Prince is gone. It just does not seem like that is a phrase that should be uttered for many, many years. This celebrity death hits horribly hard. He made his mark on music and movies, for that there is no question. Purple Rain is a masterpiece and a film that encapsulates why the man from Minneapolis soared a wee bit higher than anyone else in his field. But more importantly, for many of us, his entire music catalog, persona, and social consciousness were weaved through our DNA.
That is why his death has left such a gaping chasm in our soul.
I first discovered Prince Rogers Nelson witnessing Little Red Corvette on MTV (thankfully that was one of the few artists of color whose video the fledging network played back then). I promptly went out and bought the 1999 album and when I got home, it was like a door to a funky, frenetic and fabulous world had been opened. And it was one that would never close.
My little sister was drawn by sonic succulence that was emanating from my room and promptly taped the record and played it repeatedly herself, even randomly belting out “you must be a limousine” to my parent’s cluelessness for weeks. I knew where it came from… that Little Red Corvette.
It was also during the 1999 album that I discovered his love of the color purple — “The sky was all purple, There were people runnin’ everywhere,” he sang. It would be a color that would define him (as we’ve seen national landmarks across the world lit in the shade to pay tribute to the man.) Once he released his next album, Purple Rain, there was no denying he was the purple one. He made it OK to declare that a non-traditional color shade was just fine to call one’s favorite. Yes, it is my favorite color and always has been.
With that latest record, Prince had combined two of my favorite mediums, cinema and music, and crafted a film that changed me forever. I remember sneaking into the theater to see it (it was rated “R” and I was too young), and then promptly stayed through and watched it a second time. It was an incredibly personal story that took us inside the genius of the man from Minnesota and introduced us to items that would become iconic — Darling Nikki, Lake Minnetonka and the revolutionary idea that doves could cry, to name just a few.
Purple Rain also was a lesson in following your dreams and sticking to your guns to see those aspirations come to light. It also taught this dreamer (and millions of others) that the road to goal achievement would be filled with minefields of tragedy, despair, devastation and ultimately, moments of enlightening personal growth that could propel us all to our own version of greatness. The film is a triumphant tale, coupled with a soundtrack that would set the bar for film music. Each song served as not only a movement of plot, but showed that a film soundtrack could work as well as a film director capturing a landscape filled with a rainbow of human emotive expression.
Prince would win an Oscar for that film, and it would launch him to the upper echelons of the music world. From there, he would never look back. His list of hits after that milestone moment is practically endless and for this fan, to choose his favorite would depend on the day, the mood and the moment itself.
Thankfully, that was Prince’s gift to the world. We always have the music. And thanks to living in an era with music video (and film); his vision will also forever be enshrined in our collective memories. Long after the maestro of Manic Mondays, Raspberry Berets and Cream-y goodness has been laid to rest — we will always have the glow of a never-ending flow of his brilliance. Now, we must wish him an eternity of peace… and hopefully, he’ll be “laughing in the Purple Rain” forever.