Pick On Someone Your Own Size
Published October 01, 2002
Prince channeled a fair amount of his quirky mystique into the careers of a
collage of proteges: The Time ("Jungle Love," "The Bird"), Vanity 6 ("Nasty Girl"), Apollonia 6 ("Sex Shooter"), Sheila E ("The Glamorous Life," "A Love Bizarre") and Sheena Easton ("Sugar Walls") as well as members of his own bands the Revolution (Wendy and Lisa) and the New Power Generation. For a period of time in the mid-80s, the Artist and his clan challenged Michael Jackson and Madonna for supremacy over the pop world.
Prince has made his mark with over fifty pop and R&B chart appearances, including five No. 1 singles ("When Doves Cry," "Kiss," "Let's Go Crazy," "Batdance," "Cream"), five singles in the Top 5 ("Most Beautiful Girl In The World," "Sign 'O' the Times," "Raspberry Beret," "U Got The Look," "Purple Rain"), three No. 1 albums (Purple Rain, Around the World In a Day, Batman), in addition to the hugely successful film, Purple Rain.
On June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, the Prince Rogers Nelson graced the world with his royal presence. The young Prince (named after his father's jazz combo, the "Prince Rogers Trio") was deeply affected by his parent's marital strife and subsequent family instability. After graduating from Central High School on his 18th birthday, Prince continued with his job at Moon Sound Studio, where mentor Chris Moon instructed the young Prince in production and Prince helped Moon write songs in a 50/50 split.
After the pair had no luck securing a deal, Moon contacted local ad man Owen
Husney, who agreed to manage Prince, provided him with a small allowance,
his first synth, and advised him to drop his last name. Husney's past relationship
with Warner Brothers V.P. Russ Thyret would prove pivotal to Prince's signing. Husney's belief in Prince's talent was so strong that he insisted the young star
be allowed to produce, write and play all instruments on his albums with Warner
Brothers.
After passing a "studio test" with producers Gary Katz, Russ Titelman, and Ted Templeman, Prince signed a six-figure contract - one of the largest ever for a new artist.
Prince's debut album, For You, sold 150,000 copies and received a modicum of critical praise. "Soft And Wet/So Blue," the first single from For You, sold 350,000 copies and reached No. 12 on the R&B chart. Prince's third album, Dirty Mind, basically another one man show, started to make inroads with the pop audience, but didn't have a strong single and was a step back commercially from his second album, Prince. "When You Were Mine" is the surprise of the album - a punchy, melodic new wave tune that could have come from the Police (and they would have been happy to have it).
Dirty Mind was the artistic bridge between the Prince of the past and the one who became a superstar. Prince began to gain a reputation as a highly charismatic, if over the top, performer: he stalked the stage in bikini briefs and high heeled boots, simulating sex with his guitar and various band members. This behavior raised eyebrows and inspired his next album title.
- Pick On Someone Your Own Size
- Published: October 01, 2002
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: News, Music: Pop, Music: Hip-hop, Music: Rock
- Writer: Eric Olsen
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Good point, Chris, thanks.
And this after Island Records sued Negativland into the ground 'on behalf' of U2, based on Negativland's use of mateiral related to that bunch of Irish 'rockers'. Another duality.
interesting... might also find this interesting as well... thanks...
Thanks Matthew (?), looks very interesting indeed, will follow up.
No, just a visitor of his site. Matthew also linked to this site yesterday too (but for some reason the links and quote are no longer there.)
Prince: "Regardless of industry spin, eye love my fams and thank them 4 ALL their support, even the bootleggers! Peace and Love Christ." - Prince, 6/8/00
Also listed temporarily here:
(In prince's own words on page 6 of the liner notes of his official 5cd "Crystal Ball" boxset)
"9. Movie Star - D'Angelo's favorite bootleg. His love 4 this track inspired its inclusion..."
Prince has an interesting way of expressing to his fans how he feels about bootlegging. From accepting it in interviews & liner notes, to sueing one of the folks that bought the 5CD set simply because of what was mentioned in the article above. Not exactly what they teach in business school. Is the lawsuit just a way to drum up publicity for Prince's own upcoming 3CD live album coming out this fall? Seems like a pretty cheap way of getting it in the short run, but quite expensive in the long run based on just a few of the responses here.
As posted here by Prince on his official website less than 2 months ago:
What is 4 sure, however, is that, in spite of its many claims 2 the contrary, the recording industry has yet 2 provide evidence that P2P is actually detrimental 2 music making as an artistic endeavor, and even as a commercial venture. It is worth remembering, 4 xample, that sales of music CDs actually increased when Napster was at its peak, and declined after Napster was abruptly shut down. Even economists who thought that file sharing "should b" hurting the recording industry r now xpressing their doubts, based on what they say is simply not happening.
More importantly, many well-respected artists have sided with Internet users against corporate greed and actually use the Internet 2 promote alternative ways 2 distribute their music and reach out 2 a non-captive, legitimate audience of authentic music lovers.
This does not mean, of course, that all 4ms of file sharing r equally innocuous. There is little doubt that, when people use the Internet as a substitute 4 radio, i.e. as a way 2 discover new music, it can help promote the work of artists. But when a young junior high school student downloads tracks off the Internet and makes CD-R copies of them that he then sells 4 $5 in the schoolyard, it hurts sales of the original CD and it's disrespectful of the artist - regardless of how small a cut of the actual CD price the artist actually gets after all the xecutives and the middlemen in the recording industry have taken their piece of the pie.
Still, can we really go as far as 2 say that digital technology is creating a "nation of thieves" who no longer recognize the just value of art?
Contradiction anyone?
Hi,
Just read your dialog regardingPrince copyright issue. I have just been suspended from eBay for 1 year for selling an official Prince DVD which is available on many online shops like amazon, hmv etc... as well as retail shops. Obviously these people who are in charge of that holy mission are targeting independent music sellers who can not fight back easily. I make my living on Ebay and the only way i could resume is for Prince's people to withdraw their complaint which i guess not going to happen. The DVD Prince Glory Years has even an authentic EAN number but these things do not mean anything unless you are HMV or some other big company that can defend itself. They do not even bother to provide a contact to discuss the subject with. Do you have any idea what i can do about this? Best Regards...
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What's interesting is it seems like artists whose careers are in decline are the only ones upset by all this new fangled internet music sharing. Run "U2 Live" through a Google search and you find a ton of sites offering "pirated" CD's or downloads. Heck, one site even has almost every U2 show ever done available for download.