I like a lot of his music, too.

[Loonman]

24. He's great

He is pretentious and probably a snob, but the guy is a genius in the stufio.