Prince came in 28th in Rolling Stones’ list of the “100 Greatest Artists of All Time.” But that doesn’t mean he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the Internet. The singer, who refuses to allow his music on YouTube and no longer has an official website, recently announced that his new album will not be available through iTunes, Amazon, or any other form of digital distribution. Says Prince: “The Internet’s completely over. I don’t see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else.”
But Prince is hardly the only musician to share his opinions with the world. Here are a few other music stars who might not want to quit their day jobs:
Franz Ferdinand
Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand’s frontman, took to Twitter to express his frustration when the band’s record label allowed McDonalds to use his song without his permission. According to NME, he tweeted the following about Epic, the record label: “Did they think we’d approve this s—? Dirty bastards. Stupid arrogant motherf—ing pig-brained a—holes.” Brutal.
Kanye West
Oh, where to start with Kanye. The self-proclaimed king of the music industry said the following in an interview with Details magazine: “Put this in the magazine. There’s nothing more to be said about music. I’m the f—ing end-all, be-all of music. I know what I’m doing. I did [my album] 808s in three weeks. I got it.”
Also, let’s not forget his spotlight-stealing microphone grab at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Kanye jumped up on stage during Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for “Best Female Video” and declared that Beyoncé should have won. Thanks for the input, Mr. West.
John Mayer
John Mayer is the king of over sharing. The singer, who described his sexual relationship with Jessica Simpson as “sexual napalm” and said that his “biggest dream is to write pornography,” took one step too far by using the ‘N word’ during a February interview with Playboy.
He did damage control afterwards on his Twitter, saying, “It was arrogant of me to think I could intellectualize using [that word], because I realize that there’s no intellectualizing a word that is so emotionally charged.” We bet Jessica’s happier without you, Mayer.