Prince RIP

Too young. Mourn here.

prince is not allowed to die

sometimes it really fucking snows all year

This is bullshit.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-super-bowl/0ap3000000633788/Prince-rocks-out-Super-Bowl-XLI-halftime-show

RIP. good grief.

prince is not allowed to die

― flappy bird, Thursday, April 21, 2016 10:30 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sometimes it really fucking snows all year

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, April 21, 2016 10:30 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is bullshit.

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.)

OTM x3

putting this here cuz this is where I'm gonna start publicly mourning and the rest of you can either commiserate or complain idgaf

thinking about the first time I saw the video for Little Red Corvette, the first time I heard Darling Nikki and my next door neighbor friend's older sister explained what "grinding" was, picking out "Starfish and Coffee" on the piano as a kid and years later playing it at some uber-rich friend's Halloween part on a big white grand piano, my girlfriend/future wife's extensive collage of Prince posters/ephemera in her walk-in closet wall

fuck

so gutted

2016 can seriously go suck a fuck already.

just heard a minute ago. there are no words. :(

RIP

for the moment, i have nothing intelligent or eloquent to say, just anger. rip.

I never liked his music, but he was unquestionably a top-notch songwriter, the only standout on [insert random guitar magazine]’s “GREATEST SHREDDING OF ALL TIME” features, and made pop music way more fun than it should’ve been.

I also owe him for influencing so much of the music I love and being an entertaining celebrity when everybody else seemed so droll.

I was in the Columbia House Record Club (lol) in HS and I remember after I first saw the video for "1999" on MTV, then heard the album after my sister bought it, I quickly ordered For You, Dirty Mind and Controversy. Thank heavens my mother had no idea what was on those records or she would have confiscated them, but I spent night after night after night listening to those records on headphones in my room. Prince made me want to learn the guitar. He opened me up to an entirely new world of music.

Oh man. This is just awful news.

no GODDAMNIT NO!

I never liked his music, but he was unquestionably a top-notch songwriter, the only standout on [insert random guitar magazine]’s “GREATEST SHREDDING OF ALL TIME” features, and made pop music way more fun than it should’ve been.

I also owe him for influencing so much of the music I love and being an entertaining celebrity when everybody else seemed so droll.

― Allen (etaeoe), Thursday, April 21, 2016 1:35 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cosign. I feel for everyone who was much closer to his music than I.

I admittedly don't listen to Prince as actively as I have in the past but I don't think a week goes by when SOMETHING Prince-related comes up in conversation or something reminds me of a particular song of his. Like the multiple times it snowed earlier this month. Goddamn, I'm never going to be able to listen to that song again.

Horrible news. Loved those early albums and seeing him live in early 1980s.

terrible.

RIP

seeing him live in early 1980s.

whoah really? where was this?

My first sighting was his black-undies SNL performance of "Partyup."

Then two fiery shows at MSG 16 years apart, '88 and '04.

amazin'

It doesn't seem possible that so many musicians that were so huge (in terms of popularity or influence or both) over the course of my life have died young when there's, like, still two living Beatles and shit. What the fuck.

Oh, and I don't listen as actively as I used to but I used to listen more actively and I love Prince at least as much as Bowie, so this is just fucking garbage.

It's a cliche to say, but his was the best live show I've ever seen — 2002 in Montreal. I snuck in (I was a poor cartoonist at the time) and he played 3 hours, had Maceo Parker and Larry Graham on stage with him, just an electrifying performance that left me high for days.

I guess he's truly ageless now.

x-post -- saw him 1980 and 1984 (I think) at Capital Centre near DC.

FUCK

saw him last year at the show in baltimore. very glad i did. he seemed ageless, not that he was even old.

this year is unbelievable.

Prince is the greatest artist to have made popular music in my lifetime.

I've been a fan for so much of my life that I cannot even really remember when it started, though it was likely around the time I found a cassette of Purple Rain that one of the kids my dad coached left behind in our car one day, and which I started playing the hell out of, mostly out of curiosity at first (I remember not knowing what "masturbating" meant, but figured it couldn't be something I should ask my parents about because it was said in "Darling Nikki," and everything about that song felt like something I shouldn't be listening to).

My mom always maintained that Prince must be gay. I never did, but as my fandom grew even more intense during my early teen years, I like to think that there was something about the palpable queerness of Prince's music that might have eased my coming-out process somewhat.

When David Bowie died, I had a long email convo with a young, queer Bowie-loving friend of mine who had just recently started getting into Prince, in which I explained to him that while I always liked and appreciated Bowie, Prince was *my* Bowie.

If I'm not as gutted as so many other people are right now, as much as I should be, I think that 2016's endless parade of unexpected celebrity deaths (Bowie was a big one, yes, but also Garry Shandling, for me), I'm just kind of numb to it all right now.

Fuck 2016

i can't even process this yet.

Any cause of death confirmed? He was too young and didn't seem sick. OD?

Dinnerboat I guess I know who you are <3

Prince was the only irl superhero to me

He also, especially w the revolution, evoked this feeling in me of a WORLD THAT COULD BE and that basically WAS, all you had to do was invoke it

I never got to see him play

Feeling a weird sense of pride at being a Prince fan right now

I was lucky to see Prince live several times, in several different settings. I saw him in clubs, arenas, middle of the night surprise shows, sets where he played all the hits, sets where he played none, sets where he cursed, sets where he cleaned up songs, sets where he barely sang and never touched his guitar. I took my wife to see him when she was very pregnant with our first daughter, and she (my in utero daughter) was not digging it. Some of those shows were up there with the best I ever saw, and some down with the worse. And I wish he was still here in all his hit or miss genius glory. Some of my favorite music of all time, all the time.

I barely know what else to say, but I mostly feel like posting Questlovle's story about rollerskating with Prince. He was one of a kind. All of a kind.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/06/18/questlove_on_roller_skating_with_prince_an_excerpt_from_his_new_book_mo.html

he was on my bucket list to see live :(

i bought 1999 the week it came out and he ruled my 80's from that moment on. i can't believe he was 24 when that record came out. how is that possible? he seemed immortal/ageless even then.

Any cause of death confirmed? He was too young and didn't seem sick. OD?

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, April 21, 2016 5:

He was taken off his plane sick just a little bit ago and said he had the flu.

evoked this feeling in me of a WORLD THAT COULD BE and that basically WAS, all you had to do was invoke it

a unique factor I always appreciated about this longed-for world that Prince both explicitly and implicitly invoked - a social utopia transcending race, class, gender etc. - was that it was based on sexual pleasure. There were pop stars in the past who preached about leftist politics, about peace and love, about racial equality, whatever, but for Prince the unifying factor that cut across all lines was sex/pleasure. In Prince's world it was something everybody wanted and that everyone could have, and it would make everything all right.

xp

I saw him in Dec. 1984 on the Purple Rain world tour at Richfield Coliseum outside of Cleveland. It was, up to that point, far and away the best show I had ever seen. As a bonus, my sister and I got to miss school the next day because there was a horrible blizzard during and after the concert. On the next school day, I wore my concert shirt and got called a "faggot" and a "pussy" all day long by the shithead burnouts that comprised my high school, but I didn't care, because fuck you, I saw the greatest musician on earth at the greatest concert ever. And he probably fucked your girlfriends after the show.

He was my white whale of concerts. Never came to Philly when I was old enough to see him. I curse myself for not going to Baltimore. I've got a broken heart again.

i really hope he didn't pull some steve jobs christian science type of shit and be like 'i trust in my own body to heal me, namaste' :(

i never saw him either. my wife did. he did like 20 concerts in a row in london and i missed every one.

A friend of mine who was actually irl friends with Michael Jackson (!) just said on Facebook that MJ once described Prince to him as "really weird, but the most talented motherf'er you'll ever meet."

a unique factor I always appreciated about this longed-for world that Prince both explicitly and implicitly invoked - a social utopia transcending race, class, gender etc. - was that it was based on sexual pleasure. There were pop stars in the past who preached about leftist politics, about peace and love, about racial equality, whatever, but for Prince the unifying factor that cut across all lines was sex/pleasure. In Prince's world it was something everybody wanted and that everyone could have, and it would make everything all right.

xp

people call me rude
I wish we all were nude
I wish there were no black or white
I wish there were no rules

WRECKA STOWE

only major performer (besides, uh, Bowie) I haven't seen live

This isn't possible.

I saw him a second time on the Musicology tour at the MCI Center in DC. That was the "in-the-round" show with the band including John Blackwell, Candy Dulfer and Maceo Parker and it was fucking amazing.

a world of neverending happiness, you can always see the sun, day or night. farewell sweet prince!

This world has officially stopped making any sense at all. RIP

Christ

I only got to see him once (my wife saw him a whole bunch of times, including after-hours shows that she always raved about and I am sorry I missed) on the Rainbow Children tour - not the greatest tour, although he still had Maceo with him which was awesome, and he was very funny and unpredictable, such a showman.

Never got to see him either. I almost went to Paisley Park after the last D'Angelo show at First Ave, but he didn't show anyway. I went to Bunker's a few times to see Dr. Mambo's Combo (all ex-Prince players) play, and always hoped he would make an appearance (there is precedent).

Saw him twice, the first time he played a guitar solo that actually made me cry, not the song, the solo, that's how fucking great he was. That was in Glasgow. The second was at the O2 in London where I was like 5 miles from the stage and he was 5 foot 2 inches tall, so I cursed the O2. Can't fucking believe it tbh.

i really hope he didn't pull some steve jobs christian science type of shit and be like 'i trust in my own body to heal me, namaste' :(

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Thursday, April 21, 2016 12:53 PM (51 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Totally speculative, I know, but I'd wager that's exactly what it was. I'm comfortable with blaming the Jehovah's Witnesses for the death of great grandmother and, absent any actual facts, I'm comfortable with blaming them for what was possibly the preventable death of Prince.

i never ever expected to be able to see him live.
having grown up in the late 70s/early 80s, my 2 musical heroes were bowie (#1), and prince (#2).
so i just assumed i would never get the chance.
then the "21 nights" thing happened.
now, bh was not a fan, so, i had no idea how to approach the situation when the dates were announced.
then as the nights ticked by, i got an email from geoff t/age of chance (KISS), about going to see prince together.
i delicately approached the topic as a trip to london while she was left at home with baby etc was not an easy option.
amazingly she said 'just bloody do it .. '
having left it so late, the only seats we got were up in the heavens,
but damn ... what a night.
there i was, with the bass player from my all time noise/sample/guitar band who had covered prince, while prince was on the stage doing his thing..
after bowie died i could not listen to his stuff as it was all too closely associated to bh,
however, prince was all for me, so, f*ck it, tonight, this weekend, i am going to rip the roof off this funker.

i have no more heroes alive now.

;_;

His glamour was accessible somehow. Listening to his music always made (makes) me feel a little Prince-like.

xpost — Jon not Jon: From where?

My mom always maintained that Prince must be gay. I never did, but as my fandom grew even more intense during my early teen years, I like to think that there was something about the palpable queerness of Prince's music that might have eased my coming-out process somewhat.

this is true for me too, he made it easier for me to be queer.

WRECKA STOWE

http://www.thecurrent.org/listen

everybody should bump the fukk outta this…

the very first music records I ever owned were 45s that were thrown out/given away by DJs at bar mitzvah parties. Prince's "Delirious/Horny Toad" was one of three, I was totally hooked by those synth sounds, parents were confused.

xp

My thoughts just turned to a roommate/friend from almost 10 years ago, amazing guy whose parents met at a Prince concert circa 1985. His folks had a brief fling that lasted only a few weeks, but during which she inadvertently became pregnant with my future roomie and close friend. I should give him a call; he owes his very life to Prince.

i'm thinking about the relationship i have to artists i love, their work. w/ something like can or roxy music i love it but i didn't grow up to it, it wasn't part of the narrative of my youth or whatever and so when holger czukay or bryan ferry die i'll be sad and i'll play the records alot but eventually i'll move on and i'll be able to listen to the records in roughly the same state of mind i was able to prior. w/ the stones i grew up w/ much of it and heard it all my life but they weren't mine really, they were my mom's, and when that moment comes it'll be like an uncle passing, a drunk uncle i guess, and there will be sadness but some wistfulness and i'll move on, i'll sing 'dead flowers' at karaoke and a few years down the line when i hear 'moonlight mile' i won't have nervous breakdown or anything. when bowie passed it felt like an incredibly important teacher from my life had passed, i was almost surprised to discover how central he had been in my life and i took comfort in commiserating w/ the many many ppl across many generations that had been touched by his music as well, i liked hearing the stories of how his work and his being had changed ppl's lives and though i was sad and shocked i felt mainly grateful. madonna is the only musical act (and really it's only musical acts i get this way w/, you live w/ music in a way you don't w/ books or films or whatever, it can serve so many purposes whether you listen deliberately to it or just have it on in the background while you study or clean or live basically, it has an incredible social aspect but also is extremely effective when it's only you and your headphones isolated from the rest of the world, you can dance to it, you can fuck to it, you can fall asleep to it) that has meant something close to me in importance as prince in terms of breadth and depth, when she dies i'll be devastated, as if my best friend had died. prince though, i'm trying to understand it, trying to face his death and it isn't like a friend died or a parent or teacher or obv just someone who made a lot of records i liked. it's like i stepped outside and suddenly the sun wasn't there anymore. his death feels apocalyptic. it makes no sense. i want to curl up in a ball on the floor and scream. it makes no sense.

not easy to post any of the mans classic tracks via youtube.

this is probably a first for a big name death.

