Prince's Tragic Triumph

As a child of the 1980s, nobody in pop music loomed larger than Michael Jackson and Prince. Though they were decidedly different figures in many ways, they will always be inextricably intertwined in my memory and my imagination. Jackson and Prince ruled as titans of my childhood, preeminent musical geniuses who were so unbelievably gifted and strange that they seemed otherworldly, like emissaries from a more brilliant, colorful galaxy. 

Jackson and Prince were both world-class dancers and equally preternaturally gifted singers and showmen but Prince was a more rounded performer. Prince didn’t just sing and dance and perform for hours at a time and play guitar like an all-time master; he played every instrument brilliantly and didn’t just write standards and instant classics for himself; he was a staggeringly prolific writer of hits for other artists as well. 

I grew up seeing Prince and Michael Jackson as fierce rivals for the title of greatest living artist. It didn’t matter to me if both giants were less popular and ubiquitous in the decades following their 1980s creative and commercial prime; there was no one on Prince’s level with the exceedingly notable exception of Michael Jackson, just as Prince was absolutely peerless with the equally notable exception of Michael Jackson. 

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Jackson and Prince died eerily uncanny deaths that only served to solidify their association in my mind and countless people of my generation. Both died very public, very early, very unexpected deaths in their 50s from drug overdoses despite cultivating personas as sober paragons of clean living who didn’t drink or smoke pot, let alone nurse secret addictions that would eventually take their lives, in part due to their shared Jehovah’s Witness faith. 

In their lifetimes, it felt like Jackson was the bigger,  more successful figure. He did, after all, record a longstanding contender for biggest-selling album of all time with Thriller. When Jackson put out a new album, something he did about once a decade post-Thriller, it was a huge deal and an automatic bazillion-seller. Prince, on the other hand, cranked out albums at a steady clip throughout his life. Wikipedia lists Prince as releasing 39 solo albums but even that seems suspiciously low because Prince wrote and recorded so much that it was impossible to release all of it in his lifetime without completely flooding the market. 

The same held true for tours and concerts; if Jackson was touring, it was big news, a major development but Prince toured constantly. 

Yes, it sure felt like Jackson was bigger than Prince in his lifetime. That dynamic seems to have reversed following their deaths, however. Some of that is undoubtedly attributable to the damning revelations of Leaving Neverland, which cast a long, ominous shadow over Jackson’s life, career and legacy. 

I know that I personally cannot hear any of Jackson’s hits without thinking about child molestation and the horrifying charges leveled against him, which means that I listen to Jackson as little as possible but the frequency in which I hear Jackson in restaurants and during Lyft rides suggests others either don’t believe the allegations, or don’t care. 

But that’s nothing compared to the full-court blitz of Prince promotion that has followed his death. If Prince now seems bigger than his biggest rival that’s in no small part because there’s simply so much product from Prince to be sold to a public that has never stopped mourning his death or celebrating his life. 

It’s not just seminal albums like Purple Rain or 1999 that are getting the deluxe re-issue treatment. Prince’s experimental, ragingly non-commercial albums are also being monetized and marketed aggressively in a way they were not during his lifetime.

Prince isn’t just receiving the Funko treatment: there are MULTIPLE Prince Funkos from various stages of his life and career. 

Prince was an artist, not product, but there’s a shit ton more money to be made selling product to fans than in respecting a late icon’s fierce desire not to be flagrantly, shamelessly commercialized. 

The Artist Formerly Known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince is triumphant, finally, in his battle with Michael Jackson, but considering the circumstances, it’s a tragic triumph that’s bittersweet at best and absolutely heartbreaking at worst. 

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