Publication: Minneapolis Star Tribune [US]
Date: September 29, 1991
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Title: "Prince Charming; Slump Has the Star Giving Media the Royal Treatment"
Written By: Jon Bream

Has Prince suddenly been transformed into a savvy schmoozer, or is his recent behavior that of a desperate, fading superstar?

How can one explain the flurry of promotional activities the reclusive, interview -shy Minneapolis rock star has undertaken to hype his forthcoming" Diamonds and Pearls"album?

In July, at the opening ceremonies of the International Special Olympics in Minneapolis,Prince performed two songs that were later broadcast on ABC-TV.Three weeks ago he took over TV's "The Arsenio Hall Show," becoming the first music personality to play five numbers on one of Hall's programs.

Then Prince and his new band, New Power Generation, performed live on the MTV Music Video Awards Sept. 9.

In addition to this uncharacteristic barrage of mass-media appearances, the rock star has released a five-song home video this month featuring footage of steamy sexual scenes along with glimpses of his Chanhassen home.

Prince allowed reporters to visit him at Paisley Park Studios this summer (just for observation and conversation: no interviews)for features in Spin Magazine and USA Today.Hoping to win splashy spreads,Prince's publicists have summoned to his private playground writers for Playboy, Musician and Request magazines and the Sunday Times of London.

Those are just Prince's public appearances.He also has been music and recording industry with private concerts in the parking lot at Warner Bros. Records headquarters in Burbank, Calif., at the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic convention in Chicago, at the Jack the Rapper Convention for R&B industry workers in Atlanta, and at the MTV network's 10th anniversary party in New York.

All those performances and appearances have been designed to generate interest in " Diamonds and Pearls, " due in stores Tuesday.

The music business is buzzing indeed abou Prince.Two weeks ago his new single, "Cream," was added to the playlists of more radio stations than any other new record that week.Will the buzz translate into business at record stores?

"Many of the fans think he's selling out," said Eileen Murton, editor of Controversy, a British-based Princefan magazine that is promoted on the liner notes to " Diamonds and Pearls. " "His core fans will buy it anyway."

After some commercially and artistically disappointing projects during the past few years - notably last year's "Graffiti Bridge" soundtrack and movie - Prince needs a friend in high places, Washington Post critic Richard Harrington wrote after attending the Aug. 19 MTV anniversary party.Harrington posed the question of whether Prince's performance in front of industry power brokers was a canny move or a desperate one.

"I'm leaning toward desperate," Harrington said last week."By his being more accessible and visible, people will perhaps consider him more favorably.This soft-spun Prince- I don't buy it."

People who have worked closely with Prince speak of his frustration at not having had a blockbuster since his 10-million-selling "Purple Rain" in 1984.As he watches such lesser talents as M.C. Hammer, Vanilla Ice and Paula Abdul triumph with mega-sellers, his competitive fires burn. Executives at Warner Bros. Records visited Paisley Park in February and told Prince to cool his heels because he had oversaturated the market by releasing nearly an album a year since 1979.

Prince persisted, however, flying to Burbank to persuade them to put out " Diamonds and Pearls" this year, complete with a pricey hologram cover.

He also heeded a bit of their advice about how to pump up interest in the album.With his image tarnished by the quick collapse of "Graffiti Bridge," his album sales declining, and radio programmers' interest in his music waning, Prince finally recognized the obstacles in his path and he chose to attack them, within his limitations.

He wouldn't grant interviews, shake hands at backstage cocktail parties or telephone important radio programmers - all standard practices in the business. He would do what he does best - perform concerts - for industry decision-makers,and he would stroke key critics by letting them attend rehearsals at Paisley Park. He didn't have to talk directly with anybody (he didn't even shake hands with Arsenio Hall), yet he reached out to the tastemakers by giving them private audiences.

City Pages editor Steve Perry, who wrote a cover story on Prince for Musician a few years ago, said he thinks that Prince is making smart marketing moves but that he's also desperate."The sense of desperation I pick up comes from the music" on the new album, Perry said. "It's flailing after something not grounded in artistic motives.For the first time in his career, he's not sure what to do artistically; he's acting out of market impulses."

Some people think " Diamonds and Pearls"will make Prince as rich as its title sounds.

"Maybe the music doesn't matter this time. Maybe it's just his time," said deep Purple, a source with Prince's circle who requested anonymity. The promotional activities "don't hurt. It's what he should have done for every one of his albums," Deep Purple added.Other superstars have undertaken media blitzes to promote their endeavors.Madonna, a master of media manipulation, was on TV, in magazines and newspapers to trumpet her movie "Truth or Dare" earlier this year.

John Mellencamp played a concert this month at New York's Carnegie Hall and advertised on city buses throughout the United States to promote his forthcoming album.Paul Simon did more than a dozen prominent interview last year to coincide with the release of his "Rhythm of the Saints" album.

"All major artists are realizing they need to do things that they used to put themselves above doing," said Thom Duffy, talent editor of Billboard magazine, the music industry's bible."Even superstars seem to acknowledge that they can't take sales for granted.They are having to work for it because the market is so fractured and changing so fast.

"Barbra Streisand is more eager and aware of the press than in the past.I think Prince is reacting to the comparatively lukewarm sales of his recent albums as well as the overall competition in the pop market.The truth is, I think it's canny, particularly going with a live band.I don't think these guys get desperate."

USA Today rock critic Edna Gundersen spent two days in August at Paisley Park.She said Prince did not seem any more eager to talk about his new album than any other subject."He seemed just as eager to promote the people on his label and the people in his band," she said.

"He is not well schooled in the art of media manipulation.There's something charmingly naive about him," Gundersen said. "You weren't hearing the company line or a prepared text. He wasn't steering the conversation.He doesn't have Madonna's self-promotional instincts."

Prince,33, has steadfastly avoided doint interviews since his third album, "Dirty Mind," made him a critics' darling in 1980.Last year, in a rare interview with Rolling Stone magazine that coincided with the release of "Graffiti Bridge," he said he doesn't do interviews.Indeed, he didn't allow the reporter to use such standard tools of the trade as a notebook or tape recorder to document conversations.Gundersen was under similar restrictions.

"It was an odd experience," she said."He did look me in the eye. He did not seem at all standoffish. He was not pulling a star trip. He did laugh a lot and manage a few light moments."

Bob Merlis, Warner Bros. Records vice president of publicity, said he'd like to see Prince do more interviews but he knows it won't happen. "I was very impressed by his magnanimousness at the (Warner-Elektra-Asylum) convention," said Merlis, whose clients include Madonna and Paul Simon. "He was walking around and saying hello to people before his performance."

Does this charming persona represent a new chapter for Prince?

"I guess so," said Merlis, who has worked with Prince since he signed with Warners in 1977. "He's doing the kind of thing he should be doing to get people involved in promoting his record.Setup is everything in the music business. He's got everything."

Everything, that is, except a smash album.