Prince RIP

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

thread title still like a crowbar through the heart

;_;

:(

Liked seeing Sheila E, the Time, and Miguel on that Grammys tribute to Prince that aired last night. I wish Coldplay’s Chris Martin woulda just played the piano and not tried to sing over Susanna Hoffs on Manic Monday

https://newsocialist.org.uk/come-2-park-and-play-us-prince-acid-communism-and-sociality/

A similar kinda of piece at times to Penman's write-up (in the way it privileges the 80s heyday) but crosses it with the really wooly dead-on-arrival idea of acid communism. It's being asked to do too much, sorta intriguing how Prince turns up here, the way he is being churned through in a way Michael Jackson (who was more popular in the UK for longer) hasn't yet.

Prince as birds.

A thread. pic.twitter.com/XEDIZv7Nbc

— Amanda (@Pandamoanimum) January 15, 2021

oh shit.. duelling threads. teach the Controversy.

It's here! #Prince / birds mega-thread! 💜💜💜

— Judi 💜🖤💜 (@judi722) October 25, 2020

ayo, thanks for that!

https://www.facebook.com/housequake/videos/707716463468383/?sfnsn=scwspwa

Prince as minion.

Would be nice if his estate release one of his final shows this year.

Yesterday was my birthday and I stopped into a Barnes & Noble store while killing time between work appointments. They had the 3LP set from the remastered Syracuse 1985 show — which I didn't actually realize had been released, though I should have figured with the video being out on Apple TV earlier this year. I was ACTUALLY AT that show, and I already have a bootleg DVD of it. (Ripped from the original VHS release, I think.) But couldn't resist springing for the box set — and it's great! The sound quality is awesome, and the show is just jam after jam after jam. I love that it includes all his playful audience baiting, all sorts of little moments in the show that I remember clearly from the night. It made me think, is there anyone out there who puts on show like this anymore? Tearing songs down, stretching them out, jamming like crazy but all within a clearly coordinated framework so that everyone hits their marks exactly when they're supposed to. It's quite a thing.

Also the end of "Purple Rain," which is of course the final track, captures the whole crowd singing "Ooo-oo-oo-oo" over and over even after the band left the stage. What you miss on the recording is that we all kept singing it, thousands of people, all the way out into the parking lot. Nobody wanted it to end.

<3

Totally awesome, thanks for sharing that mothra.

i watched a crappy youtube version of that concert last year & it was amazing - you are a lucky lucky person tipsy!!

(also the parking lot thing tracks, i cried during the purple rain outro in 2004 because i knew it meant the show was ending & i didnt want it to stop - never happened to me before or since)

My first show was U2 back in 1986 or 1987, when they were ending with "40," and I remember everyone singing the song's final bits ("how long to sing this song") well after the show ended, out to the parking lot. I guess U2 fans used to do that a lot.

Still holding out for a (non-VHS) official release of Dortmund ‘88

VG, I had a similar experience when I saw him in 2002. The day after the show, I still felt sad that it was over. It was like I actually missed him. Never before, never again either. Dude was pure charisma.

"I guess U2 fans used to do that a lot."

They did the first time I saw them at ye' olde Hooser Dome.

I wasn’t desperate to own this set before, but you’ve set me salivating, Tipsy

Just shared the last half hour of this with my 20yo daughter, we marvelled at the idea of having been there. And the crowd were singing the Purple Rain coda during Wendy’s intro, even

They really don’t make it easy to find on Apple TV+. Searching for “prince” turned up a couple of episodes of documentaries about his death, etc, but not this show. You have to search for “prince and the revolution”. Not sure how many people are that dedicated to finding it..

FWIW, you may be able to find a near-mint used copy of the deluxe edition of Purple Rain for less than $10. I see one popping up all the time, and that set has the show on DVD. (Without going into all the details, I actually have a slight preference for that DVD over the current Blu-ray "upgrade." The show was shot on SD video tape so any additional resolution would have to be fabricated through other means like AI, etc. - I think the results on the Blu-ray are pretty mixed. I also kind of prefer the original mix that was used on the DVD.)

There is this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bm03wqLY3Nc

That is a great story upthread. I would love it if a show I went to back in the day made its way to DVD (or even a shitty YouTube posting), to see if it jogged any long-dormant memories.

That version of Purple Rain is just so epic. I love that he doesn't even start the first verse until 6 minutes in. And yeah, it's been kind of wild to always have this out there, the show I was at preserved and periodically reissued. I'm sure all the other shows on the tour were similarly great, just happened to be the one they filmed. (Although Wendy does say in the booklet that she thinks they really went all-out for this one because they knew it was being broadcast.)