Batdance - Prince - 1989

Prince

Batdance

Prince

Fonte: rockol.it

Nato il 7 giugno 1958 a Minneapolis, Prince Rogers Nelson cresce in una famiglia piena di problemi, con un padre musicista. Il piccolo Prince ne eredita l’orecchio musicale, imparando a suonare una notevole quantità di strumenti. A 13 anni è già leader di una 

band; a 16 lascia la casa dei genitori e va a vivere nella cantina di un amico. Un anno dopo, comincia a lavorare come session-man in uno studio di registrazione. A 19 anni convince la Warner Bros a fargli incidere un album del quale avrà il controllo pressoché completo: FOR 

YOU, da lui interamente suonato. Il disco successivo, grazie anche al singolo “I wanna be your lover”, lo fa conoscere anche in Europa. Con una media di un disco all’anno (a testimonianza di una creatività irrefrenabile), incide un paio di dischi “di assestamento” e fa 

da supporter ai Rolling Stones (ma viene sonoramente fischiato a Los Angeles), fino a quando non sfonda definitivamente la porta delle radio e della nascente MTV grazie ai singoli del doppio 1999: la title-track, più “Little red corvette”. Tutto è pronto per l’accesso al 

club delle superstar, che avviene con PURPLE RAIN.

Il disco (24 settimane di fila in testa alle charts americane) è ricco di canzoni ispirate e destinate a segnare sia il rock che la black music degli anni successivi, e accompagna un 

film semiautobiografico che si rivela un grande successo - fruttandogli l’Oscar per la migliore colonna sonora. Pochi mesi dopo, il 26enne Prince inaugura la sua etichetta, la Paisley Park, con la sorpresa psichedelica di AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY. Il pubblico è 

perplesso, ma il disco vende ugualmente, e la versatilità di Prince, in grado di spaziare dal funk al pop, piace. E piacciono anche le avventure soliste dei suoi “protetti”: Wendy & Lisa (sue scudiere nel gruppo “Revolution”), Vanity, Apollonia, Jill Jones, la rediviva Chaka 

Khan; il tocco di Prince è il tocco di Mida. Nel 1986 tenta nuovamente l’accoppiata film-disco, ma se il secondo (PARADE, contenente la famosissima “Kiss”) piace, il primo, “Under the cherry moon”, è un fiasco. Diretto da lui stesso, in bianco e nero, è un nuovo giochetto 

autoreferenziale che lo induce a concentrarsi maggiormente sulla carriera musicale.

Il doppio SIGN O’ THE TIMES, del 1987, lo riporta in auge. Pubblico e critica sono ai suoi piedi, e il tour seguente rimane memorabile. In questo periodo dichiara: “Per ogni canzone 

che pubblico, ne scrivo altre cinque, ma i meccanismi dell’industria discografica non mi permettono di pubblicarle”. E’ il primo segnale dei problemi che incontrerà nella seconda parte della sua carriera. Al momento, riesce a “piazzare” le sue canzoni presso altri artisti. 

“Nothing compares 2 u”, ad esempio, viene interpretata prima dai Family e, qualche anno dopo (con successo enorme), da Sinead O’Connor. Alla fine del 1987 ha già pronto un nuovo disco, THE BLACK ALBUM. Ma dopo lunghe discussioni con la Warner, il disco 

viene bloccato per i testi “cupi e immorali” (ma versioni pirata circolano tra i fans, prima della pubblicazione ufficiale nel 1994).

Nel 1988 esce LOVESEXY, un fiasco in termini di vendite. Nel 1989 riguadagna le prime posizioni con la colonna sonora di “Batman” (e, grazie al film, ha un flirt con la protagonista, Kim Basinger). Nel 1990 esce il film-concerto GRAFFITI BRIDGE, accompagnato dalla 

relativa colonna sonora. Nel 1991 forma un nuovo gruppo, la New Power Generation, e grazie a “Cream”, da DIAMONDS AND PEARLS, va per la quinta volta in testa alla classifica dei singoli più venduti in Usa. Nel 1992 Prince firma un contratto da 100 milioni di 

dollari con la Warner per sei album, ma le cose stanno per precipitare. Prince infatti pubblica un album senza titolo e senza nome, caratterizzato dal suo nuovo simbolo, a metà tra quello maschile e quello femminile, e pretende che non lo si chiami più Prince. Di qui, la 

nascita dei soprannomi “Symbol” e Tafkap, acronimo inglese per “L’Artista Precedentemente Noto Come Prince”.

