Several weeks ago I wrote that I was going to explore the collective studio album works of the late, great popular musician Prince...I've heard about half of his 39 albums to date and think well of all of them, although naturally I like a few better than others. One of these that I instantly took a liking to the first time I heard it...this time from YouTube...is the so-called "Black Album" which I originally thought was recorded and released in 1994. Like the Beatles' so-called White Album from 1968, the Black Album is actually untitled, released in a black jacket. Prince recorded it around 1987 and reportedly, with his backup band, took more time and effort to put it together than any other work of his...yet when it was released he suddenly did an about-face on it, proclaiming it "evil" and urging his fans not to buy it. The release was stopped after just a few sales and the album would eventually be rereleased on CD in a limited edition eight years later. Apparently, Prince disliked what he perceived as the album's negative bent, although its most negative track by far, Bob George...which had a very similar theme to Jimi Hendrix's rendition of Hey Joe...was something the artist continued to perform in concerts afterwards. I thought it was an energetic (and often very funny) album with a great mix of musical styles...not my favorite Prince album but right up there with some of his best. The point here that I'm trying to make is that anyone who creates music, art...or something on social media like Facebook or Twitter...can have times when they produce something they later think was inappropriate and would like to take back even though it's too late to do so. It's a problem that all serious artists and writers have to face: you want to be true to your feelings and even passions...including the negative ones...but also are concerned about how they will be received by your audience and if there might not be pushback. The way I handle this sort of thing on my blog...and I'm admittedly no wise guru on the subject...is to stay away from profanity and intentionally avoid singling out individual people for criticism...unless they are public figures like entertainment and media celebrities or politicians...and instead make more general comments about trends I see within society. But beyond my own standards, employing self-censorship will only produce insipid, insincere, namby-pamby results that aren't worth anyone's attention. It's a shame that Prince's Black Album was suppressed, but I suppose it was his call to make, not mine...
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