08.Prince.-.1999 from Mauricio Onate on Vimeo.
I was never a big fan, although I liked some of his songs from the ’80s. But it occurs to me that some of y’all may wish to say something upon his passing.
There was a guy on the radio today, an editor at some pop-music site (no, it wasn’t Ben Fong-Torres, so it wasn’t anyone I know about), talking about his vast repertoire, and I thought, I can only think of five songs, if that.
Here goes:
- Little Red Corvette
- 1999 (see above)
- Raspberry Beret
- When Doves Cry
… and that’s it. I can think of another song title — “Purple Rain” — but I can’t remember how it goes.
Oh, and I know he wrote that Sinead O’Connor song — his songwriting was probably the best thing about her.
I heard on the radio that he wrote the Bangles’ “Manic Monday,” and that was good.
After that, I’m stuck.
So y’all probably have a lot more to say than I do…
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Speaking of the Bangles, you know their really hot singer — you know who I mean? She was in Ming Tea, the band that backed Austin Powers on “BBC,” which I think was a pretty awesome pop song.
I may not know much about Prince, but I do know me some trivia…
One of my favorites in college. Loved the Purple Rain movie enough to see it twice back then and I even watched it again when I came across it flipping channels a few weeks ago . He was a brilliant musician who played many instruments. A true performer. Better than Bowie in my book.
Darling Nikki is a lesser known favorite.
You were in COLLEGE then? I didn’t know you were THAT much younger than I am.
That was like mid-career for me. I was a veteran newspaperman at that point. I had already spent 10 years at one paper in Tennessee, and was in my brief stint out in Kansas when all that stuff was going on.
While I thought a couple of his songs that I would catch on MTV and the radio had some appeal, I could not ever have imagined wanting to sit through a feature-length film starring Prince…
Oops! I see “Purple Rain” came out in 1984, when I was still in Tennessee. I went to Kansas in 1985. Still, I think of that as the heyday of Prince — “Raspberry Beret” (released less than a month before I moved to Kansas) and the like…
It might be that in the summer of 1985 I was more aware of pop culture than I had been in the 80s up to that point.
I moved to Kansas alone and was not joined by my family for a couple of months. So, while almost all my waking hours were spent at work, when I did have down time I was more likely to watch some TV than when the fam was with me….
Ha. I was still watching Sesame Street in 1984-85.
And that’s a fine thing to do with one’s children. Although only one of mine was that age at that point — the one who was 4-5. His brother and sister were in second and third grade.
Of course, two of them hadn’t been born yet…
I think he meant he was watching Sesame Street, as a kid, in 1985.
Yeah, that makes me feel old, too.
I was a fan of his pop stuff. Incredibly talented, and a dynamic performer. His absence will be felt. We lost Lonnie Mack yesterday, too.
It’s been a bad year for music. Bowie, Glenn Frey, George Martin, Haggard, Sonny James, Paul Kantner, Maurice White, Vanity (a Prince protege), Joey Feek, Emerson of ELP, Phife Dog, Steve Young (wrote Eagles Seven Bridges Road), and Natalie Cole and Lemmy Kilmister if you back it up into the last couple days of Decemebr. There’s probably others, but that’s what I found with a quick Google.
Rock and Roll Heaven is going to need a few more verses.
I’m just going to give this a quick mention, rather than devote a separate post, which might be seen as mean…
Again, I am flummoxed by the cult of celebrity.
I hear about people gathering to mourn Prince, and I see Tweets by people who write of their tears, and I just do not get it.
This was one of the first topics I tackled on this blog almost 11 years ago. Inspired by a photograph (see below) of three young people who seemed to be in a completely demented state, I asked why some folks get so worked up about these people they do not even know. (in the photo, below, the three were listening on a phone to news about the verdict in the trial about Michael Jackson sleeping with young boys, or something of that sort).
I’m still just as puzzled…
Anyone out there understand it better than I do?
It’s not just a generational thing. I was sad when Elvis and John Lennon passed, and in fact wrote an editorial on deadline about Lennon. But tears? Getting into a state in which you make a face like those in the pictures?
That is beyond my ken….
Yeah, I see lots of people on social media who turn the death of [insert celebrity] into their own personal tragedy.
It’s very off-putting.
It’s not just celebrities. A young person who has a tragically short life always has far more mourners than he had friends. I first noticed it when a classmate killed himself in 1976, and it has held true throughout my career in education.