WRECKA STOWE

ha yes

I idly watched a bunch of Under the Cherry Moon recently which makes no sense and is a mess but in a charming way

xp the first album i bought was 1999. a lot of that was 9 year old me being thrifty - i can get two lps worth of material for just this much more - but i still thank the fates for it nonetheless.

dinnerboat, i was jumping to the conclusion that you are the fellow cartoonist who just posted about a montreal prince show on fb (i am j0n L3wi5)

balls otm again

Just found out. Feel like I've been hit by a tonne of bricks. RIP.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEeH8GBRz3O/?taken-by=thuggerthugger1

Shakey thank you for that lovely unpacking of the world prince pointed to

It was pleasure in sex but also in sound

balls otm. I'm trying to think of any other musicians from the past like forty years that had the highs and staying power and overall impact of Prince or Bowie and I'm coming up short. In terms of '80s music specifically and impact on me specifically, I think only Cocteau Twins come close. Stay with us, Liz.

firing up itunes for the first time in the longest just to shoot through discog
Come is such a beautiful profane spectacular response to death

Ulysses you should come to the signing at desert island tonight I wish to prince hug u

this is a hard listen rn (recent live piano version of Purple Rain): https://soundcloud.com/anildash/let-me-guide-u#t=0:00

i'm working a show with Mazz Swift tonight, i cannot imagine but we will be hugging there

I saw one of those 2007 London shows and for real Prince was the single best thing I have ever seen on a stage. Kind of numb even thinking about this - like has any one musician ever seemed as full of life as Prince?

Fucking hell. Here's the long version of Purple Rain, from the first gig Wendy and Lisa performed with the band, at First Ave in Minneapolis. The moment when he can't quite bring himself to start the first verse is staggering:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58229402/Prince-%20Purple%20Rain%20Live%201983.mp4

Half the radio stations I just scanned were playing purple rain, but I don't think I'm ready for that.

Half the radio stations I just scanned were playing purple rain, but I don't think I'm ready for that.

yeah, i dropped that album on a bit ago, but had to hit the button once the title track kicked in.

BBC been waffling about The Queen, so only just seen.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cgla1TxWsAAmAEM.jpg

I'm wondering if this is another case of someone who has a ridiculous work ethic and a tendency to deny they're that sick dying from the flu or something that should have been a minor infection. Would be completely unsurprising if Prince was like that, he seemed like he was always "on"

take care of yourselves, people

The last year or three have made it pretty clear how certain figures are so deeply part of the firmament that even if I wasn't a huge fan, when they're gone, everything fucking quakes. You question the world a little. Things are different. I didn't know Bowie's music well and was never a fan, but felt a jolt when he passed. Phife Dawg kinda tore me up because I was huge fan. Prince - I liked a bunch of Prince songs, never got invested, but this still feels brutal somehow, because even if I wasn't listening there was something elemental about Prince continuing to exist and to live on his own terms, artistically and otherwise, not giving one. flying. fuck about what critics or record executives thought. Touring or not, releasing records or not, saying "yo, I want to do a solo piano tour because I can." It just seemed like he'd always be there. As an icon and as an artist there was huge inspiration there, and a cockiness, a confidence. This means: no more news items about new Prince statements or off the record interviews, and every time I encounter a "1800-New-Funk" bumper sticker (which has happened! around Baltimore!) it'll hurt.

(incoherent but where I'm at with this)

not easy to post any of the mans classic tracks via youtube.

yeah, i was gonna say that prince's assiduousness (?) at removing all his work from streaming sites means it's not easy to do the usual post-some-music thing now.

I was thinking about putting on whatever Prince stuff was immediately accessible to me but I think I need to hold off for a while. I was listening to Ween already so maybe 'LYLYP' can be my baby steps in that direction.

I saw one of those 2007 London shows and for real Prince was the single best thing I have ever seen on a stage

did you get the book ?
the book was crap, just lots of pics, but there was a live cd that came with it.
insanely good stuff.

The clip of him doing While My Guitar Gently Weeps with every ageing rock musician in the world is astonishing, half way through he just steps into the middle of the stage and blows everyone else away.

that clip is really "why prince is amazing for non-prince fans" but I have watched it so many times. Dhani Harrison's face lighting up is so joyful

haha yes

where does his guitar go

I seriously hope he died while being fellated by a bare minimum of two nurses at once.

μpright mammal (mh)
Posted: April 21, 2016 at 2:21:03 PM
I'm wondering if this is another case of someone who has a ridiculous work ethic and a tendency to deny they're that sick dying from the flu or something that should have been a minor infection. Would be completely unsurprising if Prince was like that, he seemed like he was always "on"

Yes I posted on one of these threads that when the flu hospitalization thing came out I had a dark thought of 'I hope this does not turn out like Jim Henson'

i realise this is small fry for you who collect studio offcuts/bootlegs/live rips etc,
but i have just added my prince digital collection into a playlist, hit the random option, and crossfade function.
321 tracks in total.
ooh yes.
unloved/forgotten deep cuts are sounding wonderful right now eg. push.

How long until articles about Prince and Sinead start showing up on my FB feed

this is on youtube and it's pretty glorious

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4SGn-nnnhw

Enjoy the fruits of his songwriting labors if nothing else:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STQ6Z4NnukY

Jon, I immediately think of Jim Henson every time something like that happens, too! When I think of Henson dying at 53 it breaks my heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMfAXjoqDks

https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/t31.0-8/13041385_10154114849074841_6340402726226358794_o.jpg

can't process this. saw him in London during the Lovesexy tour, still one of the best concerts I've ever seen nearly 30 years later.
;_;

There have been a lot of recent deaths of people whose music I grew up with enjoyed immensely, or at least respected but none of them were as big a deal to me as Prince.

He's one of those artists that was around for as long as I was paying attention to music; when I heard he died I immediately remember the 1999 and Little Red Corvette videos (probably on Night Tracks while playing with Legos during sleepovers at my friend's house) and listening to my cousin's Purple Rain tape on a walkman while reading Mad Magazine. But he's one of the few that I stayed interested in as an adult.

I never saw him live and really regret not doing so in Seattle a couple years ago, I remember thinking ticket prices were insane and he wasn't that old and would probably be around again at some point. Alas.

xxxxp see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1NLrpNhfRc

Prince and Vanity both dead, both at 57 :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQQdA2aat2k

Like imagine being in your 50s and still being onstage being consistently, outrageously sexual and never once looking sleazy or creepy? No male musician in history has ever been able to pull that off, plenty of dudes 30 years younger can't, and Prince did it pretty much effortlessly.

Goddamn, I can't even listen to a Martika song yet without feeling overwhelmed! Fuck!

I'm right there with you Jon & mh. Jim Henson is probably still the most impactful celebrity death of my life, and the weird, out of left field, too damn soon deaths of Prince and Bowie are close runners up.

I really want to re-watch that one old awards show clip of Baby I'm a Star that's like 11 min long and just full throttle energy all the way through.

Also very curious to see what happens to his catalog & vault.

xpost Like people who you'd reasonably presumed had transcended such petty human concerns as death.

the jukebox in my high school lunch room had "Erotic City" on it and I can remember female fans trying to convince school admin that it was okay because he was actually saying "funk" on the chorus and not "fuck" lol

henson was a jhvh witness too, right? or xtian scientist?

https://www.facebook.com/uspto.gov/photos/a.128840003796166.21901.114912688522231/1267507836596038/

Also very curious to see what happens to his catalog & vault.

^^^ I brought this up earlier on Prince threads. with no children and no clear heir and *tons* of unreleased stuff + the back catalog you have to wonder who he was willing to cede control of his estate to.

Like imagine being in your 50s and still being onstage being consistently, outrageously sexual and never once looking sleazy or creepy? No male musician in history has ever been able to pull that off, plenty of dudes 30 years younger can't, and Prince did it pretty much effortlessly.

well Prince didn't exactly look like a 57-year old man to begin with. he was more like...a space alien

the jukebox in my high school lunch room had "Erotic City" on it

wow lol

i wrote my high school's comedy revue one year and had a really age-inappropriate prince parody in there that somehow was allowed in.

henson was a jhvh witness too, right? or xtian scientist?

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Thursday, April 21, 2016 1:39 PM (47 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The latter, I think? And I'd always assumed that had something to do with his death, but the biography that came out a couple years back painted it as kind of a legitimately freak thing, like a very rapid decline pretty much out of nowhere.

don't know if this has been posted but to me this is the best thing to watch right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAYQUbh8HHA

the current tribute is great, except for the banal, Minnesota nice public radio commentary, just like whatever that SNL skit was.

In terms of well known african american music from Mpls, there really isn't any after him and the scene he presided over, is there?

in general i hate arena shows -- i probly have been to 20 max -- but he filled up MSG like a cabaret on both Lovesexy and the Musicology tour.

what Prince and Jam & Lewis aren't enough for you

xp

with no children and no clear heir and *tons* of unreleased stuff + the back catalog you have to wonder who he was willing to cede control of his estate to.

i think its pretty clear the man was seriously lawyered up, so, would like to think this aspect has been well and truly locked down.
i mean, he was insanely tight on his archive, so, there should be little problem sourcing mastertapes etc. for the inevitable boxset excess.

just so long as we dont get any l.a reid lead albums.

xpost Sure, they pretty much dominated a couple decades worth of popular music, but who hasn't?

i will buy all these prince box sets, no shit

still so bewildered and confused right now

!

saw prince for the first and only time with 3rdeyegirl last year

we had seats way back in the gods, there were no screens to bring the onstage action any closer, and even though from that distance we could barely see him his charisma was still utterly transfixing. never seen anything like it and i guess i never will again.

It never occurred to me that he could die...it just wasn't on my radar. Wasn't he just starting to write his memoirs? Shit.

ps: props to Prince for outliving Rick James by one year

2016 can seriously go suck a fuck already.

― Fat Idiot (Old Lunch), Thursday, April 21, 2016 1:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

btw re his queerness, it was quite literal, via an anecdote someone i trust shared with me recently

anythingthatmoveslikeaholeinyohead

maybe this is weird but I keep thinking about how D'Angelo is handling this news

at home i have all these fan-made "deluxe editions" of his albums with contemporaneous singles, 12" mixes, outtakes, etc. etc. the "sign of the times" one is like 9 discs and it's fucking glorious.

can't wait to get home to listen to those. stuck at work listening to prince marginalia...

I just looked at Miguel's Twitter for that same reason.

i thank whichever ilxor made those "Perfect Unreleased Prince" comps a few years ago, i listen to those all the time.

not my favorite cover, but cool all the same

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3pIxfGEhM0

probably one the best pop songs ever no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd6JI5MD_cQ

So grateful that I was able to go to the Baltimore show last May. An amazing show, and his song BALTIMORE is fantastic. God, he had so much energy. Completely perplexed because of his straight edge, super healthy life style. Listening to MSNBC right now and one of the guests mentioned that at some point Prince refused a hip replacement because Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in blood transfusions. Just awful. Bowie and Prince were the two biggest rockstars that EVERYONE liked. Insane that we lost them in a three month span.

Saw him on the One Nite Alone tour at a relatively small concert hall. About twelve rows back. Although the seats were plush and comfortable, the audience was on its feet from the moment he was onstage. Played a bit less than 2.5 hours. I've never met anyone more charismatic, regardless of the profession. I actually missed his presence the next day.

Having a difficult time keeping it together this afternoon.

it's just that, having never been to Mpls but understanding it to not be a Afr-Am stronghold, it seems that there isn't a deep bench of black music. Its his scene, which Jam and Lewis were part of, and then… what? anything? Or beforehand? Being that I just finished the Replacements book, that band and its ilk makes sense. Prince's achievement seems all the more massive in that he came out of a vacuum.

my show was in the 90's during one of many retirement tours, mostly just him and a piano
at one point he backflipped off the piano into the splits. In stiletto heels.

http://gawker.com/wolf-blitzer-fondly-remembers-the-prince-classic-purpl-1772313930

it's just that, having never been to Mpls but understanding it to not be a Afr-Am stronghold, it seems that there isn't a deep bench of black music. Its his scene, which Jam and Lewis were part of, and then… what? anything? Or beforehand? Being that I just finished the Replacements book, that band and its ilk makes sense. Prince's achievement seems all the more massive in that he came out of a vacuum.

you ought get that 'purple snow' comp on numero group, has a lot of stuff on the scene out of which prince emerged.

it's unreal and depressing to me that over the past few years we've lost the three biggest iconic solo artists of the '80s (well, three of the five including springsteen and madonna), each of them basically unassailable in their specific skill set and in their performance abilities, and all of them far too young.

also: http://waxpoetics.com/features/articles/prince-and-andre-cymone-formed-the-band-grand-central/

it's unreal and depressing to me that over the past few years we've lost the three biggest iconic solo artists of the '80s (well, three of the five including springsteen and madonna), each of them basically unassailable in their specific skill set and in their performance abilities, and all of them far too young.

I dunno, Bowie at 69 seemed alright - it's just that alongside Prince these are dudes who seem like they're 25 forever

it's unreal and depressing to me that over the past few years we've lost the three biggest iconic solo artists of the '80s (well, three of the five including springsteen and madonna)

wait, when did sammy hagar die?

j/k

well i was talking about whitney and MJ and prince there, as much as i love Bowie his '80s were a shade below the others, status wise

prince was really into recording pretty much everything he ever did, right? like whoever has his estate probably has thousands of hours of recorded material sitting there. wouldn't be surprised if there's a recording of every song he was into by other artists that he covered just for fun

entire closet of tapes of him outdoing every guitar solo that was praised in a review he read

That Purple Snow comp is incredible. So much great stuff there.

the vault was legendary of course; idle speculation of what would happen when he died was always a popular topic on the prince bulletin boards
i guess now we find out

it's unreal and depressing to me that over the past few years we've lost the three biggest iconic solo artists of the '80s (well, three of the five including springsteen and madonna), each of them basically unassailable in their specific skill set and in their performance abilities, and all of them far too young.

