Teachers complain that most teenagers today rely on Spell Check instead of learning proper spelling, but I would argue that the true culprit is Prince. Born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958, the man is responsible for some of the greatest pop music of the last 30 years. He’s given us “Purple Rain,” “Let’s Go Crazy” and “When Doves Cry.” He also wrote “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “I Would Die 4 U.” For some reason Prince does not like to spell things out.
It began with his 1982 album 1999, with a track called “All The Critics Love U in New York.” Since then it has gone downhill, even calling his 1999 album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. The worst example of Prince reworking the English language was probably his latest album in 2009 which he called LOtUSFLOW3R. At this point it seems Prince has given up on letters altogether and is attempting to spell using numbers. Prince’s reach has spilled over to the next generation as Fall Out Boy took it to another level when they released “Thnks fr th Mmrs” off their 2007 album, Infinity on High. That doesn’t even sound correct.
It is safe to say that no other musical performer alive today is able to make a guitar do what Prince can make it do and for that reason alone it’s worth letting your kids hear his awesome music (but make sure it’s the clean songs.) Just try and keep them away from the track listings and album covers when listening to UR music.
