Was Prince the world’s biggest niche artist?

[ultraflexed]

He told Tavis in an interview once that the music business too many outsiders in on what you do to get a check, he hated that.

Once he stopped letting people in on his work like he was in the 80's - he rebelled against it. Keep in mind he had the most creative freedom of anybody.

I think MJ had just as much freedom musically

 

[Greenhornet]

I feel what you are saying and conveying ... but you lost me first at "didnt think he was that big" when he was battling michael jackson for top spot for years and throwing down instrument wise
and bragging about being able to do and create as he pleased. Purple Rain was gospel, Lets go Crazy was an pop anthem and When Doves Cry was a 80s Pop smash. None of that doesnt appeal to black audiences especially in the 80s. You mentioned Rainbow album and it still grossed 4 million as his worst performance. Dude was a performer so besides labels crying, I dont think he really gave a fukk about money situation... plus he could have dropped an album a year if he wanted.


people said he didnt fare well after hiphop and rap, mostly due to hardcore aspect... but realistically Prince got super weird around that time and then his marriage happened. He wasnt completely for that age group, plus lending MC Hammer is 2nd biggest hit and loaning his samples to 2pac and other smash hit artists... I wouldnt say he was overlooked at all. If you look from late 70s to all of the 80s ... then 90s where he got married in the middle and lent out hit songs in the beginning... 2000 rave joy album marked a comeback and perfect vibe for MTV ... to musicology (as you said the top tour of 2004) onward... he actually didnt have a particularly rough patch as we are led to believe. I just think he was a true artist in every sense of the word and didnt really think about money or how people felt. It's clear he did weirdo shyt alot of times purposely too, since he told his bandmates to dress the part and stay in character... that means he was cognizant of the image and vibe he was giving at all times. Then you have the story of him going into a depression when MJ passed and the stories of them talking alot on the phone. I think or 95% know that they must have talked a long time ago and decided to play their beef mysterious and let it roll for press. Personally dont think Prince was supposed to be on BAD at all like the story says... it doesnt even make sense really. If they were supposed to make a song together, surely two legendary musicians since children, would have created an original song from the ground up together. I dont even think Warner beef was that bad after the slave shyt... I think it became a talking point for other artists and promo too, because he always just gave advice and chilled after... and even when he started reclaiming his masters before he died.... he planned on staying and renegotiating with Warner too. To sum it all up, I think his versatility wasnt niche really... he just needed to show you, why he was here and who he was. Compared to most pop stars who only do copy and paste stuff to maintain their images. He was technically the most normal artist in that sense of being himself and creating.

 

[TheBigBopper]

How you a fan an you forget "under the cherry moon"....

And album that had 2 of his biggest singles "kiss" and probably his GOAT song "rotic city"

I mentioned Parade in the OP (Under the Cherry Moon is a song on the album and the god awful movie associated with Parade) and Erotic City was first released as a b-side to Let’s Go Crazy in ‘84. It never appeared in Parade. Kiss was the only big hit on Parade and the rest of the album was experimental pop, funk and rock with a little classical thrown in there. TBH, it’s probably his “whitest” album and most unconventional among his 80s work next to Lovesexy.

 

[Drew Wonder]

I mentioned Parade in the OP (Under the Cherry Moon is a song on the album and the god awful movie associated with Parade) and Erotic City was first released as a b-side to Let’s Go Crazy in ‘84. It never appeared in Parade. Kiss was the only big hit on Parade and the rest of the album was experimental pop, funk and rock with a little classical thrown in there. TBH, it’s probably his “whitest” album and most unconventional among his 80s work next to Lovesexy.

I’m actually surprised you didn’t mention LoveSexy in your OP because it supports your argument of him being a niche artist

He’s naked on the album cover and the format he released it in made it so you couldn’t skip tracks and had to listen to the entire thing as if it was one continuous song lol. That’s wild for any artist to do, let alone a big time star

I don’t care how tolerant you are, most straight dudes ain’t buying an album with a naked man on the album cover. And the average listener isn’t buying an album where they can’t skip tracks, so those two elements alone alienated a lot of people. The irony is that for a Prince album LoveSexy sounds relatively mainstream and likely would’ve sold more if Prince wasn’t such a weirdo lol

 

[Wildhundreds]

It was the fight with Warner Bros as well as the fact that MJ and Madonna were way more calculated with the amount of music they released. MJ and Madonna albums felt like pop cultural events whereas with Prince, he’d release so much music, basically putting out an album every year that it didn’t feel quite as big or momentous, especially in the 90s.