OTM. I felt old enough having a birthday this week, but this...yeah.

xp my personal theory was that he was gonna have everything he made posthumously uploaded onto the web for free in perpetuity. seemed the right kind of iconoclastic move. here's hoping.

xp just heard an interview with his engineer circa 87-89 and he said they recorded 10 albums worth of original music in that time and less than 10% of it has been released

yea I've always just assumed Prince had a dozen albums worth of awesome material in the can. hope it doesn't get the Xscape treatment.

i hope those are released in some kind of album form according to the original intent and not just put out there with everything else.

hope it doesn't get the Xscape treatment.

i refer the honourable person to the answer i posted earlier ;-)

xp just heard an interview with his engineer circa 87-89 and he said they recorded 10 albums worth of original music in that time and less than 10% of it has been released

― flappy bird, Thursday, April 21, 2016 3:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was this a new interview with Susan after his death or that one from a couple years ago?

Live on the phone with Brian Williams

i hope those are released in some kind of album form according to the original intent and not just put out there with everything else.

― nomar, Thursday, April 21, 2016 2:17 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I trust it'll be a 217-disc set sold in a walk-in closet stuffed with boas and platform shoes.

it should never be released

release the album artwork and the track listing, but not the music

forgotten gems pt1 (album version) : the word.

the underlying beat and bassline with the vocal melody = sonic honey.
yeah i know he lost a lot of love in later years, but there were times he always hit the jackpot.
this is one such track i had totally forgotten about, and loving it.

2016 can seriously go suck a fuck already.

"love bizarre" on Sirius's Groove station right now…god that fucking drum sound…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu273pvAd_w

Wow, such a huge and unexpected loss. Really surprising as he truly did seem ageless and superhuman. He was a masterful writer in his prime, probably among the best writers ever.

Rest in Purple.

on "Muppets Tonight" (not sure of the year...early '00s?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0MSi7Ldxnc

was listening to "A Love Bizarre" (long version) in Seattle last week. I love how you can hear his guide vocal.

xp would have been between '96 and '98.

so did his Jehovah's Witnessing result in antigay outbursts? One of the 'major' gay blogs is saying so.

flappy bird can u post a link to that interview?

was walking to get lunch this afternoon with the guitar solo from "purple rain" (pretty much intact; i've probably heard that song 400 times) wafting through my head.

flappy bird can u post a link to that interview?

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Thursday, April 21, 2016 3:43 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

unfortunately it was live on MSNBC about half an hour ago, will probably surface at some point

ok i'll keep an eye out thx

she is really awesome

xp my personal theory was that he was gonna have everything he made posthumously uploaded onto the web for free in perpetuity. seemed the right kind of iconoclastic move. here's hoping.

Seems unlikely considering how much he disliked his music being available for free on the web.

I saw him in '97 on the Love 4 One Another tour. I seem to recall he had just started going by Prince again.
He hardly played any of his bigger hits, other than snippets.

and it was still one of the best shows I've seen.

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a will mandating all of his unreleased masters to be destroyed

guys around the world in a day is so fucking good

the finger cymbals and strings and that tambourine sound

such a THE REVOLUTION record

Guess Erlewine was right on never seeing Purple Rain reissues.

http://www.theonion.com/article/nation-too-sad-fuck-even-though-its-what-prince-wo-52791

ATWIAD = underrated

remember when hardcore Prince fans would wonder why he coughed at the beginning of the "Raspberry Beret" video

so many great videos tbh - Little Red Corvette, Alphabet St, Raspberry Beret

I wouldn't be surprised if he has a will mandating all of his unreleased masters to be destroyed

no. no. no.
that's a suggestion too far ..

wow none of his videos are online are they

max brod to thread

xpost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDuGjMwsow&index=7&list=PL8cFaF2b783Ls-_n2LcW25VzdHXJphxSx

sorry if it's already been posted but this show: http://www.panicstream.net/vault/prince-8191988-the-hague-netherlands/

so did his Jehovah's Witnessing result in antigay outbursts? One of the 'major' gay blogs is saying so.

― we can be heroes just for about 3.6 seconds (Dr Morbius), Thursday, April 21, 2016 3:42 PM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I remember hearing this, though I cannot confirm it. Anyway, it feels a lot like when the SJWs dragged out some of Bowie's more questionable sexual antics immediately in the wake of his death. Legends die, but perpetual outrage never can.

re: his masters. I'm sure I read this story on ILX. An engineer working with him, Prince came in one night, supposedly heartbroken, recorded this beautiful song top to bottom, engineer was floored, 8 hours later they're listening to the final mix and Prince just says "Erase it."

frankocean

i'm not even gonna say rest in peace because it’s bigger than death. i never met the man (i was too nervous the one time i saw him) and i never saw him play live, regrettably. i only know the legends I’ve heard from folks and what i’ve heard and seen from his deep catalog of propellant, fearless, virtuosic work. my assessment is that he learned early on how little value to assign to someone else’s opinion of you.. an infectious sentiment that seemed soaked into his clothes, his hair, his walk, his guitar and his primal scream. 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 - his denial of the prevailing model...his fight for his intellectual property - ‘slave’ written across the forehead, name changed to a symbol... an all out rebellion against exploitation. A vanguard and genius by every metric I know of who affected many in a way that will outrun oblivion for a long while. I’m proud to be a Prince fan(stan) for life.

wow @ frank ocean tribute

flappy bird can u post a link to that interview?

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Thursday, April 21, 2016 3:43 PM (3 minutes ago)

unfortunately it was live on MSNBC about half an hour ago, will probably surface at some point

― flappy bird, Thursday, April 21, 2016 7:47 PM (50 minutes ago)

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/prince-driven-by-his-ideas-singularity-of-vision-670978115897

i have to go now
i don't know when i will return
goodbye

forgot about this LP ending like that...

yeah that's great

oops referring to frank ocean

xpost ha I thought it was going to be an interview with Susan Rogers (is rogers her last name? His awesome engineer during SOTT era)

from the adult baby thread:

I read an amusing anecdote recently from a guy who worked in a sound engineering capacity with Prince around the time of Paisley Park. One day Prince announced that he wanted to hear what a guitar sounded like underwater, so he ordered this guy to take various amplifiers out of the studio and set them up in his swimming pool. The engineer pointed out that the amps and microphones would instantly short out and never work again. Prince was all death-stare, "I wanna hear what they sound like in the pool". So this guy spent the afternoon dutifully lowering various cabs, combos and mics into the pool, and of course as soon as he turned the power on, they all immediately blew up. Prince had already lost interest and was like, get this crap out of my pool. So the experiment concluded with the engineer tossing thousands of dollars' worth of gear into a skip.

A friend who would know claimed Prince has a guy whose job was to organize and shepherd all his unreleased stuff.

It would be a wonder to see a list of people Prince has employed and what their job duties have been

try to imagine
what silence looks like

hearing it's gonna be #PONO exclusive

hearing it's gonna be #PONO exclusive

as the man says in HOUSEQUAKE : "BULLSHIT !"

(hopefully)

just watched the while my guitar gently weeps video, first time i'd ever seen it, laughed aloud for joy at the end. god his wicked little smile! how much he's enjoying himself! how self-assured yet how generous! fuck me.

:(

That skinny motherfucker with the high voice died????

what i love about that clip is that dhani harrison is too awestruck and joyful to be stern (and disapproving?) with the rest of his dad's friends

the onion is perfect as usual

am now hearing "black sweat" for the first time…didn't know he brought his old drum sound back so late in the game… this shit is hot…

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1159896994042718&id=162957660403328

This just showed up in my fb feed as my bus is driving past Gallaudet.

Black Sweat is great! there are plenty of gems in his post 2000 catalog

this sucks

I was stunned & gutted this morning... I felt sad but wasnt crying, just lost i guess idk

and then Purple Rain showed up on my ipod after lunch & i cried big huge heaving sobs right here at my desk. having a hard time keeping it in my head that he's gone...the thought keeps flying away & then I remember :(

I saw him once in 2004 on the great Musicology in-the-round tour. Nosebleed seats, most I've ever paid for a ticket ever, could hardly see a thing, sound was garbage...and it was still the best concert I've ever seen. I ugly-cried all through the Purple Rain finale because I didnt want it to be over

Shout-out to the amazing women in his universe. What a constellation of brilliant artists.

The Current just got to Purple Rain and I'm a wreck again

sad guitar makes me sad

re: his masters. I'm sure I read this story on ILX. An engineer working with him, Prince came in one night, supposedly heartbroken, recorded this beautiful song top to bottom, engineer was floored, 8 hours later they're listening to the final mix and Prince just says "Erase it."

― flappy bird, Thursday, 21 April 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-31962180

Stevie Nicks: When we were recording "Stand Back" I decided to be really blatant and call Prince up and tell him that I had been inspired to write the song while listening to "Little Red Corvette." I told him that I figured my song was half his. He came over to the studio where I was recording and listened to it--as I turned extremely white and started to shake. Then he walked over to the piano and put on a really incredible keyboard track. And not only did Prince make it up right on the spot, he played it with only two fingers. Then he left.

Details: Did you see him again?

Stevie Nicks: Yes, when I was on the road a year or so later. I was sick, and Prince brought some cough syrup up to my hotel room. He was sweet--he walked around the room folding things, fluffing pillows, tidying up in general. Then he gave me a spoon of it himself. But when I asked for another spoonful he changed--he said, "I didn't come all the way up here just to get you hooked on another substance!" Then he left.

that's amazing

Details: Do you still see him?

Stevie Nicks: No. I was at the premiere of Purple Rain, and in the scene where he slaps Apollonia I freaked and had to go sit in the bathroom. Afterward I went back to see him, and when he asked why I'd left, I had to tell him, "When you popped Apollonia, it kinda popped my brain." He looked at me like it just killed him. We've never spoken since. (sighs) It's a shame, really...we were alike in so many ways.

Details: Such as?

Stevie Nicks: Well, for one thing, we both liked wearing black chiffon around the house.

Now it's "Damn U" from whatever yr sposed to call it. at the time, I had bought every record he put out the week it came out since 1999, but was with this record that I felt like his droit de seigneur took over and I did not buy his albums no questions asked afterwards. He was defensive re: hiphop's challenge to his authority and so many of the songs were overstuffed —anybody heard "3 Chains of Gold?" Yikes! Prince's "Boho Rap"!!!— but now I'm remembering shit like the "the Continental" and…now MTV has moved on to "The Morning Papers." ahhhhh…

The only record of his I heard that flat out sucked is The Rainbow Children.

gbx otm

bob mould via facebook:

I never spoke with Prince. He always struck me as a private guy. Maybe he was shy around strangers. We never had much actual interaction – a couple nods in passing, but no real words were exchanged.

The Twin Cities of the 1980s was a very special time for all of us local musicians. There were the North Minneapolis R&B artists, the South Minneapolis guitar rock bands, and in the center of it all was First Avenue/7th Street Entry.

I've seen Prince perform sold out shows with The Revolution at First Ave, he and a rhythm section jamming as a guitar/bass/drums three piece in the Entry for 30 people, and was selfishly frustrated when he took over "the main room" for 25 days of filming Purple Rain.

I had the pleasure of spending seven days recording the basic tracks for my first solo album at Paisley Park in December 1988. It was the most professional studio I had ever seen at that point in my life. On the seventh day, I moved from the B room to Studio A, which was Prince's primary room. I remember seeing Sheila E's percussion in one of the isolation booths. The large control room was decorated with several of Prince's scarves. It certainly felt like Prince's home.

Prince was an artist through and through – always pushing himself to new levels, often creating controversy through his actions and words, and ultimately creating a lifetime of wonderful memories for the world with his incredible volumes of published (and unheard) works.

I heard the news while driving from Tomah WI to Minneapolis. I immediately flipped on The Current 89.3 FM to make sure what I was hearing was true. Sure enough, there was a live report from outside Paisley Park confirming the sad news of Prince's passing.

I'm two blocks from First Avenue as I write these words. Friday and Saturday nights, I will walk that same stage we all know from the movie. The exterior walls of First Avenue are covered with stars to honor the musicians who made an impact on music fans in Minnesota.

Make no mistake: Prince was the brightest star in these Northern skies. My deepest condolences to his family, friends, and fellow musicians. Prince's music will give consolation and comfort to the collective grief. Godspeed.

i'm just picturing prince---in prince garb---walking around fluffing pillows and spoon-feeding stevie nicks. it's a very soothing image

a lil bit of humour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZxYjqqjZM

What the fuck... This year can eat a dick

Weird listening to the Current livestream in London, weird that I haven't knowingly heard Paisley Park since I left Minnesota for the first time.

So much love for Prince right now. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a weird Minneapolis teenager in the 1980s, for the reasons Bob Mould mentions above.

yeah that stevie nicks interview is aces

i just walked a dog to clear my mind.
coming home my downstairs neighbor was jamming prince, i knocked on the door and said "me too man, me too"
we had a good talk, nice guy. Prince still bringing people together!

not wanting to get all gossip hound,
but i do wonder if this was this the outcome of an evil lump ?
flu = pneumonia
often the final days when it comes to an evil lump = lung based crap.

wow @ those stevie quotes

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgmNwoAWMAAv_Zs.jpg

ow.

not wanting to get all gossip hound,
but i do wonder if this was this the outcome of an evil lump ?
flu = pneumonia
often the final days when it comes to an evil lump = lung based crap.