Il cambiamento di nome non è casuale: tra Prince e la Warner comincia una guerra per il controllo delle registrazioni e per la frequenza delle pubblicazioni; l’etichetta vuole tenere a freno la sua star, impedendogli di pubblicare tutto ciò che incide. L’artista comincia a girare 

con la scritta “schiavo” sulla faccia, e annuncia che non realizzerà nuove canzoni come “Prince”: i suoi obblighi contrattuali troveranno adempimento nelle oltre 500 canzoni inedite dell’archivio Warner. Nel 1994 Tafkap incide un singolo (“The most beautiful girl in the 

world”) per una piccola etichetta, la Bellmark, e va al n.3 in classifica, dimostrando che può vivere senza Warner. La multinazionale risponde con un disco intitolato COME, che reca sulla copertina la scritta “1958-1993” (come dire, data di nascita e di morte di Prince). 

Dopo un po’, le parti sembrano accordarsi per altri due album sotto il nome di Prince. Il primo, THE GOLD EXPERIENCE, è forse il miglior disco di Prince di questo periodo; il secondo, CHAOS AND DISORDER, soffre forse della distanza ravvicinata, e convince solo 

i fans. Nel 1996 Prince, fresco di nozze con una delle sue coriste, Mayte Garcia, vede svanire il suo sogno di diventare padre: Mayte dà alla luce un bambino prematuro, che muore dopo poche ore. Il battito del suo cuore si sente in uno dei brani di EMANCIPATION, 

triplo album realizzato per la EMI.

Con il 1997, l’Artista trova il modo di essere padrone di se stesso: si tuffa nell’avventura di Internet, e grazie al suo sito “Love 4 One Another” decide di vendere solamente “on line” il 

triplo CRYSTAL BALL. Nel 1998 tuttavia si accorda con la BMG per la distribuzione di NEW POWER SOUL, non fortunatissimo. Alla fine del 1999 pubblica RAVE UN2 THE JOY FANTASTIC (ironicamente, prodotto da un amico di Tafkap: Prince), di poco preceduto da 

THE VAULT, pubblicato dalla Warner - che altrettanto ironicamente scrive sul booklet: “Questo è materiale privato che non è stato concepito per la pubblicazione”. Il conflitto si estende a “1999”: il vecchio singolo torna di attualità per la fine del millennio, e sia la 

Warner che “Symbol” ne pubblicano una legittima versione.

Nel corso del 2000, una svolta: "the artist" torna a farsi chiamare ufficialmente Prince. Nel 2001 esce il primo disco pubblicato con il vecchio nome, RAINBOW CHILDREN, 

inizialmente distribuito solo attraverso il download dal sito www.npgmusicclub.com, seguito nel 2001 dal disco dal vivo ONE NITE ALONE.

Sempre in modo indipendente vegono pubblicati prima lo strumentale N.E.W.S. quindi 

MUSICOLOGY; quest'ultimo però trova anche una distribuzione importante: viene offerto prima attraverso il download a fine marzo 2004, quindi dal mese successivo viene distribuito nei negozi nientemeno che da una major, la Sony, con cui Prince annuncia di avere firmato 

un accordo. Contemporaneamente alla pubblicazione del disco Prince si imbarca in un esteso tour americano, dedicato prevalentemente ai classici del suo repertorio.

A fine 2005 iniziano i preparativi per il nuovo disco: esce un singolo, “Te amo corazon” e 

viene firmato un accordo di distribuzione con una major, la Universal. 3121 esce a a marzo del 2006, distribuito da Universal.

