“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through
this thing called life.”
When I found out that Prince had passed away, it was the
first time that I remember almost being moved to tears by the death of a
celebrity, other than Robin Williams. As I checked in with social media
(Twitter and Facebook) I noticed so many tributes to this great artist and how
it seemed like people around the world were mourning this man who so few
actually knew. I began to think, like the minority it seemed, that maybe I was
over thinking the kind of loss I should be feeling.
I never went to a Prince concert, although I really always
wanted to attend one. I had never been one of the many, many lucky people to
see him just hanging around his hometown of Minneapolis either, despite
spending quite a bit of time around the Chanhassen area while my brother and
sister both taught at neighboring Mound, MN.
So what was my claim to sorrow? Why did I feel like I lost a
friend, or at least an idol?
Music does a funny thing to people. A song can capture an
exact feeling or moment that you seem to be experiencing. It can also release
you from sorrow or pain and allow you to ease tension and just let loose.
Prince, above any other artist out there, wrote music that just made you feel
good. His Funk/Pop mix made it impossible to not get hooked into the groove and
want to get up and dance.
The not so subliminal messages behind the music made him a
constant enemy of Tipper Gore and are one of the main reasons why we now have
the “Explicit Lyrics” label adorning many albums that come out, but there was
certainly a form of poetry even in the most lude of Prince’s lyrics. Often he
would not just come out and say he was talking about sex, he would use metaphor
and innuendo to let your mind wander to those places on their own, and in doing
so helped to unleash your most unclean desires and yearnings. It sounds crazy
right? Well go listen to some of his music right now! The satire publication,
The Onion, posted an article right after Prince’s death was announced that
basically said that mourners are too sad to go home and have sex, despite the
fact that it was the one thing Prince would want us all to be doing in his
memory. The man oozed sex, despite looking like the first openly transgender
person the US had ever been introduced to.
About that look…
Prince was completely unapologetically himself. Whatever the
hell that might have been. He didn’t care what the world thought of how he
looked or even what they thought about his music. He would go on stage wearing
a scarf around his neck, a trench coat, a speedo, and of course his patented high
heel boots. No one knew what the hell they were seeing, but that sound was
something that people could get behind, even if it took him a few albums to
really break through. On a side note, I read somewhere that high heels were
originally designed for men and they wore them for centuries before it became
more common for women to wear them. Whatever the case, to our generation the high
heeled boot on a man was distinctly a Prince thing.
About that sound…
More and more people are finding out, albeit too late, that
Prince was probably in the top 3 best musicians of all time. The man played
every single instrument on his first few studio cut albums before finally
allowing Dez Dickerson of The Revolution play a little guitar on an album. I’m
not positive how long that continued to be the case on his albums but it’s kind
of crazy that The Revolution, the big band he threw together to be his backup
on stage, was essentially put together to emulate the same type of high energy,
party atmosphere that Prince created by himself in studio.
A member of The Revolution talking about how good of a
musician Prince was shared that Prince had been on the cover of Guitar magazine…then
Drum magazine…then Keyboard magazine…and even Bass magazine! The man could do
it all. Howard Stern asked Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters (and easily one of my
all-time favorite musicians) if he thought Prince was a better musician than
him. His response, “He’s a better drummer than me!”
For those of you who don’t know, Dave Grohl is one of the
greatest drummers of all time. He was the drummer for several bands before
really breaking out with a little band named, Nirvana. He also pulled a Prince
and did every instrument for his first album post Nirvana for his now band, Foo
Fighters. If you’re a Queens of the Stone Age fan, Grohl was also the drummer
for this bands first studio album!
The point is that if we look at the top five musicians of
all time, Dave Grohl would definitely have to be in the conversation, but Prince
would be the reason for the conversation in the first place. When it comes to
sheer talent, there may never be another giant in the industry like Prince…which
is funny when you consider this “giant” stood all of 5’2” tall.
My Prince obsession
Back to when I found out that this icon had passed away. I
was struggling to wrap my head around why I felt so sad about losing just
another musician. But then I got like ten text messages from people who knew
how much I liked him telling me he had passed away. How many people received
that many people breaking the news to them personally? I guess somewhere along
the line I divulged my personal feelings about how great I thought this guy was…
In high school I remember my friend Brad and I having a
weird obsession with Luke Uncle Luke, 2 Live Crew, and a bunch of other kind of
funky rap/rock bands. No idea what drove us in this direction, but when you
think of those bands it’s not really a leap to get to Prince…especially when
you consider the first song that I really remember loving of Prince’s being
Pussy Control. So yeah, surprise surprise, the first song that a high school
boy likes of Prince’s is about pussy. What a vulgar…awesome song.
