1984. An epic year for pop music. Welcome To The Pleasuredome by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode, The Gun Club's The Las Vegas Story, the first The Smiths record and of course Purple Rain by Prince. I can remember watching the Purple Rain film on VHS with some ex girlfriend, feeling all deep & funky. I remember studying the album artwork and taping the record so I could listen to it in my first car. Driving around the German countryside blasting When Doves Cry.. I never felt more "now" that back then.
And it wasn't just Prince, it was Prince and the fucking REVOLUTION! And that's what it was. I never liked "funk" much, and I never really warmed to Prince's very funky side.. whenever a slap bass appears I'm normally out, but Purple Rain opened up a world of black spunk. I stayed with Prince till the late 80s, Lovesexy the last interesting album.. after that I lost track and somehow interest. I remember a couple of nice tracks on Diamonds And Pearls but that's about it.
Prince was probably one of the most underrated guitarists [and drummers] ever. He could play like Hendrix, and before [and after] he started using these weird 'Symbol' shaped custom guitars he always played a simple Telecaster. Keeping it simple.. I love simplicity. That's why I loved Purple Rain. There's a lot of air and space on that record. It was also the first time that I saw that word shortening shizzle: 4 = for, U = you, etc. that was proper "cool" back then.
So, for me Price will always be The Kid from Purple Rain: Problems at home, problems with authority, problems with the girls, motorbike.. basically a black version of me :D
