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

"7" and "The Morning Papers" rank among his best songs.

7 has a great anthemic quality to it but to my mind is also pretty leaden and repetitive. morning papers i do like. def one of the best tracks on that album, and of the 90s.

i remember just getting over bowie passing when the prince gut-punch happened.

that d'angelo tribute is one of those instantly iconic late night TV performances i'll forever cherish.

Yay to the high ranking for 777-9311. Boo to the low ranking for Alphabet St. There can’t be many other artists for whom a Top 100 feels ungenerous. Only 100????

Excited to hear this Corvette remix when my work day's over. I find the original kind of... boring? Too much buildup and not enough release.

"7" is great for all the harmonies. This streak of albums would be better without the skits and filler and ... I was going to say better production, but honestly they are very much in line with how so many albums sounded at the time.

Suddenly had a flash of an alternate universe where Janet Jackson released 30 albums of music in the '90s instead of two.

Come is underrated and TGE is overrated.

i think the list/ranking aspect of this piece is kind of beside the point. i'm here for questlove riffing at length on whatever 100 prince songs he feels like.

(but also, while we're here, hell yes to the absolute majesty of "the morning papers.")

honestly they are very much in line with how so many albums sounded at the time

i can see why questlove doesnt rate the 90s albums as highly because of that reason, that they are produced very much like other 90s albums.

80s prince, while obv of the period, still stands out a lot for all manner of reasons, from other stuff of that period.

good to see D&P, the title track, on the list though. i think D&P has three or four of his most unarguably top shelf songs of the whole decade (the title track, insatiable, cream) with most of the rest of it still excellent, just a slight step down (i have a soft spot for thunder and live 4 love). gett off is a brilliant single, and its slightly off hip-hop-influenced phrasing/lines are better than any of sexy mf, i think i just prefer the original, more stripped down one.

if questlove released that in some lush coffeebook form i would buy that in a heartbeat

When Questlove reviewed the albums many years ago for okayplayer, he was generous towards the ‘70s and ‘80s work and a little dismissive towards the ‘90s work (particularly because of the way the sound changed) so I’m not surprised that’s reflected in the new list. I think he’s really shortchanging the ‘90s work too.

When Questlove reviewed the albums many years ago for okayplayer, he was generous towards the ‘70s and ‘80s work and a little dismissive towards the ‘90s work (particularly because of the way the sound changed) so I’m not surprised that’s reflected in the new list. I think he’s really shortchanging the ‘90s work too.

thieves in the temple has to be one of his best 90s songs. i might have included pheromone (along with the track thats the lady cab driver guitar with vanity moaning) too.

its a corny prince die hard thing to say but the truth prob IS his best overall 90s album. lacks the highs of D&P, and as its more or less acoustic, lacks interesting production, but it does feel the most focused, or the album he took the most care in making (ok, apart from emancipation, though that was TOO cared about/worked on) after all the label drama/anger/contract-fulfillment. theres something about the 'band' albums he did that sound weirdly rushed (TGE, love symbol).

I don't know why I don't reach for PRINCE more. Listened last night and this morning. I think Parade has now passed 1999 as my favorite album. New Position, I Wonder U, Girls and Boys, Life Can Be So Nice, Mountains, Do U Lie?, Kiss, Anotherloverholenyohead. He should have scraped that movie and put out a double album. Parade, 1999, Purple Rain, and Sign O the Times are really all tied for first with me. Also really love 30 or 40 other songs from the first 10 albums. Look forward to putting those 80s 12 inchers in the car this weekend. Thank You, PRINCE! Electric Word, LIFE!

Always loved “Thieves in the Temple” — wonder if things would have landed differently if he didn’t do two soundtracks in a row.

It is inconceivable how good the Batman soundtrack is. It has absolutely no business being as 100% legit as it is.

It is inconceivable how good the Batman soundtrack is. It has absolutely no business being as 100% legit as it is.

― DJP, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 9:01 AM (three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

OTM, Batman soundtrack was the last Prince record I really engaged with closely when it came out and I was obsessed with it, I listened the other day for the first time in forever and it just blew me away

Parade is probably my favorite record these as well, if it didn't have a legit hit like "Kiss" on it would be his Powerage

UMS & I hung out with Prince in the 7th Street Entry once, that was crazy

When I put Love Symbol and Emancipation on my iPod back in the day, I cut out the Kirstie Alley skits and the Tony M showcase from the former and cut the latter down in half (to the equivalent of a 90-minute double LP). I should revisit them in their entirety but at the time it made for an even, satisfying listen.

UMS & I hung out with Prince in the 7th Street Entry once, that was crazy

Oh man, details please!

the thing i took away from the list is my god, he wrote SO much for others within that short space of time (i love morris day and the time and if there was a questlove list for greatest prince covers, TLC's version of the time's get it up id hope would be listed high up), all the while releasing his own music. really just an amazing achievement. not everything is flat out amazing ofc, and some of the appeal is simply hearing prince of that period spread out across so many other songs, but he did gift the family (screams of passion), sheila e (love bizarre, glamorous life, belle of st mark), vanity, appolonia etc some truly brilliant songs.

