TMZ: PRINCE DEAD AT 57

[justice98]

There's probably four or five albums worth of music as good as Purple Rain or Sign O The Times sitting in his vault at Paisley Park so we will probably never be without new Prince music.

But the thing about him was that - like Bowie - it seemed possible that he would drop one more mind-blowing single or album at any point in his life. It never felt like he was in "oldies" limbo, where he could just perform his classic hits for the rest of his life and that would be that.

(Though God knows he has more "classic hits" than just about everyone; two of the local stations here did Prince marathons yesterday as I was driving around for 2 hours, and the number of absolutely perfect songs is staggering).

The thing about Prince was, like you say, he was so prolific. I used to think almost too prolific sometimes, cuz he'd go albums at a time making, I'm gonna say it, garbage. And I'm a huge fan, but I assumed he recorded thousands of songs, but I'm kinda afraid of what's gonna get put out. When you've released upwards of 40-50 proper albums, you've probably got a lot of duds that didn't make the cut and finding the gold can be like a needle in a haystack.

On an unrelated note, sitting around with some folks at the job and the younger folks didn't seem to have much to say about Prince. Then the one guy said "he wasn't really in our generation". I forgot some of these young people are in their 20s and weren't even born when most of the hits and great songs/albums came out.

[Sticksboi05]

On an unrelated note, sitting around with some folks at the job and the younger folks didn't seem to have much to say about Prince. Then the one guy said "he wasn't really in our generation". I forgot some of these young people are in their 20s and weren't even born when most of the hits and great songs/albums came out.

 

Meh I think this is always overstated. Musical giants maintain their stature and their music gets passed on. Hence why tons of people in their 20s / 30s listen to classic rock. The Beatles are outperforming Ariana Grande on Spotify right now.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Meh I think this is always overstated. Musical giants maintain their stature and their music gets passed on. Hence why tons of people in their 20s / 30s listen to classic rock. The Beatles are outperforming Ariana Grande on Spotify right now.

 

But she is dominating them in the social media game. And looks. 

[The Evil Genius]

This is pretty cool.

 

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3553554/A-purple-relaxation-room-huge-recording-studio-dance-rehearsal-space-Inside-10million-Paisley-Park-estate-Prince-spent-years-producing-hit-songs.html

 

 

A purple relaxation room, huge recording studio and dance rehearsal space: Inside the $10million Paisley Park estate where Prince spent years producing hit songs
 

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

On an unrelated note, sitting around with some folks at the job and the younger folks didn't seem to have much to say about Prince. Then the one guy said "he wasn't really in our generation". I forgot some of these young people are in their 20s and weren't even born when most of the hits and great songs/albums came out.

 

I don't buy this. I was born in '73 - the year Ziggy Stardust came out. By the time I was eleven, Bowie was essentially finished as a major cultural force. But Bowie dying this year still impacted me, because the guy made 20 of the greatest rock songs ever made.

 

If you knew music, you knew Prince.

 

I do find it kind of weird to be living in an era without seemingly any unifying cultural forces though. What people in their 20s may be experiencing is a rejection of the idea that one person could actually be at the center of the culture in any meaningful way. I mean, at his height, everybody liked Prince. My dad liked "Little Red Corvette" because it was an absolutely perfect rock and roll song. My mom liked Kiss. Julia Roberts became famous in part because she sang Kiss - which is a song pretty much every single person on the planet knew and liked.

 

I think we have a few more of these left, and then - frankly - we're done. The remaining Beatles. The remaining Stones. Springsteen. Madonna. Maybe Bono, I suppose, though I don't think people don't know how to feel about Bono. Dylan will be feted clearly, but he so forcibly rejected being a unifying symbol that it's going to be hard to treat him like one.

 

In the current scene, I think we have Beyoncé, Adele, and Taylor Swift as the only things even remotely approaching "the mono-culture."

[Dan T.]

I think we have a few more of these left, and then - frankly - we're done.

 

In the current scene, I think we have Beyoncé, Adele, and Taylor Swift as the only things even remotely approaching "the mono-culture."

