🎤 David Bowie vs. Prince  vs.  The Ultimate Music Icon on :

Excellent, let's get this rock and roll showdown started.
***

**Round 1**

**David Bowie:** Right then, Prince, let’s face facts, darling. *I* was bending genders and blurring lines before you were even considering lipstick. I'm the chameleon of rock, constantly reinventing myself, pushing boundaries in theatre *and* music. *Ziggy Stardust*, *The Thin White Duke*, the chameleon! What single persona rivals the ever-shifting kaleidoscope of *Bowie*? I predict your answer is... silence. Tell me if I am wrong.

**Round 2**

**Prince:** Well, David, darling. A chameleon's disguise can be beautiful, yes, a true artistry, even. However, while you were *playing* different personas, I was *being* the music, the very rhythm itself. Imitation and adaptation, the true soul behind all art. I composed, produced, and played *all* instruments on my early albums. How's *your* guitar playing doing today, hmmm? Pure, concentrated genius…that is its own persona. Who needs masks when your soul is on display? Now tell me something, Starman, *what* did you create.

**Round 3**

**David Bowie:** Ouch, Prince! A low blow about the guitar. But that’s fair, maybe. I confess: guitar, for me, was a *tool*, to channel the *vision*. My strength has *always* been that vision: bringing art to life, transforming genres. Yes, you compose brilliantly; there’s no denying. But *Ziggy Stardust*, the alien superstar, the exploration of fame's corrosive power…did your music videos do *that*? Art with purpose… *that* transcends musicality alone. Music should tell a story or paint a canvas. That is its art, that is its purpose.

**Round 4**

**Prince:** “Art with a purpose…” My friend, art *is* purpose! Did "Purple Rain" tell no story? About love, family, pain? Music transcends canvas. Music becomes truth! Your *Ziggy* may have spoken, yes but he ultimately just fell to earth. As to your art, where *your* vision, does it truly bleed onto the instrument? I pour my whole body, mind, heart and soul, all over the music, playing every string of my guitars so violently I sometimes make them combust, *live*, without autotune or safety net, while simultaneously playing five different instruments. Can you truthfully say the same.
(I should note the previous line may not be precisely what Prince may say but would definitely evoke his sense of himself as a live performer/talent)

**Round 5**

**David Bowie:** "Purple Rain," undeniably powerful! *You* gave a heart. I won't say *Ziggy* possessed such tenderness... He was something else entirely. Your strength lies in this unbridled emotional performance. My focus rested more in exploration, always outward: of sound, style, and the very boundaries between identities. My quest always lies on discovery in places yet found. Perhaps your commitment runs deeper emotionally and mine flies farther above you toward uncharted regions. Perhaps that means something.
Maybe its nothing at all

**Round 6**

**Prince:** Perhaps. Exploration is, as you say, a most divine thing to search out. However, to what end, sir Bowie? All this outward flailing when true inspiration is waiting to be discovered inside? Your *identities* feel temporary, transient…whereas I sought truth in pure artistry. Even your sexuality comes across more curated than heartfelt... The *purpose* is expression of your best self for others. That's why music remains the key for a song's own expression of feelings. How would one unlock a feeling if the one creating the sound felt no emotion at the outset? Just a question, my star brother. Just a question.

**Round 7**

**David Bowie:** "Curated", darling? Life itself is curation! One chooses identities like clothes. Don’t *I* know it!. Mine simply are flashier. The real "Bowie," you see, exists between those personas. As a composer and performance, there is no separating, and *is not that an essential expression of personality? The trick in bringing this world to life involves wearing them properly! Yes emotion drives inspiration… but intellect shapes and molds them, turning pure passion into pure expression that becomes accessible to an audience of potential billions, maybe even to people just like you and me. Isn't that the art we all yearn for, the art of self-discovery?.
No need to wait! Discover *yourself*, then, just find your way through the woods

**Round 8**

**Prince:** Intellect…hmm, yes, well. Thinking without the body can feel somewhat empty. The question should be “Isn’t it limiting yourself if you don't allow yourself to go wild” Is not the intellect just more restrictions of oneself and potential creative process? And as for finding an audience and "unlocking your secrets to be found to a billion," isn't there at least something quite beautiful about finding the perfect audience? Your passion I can't refute (even though I suspect otherwise.) In conclusion you speak the world very beautiful with prose beyond most men, however you forget a simple truth! That art begins from heart alone. If there is nothing but mind you might not make art but design. Design requires precision but to feel requires pain and pleasure, love and suffering.

**Round 9**

**David Bowie:** Pleasure and pain...indeed, Prince! To restrict is also, freedom of a type. One must pick parameters within, or, fall and flounder upon that broad unknown without end and limits. Art as raw experience is valuable. Art shared and accessible takes purpose. Maybe. My personas...*aren't* lies... They all encompass some truth about my being. Not heart, yes. The cerebral experience more than sensual release is often overlooked because of being inaccessible to audiences of a lower sophistication. However one thing, my man I want you to acknowledge from a personal place the beauty of allowing everyone the same chance with this talent the art you want people to see, that maybe something good and grand can come, for the good of everyman.

**Round 10**

**Prince:** Allowing talent its way and everyone their opportunity…a point very difficult to dismiss or even criticize. But this I say to you, star man; genius isn't democratized but earned through sweat, dedication and hard, brutal artistry. You may be able to inspire others and give hope that perhaps "maybe I'll be famous for my skills some day,!" you're not the one to ensure that. That relies on the work ethic alone. With this philosophy, you could make an inspiring change of this sad modern society, but until then you might never win in a fair and pure manner. Art for all! Not so long when everyone has the same potential you should ask yourself whether to use yourself as example of perfection, and inspire all people in that manner to show, anything is always in possible reality! Goodbye Sir, Goodbye!!!