― mark e, Thursday, April 21, 2016 5:35 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You can get fatal pneumonia off the back of a case of the flu even without that

i guess this is a weird thing to think but i feel bad that tuomas is probably asleep and doesn't know yet. hugs 2 u when you wake up tuomas.

very true.
sorry, given CPs recent post on ILE, the evil lump has entered my world again.

his full last performance on soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/misterpancakes/princelives

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/04/21/prince-dead-purple-rain-lyrics/

Help us celebrate Prince by annotating the lyrics of ‘Purple Rain’

Join The Washington Post staff in using Genius to annotate the lyrics of “Purple Rain,” one of Prince’s most celebrated songs. We want to hear your memories of this song — do you remember the first time you heard it? Do you have a single poignant memory that comes to you when you hear this song?

mtv jams is playing the batdance vid rn

not sure if i want to hear any of the inevitable tribute covers.

i would die 4 u

Posted from Jay Smooth:

The last time I saw Prince,
(the last.)
(the last time.)
Was an aftershow a few years ago at the club formerly known as Nell's, on 14th St. As we waited for him to come on there was a commotion around us and it turned out to be Prince, cutting a path through the crowd to get on stage. And he was coming right by me.
As he slid past us, with a grace only P could have while moving through a packed crowd, the guy next to me said "you gotta stop being so funky!"
Prince stopped and turned to the guy, reached out to grip both of his arms, and said, shaking him ever so slightly: "I CAN'T!"
Then he slid past me. He smelled like a thousand flowers were doing the house quake.

coworker said she "heard" it was undiagnosed hiv and went into a boring opinion on jehovahs witnesses & i lost interest

can this day plz end jfc

xpost omg <3

From a friend:

In 2005 I went to the old Largo on Fairfax to see Wendy and Lisa play with Doyle Bramhall II. I'd seen them a couple weeks back and had a good time so a group of us signed up for one of those awful Largo meals just so we could get a seat and see them again. But when we got to Largo we immediately noticed something was different. The tiny place was packed. Early. And like, on a Tuesday. Maya Rudolf, Sheryl Crow, Nikka Costa, PT Anderson, and Eric fucking Clapton were all there. After a while Sheila E., with the largest body guard I'd ever seen, arrived.
Then a sort of buzz started. A friend I was with said she overheard someone say Prince was coming.
It didn't seem possible. In part because Prince didn't seem like the kind of human being who would go to things. Let alone things where I was. But it was possible, it did happen, and he took the seat in the booth right next to us.
He was literally an arm's length away, but I didn't dare look at him. It seemed like a real "turn into a pillar of salt kind of moment" and I didn't want to mess with it. All I'd dare do was every now and again steal a glance out of the corner of my eye as I sat nervous and still, barely breathing.
Nikka Costa got up and sang with the band. Eric Clapton even sat in for a song or two. What did he play? How the fuck am I supposed to remember, I was sitting next to Prince, people?!
After Eric What's-His-Name played, Wendy asked if their old friend Prince wanted to join them onstage.
He did not.
Because he's Prince. And there's no reason he needs to share a stage with anyone.
RIP Prince. He was my favorite.

After Eric What's-His-Name played, Wendy asked if their old friend Prince wanted to join them onstage.
He did not.

reminds me he was an asshole too, especially when it came to Wendy and Lisa.

Been struggling to find some music to listen to, and can't really listen to Prince right now. Settled on "Nilsson Schmilsson," which is just the salve.

That time he tore it up on American Idol

http://www.jukebo.com/prince/music-clip,lolita-satisfied,suv0l.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hChFHq2Xkfs

just discovered this. goodness what a groover.

im in denial. my most favourite musican ever. havent really computed this yet.

and he was just in the middle of writing his memoirs. i was genuinely looking forward to reading what princes biography might be like.

interesting to see how people will canonise him. he often ended up being cast aside by all sides. not black or hard enough for funk fans. not enough soul for R&B fans. not really rock or masculine enough for rockers. etc etc. he was best before he started to worry about all of that.

ill be honest, i fell out of love with his music (and even live shows - god i wish he got some better bands in recent years, and i think he got into the habit of over-souling his vocals a bit in recent years, but hey, i can cut him some slack) over the past decade or so, but i never stopped being a fan of him. i just loved prince. even his shitty songs were listenable cos HE made them.

but i love that you cant stream his music or get it on you tube (though i imagine a lot of uploads might happen tonight) - not like hes losing money from spotify's meagre royalty rates. not even the beatles held out like he did. he never gave in to the shitty internet model for distributing music.

i smiled a little when i read he died in the studio. i cant imagine prince dying anywhere else. he was obsessive and a workaholic til the end. i sometimes wonder what state his personal life was in, cos all he seemed to do was record or play.

strange though - i just assumed he would be around for a long time. maybe his health wasnt as good as most of us thought. i hope there arent any suspicious circumstances.

i was really interested to see how he would age. in that recent guardian interview he seemed quite aware that critics were now giving him an easy ride (sometimes i wish they gave him as fair/rough/serious a ride as other artists, but i think a lot of critics just didnt quite know how to evaluate prince) so he had to think of ways to challenge himself. id have loved to see where that would have taken him.

RIP.

fuuuuuuuck

Prince was probably the first musician i ever rocked out to. When I was 7 or 8 I wanted the Batman soundtrack so my parents bought me it on cassette only it wasn't the score it was the Prince album. Some of my earliest memories are dancing on the little table in the playroom and miming along to "Party Man". He's been in my life ever since and he never stops surprising me. Thankfully we are blessed with a giant treasure trove of music.

RIP

http://eil.com/images/main/Prince+For+You+3397b.jpg

actual photo of Prince in heaven rn

Listening to Sign O the Times, funny how this such a perfect analogue to Physical Graffiti's "real heads know the deal" place in the Prince canon (compared to Purple Rain's Led Zep IV) it's not the biggest hit but it's all his most "Prince" instincts and interests taken to the farthest degree on a near perfect sprawling double

Damn I'm cut, which is standard but only now realizing I don't really know any hardcore Prince fans to commiserate with. Feels a lot more lonely than I could've expected.

Anyway while it's up.
Always found this shit religous comforting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfFXM6I8Sg4

https://twitter.com/alexanderbolton/status/723257547197677569?s=09

I mentioned that Joni cover in my obit.

from this interview with Joni:

But even when you were somewhat obscure, so many musicians were citing you as an influence or even name-checking you in songs. Of all the musicians and rappers who have cited you as an influence, whose work do you appreciate most?

Prince. Prince attended one of my concerts in Minnesota. I remember seeing him sitting in the front row when he was very young. He must have been about 15. He was in an aisle seat and he had unusually big eyes. He watched the whole show with his collar up, looking side to side. You couldn’t miss him—he was a little Prince-ling. [Laughs.] Prince used to write me fan mail with all of the U’s and hearts that way that he writes. And the office took it as mail from the lunatic fringe and just tossed it! [Laughs.]

he was really great at the covers.

/After Eric What's-His-Name played, Wendy asked if their old friend Prince wanted to join them onstage.
He did not./

reminds me he was an asshole too, especially when it came to Wendy and Lisa.

Did he mistreat/throw over Vanity? Weird they died so close in time to each other

Oh no

http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/21/prince-treated-drug-overdose-dead/

Tampa Bay arena PA played a little bit of "Kiss" just now during a stoppage in the Red Wings/Lightning game

I feel like this story is about to get real sad real fast.

Damn, 'Sometimes it Snows in April' has always been my favorite P song. Just playing Parade now and it's like it builds and builds up to that as the best thing, saved for last. Just heartbreaking, beautiful music.

xpost

jeez, i had always thought he stayed away from that stuff :(

"Sometimes It Snows in April" always used to give me chills, now it's going to carry this weight with it too. very tender, understated vocal performance. the "He used to stay so strong, unafraid to die" part always gets me

its TMZ. how legit would that be?

i thought he was as clean living as could be.

i hope this story doesnt get sad.

this does suck, RIP

Prince was always a dude I knew of tangentially until I was college aged, then I bought most of his albums in a year span and wouldn't shut up about him. This is such shit. if he made a guest appearance on some garbage show I never watched, I would tune in.

I was beside myself with excitement before his Super Bowl appearance and he didn't disappoint.

thank God for Tidal free trial to give me easy access to my favorite Prince shit cos I can't find any of my cds and none of them are ripped.

on the Dirty Mind album now, which I've always loved.

aww man, I love "When You WEre Mine" so much

minneapolis station is streaming nonstop prince:

http://www.thecurrent.org/listen

its TMZ. how legit would that be?

TMZ is often first to the scene w/ a lot of legit celeb stories these days. they're not always right, but hard to immediately cast aside.

hoping it's not the case - but we'll find out soon

TMZ also broke the story of his death today

Michael Jackson too I think?

hang tough, children

on "Uptown" now, god the synths all over this fuckin' album are so fuckin sweet

I'm going to put on "Condition of the Heart", will probably immediately regret it but his ballads are callin to me now

Gossip sites are right way more than they are wrong :(

TMZ in particular is otm and ahead of the curve way too often to be dismissed

Didn't get into Joni until a few years ago and that track was my way in. (Well probably more so that I was dating a huge Joanna Newsome stan and like a pass-aggressive tool decided to undercut via Joni, but that track was one of the few reference points I had that wasn't a sterile James Blake cover, a Velvet Rope sample or Help Me, which at the time I didn't know was by her.)

But that cover man, pure gospel. Been making a playlist of songs working with that church aesthetic without being beholden to it and that was one of the first thing that came to mind. The range of things he could assimilate whilst remaining so effortlessly true was mind-boggling. The irony is, to me who was born in the 90's and didn't really get to experience him as a vital artist outside the odd time Diamonds and Pearls or The Most Beautiful Girl was on mtv, he never quite felt real; like, how could this guy exist?

I still remember my mom buying me the "Batdance" single.

Vicki Vale
Vick-vicki Vale

Yo Jackie...let me stick the seven inch in the computer

on "Head" now.

"I think you like to go down
You wouldn't have stopped
But I, I came on your wedding gown"

man I'm gonna miss him for lines like this.....

home now. listening to a 2-CD boot of a 1988 show, "live in dortmund." amazing. amazing. amazing.

check this set list: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/prince/1988/westfalenhalle-1-dortmund-germany-63d856bb.html

omg

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODMwMDY2ODQ=.html

thank christ for sketchy chinese video streaming sites.

opening with Erotic City, damn nice

So after feeling curiously non-gutted most of the day (I'm guessing because I've spend most of the day listening to Prince, and his music makes me happy), I finally lost it when my husband showed me this photo:

http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/musician-prince-and-actress-eva-longoria-watch-the-2007-nba-all-star-picture-id73364583

Maybe it's because I've been looking at older stuff all day, and here is looking happy in a (relatively) recent photo, but...wow.

guys

play the second disc of Emancipation.

The string bit in "Soul Sanctuary" is killing me.

I've always loved the twosome of "The Holy River" and "Let's Have a Baby."

the problem I'm having right now is as soon as I put anything on I'm already thinking an album ahead

tho I'm on Sign O' the Times now and the guitar solo on "Play in the Sunshine" = fuuuuuuuuuuuck yea

guess you could say he had to gett off this mortal coil

hey guys

tell me

who on this board

know about the QUAKE?

and I don't mean sexually satisfy to completion the members of musical group This Mortal Coil, but I wouldn't have put it past him

if there's one thing we know about Prince, it's that he loved music. if there's two things we know, it's that he loved music and ejaculating.

he sounds so great at his last show! and so funny. just a week ago. definitely didn't sound sick.

Fuck

http://www.tmz.com/2016/04/21/prince-treated-drug-overdose-dead/

Heard a beautiful statement from a radio caller, which normally might not sit well with me but in this case I thought was totally appropriate. I'll paraphrase: We didn't lose Prince. He was a gift to us from God, and now he can be back with his creator, where he belongs, and one day, I hope to see him again.

This might be the toughest for me of all of these so far.

rumored cause of death was opioid overdone; allegedly he was given a safety shot the other night and didn't have the flu. if I had to make wild guesses, it might be that he had a painkiller problem, probably to deal with his hips and knees which allegedly needed to be replaced ages ago but he never did due to JW prohibitions on blood transfusions. Notably he did just do a huge tour where he was sitting down most of the time.

overdose, not overdone.

the problem I'm having right now is as soon as I put anything on I'm already thinking an album ahead
― Neanderthal

i guess this is a weird thing to think but i feel bad that tuomas is probably asleep and doesn't know yet. hugs 2 u when you wake up tuomas.

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), 22. huhtikuuta 2016 1:04

Thank you for this, Jon. Yeah, I woke up to this news, and I can't really imagine any other musician whose death would be more shocking to me than his. Obviousky I was aware of his songs ever since childhood and liked them, but I didn't really delve into his music until in my 20s, and since then he has been one of the three popular musicians I've loved the most, alongside Nina Simone and Herbie Hancock. (You hang with us, Herbie!)

Regardless of what you think about Prince's image and politics, I think it's undeniable that he was a genius songwriter and musician, probably the biggest genius in pop music to have emerged in the last 40 years. But of course that image was a huge part of him too, and like people have said in this thread, he did a remarkable job in helping to break down rigid categories of living in the world, loosening rigid dichotomies such as gay/straight, black/white, man/woman.

I know that in his last years he said some nasty things to Wendy & Lisa (probably others too) about their sexuality, due to his Jehova's Witness faith, and I don't think that should be whitewashed either, it's an example how even the best of us can become bigoted. So fuck him for that, and fuck the JWs and any other religions that preach bigotry. But as a whole, I think his life and career and image in pop culture made being queer easier for countless people, so the positive still far outweighs the negative. Thank you for that, you sweet Prince.

I recently watched the episode of New Girl where he's the guest star, and even though it's not my favourite series, the way he emanates sexuality and mischief and (let's not forget that either) empathy for the broken ones was just awesome. I recommend watching that episode for all Prince fans and lovers, even if it was just fiction (though when it comes to pop stars, what isn't?), that's how I want to remember him.

i thought this was nice, from the guardian blog, by field music (who i never really listened to, but i might do now)

One of the things Prince does amazingly well – so well that no one really notices – is make songs that don’t have chords. Each instrument plays its own little thing and they come together to make the song, but there isn’t necessarily a piano or guitar leading you through a harmonic pattern. It means there’s a lot of space for little sonic touches and for off-the-chart singing and it keeps things nicely ambiguous. This song might be the most ambiguous of all: a chaste affair with a waitress that sounds like it might all be taking place under water until the phone rings or they turn the radio on to listen to Joni Mitchell. Weird and beautiful.

i dont think i can listen to his music today. it will be too embarrassing at work.

Arguments can and will be made that JW beliefs contributed greatly to his early death, Tomas, so he fucked himself and you don't have to.

^^^ LOGIC.

do JWs not believe in receiving medical treatment?

Blood transfusions.

They don't believe in transfusions. Everything else is OK. xp

fuck :( :( :(

I admire your tenacity, Matt DC, even if absolutely nothing else about you whatsoever is admirable.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1159896994042718&id=162957660403328

This just showed up in my fb feed as my bus is driving past Gallaudet.

― how's life, Thursday, April 21, 2016 5:00 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Here's another post from them, with better pics.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1058030807562671&id=162957660403328

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11825578_1058026347563117_5880469998232340446_n.jpg?oh=a1c640ae59fd28d66c81d6cf0156af75&oe=57B84844
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10403485_1058026357563116_6142523207009784325_n.jpg?oh=8670b8c3616ab58e4d57ed8981d89286&oe=5774BD20

bbc4 showing a prince docu tonight but its the wrong one (one of their 'we have schedule time to fill' cheapies) - they should be showing the omnibus docu from the 1990s.

TWU - you realise that speculating on an artist's death and religion when we don't even know the reason yet and concluding "he fucked himself" is pretty dumb, right?

Sure. So's holding grudges against people you don't know over years.

That said, TMZ is reporting an overdose last week, that Prince has needed hip and knee replacement and not gotten it because of the JW prohibition on blood transfusion is common knowledge, so it's not that far to fetch. I was mostly about giving Tomas an out on cursing his favorite artist for religious beliefs -- I'm agnostic on the cause of death.

Tthe crazies are already speculating that because Prince had a history with epilepsy he had an adverse reaction to a flu shot, which is bonkers, so I just want to wait for something closer to the truth to clear the air.

for now I don't give a shit about the why, just leveled that it happened. we can dissect the reason for it, as we did with MJ, after the initial shock has worn off

One of the things Prince does amazingly well – so well that no one really notices – is make songs that don’t have chords. Each instrument plays its own little thing and they come together to make the song, but there isn’t necessarily a piano or guitar leading you through a harmonic pattern.

Was listening to Sign O' The Times on the way to work this morning and thinking about exactly this. Like, "U Got The Look" is basically just a I-IV-V variation in B, but the guitar arrangement (until the solo and outro) is so sparse that it leaves room for so, so much. Same with the title track, or "Forever In My Life" and plenty of other tunes. It's this amazing combination of space and density.

The only thing that catches my attention - and I agree, this is such a huge shock I don't really want to speculate - is that Prince was so smart, so in control, so seemingly healthy and, afaik had no real relationship to addictive drugs, alcohol, even smoking (cigarettes). The guy was always fit like a master. I just can't believe that something as mundane as drugs did him in. MJ was clearly messed up on multiple levels, surrounded by sycophants and enablers and sketchy people. Everyone knew that. Prince was weird, but that was part of who he always was, not something he became, or something he and a huge army of handlers had to surmount. He wasn't isolated, but he was always in control, of his music, image, environment, everything.

"When Doves Cry" barely has chords, right? And "Sign" has all sorts of novel experiments, from no chords, to VU chug, to Beatles pop, to hard funk, just finding his way around the possibilities of music.

The irony is, to me who was born in the 90's and didn't really get to experience him as a vital artist outside the odd time Diamonds and Pearls or The Most Beautiful Girl was on mtv, he never quite felt real; like, how could this guy exist?

I was born in the 70s and he didn't seem real through his vital 80s! "Vital" is a word I've seen a lot in the past day. I think his vitality on stage is what makes it such a shock that he was ultimately as mortal as the rest of us.

1999 and Purple Rain were huge with me and my friends when we were teenagers. We grew up in a very much white guys with guitars world and I hope Prince managed to open our minds a tiny little bit to other possibilities.

I hadn't listened much to him in recent years (I bought Purple Rain on the train home last night as for some reason it had never made its way onto my ipod!) but like everyone else I assumed he was always going to be around making records and being Prince.

I like that two of the stories I've read of people meeting him and also one from a guy on BBC news last night all mentioned how good he smelled, that there are people all over the world going "I met Prince and he was awesome and funny and he smelled great!"

"The only thing that catches my attention - and I agree, this is such a huge shock I don't really want to speculate - is that Prince was so smart, so in control..."

He was also a complete loon. The crackpots in my FB feed are posting this and also speculating that Sony and Warner Bros have assassinated him and Michael for pulling their stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwjefpNkuas&feature=youtu.be

Not sure if it's been posted yet but I like this piece by Ned on the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. It chimes strongly with me as Ned and I are the same age and Purple Rain seemed to hit him in the same way as it did me and my friends.

http://thequietus.com/articles/15259-prince-purple-rain-anniversary-review

Reposting this from my FB because why not:

“People call me rude
I wish we all were nude
I wish there was no black and white
I wish there were no rules”

“I’m not a woman
I’m not a man
I am something that you’ll never understand”

“Am I black or white?
Am I straight or gay?”

In some ways, it’s easy to see Prince as representative of no one but himself. He was his own country, his own planet, orbiting a sun that was also him. (Baby, he’s a star.)

But he was also a heartland American, a black man from the white Midwest who was at home in a seemingly endless stream of cultural forms – funk, rock, R&B, pop, disco, folk, New Wave, psychedelia. He eventually stubbed his toe on hip-hop, but that was just the human exception to his superhuman rule. And even at that, he never really lost his balance.

The first album I heard was 1999. The first one I bought – the first album I ever bought by a nonwhite artist, as far as I can remember – was Purple Rain. I knew I needed it before it ever came out, because one night I was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework with the radio on and an electric snarl erupted from the speakers behind me. I dropped my pencil and just listened. Dig if you will a picture of a straight suburban Reagan-era white kid having his mind blown in real time.

Inside the LP sleeve was a promotional poster of Prince and the Revolution, in all their lace-and-pearled, multi-racial, multi-gendered splendor. I was bewitched, boggled and bewildered. I had no reference points for the existence of people who looked or acted like this, so confident in their bodies and cool in their collective. They didn’t just suggest an alternate reality, they manifested it on the page – and even more, in the music.

Segueing from the monstrous rock of “Let’s Go Crazy” (with its shamelessly shredded guitar climax, designed to make all my Rush-loving friends admit that, OK, that guy can play) to the spry, groovy come on of “Take Me With You,” with the dirty secrets of “Darling Nikki” buried at the end of side one, before the astounding quartet of Doves Cry-Die 4 U-Baby I’m a-Purple Rain on side two, it was (is!) a manifesto of liberation and revelation, satiation, salvation and resurrection, gobbledygook about purple bananas and computer blues, saturated in sex and religion and as confounding and exciting as either.

And it’s not even his best album.

(Probably. I don’t know. Don’t make me pick.)

Fluid by instinct, unlimited by instrument, genre, gender, race, sexuality or even his own name – who else would so casually throw away a name like Prince? – I’m sure he used whichever restroom he damn well felt like.

So much more to say, so many songs and moments, the Purple Rain and Lovesexy concerts I saw, the samizdat thrill of scoring a muddy cassette dub of the Black Album from a Manhattan street vendor, the confused and endearing politics (and maybe prophetic too – Ronnie did talk to Russia), the eventual enduring sense of him as a national trickster, popping up on rooftops, in jazz clubs, at the Super Bowl, playing music for no reason except that nothing made him happier and no one did it better.

He enacted a world (of never ending happiness), and inside it he made room for everyone. White, black, Puerto Rican, everybody just a-freakin'. Let's go uptown, let's go crazy, let's pretend we're married, go all night.

One of the things Prince does amazingly well – so well that no one really notices – is make songs that don’t have chords. Each instrument plays its own little thing and they come together to make the song, but there isn’t necessarily a piano or guitar leading you through a harmonic pattern.

Was listening to Sign O' The Times on the way to work this morning and thinking about exactly this. Like, "U Got The Look" is basically just a I-IV-V variation in B, but the guitar arrangement (until the solo and outro) is so sparse that it leaves room for so, so much

man I had the same thought driving into work this mornin listening to "U Got the Look," i.e. "What is going on here? It's so damn spare."

he irony is, to me who was born in the 90's and didn't really get to experience him as a vital artist outside the odd time Diamonds and Pearls or The Most Beautiful Girl was on mtv, he never quite felt real; like, how could this guy exist?

A student at our uni radio station who interviewed me admitted she was born in 1994, the same year as Prince's last top five smash, and knew Prince because her dad would explain the passages "that sounded like jazz" and from summer road trips.

"When Doves Cry" does have chords, but they're implied rather than performed.

Oh, and until someone says otherwise, I'm assuming pneumonia.

The last six CDs he bought on Record Store Day sum up his aesthetic pretty well
http://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/04/21/prince-last-cd-purchases-at-electric-fetus

I'm finally getting my head around his passing.
Prince has been inspiration, joy, influence and frustration for me since I was 12 and I bought the "Controversy" 45- along with EWF's "Let's Groove" - with my newspaper route money. These were the first two records I bought on my own.
He's found his place in Heaven I'm sure. I hope it's fun.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/04/22/prince-dead-stevie-wonder-full-intv-ac-cooper.cnn

please let stevie wonder live forever at least

prince's production manager in the 80s is on the current right now, telling stories

peak period, mid-80s german outdoor show with 80,000 people ready to see prince. prince finds out that a building on the grounds was an SS headquarters. he says he won't perform while looking at the building. german promotor somehow employs a club of hot air balloon enthusiasts to sail their balloons to the concert grounds and land them in front of the SS building, blocking it from prince's view so the show could go on.

http://stmedia.stimg.co/08-411072+25PAISLEYrjs042216.JPG?h=400&w=637&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces

Man I wish I was home right now

(Even setting prince aside, my mom is recuperating from a broken ankle in Roseville so man I sure wish I was there)

if you want a good cry this morning here's Q Bear and Shed G from the North Minneapolis community station KMOJ
Q Bear grew up with Prince on the Norhtside and remembers him growing up...."It's okay to cry"

http://video.startribune.com/at-kmoj-radio-it-s-ok-to-cry/376647871/

that CD list is too perfect! it's like a magic formula to create Prince.

yeah i know! it was so cool to see, Swan Silvertones Gospel Greats + Best of Missing Person haha who else?

1) Stevie Wonder, "Talking Book"

2) Chambers Brothers, "The Time Has Come"

3) Joni Mitchell, "Hejira"

4) Swan Silvertones, "Inspirational Gospel Classics"

5) Missing Persons, "The Best Of Missing Persons"

6) Santana, "Santana IV"

You'd think he had most of these already.

Then again, might be lendies.

Didn't he once say Hejira was his all-time favorite record by anyone? Or was it The Hissing of Summer Lawns?

You'd think he had most of these already.

Then again, might be lendies.

― Mark G, Friday, April 22, 2016 8:48 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Oh man is this Carlos's band? I should really listen this stuff instead of always being 'good show' when I see him."

i could somehow imagine prince cracking open a brand new copy of hejira every time he wanted to listen to it tbh

Actually, the fact that he went to the Fetus something really just struck me that maybe won't translate to people outside of the Twin Cities...way more that Westerberg, Dylan, any of the other big names from town, Prince was "one of us" in the way those others aren't.

I'm reminded of the stories New Yorkers told about Bowie encounters over the yrs, like literally everyone I know in Mpls, from punks to my parents have a Prince story.

"Yeah yea Carlos....cool,good to see you...looked like you guys were having fun up there"

Actually, the fact that he went to the Fetus something really just struck me that maybe won't translate to people outside of the Twin Cities...way more that Westerberg, Dylan, any of the other big names from town, Prince was "one of us" in the way those others aren't.

totally, like he hosted that party for the Lynx when they won the WNBA champtionship, him and Jimmy Jam were big MN sports guys, like maybe Westerberg digs the Twins but it's not like Dylan is watching Vikings games and shit

Like I've never seen Westerberg out and about (even though he lives like blocks from my parents) but I've seen Prince around.

Prince and Grant Hart (not together).

i could somehow imagine prince cracking open a brand new copy of hejira every time he wanted to listen to it tbh

lol otm

Man I wish I was home right now

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Friday, April 22, 2016 8:36 AM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a friend (the one who got me into Prince in a serious way) went to the First Ave block party last night, looked like a hell of a scene from the pics/videos.

i have to hold on to the idea that at some point grant hart and prince have hung out and had the most loony conversation

"Oh man is this Carlos's band? I should really listen this stuff instead of always being 'good show' when I see him."

― chr1sb3singer, Friday, April 22, 2016 9:52 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Yeah yea Carlos....cool,good to see you...looked like you guys were having fun up there"

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, April 22, 2016 9:56 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

irl lol, but Santana was his favorite guitarist.

(also: "Hey Carlos! Good job!")

i imagine has about 50 copies of every joni album ever.

"The Hissing of Summer Lawns"

he said this was his favourite album of hers.
and secret life of plants was his favourite stevie album.
around the time of around the world in a day though so he may have decided they were his favourites after people were giving him shit for not making purple rain 2.

Dammit Prince, making me resubscribe to Tidal

Tidal is an illuminati plot...

oddly on amazon uk his cds seem to be pretty much the same price (unless they were cheaper than £5 before today), but under the cherry moon is now about £30-50 on DVD lol

KODE9 on twitter:

‏@kodenine
That bit in vibrator when vanity goes next door to ask prince for some batteries 😂😔

friend on FB:

"I guess he finally let the elevator break him down"

is there a good spotify playlist anyone has found of the songs he wrote for other artists? (manic monday, sugar walls, glamorous life, etc?)

friend on FB:

"I guess he finally let the elevator break him down"

So many people get this lyric wrong. It's "Are we gonna let de-elevator bring us down"

The de-elevator being Satan of course.

I’m sure he used whichever restroom he damn well felt like.

Men's, the one time I stood closest to him in a club. He was right ahead of me, his bodyguard Big Chick stopped me from following so Prince could finish his business in private.

something about the rhythmic flexibility and eclecticism of "hissing of summer lawns" really does recall prince, doesn't it.

still in disbelief this morning.

one thing that's kinda funny re: min-80s mpls is that the guy in panties, high heels and fishnets ended up being a jehovah's witness with some problematic conservative sexual views and the everydude flannel & jeans hamms guzzling rockers in husker du were gay

Something in the water does not compute.

xps thank you! I never knew that lyric was so well disguised

man oh man this is a tough one

The greatest thing about Prince was that he was such an enigma, but at the same time you might see him at the grocery store buying kale. Also I love that all the best Prince stories are basically him being kind of a dick, but he comes off as totally endearing anyway.

was gonna do manic monday at karaoke tonight but now i feel mildly weird about it. not that this particular friend group is even likely to make the connection.

something about the rhythmic flexibility and eclecticism of "hissing of summer lawns" really does recall prince, doesn't it.

those swooping multitracked Joni harmonies too

where's tuomas?

He posted this morning

one thing that's kinda funny re: min-80s mpls is that the guy in panties, high heels and fishnets ended up being a jehovah's witness with some problematic conservative sexual views and the everydude flannel & jeans hamms guzzling rockers in husker du were gay

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, April 22, 2016 10:17 AM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

love this

is Fox News wall to wall Lonnie Mack and Chyna coverage today? or are they wrestling with their purple demons.

well, here's NRO's obit: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/434418/prince-rip

Damn, I hadn't even heard about Lonnie Mack. 2016 seems like it's gonna be a long, sad year.

percocets. prescribed for his hip pain.

feel like in all of this mourning stuff one thing I'm not seeing mentioned much is how *funny* Prince was. This was in evidence more in person (ie, live, onstage, on film, in interviews etc.) than on record but watching a bunch of random clips last night I was laughing my ass off - so much mugging, smirking, knowing glances, tossed off jokes, almost slapstick physical comedy. At one point during the release party show for Parade he does an elaborate mime routine of brushing his teeth, for no apparent reason. or the animated gifs of him rolling his eyes in the videos for Black Sweat or Kiss. He would do this kind James Brown/70s pimp patter and amp up the silliness of it (an approach borrowed from George Clinton maybe?).

yeah, totally -- didn't miles davis compare him to chaplin?

ha – I just watched that clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BxRYIoKMJU

from 1995:

What's your take on Prince?

JAGGER; It's fashionable to knock Prince now because he seems to have gone off on a tangent [laughs].

You mean the way he has no name?

JAGGER: That's become a bit of a joke. No, I think Prince is a great artist, very traditional in some ways. Prince has been overlooked. But he's so incredibly in the mold of the James Brown sort of performer. He broke a lot of musical modes and invented a lot of styles and couldn't keep up with himself. Very prolific, which is rare. Mostly people write three songs and repeat themselves. Prince has a lot of talent as a writer, and I've seen great performances by Prince. He's outperformed almost everyone. I'd rate him at the top. I don't think there's a lot of competition from new artists.

I like that quote that Miles said about Prince — something about how Prince has "a really raunchy thing, almost like a pimp and a bitch rolled into one."

Always makes me chuckle.

was also talking w my wife about his general cultural status - as a transgressive, envelope-pushing enfant terrible - and whether or not there are similar figures around today. the media landscape has changed so much that it's hard to make direct comparisons (you kind of just can't be as big a star as MJ or Prince or Madonna anymore, there just aren't that many people that are all tuning into the same media sources) but I did bring up Kanye. He's controversial, he's kind of at the same status of critically and commercially - but Kanye is not fun, he isn't inclusive (by which I mean he doesn't really create a world that his fans want to live in the way Prince did), and he's certainly not even close to the level of technical musical virtuosity, plus his politics are largely loathsome and regressive rather than open and forward-thinking. People might hail Kanye as a genius when he dies but I suspect he'll get more the "tortured artiste" treatment.

Anyway, my other thought was that in terms of cultural roles Bowie and Prince both occupied a similar space that was safe and inviting for freaks and weirdos. If you felt like an outcast for whatever reason - because of your race, sexuality, or just general interests - these were successful, huge artists that created a cultural space that welcomed you. Nowadays everyone is a "freak" - Miley Cyrus performs as a horny tree or whatever - and the straight-laced monoculture is less and less of a thing, so I'm not sure there's anyone playing a similar role today, the social climate is just different.

xp

these flowers magically bloomed in the front yard this morning. thank u, prince...

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/13062106_10154726630477137_7404331384942006430_n.jpg?oh=6b7047f6de4e0f542ef273d22a82abf4&oe=57AD5106

Οὖτις—

Good points. I think what it boils down to is that Prince was one of the last of the truly individual big pop stars. Anymore, people just take their cues from precedents established by people like Prince.

whether or not there are similar figures around today

there weren't "similar figures" around in the 1980s or 1990s -- prince was sui generis.

Social media and YouTube mitigate the need for Prince- and Madonna-level pop stars

yes def

He's controversial, he's kind of at the same status of critically and commercially - but Kanye is not fun, he isn't inclusive (by which I mean he doesn't really create a world that his fans want to live in the way Prince did), and he's certainly not even close to the level of technical musical virtuosity, plus his politics are largely loathsome and regressive rather than open and forward-thinking.

OTM. This is why, no matter what people will dig up about things Prince said about marriage equality in recent years, such bullshit will never be part of Prince's legacy. I'm honestly waiting for someone to challenge me on Prince's religious stance so I can respond by showing them Frank Ocean's beautiful Tumblr tribute as a rebuttal. The ways in which he inspired and comforted his fans--us queer fans among them--is more powerful than any JW nonsense that he may have once tweeted or w/e.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/metropolis/2016/04/prince_s_sound_taste_and_drive_were_forged_by_minneapolis.html?curator=MusicREDEF

this helps me understand his context…don't think it's been linked, and for all i know one of you wrote it…

I don't think Prince was sui generis, per se, but he was a virtuoso and a genius, which allowed him to do so much more than merely mimic, say, Sly Stone, or or Stevie Wonder, or James Brown. He was one savvy operator, and the way he put it all together was yet another mark of said genius. He saw all the pieces but was smart enough to make them fit.

but Kanye is not fun, he isn't inclusive (by which I mean he doesn't really create a world that his fans want to live in the way Prince did)

I was thinking about that "create a world that his fans want to live in" thing while listening to 'We All Wanna Be Prince' by Felix da Housecat, hard to imagine someone releasing 'We All Wanna Be Kayne West'

yeah i mean the stuff was worth calling him out for when it happened, but i viewed any of that as the fact that prince was also sort of old fashioned, maybe the last pop star that *really* struggled with being so religious in an old fashoined way so carnal and so gifted at creating "the devil's music", and here i'm thinking that when prince converted to JW or said things like that it was like those times when, say, little richard swore off making rock n' roll for a while to only do gospel then to be tempted back to rock n' roll or the very real wickedness and excess that elvis and jerry lee lewis struggled to balance with their old, southern old testament christian upbringings....

i think prince was just old enough to be the last who would really struggle with that. there were perhaps parts of him that were *less* modern than bowie (even though bowie came first and was older) in that respect

(xpost to cryptosicko)

(even madonna's catholic stuff felt more like she was playing around with it as imagery than it was deeply felt)

i'm enjoying wandering again through the stockpile of prince i put together when i was in my obsessive hoarding phase... this duet with Stevie Wonder on "Maybe Your Baby" from The Undertaker really starts cooking right around the 5 minute mark.

The Muppets Tonight clip, before he goes into Starfish & Coffee, shows him
doing some Hee Haw schtick in a country-fried voice that is so funny, and he's obv having a ball

Xpost but what was so radical about prince prior to his JW conversion was that there WASN'T necessarily a struggle - God and sex were not in conflict at all!

eh idk about that

Teeeeemptation....

'Temptation' from Around the World in a Day.

Xpost but what was so radical about prince prior to his JW conversion was that there WASN'T necessarily a struggle - God and sex were not in conflict at all!

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Friday, April 22, 2016 12:00 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the Lovesexy tour was a big grand sin vs. salvation thing where he came out and did erotic city type stuff in the first half then the second half was the salvation part with more spiritual/positive type stuff, i think he drove a cadillac into heaven too

the very real wickedness and excess that elvis and jerry lee lewis struggled to balance with their old, southern old testament christian upbringings....

Yeah, and I feel like the struggle might have been even greater for Prince considering how deep he travelled down the road to sin in his songs. I mean, Dirty Mind and Controversy (and maybe all his albums?) had thanks to God on the sleeve, and it's hard to see how that squares up with the, shall we say, "fruity" lyrical content. And that's before you even get to things like Vanity 6.

doesn't the voice of god at the beginning of 1999 say "i only want u 2 have some fun"?

thinking about the percocet and the overdose and him dying in an elevator and it all seems so tragic and preventable. anyone seen the van jones interview on cnn?

(even madonna's catholic stuff felt more like she was playing around with it as imagery than it was deeply felt)

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 April 2016 16:

not on Like a Prayer

I'm not saying his moral conflicts weren't deeply felt in some way, but he always wore them lightly. Everything always had that sly little grin behind it. He had too much fun to ever seem really burdened, at least in performance.

xposts well ok i guess i was overreaching a bit there.

feel like in all of this mourning stuff one thing I'm not seeing mentioned much is how *funny* Prince was. This was in evidence more in person (ie, live, onstage, on film, in interviews etc.) than on record but watching a bunch of random clips last night I was laughing my ass off - so much mugging, smirking, knowing glances, tossed off jokes, almost slapstick physical comedy.

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016 5:14 PM (58 minutes ago)

Yes, that was one thing that really stood out when I was marathoning videos last night. Obviously he took himself seriously as an artist, overly so in many ways, but being able to do that while simultaneously not taking it seriously at all is so awesome. I find myself very drawn to that style of artist - there's hella pomp in there, but it's fun pomp.

Re: his later in life religious stuff, does anyone know the timing of his rebirth or embrace of JW, especially surrounding the death of his child and brief marriage to Mayte?

I recall that Larry Graham is to blame, but it was post-emancipation I think. Wasn't it around the time of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic?

Anyway, my other thought was that in terms of cultural roles Bowie and Prince both occupied a similar space that was safe and inviting for freaks and weirdos. If you felt like an outcast for whatever reason - because of your race, sexuality, or just general interests - these were successful, huge artists that created a cultural space that welcomed you. Nowadays everyone is a "freak" - Miley Cyrus performs as a horny tree or whatever - and the straight-laced monoculture is less and less of a thing, so I'm not sure there's anyone playing a similar role today, the social climate is just different.

This morning's shuttle ride I considered the most incongruous fictional cover versions of Prince songs: Pearl Jam doing "Delirious," Eric Clapton's "Alphabet City," Jason Derulo's "Controversy."

Many xposts:

I don't think you really need to look any further than the Black Album versus Lovesexy for the perfect example of Prince's struggles between morality and hedonism.

Re: his later in life religious stuff, does anyone know the timing of his rebirth or embrace of JW, especially surrounding the death of his child and brief marriage to Mayte?

― Josh in Chicago, Friday, April 22, 2016 1:32 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I recall that Larry Graham is to blame, but it was post-emancipation I think. Wasn't it around the time of Rave un2 the Joy Fantastic?

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016 1:34 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

After Rave Un2 and before Rainbow Children

As for incongruous actual Prince covers, most of these are shit, but Richard Thompson's "Kiss" is amusing:

http://coverlaydown.com/2016/04/rip-prince-june-7-1958-april-21-2016/

I like RTs kiss a lot. His hit me baby one more time is even better actually

xxxxxp I'm dreading the possibility that Gaga will do the same with Prince as she did with Bowie earlier this year.

my money is on them having alicia keys do it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEe-jTBwa1O/

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

would rather the grammy-type tributes be handled by the likes of janelle monae / miguel. obvious choices but good ones.

xxp

i will only accept D'Angelo.

as long as we're posting ?uesto prince stories, this is my fave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfhoI6iX5ng

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

Prince's debt to Sly is blazingly clear, in the bands he formed to back him up, his vocal delivery, his keyboard playing, his general formal assimilation of multiple styles. I would think most fans are aware of this.

yeah, seems like if you're going to point to any precursor it'd be sly. did they ever meet? if they did it probably would've been awkward.

I don't think so, Sly was awol/coked out of his mind for most of Prince's career

found this funny story ...
One day Prince comes home [from the recording studio] all excited because he met Chaka Khan. She called up and asked, “Is Sly [Stone] there?” Prince happened to answer the phone and he said, “Yeah, baby, this is Sly. Do you want to come down?” About two hours later — this is like 2 in the morning — she opens the door and sees Prince. She says, “Where’s Sly?” He goes, “Ha, ha, ha. That was me.” I guess she cussed him out.

gave up and threw on the superlong version of I Would Die 4 U

halp i am drowning in str8 fire

i told a joke
about the woman who asked her lover
"why is your organ so small"
he replied
"i didn't know
i was playing
in a cathedral."
vicki didn't laugh at all...

oh man that 20+ minute i would die 4 u

Kind of quietly impressed with the number of folks I know who wore purple today without any kind of dumb groupthink mobfule organizing.

oh man that 20+ minute i would die 4 u

― tylerw, Friday, April 22, 2016 2:38 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

with friends like these who needs Space Ritual?

Back in 1997, my friend was playing in a cover band in Alabama. Prince and his band happened to be in the audience and joined them on stage to play Raspberry Beret. A huge star doesn't have to get on stage with a cheesy cover band, but Prince did. My buddy described him as very gracious and generous.

Here's a pic from that night with my friend standing next to him:

https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xtf1/t31.0-8/13041408_10209433808020794_4206524429507391042_o.jpg

best copy i could find -- beautiful acoustic version of "Reflection"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz9sUt8V_yA

1997 was a terrible time for sideburns

another local Minneapolis legend (at least to the Takoma crowd), Peter Lang posted this:

My late friend and producer Jim (James Hauck) was a friend of Chris Moon, who was Princes first manager and recorder/engineer/producer. I met young Mr. Nelson at Moon's studio when Moon had teamed up with a gent whose name was Chase Walker, and together they started a booking/ production company called Moon Walker Productions with the idea of making others as well as me famous.

Prince was there almost every time I went over. He was a nice quiet respectable kid. I met him several times over the ensuing years, and he was incredibly stand-offish if he didn't know you, but he warmed up quickly when he figured out that he did know you.

My spin on Prince is that he could have gone coastal and left us all behind. But he didn't. He built here (Minneapolis). He lived here. He worked here. He recorded here, and he did his videos here. He broke a lot of Minnesota artists into the big time, and invested a huge amount of time and money in our local talent, and our service industries. I met him on a number of occasions in Video Post houses working on his stuff when I was producing animation. Although I am not a great fan of his genre, I respect it, and I respected him a great deal more for remaining both humble, and loyal to his friends, family, and community. He was a big shot who did not behave like a big shot. He has always had my great respect for that. It is a tragedy to be loosing so many luminaries in such a short amount of time. If you love their music, go see it,. Life is short, and death is but a breath away for us all.

“To die, to sleep -
To sleep, perchance to dream - ay, there's the rub,
For in this sleep of death what dreams may come...”
― William Shakespeare,

I'm a little surprised to not hear sly stone as a reference. I associate the two for some reason

Prince's debt to Sly is blazingly clear, in the bands he formed to back him up, his vocal delivery, his keyboard playing, his general formal assimilation of multiple styles. I would think most fans are aware of this.

― Οὖτις, Friday, April 22, 2016

Because Hendrix is still more a figure in rock mag mythos, Sly gets mentioned less as an influence. Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix.

this won't probably mean much to the non-Minnesotans (if you don't know Sid Hartman*) but anyway this is fucking priceless

"Hey Prince! Prince! Hey Prince!"

"...Hello Mr. Hartman...how are you?"

http://espn.go.com/blog/minnesota-vikings/post/_/id/18664/that-day-when-prince-met-sid-hartman

*in short, legendarily cranky Minnesota sport columnist, still writing at age 96, literally covered the first Super Bowl, etc, actually has worked for the paper for 84 years because he was a newsie when he was a kid

The Muppets Tonight clip, before he goes into Starfish & Coffee, shows him
doing some Hee Haw schtick in a country-fried voice that is so funny, and he's obv having a ball

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, April 22, 2016 12:57 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it's safe to say this was the only time in his life when Prince wore overalls.

matos piece is up on mtv.com

Jesse Johnson recorded a song called "Crazaay" with Sly in like 85 or something. That's the closest association as such I know of.

ha -- I just mentioned "Crazay" on Facebook.

really love hearing all these minnesotan anecdotes but they're making me homesick

Big time

I hear Sly's influence all over "Lovesexy".

"Hey Prince! Prince! Hey Prince!"

"...Hello Mr. Hartman...how are you?"

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 April 2016 19:22 (12 minutes ago) Permalink

Prince was Sid's guy before he was your guy

Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix.

nah, if we're talking about his electric guitar work, Prince's #1 ref point is Eddie Hazel

xp

Also I can't believe that when Prince & Sid met at the Super Bowl the whole thing didn't explode in a fiery cataclysm that wrote the word MINNEAPOLIS in a giant smoke cloud

for one moment prince was only the second biggest diva in the room

Candy Dulfer did "Purple Rain" last night at a show in Germany:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Id0qmDYpg

/Besides, to my ears Santana was a bigger influence on Prince than Hendrix./

nah, if we're talking about his electric guitar work, Prince's #1 ref point is Eddie Hazel

xp

This thread is tl;dr until the weekend, so I want to ask if anyone posted that video interview of his friend talking about his charitable works upthread?

Eddie Hazel no doubt but that astringent tone is all Santana.

btw check out how fake Prince this is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maHadudeqP4

whoah never even heard of this before

I wonder whether timing was a problem. Fall '86 was a bit late for floppy hats and colors and dance troupes (summer '85 nah). Also: it's just not very good fake Prince.

Paul Westerberg: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/paul-westerberg-remembers-prince-i-cant-think-of-anyone-better-20160422?page=2

I remember a little scuffle broke out in front of the stage one night and Prince said, "Stop fighting, you'll mess up your clothes."

lol see what I mean? comedy

I like Tuomas' word - "mischief" - that's the perfect word for the wicked little grin he'd give

ha yes

I just listened to half of Purple Rain with my 7 and 4 year old, full blast, all of us just bouncing the fuck around the room and pretending to play every instrument. and once it was over somehow it ended up in a 'jam session' with me on guitar, one kid on 'drums' and the other on a variety of harmonicas and other noisemakers and, you know, even if they don't feel that sucker punch to the gut that the song Purple Rain always gives me, even when Prince was ALIVE, the fact that we could all just spin out of this music recorded some 30 years ago into our own exhilarating rock noises basically until we got too tired to do it any more somehow makes me feel better.

aw that's beautiful <3

could ready for the world's "Oh sheila" be the most prominent soundalike exponent, other than the records he made for proteges and…"Sussudio?"

another thing that's unusual about him is that alone among his megawatt peers, he didn't use big time session guys on record or name sidemen live. After the Revolution, he used young, unknown cats he could mold…largely from the Mpls area, I think? does anyone know if he used musicians from other towns? yet it's not like John Robinson or Lee Sklar or Larry Carlton or the Toto guys would have said "no man, I'm not playing that." those guys played herculean shit that was asked of them, I'm sure session guys loved him like everyone else, and it's clear he wouldn't have thought of them as soulless corporate tools: he liked slick shit.. maybe they were too expensive? I think Maceo, Larry Graham and other old funkateers are a different matter, and I don't think its insulting to Candy Dulfer or him to say that she got the gig because he liked the way she looks. He liked pretty women onstage with him! Sheila E counts as a pretty much a fully accredited member of his stable.

Westerberg piece is great.

I can't think of anyone better – an all-around composer, musician, guitarist, star, showman, the whole package, anyone better. If Elvis wrote all of his songs and played guitar, it still wouldn't quite be there. He'd play Jimi Hendrix-style, between his legs and behind his back. And then he'd do the splits. He could put the guitar down, and Jimi would become James Brown. He could hold the crowd like Mick Jagger, but could Mick Jagger play the piano like that?

does anyone know if he used musicians from other towns?

i think he found the guitarist for 3rd eye girl on Youtube and she found the other two members. so assuming not from MN.

he's the last (only?) virtuoso guitarist pop star i can think of - hendrix being pretty firmly in the rock camp

I like Tuomas' word - "mischief" - that's the perfect word for the wicked little grin he'd give

this this this ..
so many clips/instances of that grin.
a case of arrogance, or just self awareness of his perfection ?
he knew he was the living embodiment of musical perfection, and loved making sure we all knew it.

he's the last (only?) virtuoso guitarist pop star i can think of - hendrix being pretty firmly in the rock camp

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, April 22, 2016 3:34 PM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

john mayer (if he counts as a pop star) seems to have a ton of cred in the guitar magazine world (and it was kinda news when he left fender for paul reed smith, meaning an end to his popular signature series stratocaster)

you guys should really listen to the audio of his last show if you haven't already. so good and he's so funny onstage. when he talks about how a little brother runs if he finds big shoes under a woman's bed so that he doesn't get beat up. haha! i loved that part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMyjANk22os
a phantastic cover of a phantastic song which does not sound like the prince we all remember but shows what a versatile genius he was.

a couple of things which relate me to prince.

my first girl-friend was the same height as prince and she was one year older. she was full of power too.

my favourite female singer is the same as prince's, my fave album of hers is his second fave, hejira.

the first time heard prince must have been on the bavarian radio when i studied in munich and sign o the times was released. yesterday i listened to that bavarian station for the first in years at 7 pm and during the emission the news that prince had died broke.

i cried when i heard that he was dead. it was like a part of me, my youth, hat died there. i was so sure that prince was immortal. no idea why, i liked a lot of his music but i never was a great fan. but there was something so perfect and universal about him he was a great songwriter, a gifted musician, so creative and obsessed by music. a phantastic singer, an amazing performer and he still came over as a human being and not an arrogant aloof star. he gave lots of good vibes to planet earth.

hey I found the Raspberry Beret video
http://www.totallyfuzzy.net/ourtube/prince/raspberry-beret-w-the-revolution-video_e83f1c395.html

i always loved whale's cover of darling nikki. one of my fave covers of anyone!

http://blog.thefilmstage.com/post/143230318886/princes-purple-rain-is-returning-to-amc-theaters

It's been weird watching people struggle to articulate Prince's genius and so often it is being shorthanded through the appreciation of other musicians. P4k has a long feature on what Prince meant to Miles which doesn't really provide insight to either of him. He was almost unfathomably talented and he sits, for me, in much the same way that Shakespeare might for writers.

When I used to interview musicians regularly, if it was getting rote and you could hear the boredom, I would ask about Prince. And once you got past the platitudes it always turned to this beautiful celebration of something minor that just blew their minds, the way Questlove has talked about the drums in Lady Cab Driver or how When You Were Mine is so clever in its collapsing structure, or sparse use of guitar chords for The Cross or whatever the hell is happening in Irresistible Bitch. Prince was just an inexhaustible well of daunting inspiration. And, I think, that's been hard to get across in his eulogising.

In that spirit, I remember the first time I, and I suppose most of us, got a glimpse at what Daft Punk looked like behind the mask was a video from Busy P's birthday. And of course, they played Raspberry Beret.

https://youtu.be/-uG1vL3AZLQ

john mayer

yes, i should probably have added the adjective "tolerable" in there

wait, one of Daft Punk is named Busy P? i did not know that. i might never have known that if Prince hadn't died.

That's their manager and owner of Ed Banger

you guys were talking about him being funny… 1:42, where he, Jerome and the other singers are running some place…WHOOPS!

then 3:18…he and Jerome look like they are having a blast…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv1RNLcVBRY

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CgqE56tUkAEVRuN.jpg:large

i always loved whale's cover of darling nikki. one of my fave covers of anyone!

― scott seward, Friday, April 22, 2016 5:45 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whale covered "Darling Nikki"?! Holy crap, that's like a dream scenario type thing. Is it a b-side? It doesn't appear to be on either of their albums.

https://youtu.be/nA1SOBt1oLk?t=3m38s

I don't know if I've ever heard of Whale, but I felt compelled to check it out.

I always liked that Whale cover too. I bought the CD just to get that song I think.

I think I had forgotten that track, all I remembered about them was Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe

Ah, never had that EP. Thanks, how's life!

We Care is brilliant, All Disco Dance Must End In Broken Bones less so, but still solid.

Clumsy employing of some MC Skat Cat mofos and a few scratch effects in the early 90s notwithstanding Prince was basically the last important major R&B figure to have no real connection to hip hop right?

Another cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQQYSWpxc4w

Clumsy employing of some MC Skat Cat mofos and a few scratch effects in the early 90s notwithstanding Prince was basically the last important major R&B figure to have no real connection to hip hop right?

― rockpalast '82 (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, April 22, 2016 8:58 PM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all depends on how you define 'important' or 'no real connection' i guess. i could toss out, i dunno, Maxwell (give or take a Nas collab).

http://twitter.com/chevrolet/status/723317157157691392/photo/1

I know this is happening all over, but our city lit up a bridge for him tonight.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/754b6b86-d18b-441e-8a13-a05904d08d6b_zps8bm5ylau.jpg

Created a total outpouring of social media love (which a few grumps in there, "What did he do to deserve lighting a bridge," etc.).

Good news! Prince is not dead! He was just outside my bar an hour ago!

http://i.imgur.com/m5cHeey.jpg

I hear Sly's influence all over "Lovesexy".

Eye Know always sounded to me like Parliafunkadelicment jamming with the Electric Mayhem and all the monsters off Sesame Street

cool all look same joke, moka.

, what?

Guy was a beggar that somehow knew who Prince was (not that many people in Mexico know who Prince was as he didn't have any massive hit in the radio aside from 'kiss' and that was a minor hit) and was asking for money for taking a picture in his Prince tribute outfit.

This extended personal memory from Paloma Faith, of all people, is well worth reading. No, really, it is.
https://www.palomafaith.com/prince-fly-with-the-doves-as-we-cry/

^^ That was good.

Didn't know about any of this stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMwH-4pA1NA

Yeah, that was thing I was wondering about before, should have just posted myself.

Maybe it was the JW thing but doing that kind of stuff and not publicizing it is just so remarkable these days (unless Trump reads to the blind on the weekends and doesn't want anyone to know!)

Is there a list of all the Prince videos played on MTV over the past 48 hours?

i didn't get to see VH1 or MTV's prince tribute and was wondering what got played, or more specifically how deep into his vault they were willing to dig.

Like that MTV broadcast of the final Purple Rain tour stop in Miami? I saw that once, and it was bonkers.