A metà del 2007 Prince ritorna sulle scene; annuncia una ventina di concerti durante l'estate a Londra e la pubblicazione del nuovo disco PLANET EARTH, inizialmente regalato con il supplemento domenicale di una rivista inglese: un'iniziativa che fa discutere e 

arrabbiare molti rivenditori di dischi, che accusano il musicista di svalutare il prodotto musicale. A luglio il disco esce anche nei negozi, per la distribuzione della Sony, che aveva già lavorato MUSICOLOGY. Il disco esce con una copertina tridimensionale e senza titoli delle canzoni, reperibili solo sul sito dell'artista.

Nel 2010 esce 20TEN, mentre a due anni di distanza è la volta del singolo, “Rock ‘n’ roll love affair”. Nel 2013 l’artista pubblica nuovamente una canzone, "Breakfast can wait": entrambi sono incise con una band al femminile, le 3rdEyeGirl, e annunciano l'uscita di un 

disco rock, PLECTRUMELECTRUM. La data di pubblicazione di quest'ultimo viene finalmente svelata ad agosto 2014: esce il 30 settembre successivo, assieme ad un altro 

disco, ART OFFICIAL AGE, dai suoni funk. Entrambi vengono distribuiti dalla WarnerBros, proprio l'etichetta con cui Prince aveva litigato negli anni '90 fino a rinunciare al proprio nome.

Source: rockhall.com

Prince arrived on the scene in the late Seventies, and it didn’t take long for him to upend the music world with his startling music and arresting demeanor. He rewrote the rulebook, forging a synthesis of black funk and white rock that served as a blueprint for cutting-edge 

music in the Eighties. Prince made dance music that rocked and rock music that had a bristling, funky backbone. From the beginning, Prince and his music were androgynous, sly, sexy and provocative. His colorful image and revolutionary music made Prince a figure 

comparable in paradigm-shifting impact to Little Richard, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and George Clinton. While 1999, Purple Rain and Sign ‘O’ the Times remain Prince’s best-known albums, the artist’s deep discography is full of funky treasure.

To understand Prince, one must appreciate the extent of his musical obsession. He has always been a willing servant of his tireless muse. “There’s not a person around who can stay awake as long as I can,” he claimed in a 1985 interview. “Music is what keeps me 

awake.” Because he is a workaholic, it’s difficult to keep track of all he’s recorded for himself and others in his orbit. There are reputedly hundreds of unreleased songs in Prince’s vault. In 1998, he unveiled some of these leftovers on the five-CD set, Crystal Ball. That leviathan 

followed Emancipation (1996), a three-disc set of new material. The single discs Chaos and Disorder (1996) and New Power Soul (1998) also came out during the same time frame. That’s 10 CDs’ worth of music in a three-year period – much more material than most 

artists manage in a lifetime – and it doesn’t even include albums by Chaka Khan (Come 2 My House) and Graham Central Station (GCS 2000) on which Prince played a major role. Given such prolific output, it doesn’t take long to realize that Prince isn’t just a musician but a force of nature.

One must also accept the fact that Prince is a genuine American eccentric who defiantly marches to the beat of his own funky drummer. Consider that in 1993 he changed his name 

from Prince to an unpronounceable cipher: a hybrid of the symbols for male and female. He was thereafter referred to (at his own suggestion) as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” or simply “The Artist.”

“I follow what God tells me to do,” Prince explained. “It said, ‘Change your name,’ and I changed my name to a symbol ready for Internet use before I knew anything about the 

Internet.” In May 2000, he went back to being Prince. Although his motivations may sometimes seem mysterious, Prince is never uninteresting and always capable one more hit record or a return to stardom.

Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Batman, and Diamonds and Pearls have sold more than 2 million copies apiece. Purple Rain alone sold 13 million copies and topped the album charts for nearly half a year at the height of Prince’s reign in the mid-Eighties. As Rolling 

Stone contended in 1989, “Perhaps more than any other artist, Prince called the tune for pop music in the Eighties, imprinting his Minneapolis sound on an entire generation of musicians both black and white.”