But then I found out more and more about Prince. He was not
only an amazing singer/song writer/composer/instrumentalist, he was also from
Minnesota and as I was raised in Minnesota I was ingrained with that unhealthy
obsession of our state being the greatest state ever, so instantly I was
connected to Prince, much like Bob Dylan…but Prince stayed in Minnesota which
makes him the greatest Minnesotan artist of all time, sorry Bobby.
From Pussy Control, my strange obsession continued to
flourish as I discovered more and more of his music. Like most artists some of
his music just wasn’t for me…I’d even say it sucked. But his hits were amazing
and the sounds of even my least favorite songs stuck in my head and were tough
to listen to without a little head bobbing or swaying at least.
As I got to college, my love for Prince just grew even more.
I was introduced to other Minnesota bands such as Motion City Soundtrack who
tried to emulate a bit of the Prince sound and were right up my alley as well.
But there was always just one Prince. My friends were forced to listen to his
music quite often and as I began to corrupt my younger friend Pat, he and I
even decided to throw a Prince theme party with our roommates Nick and Josh.
We decorated our entire house in purple, had Purple Rain
playing on loop on the basement television and went to the thrift store and
purchased puffy pirate shirts and the tightest leather (or pleather) pants we
could find, along with some really terrible Prince wigs. The party that ensued
was certainly not one of our largest but had to go down as one of the most fun
ones that we ever had. I remember we made a video of us doing random Prince
entrance moves, just walking like our shit didn’t stink and then just doing a
dead stop and facing the camera. Nick, Pat, and I did that for about 45 minutes
before we finally decided that we better rejoin the party. That tape, unfortunately,
was taped over and we lost our sweet moves to the ages.
 |
| Pat, Jason, & Nick's Prince Party - Circa 2007 |
Going through old photos on Facebook I found several where I
could distinctly remember being motivated due to us listening to Prince music,
including about three albums entitled, “While I watch Purple Rain.”
For my friend’s bachelor party we even spent some time at
the iconic First Ave. which Prince himself made famous through his movie Purple
Rain. We were there for about an hour or so, dancing with girls having some
drinks and just partying our asses off to some Prince tunes when another friend
showed up and informed us that it was an 18+ club…I thought those girls looked
awfully young! Oh well, we had a blast and one of my friends even competed in a
dance off, which Prince would have been ashamed of…simply terrible TJ.
If you spend enough time with me, chances are you’re going
to have to listen to Prince at some point or another. With our friend Jesse we
host a sand volleyball league at our campground in the summer. I purchased a
couple of faux rock radios (to shut up our assistant to the bus line security
manager) that we use for music during the games and unfortunately for the other
teams, I occasionally get put in charge of the music…which is always Prince,
the greatest hits. Needless to say, we’ve lost a lot of good volleyball players
the past couple of years!
I guess when it comes down to it; I just really dug his
music. Some may have called it crass and too sexual…but if you read any
Shakespeare you’ll find many of the same elements that you find in some of the
most sexual Prince songs. It’s written in what we call flowery language but so
are some of the best Prince songs! No matter your feeling about the themes of
the songs, there is undoubtedly a poetic composition to everything Prince did,
from his music right down to his look. He gave the world a message that will
last longer than any of us, just look at his song 1999. It was written in 1982
and was a hit. It was played pretty much around the world 17 years later as we
turned our calendars to the year 2000 and 16 years later we’re still rocking it
out. The meaning has changed from future, to present, to now us trying to party
like we did in the past…but the song remains as good as it originally was intended
to be.
I always post a life lesson on my bus each morning for the
kids to see and after hearing of the passing of Prince I immediately thought of
posting the opening line of this post from Prince’s song, “Let’s Go Crazy,” but
after a quick search on the old internet (which Prince thought was going to die
off by the way) I found this life lesson which summed up how he lived and is a
great lesson for the kids on my bus and all of us: “Despite everything, no one
can dictated who you are to other people.”
We can try to be whatever we want. We can bend over
backwards to make people like us, but in the end they’re going to make up their
own minds so why waste your time pleasing others. Be uniquely you. You can’t
make people like you or hate you; they get to make up their own decisions so
stop wasting your time worrying about what others think of you. Just be.
In the end, Prince’s lyrics themselves serve as his best eulogy:
"I don’t really care so much what people say about me
because it usually is a reflection of who they are.”
“Life is just a party and parties weren’t meant to last.”
In the essence of Humphrey Bogart, “We’ll always have
Minneapolis and First Ave.”
Here’s looking at you kid.
Good-night sweet Prince; And flights of angels sing thee to
thy rest. - William Shakespeare
No comments:
Post a Comment