Thriller vs. Purple Rain

[stip]

i know little, if anything, of his output since then

[Lament]

Ok. I'll try to tailor it around stuff that isn't on either that compilation or Purple Rain (assuming you're pretty familiar with all of those songs...if not I'll integrate a few).

[VinylGuy]

Oh, i adore Musicology...it felt like he was in focus again after a long time.

[bada]

You honestly think Prince and MJ didn't compare these two albums themselves?

[YouTube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9ZN9nKQqe0&noredirect=1[/YouTube]

(I have no idea why that link isn't working, but straight from the man's mouth...)

Spoiler: show

bullshit

[Lament]

Do you think Miles Davis compared his records to Elvis Presley's?

[nyquillyn]

Lament already explained this, but basically Prince is one of the best musicians ever, while MJ was a pop entertainer.

[bada]

I know you really love the guy but they are just pop records the same as MJ. The Beatles and the Stones, Star Trek and Star Wars, Prince and MJ. There are just as many differences than similarities but they are forever linked in pop culture. I don't care if MJ was picking out new noses while other wrote his songs or if Prince was composing songs while swimming naked across Lake Minnetonka in December.

[Strat]

I played on old Music Video props/sets outside of Paisley Palace one night. That was exciting.

[Lament]

It really doesn't matter whether or not you care about the differences. You said there's no way Prince didn't compare Purple Rain to Thriller. You're not Prince. Every single thing anyone has ever said or written about Prince backs up the idea that he viewed himself as being a part of the lineage that stemmed from all-encompassing artists like Miles Davis, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, etc. There's no way he thought of Michael Jackson as being in the same universe as him, so I don't believe for a second that he ever wondered how Purple Rain stacked up against Thriller. For him to say he drew his comparisons and inspiration from the greats that preceded him and dismiss pretty much all of his contemporaries, well, that pretty much falls perfectly into line with the idea that he's an egomaniac who feels very few artists have ever existed on the same creative plane as him. So there's nothing "bullshit" about it.

[bada]

Well Ok I'm not Prince so I don't know and you aren't Prince but you know. Fair enough.

[bada]

Or maybe you are Prince in which case I really love your music man.

[stip]

Man, my Billy Corgan/Prince pairing was so inspired and so under appreciated by everyone who isn't Lament

Still, I'm with Bada. These are two artists from broadly similar genres (they are certainly closer together than, say, Michael Jackson and The Talking Heads or Prince and Bon Jovi) who probably had a lot of overlap amongst their big fans. They are two of the seminal albums from that period. Whether or not these are the best albums from either artist they are each probably the ones most identified with those artists. Maybe Off the Wall is better (I don't think I agree but fine), but Thriller is THE Michael Jackson album and as Lament said, Purple Rain is a semi-autobiographical statement of what makes Prince Prince. This is hardly a stupid or left field comparison.

[bada]

I think I like Madonna better than both of them.

[stip]

how much madonna do you think will be drafted in the 80s tournament?

[Lament]

Well Ok I'm not Prince so I don't know and you aren't Prince but you know. Fair enough.

No, I'm not Prince. I don't know. But you know who is Prince?



He is.

[stip]

no. he's not. There's that vaguely confusing moment where Chris Rock refers to him as such, but was apparently mistaken

[bada]

Chris Rock was trying to get him to talk about the MJ rivalry and he wouldn't bite. That's all I got out of that.

[Lament]

Chris Rock was trying to get him to talk about the MJ rivalry and he wouldn't bite. That's all I got out of that.

That's weird. Because he pretty explicitly said that he didn't compare himself to or draw inspiration from any of his contemporaries.

I'd love to hear why you think Prince had a rivalry with MJ. MJ no doubt reacted to Prince's career moves, but there is not a single career move Prince ever made that was in response to MJ. If there was such a "rivalry" then why is there absolutely nothing similar between their two career paths other than the fact that Purple Rain was a phenomenon at roughly the same period?

The Beatles and The Monkees were popular at the same time and no doubt shared a lot of the same fans. Does that mean the Beatles were rivals with the Monkees?

[stip]

I took that the same way, but even if Prince really never compared himself to THE dominant artist of his era, the comparison is still totally legit

[bada]

I think Prince is human.