Prince Rogers Nelson was born and raised in Minneapolis. He was named after his jazz musician father. The product of a broken home, Prince found refuge in music. By his early teens he’d mastered multiple instruments and was fronting his first band, Grand Central. A 

demo tape by the young prodigy resulted in major-label interest, and an 18-year-old Prince signed to Warner Bros., insisting on the right to self-produce. His first two albums, For You (1978) and Prince (1979), unveiled a budding genius and one-man band. For You included 

“Soft and Wet,” an early glimpse at Prince’s uncensored sexuality, while the latter produced Prince’s first hit, “I Wanna Be Your Lover” (Number 11). Interest in the youthful rising star was further kindled by Dirty Mind (1980), a provocative and sinuously funky album that 

appeared like a directional marker at the start of the Eighties. The jittery, New Wavish “When You Were Mine” became a club hit, yet Dirty Mind largely proved too hot to handle 

for radio. Still, the rising buzz about Prince continued when he opened for the Rolling Stones on their 1980-81 tour. Prince’s fourth album, Controversy (1981), was highlighted by the pulsing title track.

Prince’s breakthrough was 1999 (1982), a self-produced double album made at his home studio. He’d toned down, if not entirely tamed, the hardcore sexuality, and the longish, danceable tracks appealed to disco and New Wave fans alike. Whereas many saw 

divisions in the culture – in terms of everything from musical preferences to skin color – Prince forged a party-minded unity around the various audiences’ shared interests in “dance, music, sex, romance.” Those were the priorities outlined in “D.M.S.R.,” one of 1999’s key tracks. The album launched three major singles: “Little Red Corvette” (Number 

Six), “1999” (Number 12) and “Delirious” (Number Eight). As Kurt Loder wrote, “[1999] marked the point at which Prince’s seamless fusion of white rock and roll and black dance-funk became commercially undeniable.” The way had been paved the way for Prince’s stratospheric ascent with the album and movie Purple Rain.

One of the defining releases of the Eighties – along with Michael Jackson’s Thriller and Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. – Purple Rain (1984) elevated Prince from cult hero to superstar. The movie, loosely based on Prince’s life story, was set in Minneapolis and 

his real-life hangout, the First Avenue & 7th Street Entry Club. Prince wrote the treatment and played the lead role of “The Kid.” The film included electrifying performances by Prince and the Revolution – his racially and sexually integrated band, which included guitarist 

Wendy Melvoin, keyboardists Matt Fink and Lisa Coleman, bassist Brown Mark and drummer Bobby Z. Purple Rain also showcased other acts under his umbrella, most notably The Time, who were fronted by Prince’s extroverted foil, Morris Day. The film grossed $80 

million and the album, which won Prince an Oscar for Best Soundtrack, rained hits for a year: “When Doves Cry” (Number One), “Let’s Go Crazy” (Number One), “Purple Rain” (Number Two), “I Would Die 4 U” (Number Eight) and “Take Me With You” (Number 25). 

Even Prince’s non-LP B sides from the period, such as “17 Days” and “Erotic City,” achieved a certain popularity.

For any other artist Purple Rain would have been a hard act to follow, but Prince already had another album, Around the World in a Day, in the can. A tour de force of psychedelic soul released in 1985, it became his second consecutive Number One album and the first 

to appear on his own Paisley Park label (a Warner Bros. subsidiary). With Prince-mania in full effect, the album generated two more Top 10 hits: “Raspberry Beret” (Number Two) and 

“Pop Life” (Number Seven). Even a bad film, Under the Cherry Moon – Prince’s first real miscue – couldn’t halt his momentum, as the accompanying soundtrack, Parade (1986), included the classic “Kiss,” his third Number One single.

Prince hit an artistic peak with Sign ‘O’ the Times (1987), his first album since 1999 not to be co-credited to the Revolution. A double album that was trimmed down from an intended triple, Sign ‘O’ the Times was Prince’s most musically expansive and lyrically incisive 

album. On the sobering “Sign ‘O’ the Times” (Number Six), Prince enumerated a catalog of social ills (AIDS, crack, gang violence) over a skeletal funk track. Other hits from the album included “U Got the Look” (Number Two), a duet with Sheena Easton, and “I Could Never 

Take the Place of Your Man” (Number 10). Paisley Park – a 65,000-square-foot multimedia production facility, with three studios and a soundstage – opened for business that same year.

