I received an interesting email yesterday from Ross Raihala, pop music critic for St. Paul’s Pioneer Press. It read as follows:
“To celebrate 7/7/07 and Prince’s three shows on Saturday night, I’m doing a special project for the paper. I asked seven local musicians for their favorite Prince song and a quick explanation of why…But I’m also asking a bunch more local musicans/fans/bloggers the same question, and then putting those responses on my blog on Saturday… So, you up for contributing? All I need is the name of your favorite Prince song and quick explanation of why — right around 100 words is great, although feel free to go shorter or longer as you see fit.”
I’ve never really been much of a fan of Prince’s, but despite that I still found myself traversing the recommended word count as I wrote down what eventually became a recollection of almost every single Prince memory I have; all three of them.
In my reply I wrote, “I believe I will find myself in the minority in this situation, but the only Prince song that I’ve really spent any amount of time with is “Musicology.” Having not been born, raised, or nurtured in Minnesota my musical tastes were developed with different circumstances of favoritism and bias than that associated with Minnesotans and Prince. My first positive memories of Prince surround his lashing out at Warner Bros. because, being the young impressionable person I was, I thought it was cool how he was sticking it to the man (so to speak). While I’m still sort of young, and still quite impressionable, it is a tad ironic that my one favorable Prince single comes from his first major label release since his mid 1990s emancipation.
The most important Prince memory for me isn’t a song however, but a moment I witnessed on TV. During the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which Prince himself was inducted, he joined Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood and Tom Petty on stage in celebration and remembrance of George Harrison. Along side the remaining Traveling Wilburys Prince delivered one of the most amazing guitar solos I have ever before inconspicuously leaving the stage.
Prince is one of the most talented, entertaining and eccentric performers in the history of rock and roll, and his three shows this upcoming Saturday serve simply as another page of his story to prove it.”
I think that the lengths with which Prince has gone to in the sake of his craft are awe inspiring, a fine example would be the recent free release of his album in the UK. One could say a lot of things about Prince, and as a matter of fact I’d like to hear what other people think about him in the comments.
You really don’t need to be a Minnesotan to appreciate Prince’s music. I find it strange that you use your not being from Minnesota as an excuse not to have ever explored Prince’s music. As a music blogger and music lover, if you take the time to go beyond the hype (and apparent eccentricity) and explore his catalogue in depth, you’ll find that there are many, many more magical moments such as the one you experienced during the RnR HoF performance in 2004—both in live performances and in studio recordings.
Feel free to ask for guidance :).
Pierre
July 7th, 2007
I don’t know that I used my nativity as an excuse for not exploring Prince, but rather as a statement that suggests I don’t have a predisposition of liking him that many of my friends do. That being said I really have tried to enjoy a lot of his music, but a lot of it just doesn’t click for me (see: Purple Rain). Being that music lover I am though, I’ve been searching around for a few clips here and there to help persuade me; here’s one I found especially amusing:
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/prince/video/xnxxb_prince-art-of-mus-acoustic-medley
Chris DeLine
July 7th, 2007
“Purple Rain” is not to everyone’s tastes. I became a Prince fan with Parade in 1986 myself. Parade and Sign O’ The Times (1987) were and still are astonishing masterpieces. There are lots of gems to be found not just on the major studio albums, but also on B-sides, in side projects, and—gasp!—on bootleg records. If you liked that RnR HoF performance in 2004, try the 1988 recording of his rendition of “Just My Imagination” in a small club in The Hague… It’s mind-blowing stuff.
Pierre
July 7th, 2007
I am from Amsterdam and still love Princes music!
zappy
July 10th, 2007