I’m secure enough in my masculinity to announce it online that I’m a pretty big fan of Prince. I haven’t loved everything he’s done, and I’d even go so far as to say some of his music flat-out stinks. Still, the good stuff is great, and even his lesser offerings almost always bring something new to the table. Few musicians can claim such a prolonged legacy of innovation. It’s because of this – not that he’s good, but the way in which he is good – that I’m astonished by the “Internet is over” interview for which he rightly spent Tuesday getting mocked on Twitter, and by outlets like Mashable.

Bob Lefsetz gets it right, as usual:

You can’t stop progress.  Change happens.  And it’s not good for everyone.  Sure, it’s hard being an artist and getting paid in the Internet era, but that doesn’t mean you should become a Luddite and sign off.  It’s not necessary to utilize Foursquare, but when you rail against Twitter and other new media you just look like a square.

So, keep up to date with technology, or shut up!

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that Prince is batshit crazy – geniuses often are. The full article also describes him hiding under his stairs while instructing his guests to dance, and quotes his claim that playing the electric guitar for so many years has kept him from going bald. Neither of these things are particularly shocking to me. It does, however, catch me completely off-guard that someone who has clearly shown the capacity to think forward could subscribe to this particular brand of crazy. The man who put “Get Yo Groove On,” “Courtin’ Time,” and his cover of “Betcha By Golly Wow” in that order on the same album opposes technologies that let people grab others’ music and mash it up with their own in creative ways? What the fuck? This is like hearing Keanu Reeves scold a tub of pudding for its lack of expressive ability.

He’s twice given albums away on disc as newspaper (!) inserts, and doesn’t see the value of digital distribution as a means of promotion. He plays twenty-seven instruments, and doesn’t want people to be enthusiastic enough about music to seek the fastest and easiest ways to spread it. He was a pioneering user of MIDI (seriously, has anyone else ever been able to say “the horns are supposed to sound like shit,” and actually convince you?), and he doesn’t trust computers. Right now, I feel like I am Prince, because I just don’t get it.

It’s enough to make me pull my hair out. Fortunately, I play guitar.