If you’re going to die, you might as well do so on a slow news day.

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Because if you do, you might get a front page cover story, that continues for another half-page inside.  And also a reprint of a past concert review.

Here are my Prince memories:

  • The preview for Purple Rain played during at least one, and perhaps more, movies my family attended that summer.  Maybe during Ghostbusters?  At any rate, I have a strong memory of my dad reacting as if the movie was not for us to see. I was too young then, of course, but I’ve never actually gotten around to watching it.
  • I really liked the song “Little Red Corvette” and I think my mom did too.  I have vague memories of watching the video, perhaps at the neighbor’s house as we didn’t have cable then.
  • “When Doves Cry” was one of those songs that imprinted on me, though I mostly associate it with Romeo+Juliet, where it was used effectively in the soundtrack.
  • The Batman album.  That theme song was all over the radio that summer.  “Did you ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?/Batdance!”  My brother may have even had the soundtrack on cassette tape.  Funny that I haven’t heard mention of this album AT ALL in the millions of laudatory words written about Prince.
  • My brother and are watching the video music awards and Prince is singing in a bright yellow suit.  It’s all par for the course.  And then he spun.  And we looked at each other, our jaws dropped.  Because there was no butt in that suit!
    (image from http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160421153519-03-prince-fashion-prince-get-off–restricted-super-169.jpg)160421153519-03-prince-fashion-prince-get-off--restricted-super-169
  • Two iconic Prince songs I associate more with white artists, which is interesting.  “Kiss” was first introduced to me by Tom Jones.  When Julia Roberts sang along to the song in the bathtub, in Pretty Woman, I was surprised to hear her say, “you gotta love Prince.”  Watch that Tom Jones video at your peril.  It’s heavy on the rad computer graphics.  And of course, Nothing Compares 2 U, the video of which was on repeat ad infinitum, letting us all think that we’d look as good as Sinead O’Connor if we shaved our heads.  I hated that song until I loved it.
  • I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Prince and I don’t know if I could name a song of his after 1990, but an earlier-than-usual death is never a good thing.

2 thoughts on “If you’re going to die, you might as well do so on a slow news day.”

  1. Prince held a special place in my psyche. My cousin Thadd introduced us to his music. Our neighbor’s across the street in Lynville used to play Little Red Corvette and Raspberry Beret on their stereo and have the speakers blaring out the windows… Which was even better because they were never outside while doing this. (Eye roll here). But, I still didn’t hate those songs.
    Recently, While driving, the song “I Remember You” by Skidrow came on the radio. And I was reminded of my Cousin Matt. (He would begrudgingly play it on his guitar for us). The Next song was “Let’s go Crazy” by Prince. The opening is a “sermon” celebrating this crazy thing called life. And I was reminded of Thadd. And I cried the rest of the drive home.
    I have a list of the top three groups/people that I will go anywhere to watch perform. George Micheal (who I have seen), Queen (also saw with Adam Lambert) and David Bowie. When Bowie died, I substituted Eagles for him. Glenn Fry promptly died. I pondered replacing with Prince… My list will now remain open.

  2. I’m “that guy” about this celebrity death, in that it didn’t really affect me. I’ve never been into Prince, although I certainly don’t think he sucked or anything. However, unlike most “that guy”s I kept my mouth shut and let people mourn as they saw fit. Obviously he meant a lot to a lot of people. My favorite memory of him was from the early 2000s. A year or two after the Super Bowl half-time “nipple gate,” Prince played the half-time show. I’m sure they thought, as an aging rocker, he wouldn’t be too controversial. Cue the opening shot of his shadow, projected huge on a white sheet, holding his guitar in a way that it looked like a giant penis. Lol. He rocked that show.

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