Cuba Ambrożewski Prince – the premature death of the hero – Virtual Poland

If you farewell for us three months ago, David Bowie was a visitor from another planet, the Prince certainly seemed to be someone on the shape of the Greek hero, the demigod of immeasurable forces vital and inexhaustible creativity. Both were equally unreal, elusive and separately – writes Cuba Ambrożewski for WP.
 

From comparisons difficult to escape. After all, we are talking about two artists, who had perhaps the greatest influence on the course of pop music since the dissolution of The Beatles. Bowie’s death on January 10 of this year shocked the entire pop culture. Showered tributes. One of them had just come from Prince, who on March 25 during a concert in Toronto surprised his fans unusual rendition of “Heroes” from the repertoire of British.

Listen 20 greatest hits Prince radio Top 20 Prince FM Open
 

They go najprawdziwsi aristocrats music. Bowie, who won the “Lean White Duke” gave himself, but deserved the noble honor like no other and the Prince, who was born Prince – that’s what gave him the name of his father, unfulfilled jazz musician dreaming of a great career of his son.
 

Arrogant midget with a mustache
 

America recognized him as arrogant midget with a mustache. In January 1980, Prince appeared on “American Bandstand” program, the legendary Dick Clark, American television institution. Although he was 21 years old, he lied, he is still a teenager. “How many instruments do you play, because I heard that many?” – He asked Clark what Prince after several seconds of silence replied: “on thousands.” The journalist admitted afterwards that this was probably the toughest interview of his career. But the Prince has always ignored the expectations of his people and spoke simply music, wild stage charisma and incredible workshop. Both then exploded behind the microphone during performances, “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?”, And for the next 36 years really extraordinary career.
 

He entered the stage in a peculiar moment. Disco and funk, which was inspired by the hardest in his early career, at the threshold of the 80s began to fade. Music industry entered the era of the music video, playing the image, overwhelmed by the great technological progress. Prince was in all this a separate phenomenon, a combination of total stage “animal”, expressive frontman zafiksowanego to the point of sexual ambiguity of striving for perfection genius who easily ran technique of playing any instrument, composes songs wildly original and brilliant musically, completely controls the production process recordings. Even if the early 80s Prince is not yet marked the trends, and more behind them, he did it always with the quality spacer competition. Fluent mastered the language of the new wave (the album “Dirty Mind”), and in the era of MTV entered with a fresh, modernist sound (the album “1999″) and became a real star.
 

What is hard to believe, it remained on a rising tide. In 1984, he takes over the baton of Michael Jackson’s hottest pop artist on Earth. His project “Purple Rain”, including ridiculously thrilling feature-length film starring Prince and the album containing the soundtrack, refers gigantic success and totally changes the rules of the game. Today, songs from the album are seen as standards for music, but it is worth remembering that the title track of “Purple Rain” is a nearly nine-minute ballad recorded only in a concert version, a big hit “When Doves Cry” is a truly avant-garde pop – Prince at the last minute removed from the track the entire path of bass, reducing sound songs towards the minimalist, mechanical rhythm, defining contemporary R & B tracks. “Purple Rain” filled with music that does not have at the dictation of the producers and studio heads, fully-author, eccentric and free. I think on this particular CD is the most Prince the way he remembered it: an artist with many different wrażliwościach. On the one hand – a mysterious, dangerous rock star, on the other – the creator of sensual, sophisticated ballads. Guitarist with skills dorównujących greatest virtuosos and vocalist with an impressive scale expression. The genius who invented it all himself, played and produced. Perhaps the most comprehensively talented figures in the history of popular music.
 

“Prince this time really screwed up”
 

“Purple Rain” changed not only the Prince. It changed also – and perhaps above all – the rest. Prince was not only a love interest, was a model, which modeled the entire industry. In the mid-80s hundreds of teams tried to copy his sound, and he, as usual, was a step further. “Kiss” in 1986 – another of his number one ranking in the “Billboard” – this is perhaps the best evidence of his visionary. Stewards Warner Bros. commented on the new production of Prince in a very vulgar words, it odsądzając of worship and faith. “Terrible piece” – said before the release of the song – “Prince this time really screwed up.” Fortunately for them, he dictated terms from the very beginning of his career.
 

In the second half of the 80s Prince beget disc unimaginable pace, a large part of them ending or not spending. He stood at the factory hits, also others. Girls group The Bangles received from his hit “Manic Monday”, the popular singer Martiki composed subtle “Love … Thy Will Be Done”, and written for the secondary formation of The Family song “Nothing Compares 2 U” version of Sinead O’Connor He became one of the biggest hits of the 90s Although speculation about their relationship closer, privately Prince and the Irish singer could not stand up, and during one of their meetings there was even a fight.
 

Over the years, Prince continued to play in the league of its own, although increasingly the league meant a completely different planet. In the 90s, still regularly he delivered hits like “Diamonds and Pearls” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, but constantly striving to invent anew (including a completely new pseudonym) is not always met with understanding of the market. He seemed albums with admirable tenacity, but critics increasingly shook on it himself, preferring often to make artists of the next generation, inspired by the classic works of Prince – good examples may be D’Angelo, Beck and Pharrell Williams. Through its uncompromising attitude to the internet and free music sharing on the network increasingly alienował from the younger generation of listeners, departing from traditional media. Radically he fought with YouTube, but one of the plates issued in the form of a supplement to the newspaper “Daily Mirror”. He could afford these quirks, he still gave phenomenal concerts, as we saw during the Open’er in Gdynia in 2011. Probably no one in the history of the main stage of the festival does not prevail over her so completely as when Prince.
 

In the last two years, he gave up four albums, toured constantly, was in motion. Typical Prince. It seemed that he was still somewhere in the middle of the road; that no force yet another few dozen plates; that inexhaustible energy could deal a whole generation of younger three decades. On the other hand, however, the artist leaves total, in the era of the stars a la talent show less and less understood. And also because he understood quite differently both “talent” and “show”.
 

Cuba Ambrożewski for the Virtual Polish
 

Cuba Ambrożewski – music journalist and music editor FM radio Open. The former editor-in-chief of Screenagers.pl and editor of the monthly “PULP”. Collaborated the Academic Campus Radio (broadcast “Maxisingiel”), “Machina” and Polish Radio Program III.