Over the past day, I’ve given much thought about the loss of PRINCE to the world of music. Little did I realize I would write this post in the manner I did. I live for Metal and still I live for music. As I began to break it all down, I realized how immensely important PRINCE really, really was to popular music. Below, I have attempted to look at the Popular Music world with the sad omission of PRINCE, as a bystander and not a fan.
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Such amazingly sad news to know that PRINCE is no longer alive. Unreal. I truly enjoyed the music videos of PRINCE, back in the day. There was always so much going on in every PRINCE video; they were colorful in both the spirit of his songs and visually. MTV must have made tens of millions in advertising revenue from the PRINCE music videos too. Warner Bros. sure made a ton of money from PRINCE.
Like so many pop culture legends of the 80’s, the songs from PRINCE always make me reflect back to those days when all I had to worry about was myself and where I was going to party next. Like Whitney Houston, the songs from PRINCE were constantly played on the radio; avoiding them was impossible and I subsequently became a quiet fan of both of these music icons. These were the FM radio days and not the instant gratification of satellite radio (of the here and now) where stations are stylized down to a single artist.
When I stop to think about it, there is absolutely no mainstream Pop or mainstream Rock artist alive today that has the talents, musical diversity, uniqueness, image, impact and charisma that PRINCE embodied. Michael Jackson and David Bowie are gone, so unfortunately cross them off your list. Please excuse me if I don’t consider Madonna as our crowning glory of present day popular music. Some may make the case for Usher, Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars having the same impact as PRINCE; only I feel they all fall just short of PRINCE. American Idol, The X Factor and The Voice never discovered anyone light years close to PRINCE. Nadda.
Lady Gaga is a bona-fide legend; only she copied from PRINCE, David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna. Carrie Underwood is an unenergetic singing statue. Metallica just hibernates now and Van Halen are a pale ghost of what they once were. KISS is an iconic band in their own right, only they’ve had plenty of songwriting help over the years and suffered through an identity crisis during the 1980’s. Now you see my point? Seriously. All those boy bands that pop their immature heads out for every generation just plain suck. PRINCE was… PRINCE.
PRINCE may have had his musical influences, still, PRINCE copied no one. Unlike today where it seems as if every mainstream Pop artist (and Country artist for that matter) is feeding off of each other like robotic copycats. Certainly, the Hard Rock and Metal worlds have their copycats too. Who is really left, in the mainstream world of Popular Music that leaves us all in both (original) entertainment and musical awe? The Rolling Stones, Elton John and Paul McCartney are well past their prime and God bless them for still going.
The Who lost their luster back when bassist John Entwistle passed away. Bruce Springsteen? Jon Bon Jovi? Nope. No comparison when it comes to the complete musician and songwriter that PRINCE was. With that said, comparing PRINCE to those aforementioned is comparing apples to cucumbers, in my opinion.
If I had to pick my 2 favorite PRINCE songs, they are: “Raspberry Beret” and “Little Red Corvette”. PRINCE truly was the total musical package. Growing up in the 80’s, PRINCE was an enormous part of American Pop Culture and his songs seemed to be played just about everywhere; from the video arcades to the roller rinks. I learned a long time ago that we cannot take our musical heroes for granted, they are just as human as we and share this planet with us for such a brief period of time. Rest In Peace, PRINCE. – Stone
REST IN PEACE, PRINCE.
1958 – 2016.
Stone.
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