History YMMV / Prince

* FandomRivalry: It can happen with the fandoms of many other pop/R&B legends, but it's most common with Music/MichaelJackson fans. It doesn't help that Prince had his own real-life rivalry with MJ (though it seemed to be largely on a musical level).

* PosthumousPopularityPotential: While a respected artist, it was generally established that Prince's most acclaimed and iconic work was in the 80s and mostly behind him due to an AudienceAlienatingEra and generally unexceptional work. His death prompted greater appreciation and reevaluation of his work and made him one of the biggest posthumous superstars alongside Music/DavidBowie, with several of his albums and songs charting again.
* ProtectionFromEditors: Once he gained this after splitting from Creator/WarnerBros, he barreled straight towards SeasonalRot territory.

* SecondVerseCurse: "Kiss."

* VindicatedByHistory: ''Come'' was met with mixed reviews upon release in 1994, not helped by Prince's ongoing row with Warner Brothers but its dark and experimental nature allowed it to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaWCsg65YLQ become more appreciated with the passing of time]].

** "Let's Go Crazy" is a song about enjoying life to the fullest because we never know what'll happen tomorrow. There's a line that goes:
--->"You better live now 'fore TheGrimReaper come knocking on your door."
*** Which is what exactly happens to Prince on April 21, 2016.

** The one lyric from his 1985 single "Pop Life" of "What u putting in your nose? Is that where all your money goes?" has a bitter aftertaste to it given his own death a little over thirty years later (although it was from a Fentanyl overdose instead of anything inhaled.)
** The closing line of "Endorphinmachine": "[[GratuitousSpanish Prince esta muerto.]]"

** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsD0dkACM8k "Face Down"]] features a mock funeral with Prince laying in a coffin face down. The joke being, of course, that when he's dead, all his critics can kiss his ass on the way out. Obviously, now that Prince really is dead, it's a little eerie to watch now. And for the record, Prince was cremated.
** From "1999":
--->"But life is just a party and parties weren't meant to last"

* FaceOfTheBand: Invoked for the bands he formed: the Revolution, the New Power Generation and [=3rdeyegirl=]. Hey, it's not like Prince could possibly be a second banana in any band he's in - the guys at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame found that out the hard way.

* NeverLiveItDown: Changing his name to a symbol, although that was at least partially due to ExecutiveMeddling. Having a phallic guitar was all him, though.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Thanks to the [[ScrewedByTheLawyers legal battles]] surrounding "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", ''The Gold Experience'' was pretty much all but forbidden to be reissued, with only certain songs being available to listen to on streaming services. For the longest time, this was the album's fate, but thanks to the Prince Estate continuing the legal battles for the rights to distribute the album again, ''The Gold Experience'' was finally available in full again on streaming services in February 2022, "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" included, and was slated to have another physical reissue starting in June 2022.

** "Let's Go Crazy" is a song about enjoying life to the fullest and not worrying about mortality. There's a line that goes:

---> "Sometimes I wish that life was never-ending\\

** "[[TastesLikeDiabetes Friend, Lover, Sister, Mother/Wife]]" off of ''Emancipation''.

* SacredCow: While not all of his work is equally well-regarded, Prince is frequently recognized as one of the greatest all-around music artists of all time, recognized as a multi-instrumentalist, live-performer, prolific songwriter, and more. Therefore, it's usually not wise to criticize him in front of fans.

* SignatureAlbum: Although Prince had already been establishing his SignatureStyle across critically respected albums like ''Music/DirtyMind'' and ''Music/NineteenNinetyNineAlbum'', ''Music/PurpleRain'' was the album that propelled Prince to superstardom while also showcasing his crossover appeal. Both image-wise and musically, it is the album that immediately springs to mind when it comes to Prince.
* {{Signature Song}}s: "1999", "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry", "Purple Rain" and "Kiss." Although "1999" is more fondly remembered now, "Little Red Corvette" is pointed to as the moment when Prince became well-known in the mainstream[[note]]It was his first US top 10 hit and an inspiration to both Music/PhilCollins and Music/StevieNicks, directly causing "1999" to climb back up the charts; originally not breaking the top 40 in the US, "1999" peaked at #12 on its second try[[/note]]; "When Doves Cry" is arguably Prince's highest-praised song and was the best-selling single of 1984 according to ''Billboard''; and "Purple Rain", being the TitleTrack to [[Film/PurpleRain his best-known film]] and its soundtrack album, was not only a very successful and acclaimed single but can be thought of as the "Stairway to Heaven" of the 1980s. And "Kiss"..... well, even casual fans know all the words to that one, as it's usually the go-to song on North American radio stations. Since his death, "Nothing Compares 2U" has become one, though the best-known version was the cover by Music/SineadOConnor.

* LGBTFanbase: Subverted. He did have plenty of queer fans, but the way he [[CampStraight carved out his own definition of masculinity]] made him especially popular with black men in the '80s who were either questioning or straight and didn't fit in traditionally masculine roles. Despite this, and despite having two openly gay members of the Revolution (Wendy & Lisa, of course) Prince remained mum on fully acknowledging that side of his base, and, in an interview with Creator/ChrisRock, implied that he wasn't comfortable with homosexuality, at least for himself.

