After all the circus surrounding MJ’s untimely passing, and with what’s his face humiliating some teenage country teenybopper, I’m a bit fed up. Could we talk about true musical talent for a change?
Every time I look for something by Prince I get something surprising and wonderful, eg today: a cover of the Shondells: Crimson and Clover.
A hundred years from now: “Michael who?”
ETA: and damn, the guy’s looking good for 50. Again, a sad contrast . . .
You’re still surprised that the average person is more interested in gossip and surface flash than actual talent?
I sentence you to re-listen to Controversy for a week.
People say I’m rude
I wish we all were nude
I wish there were no black or white I wish there were no rules
Prince is the Man, and yeah, he is insanely talented.
I love the re-working of C & C - tossing in snippets of Wild Thing, etc…
Thank you for sharing.
Prince was so beloved in my house growing up, that I got away with singing, “met her in a hotel lobby masturbaaaating with a magaizine!” and my dad never said a word. I was about 9.
Now that I think of it, they let me sing Marvin’s Sexual Healing too. I get the feeling they just didn’t care what I sang, no matter how raunchy the content!
I don’t know if I can get on board with ‘Michael who?" in 100 years, though. He actually is a global freakin’ star. I mean, did even Elvis have such an outpouring of grief from so many different nations?
I like Michael Jackson a lot. But I love Prince.
That cover of ‘Crimson and Clover’ is just awesome. I know what I am going to be listening to for the next few days. 
I think Prince has a better public image than MJ. He’s weird, true, but he’s not scandal prone in the same way that Michael Jackson was.
Michael inspires pity, Prince envy.
but Prince’s identity wasn’t formed in the context of a child who had to perpetually please others. Prince was determined first and foremost to please himself.
If we wanted to come along for the ride, we were welcome, but Prince didn’t particularly care one way or the other. The party boat left at midnight, with or without us.
Interesting video: (who knew Prince was even tinier than MJ?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CoxNzOOoQU
Yeah, who’d have believed it back in '85? Sometimes, the people who are out in the open about being wild and weird end up with fewer “issues” for public consumption. Or else the public figures, “yeah, s/he freaky, that’s not news… oh, but the ‘wholesome’ one just stepped out of line, let’s look at that!”. See Also Xtina v. Britney.
OTOH, as George Carlin said, while you’re thinking “it’s the quiet ones that you should watch out for”, a loud one will come in and kill you…
As someone in his midteens when Michael broke big, I knew his pose of essentially denying adult male sexuality couldn’t work.
Prince’s position, on the other hand, was “Let’s do it all night, and cover up the windows so it stays night forever.” That I could understand.
Randian!
No offense, but I hate this thread title. Reading it quickly made me think Prince had died!
Otherwise I do agree that Prince is amazing and brilliant. Though I don’t see there’s any need to compare the two: they’re totally different artists with totally different styles. Both were great.
To me, Prince is sex; Jackson was joy. Gotta have both.
Word. MJ was my first musical love; I’ve been down with him since '74. Dad brought “Controversy” home in '82 or so. It took me a while to warm to the dude, but yeah he brings the funk.
I’m proud to say my first concert was Prince and the Revolution at Wembley Arena in '86 for the Parade Tour. I was 13 and my sister was an insane, certified Prince freak. He had a 45 minute section of the show humping a bed. I cringed the entire time but he still kicked ass. Even my mom gave him props after saying how naughty he was.
I think Around the World in a Day is one of the most underrated albums ever. Brilliant.
He had that dire run of albums with Warner Bros. in the 90s and he more or less lost me. But I’ll break out “Private Joy” or “Uptown” every now and then… and it’s all good. I saw him in Boston in '06, when he had a new album out (Emancipation?). He did the big hits, had a great band, and even did an acoustic set of the old nasty songs, omitting the rude bits looking mischievous. Great show.
I’m a middle-aged white guy (eta) from the Twin Cities, and I didn’t know we had black people until I was 30. MJ was derivative, plus dance moves. Not interesting.
Prince and his band were interesting.
Prince is one of the 5 or 6 most important artists of the rock era.
Jackson was a star; Prince is an artist.
I’m personally partial to the latter, but I seriously doubt Jackson will be forgotten any time soon. I don’t think of Marilyn Monroe as a terrific actress in the way Streep or Blanchett are, but she’s iconic, and I have no doubt she’ll be remembered in another 50 years time.
Yes he did. It was similar to when Princess Diana died.
I was 15 at the time and like most 15 year olds in 1977 I considered Elvis to be a has been from another era. Yet his death it was such a big sensational event that I still remember when I first heard about it on the radio and remember how the newspaper headline looked.
I stand corrected. I had no idea he had the kind of impact MJ did in Asia, Africa, Europe, etc.
I spoke out of ignorance too, because I know almost nothing about the whole Elvis phenomenon.
I’m going to have to respectfully disagree. He was influential during his time, but he hasn’t done anything of particular relevance in mainstream music for almost 20 years.
I can think of dozens of artists and producers who were and are far more important than Prince. It’s not that I don’t like his stuff, I do, but it’s a minor influence at best.
His influence was widespread and permanent. Pop music is a markedly different animal due to Prince.