The Real Reason Prince Isn't Considered The Best Artist.

Thank you. I didn't enjoy seeing that at all.

 

Damn, this is making it super easy to figure out who to ignore here... thanks!

 

starting your reponse with "no disrespect" and then following it with a negative comment?
Maybe time to think about how you word your threads.......

 

Moral of the story, if you're going to start a hip-hop or post 70s soul/R&B/funk thread include "Appreciation Thread" in the title.

And ignore the "usual suspects" completely.

 

Only weak artists can't stand up to criticism.

 

Yes, with the exception of Dion I'd say the artists on your list are a bit pretentious. Like Cher I make an exception for Dion as he was well known from Dion and the Belmonts.

George Carlin did a short routine concerning artists who thought they only needed one name.

 

To be fair, Vangelis goes by his first name because most people have trouble remembering/pronouncing his last name. In Greece he is known by his full name.

 

I did not know that. To be honest I thought Vangelis was a band.

 

How different people's taste can be. I strongly dissagree on everything you just wrote.

 

No, that was Vainglories. They were a singing group comprised of Axl Rose, Mick Jagger, and Scott Weiland. They had an...ahem...interesting meeting with the head of RCA Records, were kicked out of his office, and instantly disbanded.

Ed

 

So, you're declaring them to be "pretentious" simply because of the number of words in their name, even though you know nothing else about the artist or their music??

You must have some other definition of that word than I do.

 

Her last name is Guðmundsdóttir.

Good luck pronouncing that.

I could really give a crap if an act goes by a one-word name or not. It's certainly less precious than intentional misspellings like, say, "The Beatles".

Just sayin'.

 

Prince was a huge influence on his contemporaries, but I don't imagine him being embraced by Millennials.

Two reasons, based upon often-reported research into the younger generation:

1) Millennials, whilst more open talking about sex, are having much less of it than their parents, with fewer partners, are and considered more socially-awkward with greater levels of sexual-dysfunction, and a tendency to view their partners of objects as narcissistic supply.

2) Millennials are also the least religious generation since the 1900's - the rampant individualism is at odds with the communal nature of churches - but, even more interestingly, they haven't replaced it with Spirituality either. With it, no search for any kind of higher meaning.

Since the majority of Prince's songs are either about Sex or Spirituality, and frequently both, he'd sound entirely alien to them.

Take a song about sex and love like 'If I Was Your Girlfriend': a conversation about a man interested in the sexual desires of his partner.

Millennial pop songs favour self-love rather than romantic love or sexual longing: You're a starship! You're a firework! Shake it [criticism] off ('cause you're so damn amazing!) They wouldn't know what to do with Prince at all. He's not going to be embraced beyond the huge hits, and if he doesn't do something with older catalogue, he'll simply fade until - maybe - the next outward-going societal cycle, (usually thirty years or so).

This is the sort of creepy 'partner as object of narcissistic supply' Millennial dysfunction I'm talking about, (via Beyoncé):

It's a vile message to put out into the world, but Narcissism seems to be what's in vogue in Pop.

Compare and contrast:

 

Oops. You must not know what the Beyoncé tune is about. The guy cheated on her so she's kicking him out and letting him know that he isn't the only game in town. Read the verses before you aim please.

Ed

 

I guess I just don't understand your reasoning. "Dion" as a one-name identifier is okay because he was in a band before? What does that have to do with anything? He had one name while in the band.
And, to sit on your metaphorical throne and decree one-named artists "pretentious" because they choose to have a single moniker as an identifier in an entertainment art form smells of, well...pretense.

And it's just plain silly.

 

I was referring specifically to your reference to Vangelis. Seems to me that I'd have to have an idea about who the artist is and what they do before I had a feeling about whether they were "pretentious" or not. And I was going by something completely superficial and arbitrary, like the number of words in their name, I think I'd assume a greater level of pretension to an artist with the most words in their name, not the least. For example, I have no idea what the band "The Powers of Darkness Shall Rain Blood Upon This City for 500 Years" sounds like, but I bet "pretentious" would be a likely adjective.

 

That may be a generational perspective. Many artists since the 80's go by their first names only, perhaps influenced by Prince/Madonna. Lots of R&B artists. The list is endless: Tiffany, Beyoncé, Usher, Rihanna, Ciara, Kelis, Aliiyah, Dido, Shakira, Slash, Lorde, Jewell, Beck, Pink, etc.

It was less common back in the day, and I must admit, High-Art Rocker Eno seems a little pretentious, but not the guy who sang "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo".

It's also an Americentric view, as in other nations, many celebrities go by one name. On the Brazilian football squad, the guys with two names actually stand out - so perhaps in Brazil, they are considered pretentious for using two names?

 

Prince may have released too much music.
Even in his prime (the 80s), for every great album (Controversy, Purple, Parade, Sign), there was an inconsistent one (Charade, Around the World, 1999, Lovesexy).

A good compilation with aggressive marketing might set the record straight.
AFAIK there's only one Prince best-of in existence, and it's not a very good one IMO.

 

Let's not forget Ringo. And who's this guy called Elvis?

 

I dunno, some artists don't suit a Best Of. I felt the Sonic Youth one was a joke. I'm sure Prince falls into this category. A reissue campaign might fair better.

 

Have you seen Eno's real name?

 

I have to defend Jarvius here, I read his threads and although he his not very good at constructing appropriate headlines for his topics, if you actually read what he expresses in his initial posts, there is often nothing confrontational about them. He's a young guy, he is passionate about music, he's still learning about things and much of what he's discussing is often new to him, maybe cut him some slack instead of cutting him down. The confrontation and "trouble" instead comes from posters who have this need to pour out some built up hate and frustration, and who seem to be more interested in focusing on negativity and express what it is they don't like about this and that, than to bring something positive to the forum, by talking, sharing and learning about music and being constructive. I regularly check out threads that concern music and other things that I don't necessarily like or already have an interest in, but I do that out of curiosity and to learn, not to tell everyone in the thread how they're wrong and everything they talk about sucks...

With the above said, I also have to give a reminder that this is your host you are talking to, you are basically in his house when you are here, you should show some respect. He has repeatedly expressed a wish the we, the members, try to refrain from pitting artists, genres etc., against each other. Maybe try to come up with some different angles that don't revolve around "better" and "worse", or how things are "rated". Come to the Prince album-by-album thread and talk Prince there instead.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Very simple really, try to be nice to you fellow forum member, and treat him/her with respect. I think this place has been one of the better on the web as far as the the general atmosphere and tone of the posts go, that's one of the reasons why I come here, let's try to keep that spirit alive.

 

That's a very good post. Well said.

 

I agree. I haven't read any of his other threads but he doesn't come across as a troll on this thread. His premise, that Prince is somehow ignored or undervalued seems preposterous to me, but I live part of the time in LA (where he is generally worshipped and where he sold out 21 shows in 2011). I suspect that things are very very different in his small town in Mississippi, and his views probably reflect that.