* CoveredUp: Prince's songs are often covered, and most of them stay Prince songs FirstAndForemost. There are a few exceptions:

** A cover of "1999" b-side "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" was a hit for Music/AliciaKeys in 2002.
* EndingFatigue: The full, extended version of "America" is 21 minutes. It was longer, but the recording tape ran out, so a quick fade out was inserted. Fun note: Prince had a chime set up in the studio to ring out at the twenty minute mark of a recording, and that made the final cut of the song.

* GrowingTheBeard: It's debatable on when this actually happened. His mastering the integration of synths on 1980's ''Dirty Mind''; the zeitgeist-defining ''Purple Rain'' in 1984; his mature auteur sensibilities crystallizing on ''Sign O The Times'' in 1987: all of these and more points in between work. Prince's run throughout the 1980s made huge leaps forward in terms of artistic growth, from synth-funk to psychedelia and beyond, so perhaps one could go so far as to say the better part of that decade was one long beard-growing period.

* HilariousInHindsight: Here's a fun activity for all. Go on the Internet and read as much as you can about how The Revolution broke up - pay attention to the role Wendy & Lisa played in it. Then go watch ''Purple Rain'', and pay particular attention to what Wendy & Lisa do in the movie.

* LGBTFanbase: Subverted. Prince did have plenty of queer fans, but the way he [[CampStraight carved out his own definition of masculinity]] made him especially popular with black men in the '80s who were either questioning or straight and didn't fit in traditionally masculine roles. Despite this, and despite having two openly gay members of the Revolution (Wendy & Lisa, of course) Prince remained mum on fully acknowledging that side of his base, and, in an interview with Creator/ChrisRock, implied that he wasn't comfortable with homosexuality, at least for himself.

* MisaimedFandom: One of the tributes to Prince after his passing was by a butcher who dyed all their sausages purple, apparently missing the fact that Prince had been a vegan for 20 years.
* {{Narm}}: The dialogue between Prince and God in "Temptation", but there's more than just that. Like that time he compares love to surgery in "I Love U in Me", the entirety of "Scarlet Pussy", or the amount of times he crosses from IntercourseWithYou territory to [[Website/{{Cracked}} ball-kneeing idiocy]].

* ProtectionFromEditors: Once he gained this after splitting from Warner Bros., he barreled straight towards SeasonalRot territory.

* SeasonalRot: Prince began the 1990s by ditching every shred of his previous backing band The Revolution, creating The New Power Generation instead, which focused more on a live band and '90s R&B tropes. Prince was growing increasingly embittered by his record contract, which led to a lot of quickly released cash-ins to end his contract. As a result, critics and fans don't love his [[TheNineties nineties]] work as much as his [[TheEighties eighties]]. The "Love Symbol" years in particular tend to receive the brunt of criticism, as these are commonly believed to represent Prince at his most insular and self-indulgent, and the period between him returning to the "Prince" moniker in 2000 and the release of his CareerResurrection album ''Musicology'' in 2004 tend to be lumped in as well. Barring ''Come'', the 90's albums before Prince's use of the Love Symbol on his albums tend to be consistently well-regarded[[note]]the untitled black album is a special case in that it was recorded in 1987, but not officially released until 1994, just before Prince began putting out albums under the Love Symbol title[[/note]], but with the exception of 1995's ''The Gold Experience'', the latter era is considered Prince's creative nadir.

* AcceptableTargets: Creator/WarnerBrosRecords. Prince wasn't the only artist to pull stunts to get out of his contract with them. Back in the 1970s, Music/FrankZappa would have a banner onstage reading "Warner Brothers Sucks," and tried to get them to release a 4 LP set titled ''Music/{{Lather}}'' as a way to release four albums at once. Warner Bros. disassembled the album and released it as ''Music/StudioTan'', ''Music/SleepDirt'', ''Music/ZappaInNewYork'' and ''Music/OrchestralFavorites''. It wasn't released in its proper form until 1996, after Zappa's passing in 1993. Music/{{Devo}} were also notoriously vocal about their contempt for WB, creating the character Rod Rooter to specifically mock the executives at the label as out-of-touch, arrogant, and possibly incestuous.

* DorkAge: It's easy to just say "the Love Symbol years," aka "the artist formerly known as Prince" years, though it's not quite that simple. Prince briefly seemed rejuvenated when he first changed his name, earning success and acclaim with ''The Gold Experience,'' in spite of the poor performance of ''Chaos and Disorder'' which is generally understood as a throwaway album. However, these hopes came to a screeching halt with his first independent album: the middling, overlong ''Emancipation'', a three-hour triple album which wasn't quite the commercial smash he hoped for and was criticized for being almost entirely AlbumFiller. This is when his albums started going mostly unnoticed outside of the fandom, partly because they were largely considered SoOkayItsAverage at ''best.'' The most notable album between ''Emancipation'' and changing his name back to Prince is ''Crystal Ball,'' but unfortunately, it's for all the wrong reasons, namely an incredibly botched marketing campaign on Prince's part that resulted in copious amounts of HypeBacklash. Prince became Prince again in the year 2000, but he wouldn't truly get back on his feet as an artist until 2004's ''Musicology''.

* SacredCow: While he has had some DorkAge periods, Prince is frequently recognized as one of the greatest all-around music artists of all time, recognized as a multi-instrumentalist, live-performer, prolific songwriter, and more. Therefore, it's usually not wise to criticize him in front of fans.

* PeripheryDemographic: While most of his audience were R&B fans, he was able to cross over onto white album rock radio and even early alternative stations like Los Angeles' KROQ-FM.