Prince: 'It's fun being in Islamic countries'
The singer who once sang of '23 positions in a one-night stand' praises Islamic countries for offering 'no choice'
'I was a loving tyrant' … Prince
There was a time when Prince's idea of fun was something beyond the wildest imaginings of most – his song Gett Off talked of "23 positions in a one-night stand", while Tipper Gore was so shocked when she heard her daughter listening to Darling Nikki she founded the Parents Music Resource Center to police perceived obscenity in pop. At 53, though, the eccentric star no longer sees sex as the be all and end all of a good time.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian's Film&Music, Prince said: "It's fun being in Islamic countries, to know there's only one religion. There's order. You wear a burqa. There's no choice. People are happy with that." When asked about the fate of those unhappy with having no choice, he replied: "There are people who are unhappy with everything. There's a dark side to everything."
Prince embraced religion in 2001, when he became a Jehovah's Witness. "I was anti-authoritarian but at the same time I was a loving tyrant," he told the Guardian. "You can't be both. I had to learn what authority was. That's what the Bible teaches. The Bible is a study guide for social interaction.
"If I go to a place where I don't feel stressed and there's no car alarms and airplanes overhead, then you understand what noise pollution is. Noise is a society that has no God, that has no glue. We can't do what we want to do all the time. If you don't have boundaries, what then?"
Prince's views on the internet, however, have not changed. He has long been a vociferous critic of those who feel they have the right to post his music or even his image online – in 2007 his lawyers instructed fansites to remove all photographs and images related to his likeness. He told the Guardian: "I'm supposed to go to the White House to talk about copyright protection. It's like the gold rush out there. Or a carjacking. There's no boundaries." Because of the problem with piracy, he said, he has no plans to record another album.
His unease about the web is not just a matter of legality for him, however, but one of aesthetics. "I personally can't stand digital music," he said. "You're getting sound in bits. It affects a different place in your brain. When you play it back, you can't feel anything. We're analogue people, not digital."
Despite the effects of the internet on his album sales, Prince remains one of pop's biggest stars. In 2007 he played 21 nights at the 20,000-capacity O2 arena in London, selling out all of them and grossing a reported $22m (£13.7m). He criticised the organisers of this weekend's Glastonbury festival, claiming the annual rumours that he is to play the festival are just an attempt to sell tickets on the back of his stardom. "They use my name to sell the festival," he said. "It's illegal. I've never spoken to anyone about doing that concert, ever."
• The full interview appears in this Friday's Film&Music.
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