Around this time Prince talked of dueling identities within himself, conjuring characters that represented his good side (“Camille”) and dark side (“Spooky Electric”). The latter had its say on The Black Album, a controversial, hardcore set that was aborted shortly before its 

intended release. In its place came Lovesexy (1988), which contained the terrific “Alphabet St.” (Number Eight). Commercially, Prince found himself back on top in 1989 with his soundtrack to the first Batman movie. Prince’s dense, tangled funk meshed with film 

producer Tim Burton’s dark, gothic vision, and his Batman album and “Batdance” single both shot to the top of the charts. A year later, Prince made another of his own movies, 

Graffiti Bridge. Although it was panned, the double-album soundtrack – with performances by Prince, a reunited Time, Mavis Staple and Tevin Campbell – was compelling, particularly the impassioned “Thieves in the Temple” (Number Six).

In the early Nineties, Prince assembled a backing band, the New Power Generation. They debuted on Diamonds and Pearls (1991), Prince’s most accessible and hit-filled album since Purple Rain. Everything about it was elaborately conceived, including the holographic 

cover. The album returned Prince to radio with a string of funky, upbeat hits: “Gett Off” (Number 21), “Cream” (Number One), “Diamonds and Pearls” (Number Three) and “Money Don’t Matter 2 Night” (Number 23). It would turn out to be Prince’s biggest album of the 

Nineties. It was followed in 1992 by an album that marked the first appearance of the symbol that Prince would formally adopt a year later as his name. Ironically, the disc whose title was a symbol – and therefore referred to as The Love Symbol Album - opened with a 

song called “My Name Is Prince” (Number 36). The numerology-minded “7” peaked at Number Seven, but Prince’s most infectious funk workout, “Sexy MF,” proved too profane for radio.

Still, Prince seemed to be on a roll. In August 1992, he signed a contract extension with Warner Bros. for six more albums (at $10 million apiece), and he acquired the title of vice-

president with the label. By mid-decade, however, relations would sour as he began appearing in public with the word “SLAVE” scrawled on his face while agitating to get off the label.

In 1993, Prince’s greatest hits were released in two volumes – The Hits 1 and The Hits 2 – and as a deluxe package that appended a third disc, The B-Sides. All three configurations went platinum, though the three-pack charted highest (Number 19). The artist’s final album 

as Prince, Come, appeared in 1994, as did (for a limited time) the long-shelved Black Album. That same year, Prince launched an independent label, NPG Records, with a 

various-artists compilation, 1-800-NEW-FUNK. His next single – “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” (Number Three), which also appeared on NPG – marked a return to hitmaking form.

Meanwhile, relations with Warner Bros., to which he was still contracted, were deteriorating badly. The release of The Gold Experience (1995), which contained “I Hate U” (Number 12), was delayed while he squabbled with the label. Disenchanted with what he saw as an 

unfairly one-sided relationship between label and artist that rendered the latter a “slave,” Prince was let out of his contract with Warner Bros. in 1996. His last album of new music for the label was Chaos and Disorder (1996). “The problems I had with so-called majors,’ he 

later said, “were regarding ownership and long-term contracts.” Liberated from such concerns, he quickly resumed his prolific ways. Emancipation (1996), a three-disc set, attested to the artist’s creative explosion after being granted contractual freedom.

Subsequent releases have included New Power Soul (1998), an earthy album credited to New Power Generation; 1999: The New Master, a re-recording of “1999,” plus six remixes; and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999), the most visible of Prince’s later discs. Distributed 

through a special arrangement with Arista, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic gave Prince the best of both worlds: artistic ownership of his work and major-label distribution. The album 

was notable for its production credit: Prince, which marked the first time he’d reverted to his old name (and not the unpronounceable symbol) in six years.

It was followed by a series of releases that were largely marketed via Prince’s website, including The Rainbow Children (2001), a mystical and spiritually themed suite, and One 

Nite Alone Live (2002), a three-disc box set. NEWS (2003), an album of lengthy, jazz-funk instrumentals, garnered a Grammy nomination for the ever-resourceful artist known formerly and forever as Prince.