Prince demonstrating his songwriting skills live on TV <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cgYEsfBuHoo?start=326" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lucky. I wish I went to one of his concerts. When Michael Jackson died, I felt very regretful that I did not get to see him perform live. I made it a point to see Prince perform live. There are a handful of artists that know how to put on a show and sing well. Prince was most definitely one of them. His Super Bowl performance was the best halftime performance the NFL has ever had.
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Well I guess now he's truly known as "The Artist Formally Known as Prince". too soon??? In all seriousness.. RIP
When Kevin Smith told his story years back about making a documentary for Prince he talked about Prince's producer telling him not to expect to ever see the footage he filmed. When he asked why, she told him that he had tons of work in a vault. She said she'd produced '50 music videos' - actual full blown productions - that no one would ever see because they were for songs that 'no one had ever heard'. I wonder if that vault gets opened up now...
Minds would be blown if the secret albums are some of the best country, rap, techno/house, jazz, folk, blues, reggae, reggaeton, ancient Asian music, etc. that mankind has ever heard. I think Prince can actually pull that off.
Prince, We won't stop. I promise you that <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T8qoTE5AULM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Many of the all-time greats are also recognized for being great live performers, Prince and Michael Jackson being two of them. No matter what anyone thinks of his music, you have to put Bruce Springsteen up there. A friend of mine who couldn't stand his voice went with me to the Bruce Springsteen show at the Cotton Bowl in 1985, and he said it was one of the best he'd ever been to. Same with The Who- watch their 9/11 concert sometime on YouTube. Or Queen- like at Live Aid, you've got all these legendary live bands and artists playing, and yet Queen absolutely steals the show. Some groups just take it to another level live. Prince is in my top 5 all-time in this respect.
<blockquote class="twitter-video" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/INSIDEtheNBA?src=hash">#INSIDEtheNBA</a> pays tribute & remembers PRINCE <a href="https://t.co/t4TjZkkz6b">https://t.co/t4TjZkkz6b</a></p>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/723406519291637762">April 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't know about that- but my point was that he was just a phenomenal live performer. Now, not everyone likes the grand gesture, larger-than-life performers. Some are much more into groups with a laid-back appeal, like Tom Petty or The Eagles or something like that. But Prince's appeal is in part because he's truly a grand-gesture artist and performer- as well as the fact that he wrote extremely catchy tunes- heck, even his minor hits like Girls & Boys, Sign of the Times, Get Off, and Controversy were classics. It is very hard to find an album as complete as Purple Rain- great beginning, great ending, not a bad or even mediocre song in the entire bunch. I think that will always be mentioned among the all-time greats (though Sign of the Times is a close 2nd).
For the person who said he was surprised at the reaction to Prince's death, not at all. There are some artists who inspired fanatical-type fans. Prince is one of them. You're going to see similar reactions when the following are no longer with us: Bob Dylan Paul McCartney Bruce Springsteen Elton John Madonna Stevie Wonder Billy Joel Probably several others who I've neglected to mention. But those above for sure.
Supremely talented artist. His music never resonated with me other than a few songs here and there, but he's without question one of the greatest entertainers and musicians of our time.
