A Pre-Superbowl Prince Primer
Most everybody who knows me well knows that I've been a fan of Prince for pretty much my entire life. So when casual fans or non-fans hear that Prince is playing the halftime show at the Superbowl this year, they ask me, "What's up with that guy?" or "Is his name still a symbol?"
So I figured I'd put together a quick primer on Prince, at least what he's been up to since he was at his most prominent back in the 80s.
- Prince's name is Prince. Legally, it always has been, but he did go by the symbol (which is usually typed out as "O(+>") from 1993 until 2000. But his public name is now again the same as his legal name.
- Though he's not commercially or culturally dominant like he once used to be, Prince is not a has-been, either artistically or on the charts. His "3121" album last year debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts, and followed the success of his Musicology tour and album in 2004, which had a great run on the charts and grossed over $90 million dollars as the most lucrative tour of the year. And his single, "Song of the Heart" from the "Happy Feet" soundtrack won a Golden Globe for best original song just the other day.
- 3121 is also his most consistently interesting and listenable album in years, so if you have his greatest-hits box set with b-sides or the recent, excellent "Ultimate" collection, it's a good place to start. Oh, and buy "Sign O' The Times", if you don't have it. There's just no excuse not to.
- Overall, Prince has had dozens of top 10 singles, he's released over 20 albums with almost all of them going at least platinum, he's made 3 or 4 films with nearly 50% of them watchable, and even as he nears 50 years old there just aren't any live acts that are better than him. Maybe, now that he's slowed down a bit, somebody who's at their prime can be as good in concert as Prince. But since James is dead, nobody can beat him.
Since most of my readers are geeks who like technology, and care about issues ranging from DRM to artist's rights to the tyrrany of the RIAA, there's some other things that might appeal to you about Prince's career. A short list of highlights:
- Prince has distributed much of his own music independently since 1994, and his major label deals since then have largely been promotion-and-distribution deals where he retained ownership of his master recordings.
- Prince is the first artist not signed to a major label to perform during the Superbowl halftime show, not counting accessory marching bands and child choirs.
- He's had a continuous presence on the web since 1995, and last year won a Webby for his work online
- There are a number of really great prince fansites like prince.org, though Prince's control freak tendencies have resulted in a lot of stupid legal threats towards them
- Prince distributed an online-only album back in 1997 with the liner notes available as a website
- Prince published an interactive CD-ROM in 1994, and it didn't totally suck
- He has distributed several albums' worth of material exclusively online through his own music label (though much of it was DRMed) as well as a number of videos and some really bad poetry
- Prince's webmaster maintained a now-defunct blog, largely ghostwritten by Prince, starting back in 2000.
- Prince and some of his studio staff used to actually join in on AOL chat room discussions with fans as late as 1995, talking about recording work in progress
- His current official site, 3121, should have a song available for download today
There's a lot more trivia I can spout, and I love the man's work because it's funky, not because he's been a pioneer in digital distribution. But my geek friends are always surprised to find out that "that guy who wrote Kiss" is also seriously on the edge of technology and tech culture in many ways.
If you want a sneak peek at what he's going to be performing at the Superbowl this Sunday, ther are some great video clips from the CBS affiliate in Miami. Prince had told reporters he'd be answering some questions in a press conference, but played 3 songs for them instead. The station then staked out his rehearsal stage (shaped like the symbol!) with a helicopter and shot footage from the chopper. Judging by the lighting and choreography, since there's no sound, it looks like we'll see a medley of 5 or 6 songs, with Purple Rain thrown in towards the middle. There's a marching band, the Florida A&M University Marching 100, and if they actually release doves then he'll probably have to play "When Doves Cry". And Tipper Gore will have to apologize to us all for saying he was offensive, because Prince isn't offensive, he's cheesy.
I get excited about this stuff because I forget most people have never seen him play. (From a jaded reporter: "I've never been to a Prince press conference before, but after Thursday, I would recommend them to all my friends. In fact, I'd give it a 9 out of 10 because you can dance to it.") Anyway, I have a pretty exhaustive storehouse of otherwise-useless Prince knowledge, so feel free to ask any questions if you want in the comments.
Comments
And I was at that Grammy show a few years back when Prince and Bey were the opening act. Whatever it felt like on television, multiply the electricity and excitement by 1,000 and you'll come close to what it was like in person.