When I put Love Symbol and Emancipation on my iPod back in the day, I cut out the Kirstie Alley skits and the Tony M showcase from the former and cut the latter down in half (to the equivalent of a 90-minute double LP). I should revisit them in their entirety but at the time it made for an even, satisfying listen.

ive tried to edit emancipation down and its definitely cool to make it one disc, but the songs are so long, a lot of them need editing song by song as he extended so many of them to make sure each disc was 60 mins each.

the best tracks for me are all the more subdued/mellower ones mostly - courtin time, white mansion, cant make u love me, in this bed i scream, soul sanctuary, curious child, dreamin about u, holy river, lets have a baby, saviour, plan, my computer, one of us, love we make.

i love the vocals on betcha by golly wow and la la la means i love you. slave i like intellectually, but its just a chore to listen to more than once. theres a lot on this album that would have made decent b-sides (damned if i do, emale, somebodys somebody), but just sounds like filler or songs that might have been given to another artist. not sure whether joint 2 joint works exactly but i like that he made something like that at that point in his career.

sleep around is fabulous too.

Always loved “Thieves in the Temple” — wonder if things would have landed differently if he didn’t do two soundtracks in a row.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 9:58 AM (fifty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It is inconceivable how good the Batman soundtrack is. It has absolutely no business being as 100% legit as it is.

― DJP, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 10:01 AM

here for both these takes

I love “The Human Body”

I agree that Prince-as-producer got less adventurous in the early/mid '90s. He could still sing and play and write, though.

Emancipation keepers:

The Holy River
My Computer
Let's Have a Baby
One of Us
Get Yo Groove On
The Love We Make
The Human Body
Face Down

oh yeah "Soul Sanctuary" and the Bonnie Raitt cover too

UMS & I hung out with Prince in the 7th Street Entry once, that was crazy

Oh man, details please!

― birdistheword, Wednesday, 22 April 2026 14:21 (twenty-five minutes ago)

Prince appeared in the Entry one night after the band I was in had played (with proto-No Age band Wives on the bill as well), with two incredibly attractive women and a huge body guard. Apparently they got there late because limo parking downtown Mpls is an issue. Anyway the place was basically empty, our band was I think about to load out & UMS & I were having a beer and all of sudden there was Prince. Maybe 15 people in the room? He sat awkwardly in the corner for a few minutes and then left. Wives gave him a cd which he very politely accepted. My wife spoke to him for a second, she tried to get a autograph for her mom but he demurred.

I do believe he was there to my band because we had recently been ranked higher then in him in a local live act poll, which tbf we deserved.

re: batman, vicky waiting is an incredible groove (also the second part of batdance, though the first half is also undeniable for the bonkers anything goes-ness of it, capped off by an even more bonkers wild guitar solo). lovesexy and batman were both good quickie albums.

xp wow, when was this, about?

"The Future" has slowly and confidently ascended into top 15 Prince for me.

Xp-2008 or 09? Somewhere around then

I wish he'd arranged more ballads in a bass-piano-voice style like he did with "Let's Have a Baby." All that space.

"The Future" has slowly and confidently ascended into top 15 Prince for me.

Also works really well in the film, right at the start.

I just feel Lovesexy is such a mighty record that I've never been able to embrace Batdance, which was my first Prince LP, and which I would FFW through just to get back to Lovesexy, which my mate's older brother had taped on the B-side of the C90.

Wives gave him a cd which he very politely accepted.

Cannot explain what I would have given to be privy to Prince hearing that CD (full disclosure, I loved Wives, perhaps moreso than No Age).

Just imagine was Prince would thought if he had arrived 10 minutes earlier to hear us mangling the Jesus Lizard's "Glamorous" from memory?

I wish he'd arranged more ballads in a bass-piano-voice style like he did with "Let's Have a Baby." All that space.

theres something in the questlove piece about black vocalists using falsetto to not be heard as aggressive, but that doesnt quite account for how many rock fans hate falsetto lol.

While walking the dog monday night I thought 'you know I really wanna listen to Art Official Age tomorrow'. Did so yesterday afternoon, was tripped the fuck out by the closing group of songs as always, started talking to my friend about how 'Affirmation I&II", "Way Back Home" and "Affirmation III" are like some kind of uncanny thing of prince writing himself a Chanhassen Book Of The Dead for what to do right after he dies, talked about Prince with him for another hour or so. Then riding home I saw that it was the 10th anniversary and i swear I had not been conscious of that at all lol

those songs and breakdown are prob the best things he released in that last year (thinking of AOA and the hit n run albums together).

It is inconceivable how good the Batman soundtrack is. It has absolutely no business being as 100% legit as it is.

― DJP, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 10:01 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

very rarely will i think of a scene from a show or movie that was so woefully off the mark, but the Prince record moment in Shaun of the Dead always comes to mind.

xpost yes breakdown is on that same level but just not part of that weird death suite...
we are fortunate in that two out of three of the last things he released were really good (AOA, Hit n Run Phase 2).

My dearest hope is that we get to hear some of the hybrid orchestral stuff he was doing with Michael B Nelson when he died. I assume the leaked full arrangement of "Rumeta" is a WIP from that and oh man.

We don’t know how good we had it, back in the days when some comic book blockbuster would have a wholly original Prince soundtrack. Now we get Foo Fighters over the closing credits.

Ingrate.

Listened to the special dance mix of LRC for the first time in years. When it hits the 3 min and 7.25 mark and you hear those rhythm guitar parts, it's just bliss, but the original is just perfect pop, how when you were mine is. Only version I like more than the regular edit is when he does it in the SOTT movie and extends the intro and adds an extra synth part. I can't remember if that's the same as in the PR Syracuse film but when it moves into housequake in the SOTT film, its somehow one of the best transitions I've ever heard.

LRC?

^^

Petite Rouge Voiture.

ty, was v confused by the SOTT reference

Louche Rouge Corvette

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0KpfrJE4zw

Forgot that questlove also included she spoke to me from the 90s, which was nice to see, but don't talk to strangers (from the same planned soundtrack for a James l brooks film) has to be one of the sweetest, loveliest songs prince ever made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjfWAjZuv34