The Purple One

On Nov. 1, primetime television viewers were reminded of the meaning of musical virtuosity when Prince took the SNL stage with an eight-minute set of new material backed by the female power trio 3rdEyeGirl. The seamless transitions between songs and a glimpse of what landed him on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists” list made for an electric performance.

Miles Davis once said that Prince is a combination of “James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye … and Charlie Chaplin. How can you mess with that?” I don’t think anyone has mastered the art of the groove like Prince has. He hooks you with a riff or a beat and doesn’t let go. As far as subject matter goes, he doesn’t shy away from sex, violence and other elements that on more than one occasion called for a “Parental Advisory” sticker.

Some of the song titles themselves probably call for an advisory. And most are, in their own way, examples of the “story” song (see: previous column on the art of the story song). Although Prince’s stories often end the same way -- and can be kind of dirty -- many are almost naive. Some memorable titles include: "Cream" in 2003 (let’s just say it has nothing to do with coffee), "Alphabet St." in 1988 (the long drive to Tennessee will never be the same), 1981's "Jack U Off" (ahh … nothing like a good metaphor), "Violet the Organ Grinder" in 1991 (this one still confuses me), 1998's "Glam Slam" (quick, what rhymes with nipple?) and "Bambi" from 1979 (I guess you can’t help who you love).

Questlove, probably Prince’s number one fan, talks about how he used his lunch money to buy “1999” (1982) and listened to it secretly for three months until his mother found it and took it away, which, of course, just made him love Prince more.

Questlove also talks about meeting Prince at a roller skating party on Valentine's Day, Prince sporting sparkly light up rainbow skates that he kept in their very own suitcase. To think of Questlove acting starstruck makes me feel like less of idiot for my inability to form words when meeting Captain Kirk Douglas from The Roots backstage at a Crosby, Stills and Nash concert this past summer. If David Crosby hadn’t been monopolizing the conversation I like to think we would have hit it off.

Prince created a sound that changed the trajectory of music. His incorporation of electronic sounds and synthesizers, heard in the end of “The Beautiful Ones" (1984), was revolutionary at the time. Prince quickly established himself as someone unlike anyone else. And that continues to ring true. Like Rolling Stone wrote in 2000 on a piece about the "Purple Rain" (1984) soundtrack, “when Prince sings, 'Baby I’m a Star' [1984],  it’s a simple statement of fact."

As an avid Prince fan myself, I can remember playing his cassettes in my dad’s Volvo on the way home from elementary school and begging my parents to rent "Purple Rain" on movie night in middle school. In my mind, there are few things that can exceed the anthemic and gut wrenching “Purple Rain” that has been one of my theme songs for as long as I can remember. And if ever given the chance to take Questlove’s course on Prince at NYU, I really would apply myself academically and maybe even go to office hours once or twice.

I was extremely reticent to listen to Prince’s newest album, but I did and the Purple One did not disappoint. Which is much more than I can say for his appearance on "New Girl" (2011 - present). Maybe someday I will let that one slide.