Remembering Prince

This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

With the news of Prince’s passing yesterday there’s been an outpouring of sadness and love. From tributes to live performances to the sharing of favorite songs, late night appearances, live videos, and memories — it’s been a purple drenched world. My first exposure to Prince came when I saw the Batman logo on a cassette tape at the local store, and needed it, badly. I was six or seven and obsessed with everything Batman. My parents told me I had to wait until the movie came out on video because they wanted to talk to me about some of the themes and violence depicted in the film (and pause it if I got too scared). But that didn’t stop me from asking for anything, and everything, that had the Batman emblem on it. From cereal to toys to t-shirts: I wanted it all. I still remember seeing the tape and begging for it. I was a child, I don’t think I had any clue what a soundtrack even was. I just wanted this little plastic box because Batman. My mom bought it and told me she had to listen to it first, I remember her explaining to me that this artist sometimes sang about “grown up things” and she wasn’t sure if it was going to be appropriate for me. It was one of the first conversations I ever remember having with my parents about these “grown up things.” I ended up getting to listen to the album if I promised I wouldn’t repeat certain words. Of course, I loved it. It was different, fun, funky, and I could dance to it. Over the next two decades I discovered the rest of Prince’s discography. I loved the uniqueness and I loved Prince’s dedication to his vision. It’s now, in retrospect, that I see the phenomenal songwriter, the virtuoso guitar player, and the show stopping performer. Here’s to you Prince, thank you for everything you did for music.

I’ve compiled my favorite tributes, videos, and links below.

Frank Ocean:

He wrote my favorite song of all time, ‘when you were mine’. It’s a simple song with a simple melody that makes you wish you thought of it first, even though you never would have – a flirtatious brand of genius that feels approachable. He was a straight black man who played his first televised set in bikini bottoms and knee high heeled boots, epic. He made me feel more comfortable with how I identify sexually simply by his display of freedom from and irreverence for obviously archaic ideas like gender conformity etc. He moved me to be more daring and intuitive with my own work by his demonstration.
​

Bomani Jones, in Playboy:

There is no fear of hyperbole when remembering Prince. He was the best recording artist of his time, the most versatile, more influential to a broader array of artists and genres than anyone. As long as it’s not a horn, he might have been the best at playing any basic pop instrument. He was a singular tour de force, using each of his albums to defy silly record-store categories. He could be as energetic and defiant as James Brown, as traditionally masculine as Teddy Pendergrass, as unbounded as David Bowie, as vulnerable as Marvin Gaye, as insightful as Paul Simon and as electric as Michael Jackson. At the same damn time.
​

Thousands sing “Purple Rain” in downtown Minneapolis:

This is what it sounds like when thousands of Prince faithful sing Purple Rain. @StarTribune pic.twitter.com/rqzs4qHPap

— Aaron Lavinsky (@ADLavinsky) April 22, 2016
​

Prince, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne — "While My Guitar Gently Weeps":

Hit's written by Prince but performed by others:

The year 1986 saw the release of the second film Prince starred in, Under The Cherry Moon. His character’s name was Christopher, which would end up being the pseudonym used in the writing credits for “Manic Monday,” a track Prince submitted to The Bangles for their sophomore album.
​

Prince's final live performance in Atlanta:

No one imagined that it would be the last time Prince would perform, when they saw him during his stop in Atlanta last week, April 14, 2016, after a 12 year hiatus. Prince's “Piano and a Microphone” tour was a flawless display of his artistry. Like the show's title suggests, it was just him, his piano and a purple strobe light beaming down as he played. The backdrop was a screen with illustrations of various images of the artist that dissolved into a collage of his various looks and album covers through the decades.
​

Pearl Jam cover "Purple Rain":

Jennifer Hudson sings "Purple Rain":

The New Yorker:

Before I knew you could dress that way; before I knew it was called “funk,” and before I learned what a synthesizer did; before I knew that love songs could sound solitary and weird, and before I figured out that Minneapolis must be on another planet; before the sound of computer blues and militant drum machines, of sex dressed up as lullaby; before “Kiss” unnerved me, and before I reasoned that it was because of the falsetto; before I understood the value of “an intellect and a savoir-faire”; before my mother bribed me into transcribing the lyrics of “Nothing Compares 2 U” for her, and before I understood the devilry of binding contracts; before I understood what “Gett Off” meant or who “critics in New York” were, and before I discovered that you could drop the long version of “Erotic City,” go to the bar for a drink, and still be fulfilling your obligations as a d.j.; before I understood that you could just keep making art in your own special language, well past the point where all eyes trained on you, and that it was just for those who had loyally stayed until the end: before all of that, I saw purple.
​

A Hamilton Tribute:

Prince's Coachella 2008 performance:

Batdance:

Expand - View Original