RIP Prince

This topic has 11 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 6 months ago by bnw.

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April 23, 2016 at 11:04 pm #42496

TSRF
Participant

2016 is shaping up to be a bad year to be a rock god…

April 24, 2016 at 10:37 am #42523

wv
Participant

I have become a political-cultural-curmudgeon in my old-age,
which means that I regularly trash artists like Prince
and Bowie, etc. I compare them to people like Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill, etc.

I mean to me… the biosphere really is threatened. And if a singer or artist aint sendin out messages about ‘that’, then I
aint got nuthin good to say about’em.

Thats just me, though.

w
v

April 25, 2016 at 11:24 am #42582

Eternal Ramnation
Participant

wv wrote:

I have become a political-cultural-curmudgeon in my old-age,
which means that I regularly trash artists like Prince
and Bowie, etc. I compare them to people like Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill, etc.

I mean to me… the biosphere really is threatened. And if a singer or artist aint sendin out messages about ‘that’, then I
aint got nuthin good to say about’em.

Thats just me, though.

w
v

Watch this WV maybe you’ll have a change of heart.

April 25, 2016 at 3:31 pm #42617

wv
Participant

Well, I dunno. I do give him some credit for tossing some money
into charity work (how much?), but frankly thats generally what rich folks do. I’ll bet Trump has done a lot of charity work too. Etc.

But what were his songs/lyrics about? What was his mission
with his music? To entertain? To ‘express himself’ ?
I just dont see a lifelong commitment to ‘the struggle on behalf
of poor people’ — unlike with some other culture-workers.

But then, i totally concede I am a curmudgeon on this.

w
v
“Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged.” Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah

April 26, 2016 at 1:39 am #42639

Eternal Ramnation
Participant

Music was his mission. Musically he was on a different level than folk singers Baez would be a real fine taxi driver and Prince would be a 27 time Formula 1 champion. The thing that set Prince’s charity apart was he gave anonymously which does not equate with using it for his own pleasure he wanted a better world .

April 26, 2016 at 3:23 pm #42650

wv
Participant

Eternal Ramnation wrote:

Music was his mission. Musically he was on a different level than folk singers Baez would be a real fine taxi driver and Prince would be a 27 time Formula 1 champion. The thing that set Prince’s charity apart was he gave anonymously which does not equate with using it for his own pleasure he wanted a better world .

——————————
Well, i’ve been told by musical-types that he was indeed
very special, maybe even a musical ‘genius’, so I grant you that.

But like i said, I’m a curmudgeon on the pop-culture thing,
and i put Baez in my own personal Cultural-Pantheon, and Prince
and Bowie aint in wv’s personal Pantheon.

w
v

April 28, 2016 at 2:33 am #42747

Eternal Ramnation
Participant

I’m a guitar player WV. and Prince was my neighbor about 4 or 5 miles away but I respect a guy’s right to their own personal Pantheon. I will search high and low for Prince covering a Baez tune .

April 28, 2016 at 11:25 am #42755

wv
Participant

Eternal Ramnation wrote:

I’m a guitar player WV. and Prince was my neighbor about 4 or 5 miles away but I respect a guy’s right to their own personal Pantheon. I will search high and low for Prince covering a Baez tune .

For me this all comes down to my view of ‘the situation’. Ya know.
Seems to me, scientists are telling us, quite clearly, that the Air, Water, and Soil all earth-life depends on, are being poisoned. Scientists have
clear and convincing evidence on that. Now, what scientists in general hardly EVER say is who is doing all that poisoning. They won’t come out
and say its the mega-captitalist-corpse. They won’t go there. Coz that aint ‘science’ to them.

At any rate, if you think the way i do — and you think that ‘the situation’ and trajectory is downright biosphere-threatening (for the first time in history) — then, you sometimes become a curmudgeon 🙂
And any artist that is just doing the “personal expression” thing, or the “musical genius” thing, or “lets just party” thing, annoys me.

I expect more from them. Same with intellectuals. I expect them to
sound the alarm. Ya know. Thus, for me, the “activist song-writers” get in the Pantheon, despite their limited musical gifts,
and the musically-gifted but oblivious artists, get my scorn.

