Even in his 1981 hit "Controversy", he hints that he's kidding around. The reason I know this is because I was a huge Prince fan back then, and read a Rolling Stone interview where he said it was his response to people who were confused by his lyrics and appearance on stage. And, in an interview with Wendy Melvoin after his death, she explained that Prince always had a problem with gays. he refused to eat a Thanksgiving dinner with her family because her sister was gay. yet, he used her and Lisa to play it up on stage. Even later in the 80s and 90s, he hired them, but discriminated against them. Knowing this, and presenting religious themes throughout his art, it probably wasn't too hard for Larry Graham to convert him.
Yeah, I think Prince's possible homophobia got worse as he became more of a Jehovah's Witness. He stopped playing the "lewder" songs later in life, too...
Exactly! A what do they call it - cisgender? - Prince was a straight, cisgender guy, but there's nothing wrong with a straight guy wanting to cross-dress. I'll bet there are an awful lot of very straight guys out there who just like to cross-dress, and Prince was one of them. It doesn't mean they are confused or anything.
Prince was simply flamboyant and he knew that wearing funky clothes would get attention. Plus... it was the 80s. Who didn't dress weirdly back then?
Yup, flamboyancy and androgyny was all the rage in the conservative Reagan era. People thought the latter disco era was crazy, but they had no idea of what was in store just a few years later! There was glam in the late 60s, starting with The Velvet Underground, and through the 70s with David Bowie, but, for the 80s, Prince was a pioneer. But, for those who remember, it was quite popular for men to have big perms in late 1078/1979. When Prince had his photo on his second album in 1979, there were other bands who were doing the same thing, like the Motown band Switch that featured Bobby DeBarge. But it was off-set by the preppy look. Prince just stripped down to a g-string!
And, before them, Vanity and Sheila E., and later his wife. You can clearly tell what his preferences in women were.
His most lewd songs came to a halt after the "Emancipation" album. I think maybe he still included one or two as a marketing tactic, or as filler left over from previous projects. I don't know. But, after a point, he was just all about jamming. For me, that spelled boring, and an end to what I liked about Prince. He no longer took things to the extreme. To quote one of his own songs "He's So Dull".
This all makes perfect sense. Thanks for having this discussion, even if we couldn't have it in more thorough detail due to forum rules.
Catching up... How Will I Know? This is not the worst thing to reach number one, but it's so darn generic. I have to think something else was going on to allow this thing to get to the top. IE, it was dragged to the top in the slipstream of her growing stardom. Kyrie Ah, so this was the second MR MR song to reach the top. Yeah, I remember it, or at least the chorus. I think it's a tad better than Broken Wings, but the chorus is literally the only memorable hook in the thing, and the synths are particularly stifling here. Pass.
There's nothing as brilliant as Dancing Lincoln in this one, but for a mid-80s video, it isn't too bad.
???? Wendy Melvoin is gay; and He had a long-term relationship with Wendy’s sister, who is not. Im not arguing with the story about the Thanksgiving dinner (because I dont know); and he certainly did not always treat employee/collaborators with the respect they deserved; and he definitely had a narcissistic streak; but the quoted bit above is just wrong.
I follow this Instagram page called 'Old School Dads', and I even submitted one of my dad's photos from the early 80's. Back then it was normal for guys to wear crop tops and short shorts. Must have been a glorious thing to witness in person. Me thinks I was born a bit too late. I'll take back my constant contempt for the 1980's and bite my tongue on this one.
I remember in middle school (85-86), that these courdoroy-like "OP" (Ocean Pacific) shorts became popular for guys, and they were very short. I only wore them a few times because I felt like I was just wearing underwear.
Yeah, flowery doesn't begin to describe them. Joni Mitchell said she was getting letters from this guy who dotted all his "i"s with little hearts. Guess who?
I remember a very, um, revealing wardrobe malfunction involving those when I was in college. "He definitely isn't Jewish..." (At least, I'm assuming it was a malfunction. Maybe it was just his kink. )
Rock Me Amadeus Don't care for it. When I made my Top 100 favorite song list of 1986, this was nowhere to be found on it Kiss A lot of regulars here seem to be gaga over anything Prince did in this period. Personally I don't really get it. I like a few cuts on Purple Rain, plus the single Pop Life, but after those I didn't really need anything by him again until the early '90s. I guess we all have different tastes, which is what make it interesting. For me, the past couple of No. 1s haven't been great, but it will get much better real quick!
Those "crop tops" were more of a thing for athletes, though. Prince's 1986 "crop top" wasn't meant for sports!
Best concert I ever saw was Prince 1988. 1993 was still good, but not in the same league. From 1997 to 2015, the shows were erratic, to say the least. Every once in a while, he'd play a show that reminded me what made him so great, but a lot of it was just... meh. I saw 2 of the London O2 shows in 2007, and I remember at one, he kept bragging about how great he was. I wanted to yell "stop TELLING us you're great and PROVE it!" Of all the artists I loved in my teens and 20s, none "lost me" more than Prince. He was top 5-10 for me over a long period, but too many meh albums and too many meh concerts burned me out!
Sara I had forgotten just how many big hits Starship spewed out from their Hoopla. This one is as wimpy as they come and is definitely my least favorite of their three #1s in this era, but even so, I'm not too bothered; as I said, I'd rather see them succeed than Mr. Mister. I suppose it would have been weird for the times to have Grace sing a love song (?) to a woman, but boy, I woulda preferred it to ol' pastyface. Of course, I like the Jeffersons-era better; Marty and Grace ruled. Heck, even Sherman Hemsley aka George Jefferson ("Wheezie!") would be a better addition to Starship, or the Jefferson daughter for that matter, and no one liked the daughter (what was her name? Jenny?). You think I'm joking? Dig this! George has the moves!
