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The tragedy of Prince for me was watching and hearing his talent disappear as he found success. Some of those early tracks were pure genius but they faded very fast. His career as a musical giant lasted a mere 4 or 5 years. None of his later tracks or songs could hold a candle to Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry or those early classics. And this happens a lot - even in the majority of artiste cases. Especially when you watch them thinking "it's all down to me" (it's not; they under rate the creative energy of producers, arrangers, engineers, promotion, sales, marketing, PR) and "I ought to be making more money" (and not other people).
What a genius he was. Brilliant guitar player. The problem I had with him - and it's a bit perverse of me to call it a problem - is that he was so ridiculously prolific. With most great stars you wait and wait for new albums. With him you lagged behind his releases - after the great sequence of early albums, he seemed to release material before you'd had a chance to digest the last batch, and then he'd bring out more, and more... There were still some brilliant tracks in his later years but there was no way they'd get noticed by a broad audience because they'd be obscured by this blizzard of new releases. I sort of lost touch with his music because of that, this century. And they say he has masses more material n the vaults.
Agreed Pru; that self indulgence not only ruined mass appeal but I think killed the quality of his music from 1990 onwards - not that I heard much (for the very reason you say). Of course that is one of the huge problems of the Internet generation now; I'm sure there is brilliant music out there but we never find it. And lacking the self discipline to refine, improve, correct, edit is a grave fault too. When you take total charge of everything (and don't listen to other comments) often the quality deteriorates. With both Genesis and 10cc, when they allowed long solos and huge passages to detract from the melodies, I felt they became less good. Of course there is always room for longer and more complicated concertos and symphonies (and even "concept" albums) but they only work when each of the ingredients is also honed and sharpened and perfected. Self indulgence is a main killer of quality.
JK2006 wrote: Agreed Pru; that self indulgence not only ruined mass appeal but I think killed the quality of his music from 1990 onwardsExperimenting with new sounds and formats is never the way to mass appeal, unless it happens to catch on of course. If you want to appeal to the masses you're far better to take and use what people already like but would that have spawned classics such as "When Doves Cry"?
You could say both Prince and Bowie were self indulgent, but both were innovators and what's wrong with pushing the envelope? They both mastered the 3.5 minute pop song and moved on. I'm sure they'd have gone mad otherwise.
My one criticism of Michael Jackson is that he just appeared to spend his career trying to recreate the mass appeal of Thriller.
What's worse?
Prince wrote some great songs post 1990, The Most Beautiful Girl In The World was 1994.
This was 1993 and one of my favourite Prince songs, shame the only version I can find is such bad quality:
Yes both Prince and Bowie went on making interesting music but I think in both cases, far more self critical consideration was needed and the assistance of other talents (like Madonna). Even then the music went right off due to lack of quality control. At his best Bowie benefitted from people like Visconti and Rogers. Prince tended to want to do his own thing always and not just musically (the splits with the labels). Not just morally reprehensible, in my opinion, but unwise. You just don't find better A&R, promotion, marketing, executive talents - hugely under rated by the creatives. It is not, and never has been, all about making the music (and even that needs other help - God knows where I would have been without arrangers and engineers). The breaking and selling of art is crucial. One reason why Theo Van Gogh is a hidden hero.
Making music should be done for the pleasure you get from it, not to please others.
To me, Madonna used music as a vehicle to fame whereas Prince & Bowie achieved fame because of their musical talents.
Madonna has always needed people around her because IMO she lacks that raw musical talent. Being in the spotlight is the most important thing to her so she has to have the most commercially appealing music. She's clever with it though, working with cutting edge people.
IMO Prince & Bowie achieved fame and then weren't particularly bothered about it, they'd made their money so doing something commercially appealing was no longer important... or exciting. They went off and did what they enjoyed, making music and exploring new areas.
A team of people telling them they're wrong or to write another Purple Rain wasn't something I can imagine they'd have liked.
Bowie had little or no interest in music when I knew him, in the 60s, except as a vehicle to become a star. If Laughing Gnome had been a hit he would happily have been Anthony Newley. Prince was a bit different; but he was more interested in seeming strange and eccentric and weird than in making great music. Prince was far the most musically talented of the three.
K wrote: Making music should be done for the pleasure you get from it, not to please others.
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Fine. But don't release it, then. If you release a record, publish a book, put anything up for sale, you're trying to attract an audience, and engage an audience, and recoup the expense of releasing it, and it's naive or disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
It's like with a storyteller. A storyteller doesn't improve by telling himself stories. He improves by telling them to other people, noting their reactions and honing his technique. If you want to entertain other people, then work at it, don't just tell yourself only a few can grasp your genius. There is a place for experimentation, but the best artists do it in order to GET somewhere. Bowie didn't release everything he tried. Neither did Prince in his early days - which was why his best stuff stood out. First drafts might intrigue, but there's no brave honour in treating them as final drafts.
Steve Lillywhite was on the radio yesterday saying the same thing as the posters above - 'Prince wasn't one of the greats because he could never edit himself - he thought everything he did was brilliant, and it wasn't'.
Steve sure treated his marriage lightly. Rumours abounded in the industry that he shagged around whilst with Kirsty. She was even rumoured to have resorted to shagging Shane MacGowan whilst on tour with him .
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Last Edit: 2016/05/18 20:15 By JK2006.
Reason: Let's not make rumours facts!
Joanne Guessed wrote: Steve sure treated his marriage lightly. Rumours abounded in the industry that he shagged around whilst with Kirsty. She was even rumoured to have resorted to shagging Shane MacGowan whilst on tour with him .
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