I blame the Internet and, to a lesser degree, cable television. There is so much less opportunity for mass shared cultural experiences. Culture has become increasingly Balkanized.

[The 12th Commandment]

I don't know that that's bad.  It's a reflection of how much easier it is to find what you like as a fan in an uber-connected world.  Competition via ease with which artists can get their music out to fans now, as opposed to corporately propped up mega star icons of the past, is good for diversity and good for those who appreciate music.  Everyone can find their niche.  It's not good for producing cultural icons.  The record companies are a shell of what they were in the 80's.

 

Somehow I think Prince would be happy with that.  RIP

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I blame the Internet and, to a lesser degree, cable television. There is so much less opportunity for mass shared cultural experiences. Culture has become increasingly Balkanized.

 

What's really weird now is that it's increasingly difficult to even figure out how to consume culture. My folks are actually reasonably hip for 70 year olds. And my dad loves HBO On Demand. But it's difficult to explain Amazon Prime or Netflix to him.

 

And even those two things feel almost "old" at this point.

[Dan T.]

I don't know that that's bad.  It's a reflection of how much easier it is to find what you like as a fan in an uber-connected world.  Competition via ease with which artists can get their music out to fans now, as opposed to corporately propped up mega star icons of the past, is good for diversity and good for those who appreciate music.  Everyone can find their niche.  It's not good for producing cultural icons.  The record companies are a shell of what they were in the 80's.

 

Somehow I think Prince would be happy with that.  RIP

Don't entirely disagree. But we do miss something with the lack of shared cultural experiences.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I don't know that that's bad.  It's a reflection of how much easier it is to find what you like as a fan in an uber-connected world.  Competition via ease with which artists can get their music out to fans now, as opposed to corporately propped up mega star icons of the past, is good for diversity and good for those who appreciate music.  Everyone can find their niche.  It's not good for producing cultural icons.  The record companies are a shell of what they were in the 80's.

 

Somehow I think Prince would be happy with that.  RIP

 

I mean, it's okay if you are happy having a middle class existence selling product to 50,000 devoted fans.

 

I do feel like record companies - even indie labels - served a purpose though of basically cutting off some of these folks at the pass.

 

I'm not the type of person that believes everyone with a guitar and a dream SHOULD be heard.

 

Prince's battles with record labels were the kind of thing that you could only do if you were Prince.

[Dan T.]

What's really weird now is that it's increasingly difficult to even figure out how to consume culture. My folks are actually reasonably hip for 70 year olds. And my dad loves HBO On Demand. But it's difficult to explain Amazon Prime or Netflix to him.

 

And even those two things feel almost "old" at this point.

I have a certain emptiness to buying music. You buy a data file. The tactile experience of opening an album is gone. The visual experience of album covers and liner notes - gone. Even the novelty of CDs was kind of cool for awhile, even though the artwork was shrunk. I am old.

[The 12th Commandment]

No question about that.  There's no wizard(s) behind the curtain of the recording industry like there used to be and cultural unity suffers some.

 

I imagine a Larry David lookalike making all the choices that affected popular culture in the past.  Mistakenly dismissing hundreds of acts that might have been yuge if given the chance, only because they got their dry cleaning mixed up.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I have a certain emptiness to buying music. You buy a data file. The tactile experience of opening an album is gone. The visual experience of album covers and liner notes - gone. Even the novelty of CDs was kind of cool for awhile, even though the artwork was shrunk. I am old.

 

I used to have 1000 CDs. I now have about 50. I converted everything and sold them when you could still get a few bucks for them at used CD shops. And it does feel weirdly empty.

 

Whenever I used to go into someone's house for the first time, I would study their CDs and books and quietly judge them.

 

How do you do that now?

No question about that.  There's no wizard(s) behind the curtain of the recording industry like there used to be and cultural unity suffers some.

 

I imagine a Larry David lookalike making all the choices that affected popular culture in the past.  Mistakenly dismissing hundreds of acts that might have been yuge if given the chance, only because they got their dry cleaning mixed up.

 

Eh....someone decided to give David Bowie five years of failure to figure out that he needed to be an alien and then greenlit that idea as well.