Same goes for sports btw. I’m ‘still’ vexed that athletes
aren’t more political…I mean the “redskins”?! Are you kidding me?..blah blah blah….wv gets more grouchy every
year 🙂

w
v

April 30, 2016 at 4:23 pm #43018

Mackeyser
Moderator

My mom turns out with acquainted with one of his relatives and my best friend and I have been huge fans of his since his first album.

Actually, he introduced me to Prince with that first album, Dirty Mind with him in that trench coat and bikini briefs (and nothing else) which I gave him NO END of grief about and I introduced him to RAP which he gave me NO END of grief about.

I ended up being a massive Prince fan and he ended up being a massive RAP fan.

He went to Prince’s club in LA and actually met Prince a few times. He’s putting together a compilation of his music right now and considering he went to school to be an audio engineer and has mad editing skills and a phenomenal ear, I’d wager this compilation will be better than anything that comes out from the studios…

You’re right about him being a genius… Eric Clapton had never really heard of him and tells the story of being strung out and wrung out and being taken to see Purple Rain. He was so amazed by Prince that he wrote one of his more famous songs immediately after he got back to his hotel just based on seeing that movie. Holy Mother, I think is the song….

Sports is the crucible of human virtue. The distillate remains are human vice.

May 1, 2016 at 8:56 pm #43241

TSRF
Participant

WV.

I admit I know Bowie’s music much better than Prince’s.

Bowie had several protest songs. “Repetition” about wife beating; “Valentine’s Day” about school shooters, “Heroes” about Communism, etc. I’m sure Price has many too.

However, you can’t just judge Bowie or Prince on their songs. You need to look at how they both broke down so many social barriers. They both spoke to the outsiders who felt alienated and strange.

Listen or read the lyrics to Bowie’s “Rock and Roll Suicide”. This gave a voice and a feeling of community to unknown numbers of outcasts throughout the world.

Prince was on the same vibe, I’m sure.

I honestly believe this world is a better place because they were both here. For instance, I don’t think we’d have marriage equality without them. Both are very high in my Pantheon.

May 3, 2016 at 1:08 pm #43340
wv
Participant
TSRF wrote:

WV.

I admit I know Bowie’s music much better than Prince’s.

Bowie had several protest songs. “Repetition” about wife beating; “Valentine’s Day” about school shooters, “Heroes” about Communism, etc. I’m sure Price has many too.

However, you can’t just judge Bowie or Prince on their songs. You need to look at how they both broke down so many social barriers. They both spoke to the outsiders who felt alienated and strange.

Listen or read the lyrics to Bowie’s “Rock and Roll Suicide”. This gave a voice and a feeling of community to unknown numbers of outcasts throughout the world.

Prince was on the same vibe, I’m sure.

I honestly believe this world is a better place because they were both here. For instance, I don’t think we’d have marriage equality without them. Both are very high in my Pantheon.

=============================

Nah, not buy’in what yer sellin T. (i have this conversation every week with some of my LGBT friends, btw)

You cant throw a rock without hitting artists who
sing/paint/write about ‘outsiders’ or Identity Politix issues.
— wv curmudgeon gives no credit for that stuff.

wv curmudgeon only gives credit for themz-arteests who are pointing
out how and why the entire house is on fire. It aint that hard
to figure out who started the fire and why. So, why dont they sing about it?

Frankly, to be totally honest about the level of my curmudgeon-ness, I can tell you that every time i hear a story on NPR about ‘trans-gender this or that’ or ‘LGBT this or that’ I just let an expletive fly and i turn off the radio. The house is on fire and the corporate-media is patting amerika on the back for being so progressive about who can go in what bathroom.

House…is…on…fire. How bout we notice it….and give the arsonist a name — Corporate-Power.

w
v
- This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by wv.
May 3, 2016 at 2:28 pm #43344
bnw
Blocked
wv wrote:

I can tell you that every time i hear a story on NPR about ‘trans-gender this or that’ or ‘LGBT this or that’ I just let an expletive fly and i turn off the radio. The house is on fire and the corporate-media is patting amerika on the back for being so progressive about who can go in what bathroom.

House…is…on…fire. How bout we notice it….and give the arsonist a name — Corporate-Power.

w
v

I do the same thing with NPR. News that matters isn’t discussed. Only the divisive social stuff that distracts people from the issues that really matter. Remember when it was supposed to be commercial free?

Carlin sums it up well.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by bnw.
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