The Fortress Salutes..

[The Curmudgeon]

Click your heels together, folks! It's another new segment!

Time for something a bit different, Dwellers. Now, here in the Fortress Of Solitude talking about what we HATE is a big deal. But we also talk about what we LIKE, and this is firmly in that category.

This is YOUR chance to "give props", as the street kids say (round about 1994, probably) to one of your idols. Someone who's made YOUR world a cooler place to be. Could be a musician or band that have constantly been your choice of listen, could be an actor or a director - Hell, it can be anyone you want. Just remember - whenever you see Steve Rogers above saluting, you know it's tribute time.

I'm not after a career analysis or an essay on the subject of choice. Just what they mean to you and why they deserve to be saluted by The Fortress Of Solitude. So if you DO have anyone you'd like to nominate - you know the drill. Send your little piece to me ([e-mail]) and I'll give it a thread of its own.

Anyway, I'll start the ball rolling with a little salute of my own.

The Curmudgeon and The Fortress Of Solitude salutes.... Prince.

Ever since I was old enough to actually appreciate music I've been into Prince. I remember my brother had the Diamonds and Pearls CD (which he got for nothing from some "Join Now, Get Free CD's And Then Give Us Your Testicles" club) and I had always liked the song "Gett Off" which my friends older brother used to play. So I, er, "borrowed" the Diamonds And Pearls album with the idea of listening to that one song. Fate had other ideas...

After the Diamonds and Pearls album had went down a treat, I bought the Hits album 2, then basically every other Prince CD I could lay my hands on. I didn't just like the music, I liked everything about him. The mystique, the snotty attitude, the between song banter on some albums - everything. Plus, I LOVED the fact that I was the only kid in my entire school that liked Prince. It was kind of "my thing". Prince was the first gig I ever went to, where I bought a big symbol necklace and then.. well, went a bit strange.

This was during the whole Artist Formerly Known As.. stage, which I ADORED. I thought the name change to an unpronounceable symbol was so unusual and so original - that I decided to steal it for myself. At school I "killed off" my original name, and began poncing around the school (with dyed black hair) calling myself The Artist Formerly Known As.. (real name - that's a secret.)

Oddly enough, I didn't get beat up. I didn't get shunned. Hell, it worked a treat. Even my teachers began to acknowledge it (well, some of them) and I remember my friends bought me a "Happy 1st Birthday" card after a year (they remembered the day I "died" - awwww).

Well, all that fun and games wasn't exactly yesterday, but Prince is still a key factor in my life. The day I turned 18 I got the symbol tattooed on my arm (hurt like a bitch, too). Hell, before I called myself The Curmudgeon I called myself Tora Tora after a Prince alter ego, and even now my sign off signature in every discussion board is "Don't Abuse Children Or Else They Turn Out Like Me" from "Papa". I like other bands and still buy CD's but Prince is still the number one artist in my collection. I've got over 1100 CD's but the Prince ones are where the true love lies. I've been to about 80 or 90 gigs but that first one with Prince is still the best (nothing could match that giddy butterfly feeling in my stomach watching him come out on a moving pedestal..)

After a brief spell from the limelight, Prince appears to be as hot as ever. His new album 3121 went top ten in the UK and number one in America, and he seems to be the key name for other artists to drop in conversation (Pharrel Williams, for example, on who we would like to work with the most; "Oh, let's see.. Prince. Prince. Prince. Prince - and then Prince."

I love the music, I love the attitude (live on stage, talking about miming - "if they don't play their instruments then boo them off the stage!"), the androgynous look, the shameless sexuality, the peerless guitar work, the effortlessly catchy pop songs. He is quite simply the reason I own a CD player.

Prince - The Curmudgeon salutes you, now and forever.



There. That didn't hurt. Feel free to comment on this gushing tribute, or compose one of your own...

[hackersanonymous]

On a similar vein to The Curmudgeon, I'm going to go with one of my musical "heroes".

I say it in quotes because they're not really what most would consider "hero" or "idol" material. Indeed, to this day, my saying they're my favourite group still prompts "Oh, yes? We know what that means!" raised eyebrows.

Who are they? Messrs Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. Better known as Pet Shop Boys.

While I didn't go as far as The Curmudgeon (my body is a tattoo free temple. Albeit a slightly shabby, run-down one), I'd like to think that my musical following did have a significant influence on my outlook on life.

I think it's pretty safe to say that I was also the only one in my school who liked PSB. Mind you, I did find out a few years later that a particularly gorgeous girl in the year below me also really liked them. Sadly, she had a boyfriend by that stage.. Oh, what could have been (This man needs a reality check - stat! Ed)..

Anyhoo.. It's refreshing to see that 20 years on, artists and magazines still regard the Boys with the kudos they so richly deserve.

If you haven't listened to them before, I strongly recommend you do. Meaningful lyrics, superb arrangements in assorted styles, sly digs at Eminem's homophobic image - it's all there.

Toodles!

[Tumuli]

I am a fairly new visitor to your blog, but I thoroughly enjoy your postings.

To piggyback off your adoration: I also love Prince. For various reasons, my father worshipped him, buying each of his albums. Hearing the warped sci-fi plod of "Controversy" is one of my earliest musical memories...

"1999" and "Purple Rain" might well be the best recordings of the 1980s -- or any decade, for that matter.

[The Curmudgeon]

Welcome into the Fortress, Tumuli! (Say hello to Tumuli, everyone..) Hey, your dad has good taste.

Wait a minute - I have the same music taste as your DAD? Yikes, that's a kick in the nuts...

Hacker - Agreed on the PSB front. The fact that, 20 years on, they're pretty much the ONLY dance music orientated band that are producing original, innovative work is both impressive and frightening all at once.

[trashcanman]

I've got a list of musical heroes a mile long and none of them really fit in with the likes of Prince (super-talented but creepy) and the Pet Shop Boys. I'll just throw my man, Ian Mackaye, out there and see if anyone bites. The guy started out as a DC punk kid screaming his ass off about his straight-edge lifestyle ("I Don't drink/ Don't smoke/ Don't fuck/ At least I can fucking think!") to a crowd that didn't want to hear it. Takes balls, my friends. I know, being somebody whose been excluded all my life for seeing things the way I do and refusing to apologize for it, that even the most basic lifestyle choice can kick off a torrent of indignation and anger from people who don't share that choice. After a few years of screaming in seminal hardcore band Minor Threat, Mackaye drops the punk thing entirely and forms an all new band of emo/prog-rockers and plays an insane style of guitar while blending his out-of-tune vocal style with a guy who can actually sing and thus forming the legendary underground band Fugazi. Fugazi has sold over a million records on their own record label and have repeatedly turned down lucrative offers from major labels without so much as a thought. They refuse to deal with the mainstream media at large and Ian only agreed to a SPIN interview on the condition that they cleanse all cigarette and alcohol ads from that issue (normally an instant deal killer). The best part is that they did it and got their interview, and the guy spends half of the page ragging on their shitty mag and saying things like "SPIN magazine music has nothing to do with me." OWNED! If any of this sounds cool to you guys, I'd suggest renting the documentary film "Instrument" that is a pretty interesting look at the band and their mad genius of a leader.