well, I’m pretty sure Prince and I have the same birthday. That should be enough.
Here’s a link to the R&R Hall of Fame ceremony version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” (Prince starts playing @ 3:30-ish).
He’s perhaps not the best guitarist in the world, but he may very well be the best guitarist who can play a bunch of other instruments extraordinarily well.
For his prolific output over the past couple of decades, I understand that he’s got hundreds of more songs gathering dust.
He’s an amazing musician, songwriter and performer (very few artists can do all three very well) who makes it look easy *and *fun. I daresay I shall never see another Super Bowl halftime show that is half as entertaining as what Prince did a few years back (YouTube usually yanks these, but here’s part 1 and part 2). He’s an incredible performer.
Pretty much my take as well. I’ll slog through a tonne of shit to find the gems, because when he hits the mark, it’s sublime. Most of his material is at least interesting, however, and a lot is great.
I fully endorse WordMan’s post, too. Prince is a top-class musician who is able to dabble in all kinds of genres. Multi-skilled, multi-talented and a great songwriter to boot.
Todd Rundgren.
I’m younger and not very worldly, but I had to Google who that was. I’d never have to Google Prince. . .
That’s it - it’s cage match time. Just give me a few days to grow my nails out.
I think the biggest mistake people who aren’t Prince fans and are wondering what all the noise is about can make is only listen to Prince’s hit songs. His hits are good, very good, but they barely scratch the surface of what Prince the musician is all about. My favourite songs of his have never been played on the radio (“The Dance,” “Solo,” “Da Bang,” Anna Stesia," “She Spoke 2 Me,” etc.). I will gladly make up a play list of what I consider an excellent Prince sampler for anyone who is interested.
Do yourselves a favour and check out some of his live performance videos, too, as he goes from dancing like a maniac to singing a range that rivals Mariah Carey’s (seriously!) to playing the piano to wailing on the guitar to playing the drums like he has eight arms.
I like Prince as a writer, but not a singer. When I hear other people do his songs I am always amazed at how well they’re written, such as 101 by Sheena Easton, which is brilliant.
Even Tom Jones can make his Kiss embarassingly equal to the original. He’s a great writer, but I never liked him much as a signer.
He definately is a brilliant behind the scenes man
Another important point is that if you weren’t listening to radio in the '80s, you can’t appreciate just how influential his sound was.
Phil Collins, who was one of the biggest acts in the '80s, was doing a Prince rewrite with “Sussudio”; Stevie Nicks, arguably the biggest female rock artist of the '80s, based “Stand Back” on Prince’s “Little Red Corvette”; Janet Jackson was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who were former members of The Time (who were mentioned earlier and were close Prince associates). Even the #1 hit “Oh Sheila” by Ready for the World had a clear Prince influence.
In short, Prince’s sound was everywhere. IMHO, he was one of the most influential artists of the era.
I always associate Narada with the early 90s diva/pop scene. I know he had a few touches on the charts, including co-writing Freeway Of Love, but his hot streak really didn’t come until The Bodyguard soundtrack/film. I purposefully left off Mutt Lange and Rick Rubin and Bob Rock, because their area is rock (and rap as well, for RR). But yeah, the fact that they got people in the mainstream to listen to their shit puts them at the top of 80s producers, for sure.
Prince is feminine without being a sissy somehow.
Pretty without being attractive
Sexual without being sexy
Crazy without being a total fucking nutjob
Neither R&B black nor rock and roll white
I think he sounds awesome on that guitar, and though I don’t know much about guitars, I hear from guitar enthusiasts that he has their utter respect. He is all about fantasy and drama and over the topness. Purple Rain and Little Red Corvette and 1999 and Vanity 6 are all parts of my childhood. I sang ‘sitting in a hotel lobby masturbaaaating with a magazine’ when I was about 8 and didn’t know what it meant. I love Prince. Love Michael more, though.
Todd Rundgren is very well known. He produced Bat Out of Hell, for goodness sake. He accidentally influenced Mark David Chapman to kill John Lennon!
Rundgren isn’t a superstar, but he’s not some nobody, either.
Well, that may be, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve never heard the man’s name once in my 24 years on this planet. I know who Meatloaf is, I know what Bat Out of Hell is, but I did not know who Todd Rundgren is. I’ve never heard of a song called “Rock and Roll Pussy” and I’ve certainly never heard that it inspired that crazy dude to shoot John Lennon. Now, this is possibly entirely my own ignorance, but I’m simply saying that Prince beats him in the self promotion arena, if nothing more. At least in my little narrow scope, that is.
Sure, but that doesn’t relate to talent. Except the talent for self-promotion, I suppose.
Weren’t we talking about someone being a multi-talented performer? That’s a talent worth noting, methinks. You can be the best guitar player in the world, but if you can’t promote yourself, nobody will ever hear it.
Hmmm, perhaps. But I don’t think it’s what’s gotten Prince his critical acclaim, which is what this thread seems to be about. Otherwise Lady Gaga would be regarded by critics as one of the greatest musical acts of all time. Last I checked, she isn’t.
Or both! And Puerto Rican. Everybody just a-freakin’.
If Lady Gaga spends the next 30 years releasing albums, starts writing, producing, and playing all music on her records, AND keeps her name in the headlines. . . I’d say she would be, too. Prince has been around doing his thing for a long time. I doubt after Prince’s first album everyone was saying he was the greatest artist of all time or anything-- it’s this long term success that makes him stand out. There are lots of folks who are amazing guitarists, amazing performers, great song writers, great producers, and great self promoters-- but it’s rare that somebody is all of that AND can maintain that for several decades.
When Prince was under 30, he was still credited as an amazing talent. Longevity is a plus, but it’s neither necessary nor sufficient for his status, nor is his ability to self-promote (which evaporated in the late '90s anyway). Prince’s third album, when he was 22, was outstanding as-is.
If Lady Gaga was a self-produced multi-instrumentalist and songwriter with Prince’s talent, you bet she’d be regarded as a real find. Self-promotion has nothing to do with it.