 

Aside from the ridiculous contracts in the old days, I don't feel like record labels were these miserable places run by old men who only liked Nat King Cole. Like...whatever process they used worked unless you feel like there was band better than The Beatles that was never signed.

[SoulSkin]

Saw this posted on another forum. First live performance of Purple Rain, a lot of which made it on to the album track. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I thought it was pretty cool. 

 

https://www.facebook.com/FarrelltronGraphics/videos/1036358926388042/

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

There is no way to talk about the song "Head" without getting banned.

 

Edited post

[China]

NSFW language:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhcParuzpc

[justice98]

I don't buy this. I was born in '73 - the year Ziggy Stardust came out. By the time I was eleven, Bowie was essentially finished as a major cultural force. But Bowie dying this year still impacted me, because the guy made 20 of the greatest rock songs ever made.

If you knew music, you knew Prince.

I do find it kind of weird to be living in an era without seemingly any unifying cultural forces though. What people in their 20s may be experiencing is a rejection of the idea that one person could actually be at the center of the culture in any meaningful way. I mean, at his height, everybody liked Prince. My dad liked "Little Red Corvette" because it was an absolutely perfect rock and roll song. My mom liked Kiss. Julia Roberts became famous in part because she sang Kiss - which is a song pretty much every single person on the planet knew and liked.

I think we have a few more of these left, and then - frankly - we're done. The remaining Beatles. The remaining Stones. Springsteen. Madonna. Maybe Bono, I suppose, though I don't think people don't know how to feel about Bono. Dylan will be feted clearly, but he so forcibly rejected being a unifying symbol that it's going to be hard to treat him like one.

In the current scene, I think we have Beyoncé, Adele, and Taylor Swift as the only things even remotely approaching "the mono-culture."

Well, I dispute your premise that Bowie was done as a cultural force, given the biggest hit of his career was Let's Dance and that was the early-mid 80s. But that's neither here nor there.

But I'm not saying what I think, this is what I'm hearing from the mouths of people of that 18 to 28-30 demo. They dont revere Controversy, Purple Rain, the personality and influence,.the whole nine yards and the totality of his career.

There's a difference between knowing the songs and being connected to the music. Sure, young people may know some of the big hits like 1999 or When Doves Cry or whatever, but it doesn't really MEAN anything to them. They're not emotionally connected to Prince. They just aren't.

I think the people you mentioned of today like Beyonce, Adele, and Taylor Swift are just so early in their careers and give them 30 years and let's see where they are. I mean, Taylor Swift's a baby. It's like talking about Prince in 1982 or something.

[Renegade7]

I'm sad that Prince is dead, as are a lot of people my age. 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mtv-announces-return-music-day-235403618.html

[NoCalMike]

Yeah I was born in 1980, so during that first decade where he really made his imprint and blew up and was an iconic force I was way too young to know about him.  My earliest memory of Prince funny enough was my dad talking about how great a talent he was while watching him perform live.

 

My dad for all his faults was a consumer of culture. I remember growing up as a very young child hearing my dad's surf/rockabilly records, BB King, Muddy Waters, but then also stuff like Prince, George Clinton and then your mainstream classic rock as well.  I think unlike a lot of my peers at the time (talking 90's once I hit middle school and high school) it was ingrained in me to enjoy and appreciate culture across the board and not to be ashamed or afraid to say you like what you like.  Grade school was so much about cliques back in that era.  You either had to be a skater dude grunge guy or Rap/R&B listener.  It was one of the main things that identified what clique and group of friends you could hang with.  It sucked for me as I constantly just mingled and floated in between groups because I loved all the music.

 

I think one thing the internet era has done is that it has made music so accessible that people can be exposed to so much of it so quickly that you have a lot more people just simply liking what they like now instead of feeling the need to be a in a narrow clique.

[skinsmarydu]

You either had to be a skater dude grunge guy or Rap/R&B listener.  It was one of the main things that identified what clique and group of friends you could hang with.  It sucked for me as I constantly just mingled and floated in between groups because I loved all the music.

 

I think one thing the internet era has done is that it has made music so accessible that people can be exposed to so much of it so quickly that you have a lot more people just simply liking what they like now instead of feeling the need to be a in a narrow clique.

