Prince, in my personal opinion, is the greatest pop star of all time. Why? -he writes his own stuff and his skills as a songwriter are unrivalled. -he can play every instrument and is a virtuouso guitar player - he has one of the greatest voices in all of pop music, he has incredible range. But to me, the real reason I love Prince is because he brings people together. White kids raised on rock n' roll and black kids raised on hip-hop and R&B could agree that Prince is the man! My best friend, who bagged on me forever about liking Prince, I managed to drag to a concert on the latest tour. When I realized that he had endured a Prince conversion experience, I asked him: "Who won the war between Prince and Michael "Pervert Who Should Move To Florida With The Rest of America's Sexual Predators" Jackson?" Prince, he emphatically answered. Right on! Controversy was my favorite Prince album. The new one, Musicology, is excellent as well. Bowie, I never really got into. I liked a few of his songs, but the vast body of his work (Tin Machine, etc) is just not my taste. He did do the best version I've ever heard of the Christmas carol "The Little Drummer Boy."
I bought the soundtrack just for those songs. Since then I've started listening to some Bowie and am really liking his stuff so far.
Now for some tougher trivia.... Name the third[/i] co-writer of "Fame" Using allmusic.com is considered cheating and will result in immediate.....nothing.
Prince is tied with the Stones for putting on the best and most entertaining concert I have ever been to. The man is a genius. Too bad he's such a freak. Then again, it took 20 years to prove that he was LESS of a freak than Michael.
I think Bowie is a great songwriter. Prince has got to be the most prolific songwriter. As far as Bowie goes, my favorite song is "Life on Mars." I don't really have a favorite Prince tune. Another bit o' trivia: Who played guitar on "Let's Dance"?
Stevie Ray Vaughn Manny - You got the essential Bowie if you pick up the ones that Freak mentioned. There is a Bowie collection that I have, called the Dream Anthology with all this really different Bowie stuff. I love it, but it may not be for everyone. He went through this phase where he wanted to be like Anthony Newley(sp?) and this stuff as a very strange almost child like quality to the music with lyrics that are sometimes like a children's story and sometimes like the story of Quadraphenia. Also if you like that kind of stuff and can find an album that has the studio version of When I'm Five, grab it. I love that song, but it is another in the same line of music on the Dream Anthology. It's all very British, not unlike The Kinks Village Green era stuff, but with a distinct Bowie sensibility. I like Prince ok. I recognize his talent, and like some of his songs a lot, most of them I like enough, but I've never bought any of his albums. It was enough listening to his stuff at friends houses, for me. So I don't really have any strong opinions on Prince.
Love Bowie. My favorites are "Moonage Daydream", "Life on Mars", "Ziggy Stardust", and "All the Young Dudes". I know I' am missing some more can't remember. Ziggy Stardust one of my all-time fave albums.
This is a messed-up, underrated album that was Bowie's first foray into rock: "Width of a Circle" is a tremendous song. A great LP with a nasty guitar sound. Mick Ronson was criminally underrated as an axe-man. In my senior honors English class in high school a few years back we were told to dissect the works of your favorite English author with a written report and creative presentation. So I got to write a David Bowie biography and perform acoustic versions of "Width Of a Circle," "Dead Man Walking," and "All the Young Dudes" in class. Good times, easy A+
Thanks for all the inputs, guys - it has helped. I have already decided to get "Aladdin Sane" and "Diamond Dogs" plus "Young Americans" (for "Fame" and the title track) and probably "Let's Dance". Right now, I am listening to "Ziggy Stardust" and like what I hear so far. I do have a question about Prince though: It has been said and I thought this was the case - that his '80s stuff was brilliant but what about his '90s stuff? Is it a waste of money to get albums by him that are from the '90s to the present?
I've always wondered about that too. Did he get sort of Zappa-esque in the 90s? Too many albums for his own good?
