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and now a word from Prince...

prince.jpg


His music? Love it. His style? Provocative. His grasp of reality? Not so much.


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Comments (11)

GarandFan:

The funny part is that they think their opinion really matters to the rest of the world.

Terwiliger:

Wow. He actually said that in July. Apparently, he's P.O.'ed that he isn't cashing in on album sales like he thinks he ought to (iTunes doesn't advance him money, & apparently he doesn't like people selling used copies of his music).

Can you say "Napoleon Complex"?

I do think the little purple midget is a wickedly good guitar player & a very good all-around instrumentalist...

...but I've bought very little of his music because the lyrics are so juvenile & vile (& I'm afraid of what I might catch from handling a used copy).

For more than 30 years, his lyrics have sounded like they were written by a 9 year-old who bought a Richard Pryor album, discovered his dad's Penthouse collection, & developed a severe case of OCD on the same day.

Write something of substance, you little prick--& while you're at it, get rid of the lame synthesizers & the "Ace of Base"/techno-dance electronic back-beat that hit its expiration date at least 20 years ago (yet it lingers on--especially in rap, "modern" R&B, & in Europe). It would also help if you could put more than 1 song on an album (ESPECIALLY when it's a double album) that had some seriously good music on it.

FWIW: Prince fans united to support Barack Obama in 2008. Is there a recurring theme there?

snowdog:

He's right, ya know. It's back to 45's and AM radio for us. The internet is so 2000's.

Thunderbottom:

...Reminds me of some talk show radio host, Garry Meier, in Chicago, who frequently claimed that the Internet was the "CB radio" of the 'nineties (This was when he was a co-host with Roe Conn at WLS-AM, the "50,000-watt blow-torch of the Midwest"; he's now at WGN-AM, described as "talk radio for the AARP set").

Terwiliger:

I'm officially a relic (yeah, yeah, GF... I'm showing my age).

I still have a turntable.

Some of my favorite records are EP 45s, & I'm still holding on to my vinyl collection (quite a few records from the old "Pablo" label).

Clean analog music has an ambient quality that digital still can't match--but it's a b____ to keep in primo condition. (I did finally break down & buy a "shelf" stereo with a CD player about 3 years ago--but I've covered that ground before.)

I was hoping against hope that optical analog would be competitive with digital music... but...

"Quantity is quality." - Joseph Stalin (& perhaps Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, GWB, BHO...)

GarandFan:

"I still have a turntable."

Same here. Gerard turntable I purchased in Germany 42 years ago. Let's see Gates or Jobs build something of quality that lasts that long!

Terwiliger:

GF:

How about those audiophile-quality tube stereos?

I came on the scene a little late to get my stereo first-hand, but I managed to get my hands on a nice set (at a bargain price) that belonged to an "early adopter" who was convinced that CDs were superior to vinyl.

Jobs can have his iCrap. A row of warm & glowing KT-88s & a pair of JR 149s deliver sound like silicon & ear buds (which I believe are the modern equivalent of the government transmitters in "Harrison Bergeron"--except they're designed to make vapid people even less useful) never will.

I've replaced some of the capacitors in the amp. However, when it comes time to re-tube the blamed thing, I expect I'll have to let it go.

Tom Wms.:

Has Prince every been relevant? I'm going to try to be poetic here. He is greasy and sleazy. He makes me uneasy and queazy.
Maybe he can use that in a song.

Terwiliger:

Well, racy lyrics aren't anything new. They've been a part of pop music since at least the advent of jazz. Go back to further, & Wagner's opera "The Valkyrie" is basically about an incestuous relationship between a twin brother & sister. Incest & intermarriage are pretty common in mythology, so sleaze is virtually as old as mankind.

β€œIt has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.” – Ronald Reagan

It isn't just the sleaze of Prince's lyrics that bug me; it's generally how juvenile & unimaginative they are.

However, there are times when the "sleazy" of his lyrics is just tame enough & the "greasy" of his music is so brilliant that he really hits on something--& if you can tune out his lyrics & the overly kitschy electronic stuff he clutters up his records with (I really "went to school" on his guitar work for a while), he really is a very adept musician. I think he does just about all--if not all--of the instrumental work on his albums, & he did all of the instrumental work on several other singers' (& I use that term very loosely) songs/albums.

A few songs of his that I really like:

"Temptation" (Paisley Park)
"Little Red Corvette" (1999)
"Let's Go Crazy" (Purple Rain--overall, a very good pop/rock album)
"I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" (Sign [SYMBOL] the Times)
"The Ride" (I don't know what album it's on)

However, he seems to care more about the show than the music--& for "artists" at that level, there's a whole lot more money in concert ticket sales than in music sales. I think he cares most about the money & satisfying his appetites (he's been p___ing on the sensibilities of a lot of the listening public for his entire career, & his music has suffered for it).

Anonymous:

That "to" in front of "further" shouldn't be there.

DOH!!!

Anonymous:

He knows the internet isn't over. I bet he's burping his worm to beat the band to the Sponge Monkeys "We Like the Moon" video.

About

John Cox is a painter, cartoonist, and illustrator for hire. For information about purchasing existing work or commissioning new work, contact him by e-mail at john555cox [at] hotmail.com.

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