Prince is a great get for the Super Bowl.
-adam
Given this audience, he'll probably want to do more faithful/recognizable versions, so there may be some songs (like "Kiss") which he'll be doing relatively straight for the first time in ages.
At the time of the change, Prince had announced his "retirement" from recording, largely as a result of his dissatisfaction with his relationship with Warner Bros. Prince tends to speak very obliquely to his points, especially through his presence online, so the whole decision was presented as one of his "spiritual reawakenings" that he goes through every few years. This was amplified by the decision being influenced by/supported by Mayte Garcia, who would later be Prince's first wife.
Of course, this was as much a business decision as a spiritual one. Although it seems wildly naive on his part, he seems to have at least partially been of the sincere belief that changing his name would leave his contract binding only to his "old" name, which would let him service the terms of the contract with songs he'd already recorded.
The label was of course not pleased with getting old songs, especially when he was releasing new material that competed, and thus began the era of him writing "slave" on his face.
The symbol itself has been in Prince's work (album covers, videos, clothing) since at least 1982 or so, so Prince took it upon himself to present his renamed self as a "new" person. (Lyrics saying, "Prince is dead." etc.) Most of us who were fans then just saw it as another indulgence, since he's "retired" several times, has always used multiple names, and actually made some of his best recordings in that 1994-1995 timeframe.
By the time 1999 or 2000 rolled around, the consensus in the music biz was that his career was done, from a commercial standpoint. Having just revived Carlos Santana's moribund career, Clive Davis decided to partner with O(+> to do an album featuring pairings with artists that were current, and to spend a real budget on promotion of the record. Part of the promotion was that the record was "Produced by Prince", which was a tacit signal that Prince had realized which brand name he needed to focus on. Then Davis was kicked out of Arista, the record was unimpressive and the whole thing pretty much flopped.
Shortly after that, Prince announced that he was changing his name back to Prince since all contractual ties to his old work had been severed. Though his publishing agreements with Warner Bros had ended shortly before that point, he'd never said "I changed my name until I get my publishing rights back". So this was clearly another example of Prince's habit of retconning his impetuous decisions into whatever social/cultural/spiritual/financial/whimsical mindset he'd adopted most recently.
Still, it's pretty great to have one's own personal logo. For further googling, look up the alchemic symbol for soapstone.
I too am a huge fan. Another fun fact, he's from my home city of Minneapolis. I've seen him live many times in many small little venues plus I've gone to a couple of his garage sales over the years.
Now, I'll date myself... My mom bought me the "Purple Rain" movie on VHS for my 8th birthday. After she realized there was nudity, she took it back and hide it under her bed. Her attempt to censor what I saw. Since I knew it was under the bed, her attempt was obviously flawed...
Prince is a master.
Also: Joy! What's a Prince garage sale like???
Play That Funky Music
Star Spangled Banner
Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
Hey Joe
You may think I'm high saying this, but if:
1) the press conference was any clue and
2) when I saw him in January
Don't expect him to play much in the way of Prince songs. I could be wrong, but this is my hunch.
He's totally into completely shredding other works besides his own. This will be Prince's prime palace to show fat, ball-scratching america that he is the premiere funk-master guitar god that hasn't OD'd.
and btw, the twins are hot :)
Prince (23G, 16P, 7M)
Rush (23G, 14P, 3M)
Other similarities?
* both have had long, iconoclastic careers that they've been able to sustain thanks to a very devoted core fanbase
* both from very cold cities (Prince: Minneapolis, Rush: Toronto)
* Jimi Hendrix Experience was a major influence on both
* both reached their greatest popularity in the early/mid-80s
On 3121, Prince wasn't touring. He did focus on distribution through things like Starbucks, but it was straight-up legit sales that made the album debut at #1. Kind of makes it even more amazing. ;)
"In a unique deal with Nielsen SoundScan, every Musicology disc Prince gives away with a concert ticket is counted as a sold CD, helping him sustain a top 10 presence in Billboard. Since opening that door with the April 20 release of Musicology, SoundScan has rethought its policy and now requires acts to offer two-tiered pricing so consumers can opt for tickets with or without the bonus CD. But Prince has been grandfathered in, securing the remaining dates of a tour expected to draw 1.5 million concertgoers by mid-September. So far, it has grossed $37.3 million from 40 shows attended by 599,444 fans"