Prince Band

The Purple One. A true genius with an unparalleled run of classic albums and singles. Also an undeniable weirdo.



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Prince
I don’t even know what to say about Prince. The Purple One. His Royal Badness. He was, quite simply, one of the most exceptional artists ever to grace the Earth. There are musicians and songwriters and performers. But then there’s Beethoven and Gershwin and Miles and Louis and Dylan…and Prince Rogers Nelson. At his peak, he truly could have done anything. His boundless creativity encompassed 27 instruments, utterly ignored genre barriers, gleefully flaunted sexual and gender mores, and radically reinvented pop music along the way. He could write a song that was simultaneously luridly raunchy and sweetly devoted. He could make you want to fuck and think about God at the same time. He was everything.

Recommended Listen:
Purple Rain

Crash Course:
1. Purple Rain
2. Sign O the Times
3. Dirty Mind

Compilation Replacement:
The Hits/B-Sides

Signature Songs:
1. “I Wanna Be Your Lover”
2. “When You Were Mine”
3. “Little Red Corvette”
4. “Purple Rain”
5. “Kiss”

Personal Note:
I imagine that a lot more people have been through the crash course than on the average week, so these notes might be a little more significant than usual. He has a lot of options to choose from:

- Prince is probably his most underrated, with him perfecting the frizzy funk that was the rage in the late 70s and early 80s.

- Around the World in a Day was a deliberate attempt to shake off the bandwagoners of Purple Rain with an embrace of psychedelic sounds that’s pretty excellent.

- Parade is probably the one to go to if you’re dying for more of the Purple Rain-type innovation. The songs are more sketches, but there’s a lot of genre-bending greatness and one of his Top 3 closing tracks (which is saying something).

- ArtOfficialAge is probably his best album post-Sign as far as I’m concerned. Free-wheeling and playful and ambitious and off-kilter in the way he was at his peak.

- 3121 is the peak of his “real instrument” phase that ran for most of the 2000s.

- The Love Symbol Album and Diamonds and Pearls are pretty strong samples of his more hip-hop infused era. Some goofy or embarrassing moments, but some HEAVY grooves.

- The Gold Experience is probably his most focused of the 90s. Some really wonderful stuff on there.

 

I am woefully uninitiated. Only heard Purple Rain and some Best Ofs, at least enough to know them pretty well. Help me Chris

 

Purple Rain, Sign "O" The Times and Dirty Mind are his trinity in my mind, though others might replace one with 1999. Dirty Mind is short, lewd, brilliant, lean and mean. Sign is sprawling and varied and staggering. Whichever of those sounds more appealing, go that way.

 

Sounds good. Will report back.

 

how is this even possible

 

Everyone has their blind spots!

 

I hadn't listened to any of his albums til last year, it's definitely possible!

 

not me bro

 

Most underrated album: Prince.

Most people think his classic period starts with Dirty Mind, but on the s/t he absolutely perfected the kinds of frizzy funk other artists were doing, so he could then go on and reinvent genres.

 

I think I just got my 30th Prince record

 

And you can really start going down the rabbit hole with all of the musicians (namely anyone that's ever been involved with him in any capacity). Morris Day obviously being the best (my opinion) and most well known.

 

There's a rumor going around that he passed away this morning.

 

TMZ

 

Crap

 

No way

 

Refuse to believe it until it's someone other than TMZ. It just can't be.

 

All other news sources are citing TMZ at this point, I don't want to believe it yet

 

His publicist has confirmed it.

 

Speechless.

 

Damn

 

Just completely lost. Gutted.

 

Unbelievably sad news, 2016 has been a doozy for public figure loss...

 

Nah. No. He can't. He can't die. Fuck.

 

Heartbreaking news, I'm in shock. RIP.