The Artist Formerly Known as 49

Prince is 50.

Yes, that Prince - the Artist Formerly Known As Himself and such.

I still remember the Little Red Corvette video - vividly. MTV played the living hell out of that thing back in the 80s. And who doesn't remember Purple Rain? I watched that a couple times a few months back (may have been a year or two by now). I just can't believe he's that old! He still looks like he's all of maybe 25.

Either way, Prince is definitely in the musical genius category. I don't like everything he's done - honestly, I don't like a lot of what he's done - but that's really how you measure genius. It isn't just that he's prolific, it's that he's changed his style constantly throughout the decades. Not in the same way Madonna "reinvents" herself; Prince has remained the Purple One throughout his career and has always done the synth-pop thing, but each album has brought a different approach and daring new rhythms, riffs, and melodies.

Not so long ago, Prince decided to forego the recording industry altogether and distribute his newest album through a newspaper. The idea infuriated the industry - much the way Dave Sim's decision to do the same thing in the 80s angered comics distributors - and the event met with mixed success, but Prince has always been an industry iconoclast who rightfully believes artists should control their product, not bean-counters.

Put simply, artists need legal analysts and marketing gurus - for a purpose; they are supposed to serve their purpose, not direct the artist. That's the problem with all entertainment industries in a nutshell. When these bean-counters get involved, they begin treating the art and the artist as a product to be exploited in order to push advertising and move units, and when the artist is compromised, the art suffers, and the whole "product" comes screeching to a halt. But the industry doesn't care; it will just find another artist to exploit and burn-out, ad nauseam.

Prince also tried to distribute his music on his own online. While the idea met with some success, the site shutdown suddenly without notice. Prince has since been in legal battles with fansites and had his content pulled from such communities as YouTube, MySpace, and more. The artist again argued that he should have sole control over his image and content, though I believe he overstepped his boundaries here and seriously damaged his relationship with some die-hard fans.

Anyway, happy birthday, Prince. And check out this great BBC article with an interactive timeline of the Purple One's career.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008