Good point.

I, too, was "out there". My mom made me wear dresses & business suits in HS, but I was a concert choir singer who hung out with metalheads, because I am one.

I sang Handel's "Kyrie" in Westminster Abbey, and have Yngwie as my avatar. Different, but not "worlds apart" in the classical genre.

[Springfield]

"I'm so sad about the death of Prince, he was a true genius, and a huge inspiration for me, in a very real way....

In the the eighties, I was out on the road in a massive downward spiral with drink and drugs, I saw Purple Rain in a cinema in Canada, I had no idea who he was, it was like a bolt of lightning!...

In the middle of my depression, and the dreadful state of the music culture at that time it gave me hope, he was like a light in the darkness...

I went back to my hotel, and surrounded by empty beer cans, wrote Holy Mother....

I can't believe he's gone...."

-Eric Clapton

[Sticksboi05]

Well, I dispute your premise that Bowie was done as a cultural force, given the biggest hit of his career was Let's Dance and that was the early-mid 80s. But that's neither here nor there.

But I'm not saying what I think, this is what I'm hearing from the mouths of people of that 18 to 28-30 demo. They dont revere Controversy, Purple Rain, the personality and influence,.the whole nine yards and the totality of his career.

There's a difference between knowing the songs and being connected to the music. Sure, young people may know some of the big hits like 1999 or When Doves Cry or whatever, but it doesn't really MEAN anything to them. They're not emotionally connected to Prince. They just aren't.

 

Millions of people connect with music they weren't alive for. If the subject matter fits what they are going through, that's really all that matters. I was just at the bar last night and Let's Go Crazy came on, everyone was going wild. Nobody there was over 30. Now does it "bring them back to that happy place" like if my dad hears a Beatles song? No. But Prince transcends generations. As do most major pop stars.

 

I'd add Justin Timberlake to the list of mega stars that are universally liked. Between his solo career and being in one of the biggest boy bands of all-time, he's right up there with T-Swift and Adele.

[The Sisko]

People weep for artists they didn't know personally because those artists helped them know themselves.

Prince was brilliant. He had pop hits, but he also had amazing deep album tracks that, sadly, a lot of people haven't heard before...

...I saw Prince in Atlanta twice. Once at the Coca Cola Amphitheatre. It was a great show. He played all his hits to a crowd of teens to 40 year old parents.

But I also saw him at the Limelight in Buckhead. He went on stage around 1230 and played past 3. It was the greatest "concert" Ive ever attended. He played song after song from the deepest parts of his discography and added in everything imagineable from Chuck Brown to Lou Reed to The Who. He ended that show with a 20+ minute rendition of Purple Rain that would have made you cry.

Eric Clapton was once asked what it was like to be the greatest guitar player of all time. He responded " I wouldn't know. Ask Prince".

Damn Im sad today.

For the longest time, Prince put out albums that I could be almost 100% certain that I could listen to from start to finish and love or like every track on it. He'd then release b-sides with his singles that were every bit as good as the stuff on the album. I agree that some of his best work on those albums never made the radio.

My last Prince "concert" before leaving DC was one of my favorites. He played a small hole in the wall joint in SW I think it was. The reason for the quotes is that it was more of a party than a concert. There were only maybe 300 people there, no seating and everyone was dancing. I lost my date for a while but no worries, I just got down with this big girl next to me who could really dance her ass off. Later, she was replaced by a guy and I gladly danced with him. Who cared? Prince was jamming out onstage maybe 15-20 feet away and not dancing wasn't an option.

I always thought that was one of the coolest things about him, that he more often chose to play in small intimate venues when he could've easily filled large ones.

[aREDSKIN]

Really sad if this is accurate.

 

 

Prince's former drug dealer tells how the legend spent $40,000 at a time on six-month supplies of Dilaudid pills and Fentanyl patches - highly addictive opioid pain killers - for 25 years

Read more:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html#ixzz46h6GVqsx
 

 

 

Fentanyl-

 

"Fentanyl is approximately 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and roughly 40 to 50 times more potent than pharmaceutical grade (100% pure) heroin"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html