Happy Birthday to the Most Complete Artist of all Time.

[Nkrumah Was Right]

Bambi

His Nude Tour concerts were crazy

 

[blues_funk_reggae]

F*ck it here's the entire Tokyo show

 

[maxamusa]

she spun u bruv!? ay cheerio nothin an ole pint at the pub can't solve

 

[Roid Jones]

I thought this was about Benito

 

[Cat piss martini]

I thought this was about Benito

 

[Studious one]

I was jamming to his shyt on Wednesday and I was just tripping over how his style was so inimitable. I mean, the shyt blows my mind. But, I was high as shyt, so maybe I was thinking too hard. There’s a ball where I’m at on Saturday celebrating him and you have to wear all purple. That shyt is going to be awesome!

 

[Dave24]

Bambi

 

[Dave24]

 

[K.O.N.Y]

Strongly disagree, my friend!

Prince actually IMPROVED after 'Purple Rain'. Let's consider the purpose of the 'Purple Rain' project. Prince wanted to accomplish a few things:
a) Break into mainstream (i.e. white) America with a more contemporary rock sounding album. In fact, the song "Purple Rain" was meant to sound like a Pete Seeger song.
b) Prince wanted to, "be like Elvis", with respect to starring in a major motion picture that had its own major-selling soundtrack
c) Obviously sell a lot of records

He achieved all of those things, but it was fairly easy for him. Up until the release of Purple Rain, since 1980's 'Dirty Mind', Prince embraced avant-garde challenging music which often took on new wave/electronic elements. Consider his 'Rude Boy' persona in 1981's 'Controversy' or the electronic dance music of '1999'. 'Purple Rain', the album, didn't do anything new. It just upped the ante of the pre-existing formula of 1999 so that it could break into a white audience.

Prince probably first stumbled onto this idea when 'Little Red Corvette' sold well. That's a catchy, guitar-heavy rock song. But nothing new compared to what he's done since 1979's "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad".

After 'Purple Rain', Prince got bored. Really bored. He delved into 1960s psychedelica (1985's 'Around the World in a Day'), sparse baroque pop-funk (1986's 'Parade: Motion Picture Soundtrack for 'Under the Cherry Moon'), back again into funk with a James Brown/Jackie Wilson esque 'Sign O' the Times' album (which really was a mash up of a lot of his work) and the Black Album, which was cancelled but still got leaked before he had a mental break down which led to 1988's 'Lovesexy' (his gospel album).

All that to say, Prince got bored after 'Purple Rain'. In fact, all of the music for 'Around the World in a Day' was written in 1984, just as he was riding high with the number ONE album, the number ONE single, and the number ONE move in America - all in the summer of 1984. He had gotten to the mountaintop, looked around, and decided that it was dull. He could have made another 'Purple Rain', easily. But that's not him. He's an artist.

He once again challenged himself and become much more interesting, again, post-Purple Rain. Let's not discuss his 1990s materials. That's a tough discussion to address!

It's great that people like Purple Rain, but that was the point. It's a catch-all album!

Anyway, here's 'Raspberry Beret' - his most perfect pop song, written originally in 1982, but released post- 'Purple Rain'

You forgot D

D) Prince felt some type of way about all the Attention MJ/THRILLER was getting

 

[Nkrumah Was Right]

You forgot D

D) Prince felt some type of way about all the Attention MJ/THRILLER was getting

Thriller, released December 1982, stole on 1999’s momentum, released September 1982 - I believe

 

[K.O.N.Y]

Thriller, released December 1982, stole on 1999’s momentum, released September 1982 - I believe

Thriller as a album lingered till 1984. Prince dropped a nine track album to match it

The dominance of thriller was the main aspect to him dropping purple rain in my opinion

 

[motionlessZombie]

I had forgot it was his birthday on Wed. Happy heavenly belated birthday. Raspberry Beret has been stuck in my head for the past couple of days. That video is phenomenal.

Also shout out to Vanity/Appolonia 6 and Sheila E. His work with them was the bomb.

 

[The Connoisseurs]

Shout out to Prince and his creative contributions to music. It’s ironic though because he was a Jehovah’s Witness and they don’t celebrate Birthdays.