Found an insane link to a long tour clip here:

https://www.facebook.com/316507635225335/videos/395165634026201/

James Brown, Michael Jackson and Prince circa 1983:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy9L4ft7EGk

Man, listening to "The Cross" and the guitars and production on that really presage Jon Brion's 90s work, huh?

informally, the MTV/BET/VH1 soul sequence in the past two days would tend to start with the controversy videos, through 1999 (did not know there was one for "let's pretend," has Dez on keybs) then through the staple PR vids, then onto the staggering 20 min "I would die-Baby" live workout (watching that as a 12 year old made me want to be musician) and so on up to "7" and other shit from the glyph record, which is more or less the last time new Prince music would get played on MTV no questions asked, (the last time MTV played music full stop, too). I've been reminded that his imperial phase went to 1991: you damn well heard Diamonds and Pearls coming out of cars in NYC.

its pretty much everything, videos & live clips, you would see regularly on MTV/VH1 during the imp. phase…occasionally they have been going past "the Morning papers" to the 90s wilderness era, "the most beautiful girl," "gold" etc… I hadn't heard "black sweat" before Thursday…

Man, listening to "The Cross" and the guitars and production on that really presage Jon Brion's 90s work, huh?

― T.L.O.P.son (Phil D.), Saturday, April 23, 2016

haha good call

Is there a toy piano on that one?

It's just unacceptable. He should have been playing Montreux and approving bad album art into his 80s.
Taught me so much, opened so many doors.

nobody will ever yell like this dude

Touched that Tommy Stinson referred to him as "Rog."

stoked that one of the last bits of news i heard about PRINCE was how into FIELD MUSIC he was. 57 years old and dude had better taste in new music than most

Dude was one of the deep cats who was into all types of music, like Charlie Parker, to name just one.

I haven't got anything to add, but he was great. Would love to hear more of the archival material, especially from the 80s. I haven't got as strong a personal connection as many of you, but he was still one of the greatest around, in my opinion.

I'm finding it essier to listen to the 90s stuff and later than the classic period. Emancipation, my one disc version at least, is so underrated.

Matos on the MTV website is unsurprisingly excellent

Yes.

Really missing the videos rn.

Agreed about Emancipation, a few standout songs but mostly just great vibe all the way through.

Human Body!

So the last song of the final show that he played (2016-04-14 - Late Show, Fox Theatre, Atlanta) was Purple Rain.

http://i.imgur.com/hYp0j1G.jpg

Prince passes by a pee-stained wall while holding a scepter

Has Bob Dylan made a statement?

He's recording a covers album.

He's still figuring out what to say about Merle Haggard.

He's still figuring out what to say about Merle Haggard. Glenn Frey

The fella from Warner Brothers who usually takes down all the Prince stuff from You Tube within minutes, appears to have taken the weekend off, so watch this and grab it before he's back at the coalface on Monday morning. Arguably the absolute peak of the absolute peak.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SINtBF4_dHA

(apols if this has been posted already)

Yessssssss

Holy craaaaaap

That left me speechless

I've never seen that. I think I was too cool to watch the Grammies that year

Dortmund '88 is back up (if it ever was completely?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etMqfDsFIKw

haha @ prince blowing up the grammys

yeeeesss

Sign o the times is a incredible film. But the lovesexy show IMO is Prince at his live performing peak. Or his greatest show at least. Not one weak second.

I'm finding myself more preoccupied with Prince than maybe any time since my teen years. After MJ who was my childhood favourite, Prince was my all time musical hero. I fell out of the obsession in my late teens as I got into hip hop but its only now strangely that I realize just how much energy I put into thinking about Prince back then and how much I read about him! Still maintain that the Pop Life book is the best book written on him.

the way I see it is, Michael Jackson was the universal pop superstar that even casual fans of music loved. but there were always limitations to what he would do because he was confined within a very specific bubble (an awesome bubble mind you), whereas Prince was this also-huge pop culture icon who didn't mind fucking with his audience and going into left field and giving them a whole bunch of gifts they didn't know they wanted.

interestingly for me, I got into Prince right on the tail end of an MJ obsession. Invincible had just come out (and it kinda sucked), so I picked up History, and was spinning that, and I wanted something a little funkier, so I got 1999 was kinda blown away by the expansiveness of it, 8 minute funk songs! rockabilly done w/ synths a la "Delirious". his guitar playing though just added so much flavor to the songs, giving a rock edge where it was needed. just trying to imagine "Let's Go Crazy" without that driving riff underneath is impossible.

I think I bought 10 to 12 of his albums over the next year, it was an obsession. friends got tired of me talking about him. i wish I had pulled the trigger to see him live. never getting to see him is now going to be one of my biggest regrets.

holy shit at that grammys performance

His guitar work is getting just praise, but let's talk about his keyboard skills. As 1999 showed, he knew how to play synths.

his AMA perf of "Purple Rain" equally mindblowing.

the synths in 80s Prince were spellbinding. part of what made me sidle up to 1999 so quickly.

It's amazing how much Youtube has been flooded with Prince content now that he's not around to sue anyone. We'll see how long that lasts!

Right, watch it while you can!

The 2008 Coachella creep cover video actually has relatively extensive documentation of the paperwork of if going down and back up again.

Prince can sue from beyond the grave, he's that mystical

i'm goin to a karaoke night to sing only Prince songs tonight

Eye'm going 2 type in Prince speak 4 the whole week.

eye know!

i'm goin to a karaoke night to sing only Prince songs tonight

Good luck nailing that falsetto!

I've done I Wanna Be Your Lover before.....(spliffs hair)

listening to "Delirious" now. I love that squeaky sine-wave

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i'm goin to a karaoke night to sing only Prince songs tonight
Good luck nailing that falsetto!

― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, April 24, 2016 1:50 PM (2 minutes ago)

Don't be like this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv3Q61Da1CQ

instant gulag for that shit

Wish Bob had sung it.

If anyone comes across a watchable link for the SOTT concert movie pls post it here

http://youtu.be/KkOxeKA2WNE

bah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOxeKA2WNE

Great to remember that from July 7, 1984 to Feb. 9, 1985, Bruce and Prince had the #1 albums in the country. 31 weeks between the two of them.

If anyone comes across a watchable link for the SOTT concert movie pls post it here

I am still quite upset.

Walked home the night after he passed away, "Purple Rain" on the headphones. It'd been a warm day, but a strong breeze was coming through. Walking down the street in this breeze, wind blowing into me as that ridiculously brilliant guitar solo kicks in, a perfect moment. But there was so many perfect moments in Prince's discography.

"Raspberry Beret" was one of the first songs that I loved, which I did as a small child. (I didn't know it was about the s-e-x then, of course. Turned out a few of his songs were about that.)

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" was an important song to me, for reasons that I have forgotten.

Some people dislike the full version of "When Doves Cry" but no, the last two minutes are immensely terrific.

Listened to "Black Sweat" last night, relentlessly my favourite Prince song of this particular millennium.

"When 2 R in Love" was confrontational, I appreciate that.

"I Would Die 4 U" was immensely glorious, joyful, life-affirming.

"The Cross" was more spiritual than any hymn.

"Uptown" was necessary, still necessary.

"Cream" was absurd brilliance, of funk and unapologetic tongue (at least) in cheek.

"Anotherloverholenyohead" was driving, was funk into static.

"Jam of the Year" was a lack of filter, but he's done enough to not need a filter.

"Little Red Corvette" was another of those s-e-x songs that I loved as a kid before I knew about the s-e-x.

"It" was one of those s-e-x songs that I love as an adult.

"Alphabet St." was light and joy.

"Sometimes It Snows In April" was of passing, is of passing. Of that he stayed in Paisley Park, in Minneapolis, as The Kid and everything after and yet touched even boring white boys far away like myself - and only a song could come from there, even that I know. I listened to it after I heard the news and it was utterly devastating. For me, it is autumn - fall, to you - and there is loss. That breeze again.

And that's only some of the songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV_Wp4vVlB8

This is the only tribute cover I've seen so far that's been a welcome interpretation.

man the wealthy of material FINALLY emerging on YouTube.

Check out "Pop Life" and "Life Can Be So Nice" from the Parade tour

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcYEKH28MY0

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/04/22/defying-description-zz-tops-billy-gibbons-on-prince-the-sensational-guitarist/

Yeah, that is kind of cool.

Oh yeah. In fact, that entered the conversation. He asked me, ‘Does your beard get in the way like some of my costumes?’ And I was stunned momentarily and I thought about it and said, ‘You know, perhaps so.’ But then he grabbed my arm and said, ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m okay with it.’

I'm really digging the sneaky shadow funk in "Graffiti Bridge," like "Joy in Repetition" and "Thieves in the Temple."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkS-9PHbu0

a live "America" with Prince on drums.

I don't know how I feel about all the YouTube uploads. Feels kind of shitty to immediately go against his wishes as soon as he's dead.

god shed his grace on thee

Eye no, but at the same time it's great for fans 2 c videos they may not have seen b4 and also it helps non-converts 2 c what the fuss was about. Eye think the slew of videos on U Tube r helping 2 keep the memories alive and may help others 2 get in2 Prince. Eye have a feeling that those U Tube videos may not last long, though.

lol

It's more than possible Prince stipulated that posting these clips and whatnot was perfectly OK with him once he passed.

Eye was just thinking that the Lovesexy show posted above would be a great video 2 show 2 somebody who wanted 2 c what the fuss was about. Eye imagine there's a whole generation 'o' Prince fans who have absorbed the albums who r having a great time on U Tube checking out things they've not seen b4.

Wait which link was the lovesexy show? This was a video or a DL?

There was a U Tube embed of it above.

You could also search for Dortmund 88, I think

Maybe not. Maybe it's not indexed or something. Anyway http://www.youtube.com/etMqfDsFIKw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etMqfDsFIKw

prince died so the world could see his bootleg videos

the bruce cover is emotional

though what i wouldnt give to hear bruce cover ICNTTPOYM or holy river

erykah badu poem -

http://www.vibe.com/2016/04/erykah-badu-prince-poem

That time Prince was your rhythm guitarist
then sent you the picture.
The time Prince was so gracious to come to your club in the hood of South Dallas and play for 4 hours into the night...
The time you recorded "Today -the earth song"
at Paisley Park.
All the times y'all shot pool and argued over religion.
The time Prince got in your Lemo to tell you that 'World Wide Underground ' wasn't finished yet and you 'felt a way'. Lol
The time Prince "evolved " and wouldn't sign yo mama's 'Dirty Mind' album cover cause he said he wasn't into that no mo and yo mama told him
"well you shouldn't have made it then" and you were embarrassed.
The time Prince had a "swear jar" and you just put a 20 dollar bill in it when you walk in.
The time Prince and Larry Grahm had you cornered in a Jehova's Witness...well, witness session.
The time you presented Prince with the ICON Billboard AWARD with 20 (Janell Monáe).
The time you sang "I wanna be your lover" on the 3rd grade talent show wearing a swim top and the teachers cut you short because it was "inappropriate".
The moment you remember how much he means to you...
You've been here all my life .
And You will live F O R E V E R in my cells.
Sometimes it snows in April?

http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/news/a44279/prince-snl-40-afterparty-video-fallon/

don't know if this one's already been posted:

https://www.facebook.com/princesnowsinapril4no1/videos/701023170036217/?fref=nf

I don't want this to disappear, so if you search our man and WORK IT, enjoy!

The Bruce cover is nice; but holy cow, Nils Lofgrin's solo is incredibly powerful heartfelt stuff.

Yup. And to think only last week I was enjoying listening to Nils's upbeat goofy side on "I Came To Dance."

As they approached the solo I thought, ok, here's Bruce about to tear out something amazing. But then, one of Bruce's strengths as a bandleader is knowing who to throw it to at crucial moments. Nils absolutely nailed it.

He's obviously just happy to use prince to attack the monarchy but I did not expect Morrissey to pay tribute quite so fiercely!

http://true-to-you.net/morrissey_news_160424_01

Did he say much about Bowie?

I just realized how my brain breaks down Prince eras. Does anyone else's resemble this?

The first two albums
Dirty Mind thru Purple Rain
Around the World... thru Lovesexy
Batman and Graffiti Bridge
NPG albums
Rest of the 90s
The 00s
The 10s

Same for me

I don't think Morrissey said a word about bowie....

Didn't think so, and they knew each other.. Odd bird, that Moz.

Anyway, Prince yeah..

Maybe no one told him?

i def don't consider Dirty Mind and Purple Rain the same era unless there were only 3 or 4 eras...The Revolution/Wendy & Lisa era very much its own thing.

Oh, rthosde Prince eras work for me, although from yr NPG section I'd have..

Diamonds to Chaos
Emancipation to umm
Ah, anyone?

Well there's diff revolution phases just as there were several NPG phases...

FB recommends "WATCH: Adam Levine Performs Incredible Prince Tribute." Thanks, think I'll pass. But did take its recommendation to go to Huffpo to read about how Prince got Eric Clapton out of a depression.

the adam levine thing is old and... not as good as people seem to want it to be. but yeah it's suddenly everywhere.

That phases breakdown is basically mine but I go dirty mind thru 1999 and purple rain through SOTT, then lovesexy and batman are a pair.

Wait how is "When You Were Mine" not on The Essential Cyndi Lauper?

Unless it is on non-streaming version.

Get it while you can
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fsCsgQZww8

Sorry, haven't been able to stop listening to that myself.

used LP copies of Purple Rain now starting at $30 on Discogs, median price is still $8.50

kind of lol but mostly sad

so is Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic worth owning? No one's ever defended it.

It has a few good songs - especially the Gwen Stefani duet. Not as horrible as some of his later records.

20Ten is, to me, the last of his truly solid one-man-band albums. It's definitely the last one where he seemed to have fun recording.

Maceo spotlight on Rave is good i forget what its called

Wait how is "When You Were Mine" not on The Essential Cyndi Lauper?

― PiL Communication (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, April 24, 2016 6:49 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Unless it is on non-streaming version.

― PiL Communication (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, April 24, 2016 6:53 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah Prince actually even kept most of the COVERS of his songs off of Spotify so you get Cyndi albums/comps with only "When" missing, Sinead albums with "Nothing" missing, etc.