The artist that was formerly known as Prince but is now known just as Prince again

[Heaven's Cloud]

[color=indigo]?His Royal Badness?, ?His Purple Highness?, however you choose to refer to him, Prince is an undeniable music icon. His lyrics ooze with sexuality. His voice is screechingly sensual. And his instrumentals are so complex, so profound that I can only classify them as spiritual.

Prince is a prodigy, and the record industry recognized immediately. His conception into Rock and Roll began with an unprecedented recording contract. Warner Brothers not only immediately gave Prince a huge contract; they gave him an incredible amount of artistic freedom and control. Their gamble paid off.

Prince?s first album, [b]For You[/b] boasted a broad, eclectic array of styles incorporating everything from acoustic ballads to fast paced funk. [b]For You[/b] also showcased Prince?s musical ability, he apparently played twenty three different instruments on the record and produced the entire album himself. Although Prince may have been struggling to find his instrumental voice on [b]For You[/b] his lyrical style was instantly defined in the song [i]Soft and Wet[/i].

Critics toted Prince as an over the top virtuoso that was unable to define his musical voice. On his first solo tour Prince proved them partially right, he was over the top. Prince took the stage sporting nothing but an ascot, a pair of skin tight pants, and high heeled boots, sometimes he actually skipped the pants and wore nothing but leopard print briefs. Women went wild.

His next album, simply titled [i]Prince[/i] rocketed him to super-stardom. Songs like [i]I Wanna Be Your Lover[/i], [i]Sexy Dancer[/i], and [i]With You[/i] silenced critics earlier quibbs and quips.

In 1982 Prince released his most ambitious, and, arguably, most remarkable album, [i]1999[/i]. This album propelled Prince to icon status, soon he was plastered on MTV and booking huge stadium venues. Despite his meteoric rise to stardom Prince has remained a quiet celebrity, rarely granting interviews or making television rounds. He has remained an enigma nestled amongst a sea of all too vocal, camera crazed musicians.

I remember the first time I heard Prince, it the first and only time I was allowed to watch Arsenio Hall. He was amazing, so cool and so poised on the stage. He could dance, he could sing, and boy could he ever play the guitar (in retrospect Prince is probably why I wanted to play the guitar). I didn?t think of Prince again until I was fifteen or so. I was dating a girl who loved the [i]Purple Rain[/i] album, ever since then I have been hooked.

Unfortunately, Prince got wrapped up in several derogatory stereotypes (mainly due to the whole ?Artist Formerly Known As? phase) and I find that my Prince CD collection is often subject to ridicule by the uncultured and unenlightened.

Anyway, I will move onto the principle discussion. Are there other Prince fans out there? Do you have favorite albums or tracks? Does Prince?s slightly outlandish character affect your opinion of his music in any odd way? If you enjoy Prince, do you plan on buying Musicology? If you have bought Musicology, is it good? Have I asked enough questions to spurn a decent amount of conversation? [/color]

[Semjaza]

A lot of people make fun of my interest in Prince. I don't think it's simply because of the whole "Artist" debacle as much as it was his image. Trends change, I suppose. The artist thing was actually pretty clever if you know his reasoning for doing it. I don't think that lame Batman song helped either.

My favorite song by Prince is still Darling Nikki. A few bands have covered it to varying success, but I don't think anyone has even come close to conveying the amount of sexuality that Prince is able to put into the song. The song is basically the whole reason why Tipper Gore went on a rampage against explicit lyrics and why we have those stickers saying so on CDs now.

I plan on getting Musicology. I'm pretty sure we already talked about it.

[Guest ScirosDarkblade]

Well I'm not exactly what you'd call a crazed Prince fanboy, but I did try to hire assassins to kill him on more than one occasion. They failed every time, unfortunately, because he changed his name, throwing them off completely. No, really, I think he is mediocre. There's not a single song of his that I find memorable at all (though I've not heard TOO many), and you are right, the Batman song really did set me against him because it totally sucked.

I'm just messing here. I don't care about Prince one way or the other, and I don't buy any music CDs except for SACDs or soundtracks nowadays. Also I'm not a big fan of almost ANY band except for like 10 in all (Beatles, ABBA, Van Halen, Queen, Deep Purple, Creedence, and a few others--mostly classic stuff).

But why DID he change his name so many times? I'm curious, because it's so easy to make fun of Prince about it. Heck, even if I know WHY he did it I'll still joke about it, but I'm curious nevertheless.

[Pagan]

I can't say that I'm a true Prince fan. My mom just happens to have the complete Prince collection and loves him more then my dad. So I find myself forced to love him or be disowned.

He is the definition of artist and a extremly unique performer. I didn't expect him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame so soon but I knew he was going to get in sometime in the future. My favorite album of course is the classic [B]Purple Rain[/B] and also off of that album comes my favorite song [B]Let's Go Crazy[/B] and [B]Jack U Off[/B] is another good one just because of the name. Prince has been out there and has always been out there and will always be out there. I actually admire him greatly. He is one of the few people who has managed to be straight and yet kind of gay at the same time. I still think Prince is kind of weird and at time scarey, but as I grow older I appreciate him more and more. I don't own Musicology personally but my mom has 5 copies. She plays it all day so I guess it must be pretty decent. Any finally yes by answering all of your questions my grammar and sentences structure has degraded to the level of a ten year old.