In 1981, Prince and his yet-unnamed band hit the stage of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. For two nights, they’d serve as the opening act for rock icons the Rolling Stones. Prince was already a hit-maker on the R&B scene. “I Wanna Be Your Lover” from his self-titled sophomore LP nabbed No. 11 on the […]
A kaleidoscope of voices say, “Welcome to the dawn. You’ve just accessed … The Versace Experience.” Synthetic wind sounds and echoing clangs swell, surrounding you. The voices return: “You’ve just accessed The Versace Experience. You’ve just accessed The Versace Experience. You’ve just accessed…” They speed up in layered incantations: “Courtship. Sex. Commitment. Fetishes. Loneliness.” Repeat. […]
Lou Reed wrote “My week beats your year” in the liner notes of 1975’s shocking Metal Machine Music. More than two decades later, Prince attempted to best that record: his year beats your entire concept of time itself. In 1996, finally wresting himself from his souring contract with longtime label Warner Bros. Records, Prince (or […]
Think back, if you dare, to the world of 1999. No, not Prince’s magnificent double album—the real 1999. Pop music was way in, from Britney to Backstreet, and the “Latin explosion” propelled rising stars like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez toward the top of the charts. All summer long, we watched the Yankees clinch their […]
If you believe in reincarnation, Feb. 8, 2004 could well be the day Prince was reborn. It was then, on the stage of Los Angeles’ Staples Center, that the artist formerly, currently, and forever known as Prince stepped back into the spotlight by opening the 46th annual Grammy Awards with a medley of tracks from […]
Today, the Prince estate and Sony Legacy are kicking off a massive reissue project featuring records from Prince’s NPG Records era. The initial batch of releases includes 2004’s Musicology, 2006’s 3121, and 2007’s Planet Earth — all on vinyl for the first time. And of course, they’re on purple wax. This era marked what many […]
By Sean Cannon and Mike Duquette Modern superstars like Beyoncé, Frank Ocean, Jay-Z, and Future release albums when they want and how they want. Back in the ’90s that wasn’t the case. For decades, musicians at the top of the food chain all operated pretty much the same way. Labels meticulously crafted an album cycle […]
There’s only one word that matters for June’s top sellers: Prince! The Purple One has set another record in the Discogs Marketplace, and so has The Black Album. Back in April 2016, a US promo copy went for $15,000. While a promo copy from the States is incredibly rare, it’s nothing compared to the version […]
Prince’s filmography never quite lived up to the lofty heights of his music-output. With the exception perhaps of Purple Rain, his ventures in to the film world often felt uninspired or laborious. Though he had charisma in buckets as a filmstar, sadly it didn’t quite translate to directorial skill. However, Prince’s flirtations with the silver […]
Prince was an icon. A magnetic figure who managed to sell more than 100 million records in his lifetime. Yet, Prince’s music is, to some, unapproachable. The sheer amount of music he produced is an insurmountable wall, so comprehensive that it veers into the overwhelming. When he passed in 2016, many had hardly scratched the […]