Another thing that really hurt Prince as far as being recognized by the newer generation was how protective he was of his music in the 2000s. You had Madonna and MJ videos readily available on YouTube whereas with Prince you had to hit up torrents or an obscure website to even get his major singles. The lack of access to his music made him way less relevant to the newer generations who only knew him as the dude who beat Charlie Murphy in basketball.

Seemed like the world paused when them two had world premiere videos during that time period..

 

[Counter Racist Male]

He had eight Number One position R&B/Soul chart hits, and five Number One position Pop chart hits.

He is one of the top-selling music artists of all-time.

He had fans who liked R&B, rock, metal, funk, jazz. I think he was the complete opposite of niche because
his music was so varied and appealing across genres.

However, he did not fare well after the rise of Hip Hop and Rap in the late 80s and early 90s.

Rap was definitely a problem for him.

 

[Drew Wonder]

Seemed like the world paused when them two had world premiere videos during that time period..

Definitely. The Black and White video premiered on Fox I believe. A music video getting a premier on network television is insane

 

[Rell84shots]

One of his best songs imo

 

[Po pimp]

Nice breakdown OP and yes he did get very experimental in the mid to late 90s but you are downplaying a bit just how HUGE he was in the 80s. 1999 was a big album and really put him on the map commercially and then you combine the Purple Rain movie and the Purple Rain album both being massive and he was superstar status. Plus you have the music he wrote and produced for other artists as well as how influential the Minneapolis Sound was and how much other artists both black and white tried to emulate it. And also how mysterious he was with never doing interviews and people wondering if he was straight or gay or even a human being lol.

Yes he was definitely weird and unique but you don’t have MJ, the biggest pop star ever, looking at you as competition if you’re merely a niche artist. I’d say as far as pop cultural forces, MJ, Madonna and Prince were the biggest stars of the 80s. I guess you could add Bruce Springsteen in there but his audience wasn’t as diverse as the other 3

What about Whitney Houston?

 

[Drew Wonder]

What about Whitney Houston?

Whitney was huge in the 80s no doubt though I feel like she hit her peak as far as popularity when the Bodyguard soundtrack dropped in the early 90s

 

[Booker T Garvey]

Definitely. The Black and White video premiered on Fox I believe. A music video getting a premier on network television is insane

All of the videos for the Dangerous album had special premieres on network television

 

[Po pimp]

Whitney was huge in the 80s no doubt though I feel like she hit her peak as far as popularity when the Bodyguard soundtrack dropped in the early 90s

That’s the thing. She was still trending up by the time Bodyguard Soundtrack came outs, and she actually had bigger albums than both Prince and Madonna in the 80s. She also had 7 consecutive #1 hits.

 

[feelosofer]

The thing about Prince is that he valued artistic freedom for better or worse. I mean dude left #1 songs on the cutting room floor or didn't release them if he didn't feel it was up to his standard. Warner Bros wanted him to start working with other producers and wanted to control his sound as part of their renewed contract and keep in mind this was a 100 million dollar contract and was considered a bargain since the albums he put out between 1978-1993 made almost 300 million. But Prince was an artist's artist and valued having total control of his music above all.

One of his best songs imo

Song really that album was ahead of its time.

 

[TheBigBopper]

I’m actually surprised you didn’t mention LoveSexy in your OP because it supports your argument of him being a niche artist

He’s naked on the album cover and the format he released it in made it so you couldn’t skip tracks and had to listen to the entire thing as if it was one continuous song lol. That’s wild for any artist to do, let alone a big time star

I don’t care how tolerant you are, most straight dudes ain’t buying an album with a naked man on the album cover. And the average listener isn’t buying an album where they can’t skip tracks, so those two elements alone alienated a lot of people. The irony is that for a Prince album LoveSexy sounds relatively mainstream and likely would’ve sold more if Prince wasn’t such a weirdo lol

This is a really good point. Lovesexy foreshadowed his experimental projects of the 90s and 00s and it showed—it was his worst selling album of the 80s (moved about 800k units). The US leg of the accompanying tour lost money and didn’t sell out. Right after dropping Lovesexy, he released the Batman soundtrack in ‘89 which was his third best performing album of that decade, right behind Purple Rain and 1999, deviating from the niche path and back into the mainstream.

 

[feelosofer]

This is a really good point. Lovesexy foreshadowed his experimental projects of the 90s and 00s and it showed—it was his worst selling album of the 80s (moved about 800k units). The US leg of the accompanying tour lost money and didn’t sell out. Right after dropping Lovesexy, he released the Batman soundtrack in ‘89 which was his third best performing album of that decade, right behind Purple Rain and 1999, deviating from the niche path and back into the mainstream.

Yea but even that Batman album had some crazy undertones, if you listened to that album from front to back, like Prince was telling his own story separate from the movie.