Publication: The New York Times [US]
Date: December 2, 1981
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Title: "Is Prince Leading Music to a True Biracism?"
Written By: Robert Palmer

ELVIS PRESLEY'S first national television appearances and hit records were controversial because they challenged the conventional sexual and racial attitudes of the mid-50's. Mr. Presley flaunted his sex appeal more flagrantly than any white pop performer before him, and he introduced black rhythms and inflections into the American pop mainstream, making it possible for black rockers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry to appeal to white teen-agers directly. Today, of course, attitudes toward race and sex tend to be considerably more liberal. Or do they?

Prince,the 21-year-old singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist who is performing tonight at the Palladium, is the most controversial contemporary rock star precisely because he challenges sexual and racial stereotypes. The songs on his four Warner Bros. albums explore adolescent sexuality in language explicit enough to require warning stickers ("contains language which may be unsuitable for some listeners"), but the stickers haven't kept his records off the best-seller charts. And his music confounds racial categories by combining elements of white pop and rock with black dance rhythms.

How rigid are racial categories in contemporary pop music?Princerecently found out when theRolling Stonesinvited him to open several West Coast concerts on their 1981 tour. The suggestions of androgyny in his fluid body movements and flamboyantly minimal stage costume were more than a little reminiscent of some of Mick Jagger's early performances, but the almost entirely white Stones audience apparently failed to make the connection. They pelted Princewith fruit and bottles, causing him to cut his sets short. Similar reactions from white radio programmers have keptPrince'srecords off most FM rock stations; it's the stations with black music formats that are playing them.

'Dirty Mind' Is 3d Album

Prince'smixed black-Italian parentage and his upbringing in a racially integrated neighborhood in Minneapolis contributed to his genuinely biracial musical approach and outlook. The fact that white rock fans and radio stations have tended to banish him to the blackmusic ghetto says more about racism in contemporary pop music circles than it does aboutPrince'ssongs or his presentation. And their resistance has been crumbling;Prince'sthird Warner Bros.album, "Dirty Mind," sold spectacularly and spawned a hit single, "Uptown," and his latest album, "Controversy," gives every indication of equaling and perhaps exceeding that performance.

The first single to be released from the new album is also called "Controversy," and it is a perfectly realized fusion of black and white pop idioms, alternating stretches of taut dance-floor funk with a more melodic, songlike refrain. It's also a calculated bit of outrage. During the melodic sections,Princeobserves caustically that "some people want to die so they can be free," and over the funk sections he repeats both the Lord's Prayer and a litany of his own: "Some people call me rude / I wish we all were nude / I wish there was no black or white / I wish there were no rules." (Controversy Music, Ascap) In other words, forPrince,sexual liberation is both a political program and a religion. "Sexuality is all you'll ever need," he maintains in another new song, "Sexuality," "just let your body be free."

Whether one agrees with this message or not, it can't be denied thatPrince backs it up with exceptional musical talent. The labels of his four albums proclaim that they were "produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince' '; except for occasional contributions from one or two members of his touring band, the albums are one-man jobs. They certainly don't sound homemade, unlike most albums that use similar studio trickery. The rich mesh of voices and instruments, all provided byPrince,give the illusion that a full band is playing, and there are enough distinctive guitar solos, keyboard riffs and drum breaks to suggest the presence of several gifted instrumentalists.Prince would be a talent to reckon with if he confined himself to playing guitar or drums on other people's records.

The fact thatPrincecan do everything makes him one of the most impressive new pop talents of the past few years. It's also the secret behind his apparently effortless fusion of black and white pop styles. The music transcends racial stereotyping precisely because it's almost allPrince; Princehimself transcends racial stereotyping because, as he once put it, "I never grew up in one particular culture." One suspects that as time goes on, more and more American pop will reflect a similarly biracial orientation. If that's so, Prince'sblack-white synthesis isn't just a picture of what could be, it's a prophecy.