this post was submitted on 05 Dec 2023
228 points (78.2% liked)

Showerthoughts

29819 readers
612 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics
    • 3.1) NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out
    • 3.2) Political posts often end up being circle jerks (not offering unique perspective) or enflaming (too much work for mods).
    • 3.3) Try c/politicaldiscussion, volunteer as a mod here, or start your own community.
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
vatlark@lemmy.world
forkball@lemmy.world
quinten@lemmy.world
Thekingoflorda@lemmy.world
228
The fact that there's a lady out there named Stephanie who insisted the whole world call her Lady Gaga and we're all just like, "okay." (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
86 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TheQuietCroc@lemmy.world 99 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Prince literally wanted us to call him a symbol with no explanation.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 85 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It took me years until I finally learned why he did that. It had something to do with the music industry owning his name. He reclaimed ownership of all his music and art and made a departure from the extortionate music industry.

[–] TeaHands@lemmy.world 23 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Could've picked something easier to pronounce, though.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 57 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It was actually brilliant. Got everyone talking about him without really giving up ‘Prince’ in the public consciousness.

[–] chepox@sopuli.xyz 15 points 11 months ago

Never thought of it that way but yeah. Gave up his name without actually giving it up. Brilliant. That guy was savy as fuck. Also a genius.

[–] Rin@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago

I asked GPT why:

In the early 1990s, Prince was embroiled in a contractual dispute with Warner Bros., his record company. He felt they were restraining his creativity by not allowing him to release albums as frequently as he desired. In 1993, in an act of rebellion, he changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, which was a combination of the male and female gender symbols, in order to free himself from his contract obligations to Warner Bros. Since the symbol had no pronunciation, he was often referred to as "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" during that period. He returned to using the name Prince in 2000, after his publishing contract with Warner Bros. expired.

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The unpronounceable symbol :

Hollow circle above downward arrow crossed with a curlicued horn-shaped symbol and then a short bar

(known to fans as the "Love Symbol")

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I'm in awe of the outstanding quality of the symbols pic

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

24 x 28 pixels, 320 bytes, from Wikipedia...
Prince_logo.svg.webp
... if it really was SVG format it would be much greater quality.

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

They may have made the classic "let's batch-optimize all images for the web" or maybe using a CDN provider, either with wrong settings.

Yeah SVG would make it almost endlessly scalable.

[–] A_A@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Nice - i also found lots of prince wikis, but not the svg

I know now what to hear tonight, perfect

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 4 points 11 months ago

Maybe you know, did he want to be called "the artist"? And then everyone added "formerly known as Prince"?