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

I didn't know about this, but from the wiki on most beautiful girl, might have something to do w it

There has been a long running copyright dispute since 1995 and a court in Italy ruled that Prince had plagiarized the song, giving writing credit to those other than Prince. [2]

Oh ok thanks. Frustrating.
« Billy jack bitch » is one funky cut !

Wish he was still here to write a song about this hot NBA chick ref

On Tuesday April 21 at 9 PM ET, “Let’s Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute To Prince” will broadcast on the CBS Television Network and stream on CBS All Access. The broadcast will include performances of Prince’s hits by collaborators Sheila E., The Revolution, and Morris Day and The Time, plus Beck, Gary Clark Jr., Common, Earth, Wind & Fire, Foo Fighters, H.E.R., Juanes, John Legend, Chris Martin, Miguel, St. Vincent, Mavis Staples and more.

i'm gonna guess 20% good, 30% meh and like 50% terrible but probably worth taping/youtube

his name is chris martin and he is funky

Earth? Is Dylan Carlson going to perform a 25 minute drone version of Raspberry Beret

Ah EWF

Well at least Maroon 5 aren't on the bill.

lol

No Meshell??

she'll prob be on bass

ah! it already happened on 28 january!

these questlove sets are a lot of fun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twbw6evLLtw

Questlove playing live stuff, segment of an interview with Electrifying Mojo show in Detroit, jam session with Prince on piano, his photographer Allen B on bass, Vanity on keys, tour manager on drums...

Questlove talks over some of it, and periodically scratches or stops the music, but still fun. I only caught a little of it

Questlove had me staying up too late again last night. Jazzy Prince, guitar solos, and then slow jams. Great live version of Temptations “Just My Imagination “ and several “Why don’t u call me anymore “

Also enjoying these great megamixes by Quest. He was hinting that they might be ending due to YT copyright flags? He also said that if more people subscribe that YT is more likely to leave the sets up anyway? He's done 3-4 hours every night for 3 weeks I think!

He’s been programming on multiple platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitch , & YouTube for weeks now. I think just been playing lots of Prince the last few nights. Was reading elsewhere that there are suddenly lots of legal issues with these streams. Maybe YouTube pays royalties on streams from large subscribers channels?

FYI. Prince died 4 years ago April 21.

Looks like Questlove has done at least 5 Prince sessions, maybe more.

that concept will never be acceptable

(xp)

four years, fuck

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.)

Extremely good piece on the state of things with the estate/reissues. It's...strange.

https://theseconddisc.com/2024/06/21/purple-drain-whats-going-on-with-the-prince-estate/