not criticizing his drug use, was disappointed in him moralizing to others and then not taking his own advice, kind of your argument I think. And let's just call it what it is, drug addiction, not some crap flu, painkillers, etc. Prince was addicted to drugs and couldn't save himself. Let's put that on the cover of every magazine he graces. I guess we celebrate life, though.
You continue to try to make this a moral issue and I have no idea why. It shows the disconnect you have with drug abuse. You've decided that you can't be both a vegan and a drug addict and that's just not true. You've also decided, somehow, that he chose to abuse painkillers. That's likely not true either. I kinda hope you never know how wrong you really are. Ed
And furthermore, what bothers me is that he didn't treat the addiction. That he was too stubborn or prideful or whatever it was. I think being unconscious on the plane prior was the sign for him and everyone around him that he needed help. Wasn't like it was a silent addiction. Careful to not make excuses for Prince.
I'm about done with this but the reason he didn't treat the addiction likely had not one thing to do with pride or stubbornness or anything else. He was addicted. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend? Ed
If I can't make excuses, you shouldn't make assumptions not based on evidence. We don't know how long he had been taking pain killers. All we know is that he passed out a few days before he died and contacted a treatment center within a couple of days of his death. Everything else is supposition.
Lou's one of my favorite singer so I think I meant whatever any artist does in their private life.....doesn't change my feeling about them as an artist. whether he was shooting speed on the street or handing out teddy bears to dying children. moralizing whether Prince should or shouldn't be taking whatever he took....doesn't make sense to me
I get the addiction, Ed. My OP was that I was disappointed to find out he was preaching about the meat, religion, whatever it was but ultimately didn't take his but wouldn't apparently listen to anyone else around him, I'm sure someone said something to him about his addiction.
Missed this but apparently Prince was supposed to be on "Complexion" on To Pimp a Butterfly. Why did it fall through? For the most mundane of reasons - he and Kendrick just talked the whole time they were in the studio and "ran out of time." (Not that the album's hurting for his presence.) Kendrick Lamar explains failed Prince collaboration | NME.COM »
A moot point, as both of them 'emerged' in the 70s: Costello was three albums into his career at the dawn of the 80s and Prince was only one album behind him. I tend to think of Elvis Costello as as much of a late seventies artist as an eighties artist, because he was established as an important rock figure by the time the seventies ended, certainly in the UK (and among American critics, if not the American public). Prince's first four albums were not huge sellers and the critics (notably Christgau) caught onto him long before the public did. It was only in 1983 that he seems to have started earning Warners some significant money to justify the big advance and unparalleled artistic freedom it took to sign him.
That proves that, although you come off as a good, logical guy, you don't get the addiction. Addiction never listens to anyone. It doesn't take into account anyone's feelings. It doesn't care who it hurts. It doesn't care if it kills the person suffering from it. Lastly, it doesn't care about contradiction. I've seen it kill people, destroy families, and permanently maim individuals it doesn't kill. I've seen it make stupid excuses, wild contradictions, and promises it has no intention of keeping. It's far more insidious than you're giving it credit for. I sincerely hope you never know the depths of it's desperation. Ed
Sound Opinions did a show on Prince, capped off with a review of Beyoncé's new album. (Originally it was promoted as being a whole show on Prince - that changed when Lemonade was dropped, and the album was probably too good for them to put off a review.): http://www.soundopinions.org/show/544 As if the show itself wasn't enough, DeRogatis caps it off with a long list of people whose music would not be the same if it weren't for Prince - Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, OutKast, Justin Timberlake, Beck, Beyoncé, D'Angelo, Robyn, Lady Gaga, Shamir, De La Soul, The Weeknd, Usher… that covers some of the biggest-selling names of today as well as some of the most acclaimed, forward-looking music too. (Lamar, Ocean, OutKast and D'Angelo all have topped the Pazz & Jop Critics poll in the past decade or so.)
Prince wasn't vegan. He talked about omelettes a bunch of times and his chef said he ocassionally ate cheese.
If Prince was moralizing about the issue (and I think probably he was, certainly to those around him), I wouldn't chalk it up necessarily to hypocrisy. I'd suggest you cut some slack to the man, who is fallible, rather than undermine the standards, which are high but worthy. Prince's "moralizing" might have been so emphatic precisely because he knew what a grip it had on him.
Discussing a forum thread and telling you how you should live facets of your life are two different things. Don't take it so seriously.
