Tag Archives: Prince

FROM THE CREATOR OF THIS BLOG – A NEW PROJECT!

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I’d like to invite the followers of this blog to check out my new project – a new podcast entitled The Perfect Podcast. The Perfect Podcast celebrates the highest achievements in music, film, literature, food, visual arts and more! In each episode I talk to a different person about the creations they believe achieve perfection. From the perfect short story to the perfect music video to the perfect cocktail to the perfect skyscraper – the show explores and celebrates the artists who have achieved the elusive, intimidating, confounding and 100% subjective state of . . . Perfection!

http://www.theperfectpod.com/

I plan to tackle some of the subjects I’ve covered in this blog. I definitely think Prince has created a couple of perfect albums, Michael Jackson has created some perfect songs, Madonna and Janet Jackson have starred in a few perfect music videos and Annie Lennox has turned in some perfect vocal performances. I’d love to hear from you about what you think is perfect or ideal in pop culture. Please visit my website and leave a comment and let me know. Thank for checking this out. Enjoy!

http://www.theperfectpod.com/

 

Prince

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So much to say, but no words can describe. If you’ve read this blog you know how much Prince’s music has meant to me over the past 30 + years. I recorded a special tribute to his music on my podcast. Take a listen and remember and celebrate the iconic artist with me.

THE REVOLUTION (AND PRINCE)

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Ok readers – it’s time for a Pop Quiz. Ready?

The phenomenal 80s albums Purple Rain, Parade and Around the World in a Day were recorded by whom?

If your answer is ‘Prince,’ then please head to the back of the class and receive five demerits.

The correct answer is Prince and the Revolution.Prince and The Revolution poster

Without a doubt Prince, the solo artist, is a musical GENIUS. But together with his band, his genius expands. In 1984, the multi-racial, sexually ambiguous, mysteriously cool group of men and women known as The Revolution represented a musical and social utopia. It’s a powerful thing to see oneself represented on TV and film and whether you were male or female, black or white, straight or gay –  or somewhere in between – you could see a cooler version of yourself reflected in the band’s line-up.

Every time I saw Purple Rain (at least 3 times that summer) , watched one of The Revolution’s videos (dozens of times) or stared at their album’s liner notes (100s of hours) I thought, “this is how the world should be; filled with a diverse group of exquisitely talented musicians – with a penchant for paisley.”

Wendy and lisa and princeI have and always will be partial to Wendy and Lisa. The fact that these two extraordinary musicians also happened to be impossibly cool, sexy women was enough to captivate me. But once I heard the opening of “Computer Blue” I was obsessed with their narrative and needed the answers to many questions.

What is the exact water temperature Wendy likes? We’re talking bath water, right? And I’m pretty sure I have a general idea of what’s about to ‘begin’ – but I wouldn’t mind details.

Wendy and LisaAs a feminist I can’t applaud the fact that Prince seemed to use the Wendy & Lisa lesbian fantasy solely for male titillation. But the fact that Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman had a committed, years long romantic relationship and an even longer professional partnership (that continues today) makes me think of them as two of the most important LGBT individuals in pop history.

But first and foremost I think of them as musicians. Wendy and Lisa, along with Brown Mark and Doc Fink and Bobby Z and Prince came together to form my favorite band of 1984.

I’ve seen Prince and The Revolution perform twice in concert (two life changing, transcendent experiences!). The last time was in ’85 or ’86 and the show featured the expanded line-up that included Susannah Melvoin, Eric Leeds and Jerome (from The Family) and Sheila E. Towards the end of the show Prince injured himself on stage and exited. The Revolution must have jammed for about 10-15 minutes and they commanded the attention of every person in the audience at Madison Square Garden. I think everyone realized they were witnessing something rare and wonderful.PATR Stage

What most of the fans probably didn’t know was the band was going to break up after the tour. A great band doesn’t last forever but I wish we would have been able to get one or two more albums from them. Sign O the Times is a perfect record – but I can’t help wondering what it would have sounded like if Prince had collaborated with Wendy and Lisa and the rest of The Revolution.

But we’re lucky to have 3 albums  – the greatest being Purple Rain. Throughout this month we’re going to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this record (including those amazing B Sides!)

Shall We Begin?

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Listening to When Doves Cry for the First Time

Screamer of the Week: When Doves Cry by Prince and the Revolution. This Week in 1984.

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WDCCover
I clearly remember the very first time I heard ‘When Dove Cry.’ It was May 1984 and I was in my bedroom listening to WLIR. The station mainly played New Wave so when I heard the DJ announce he was about to play a new song by Prince I assumed it was another ‘Prince’, possibly some Brit paying an ironic homage to the royal family. But as soon as the song began I stopped caring who was singing. I needed to focus on the music. The following is a completely factual moment by moment account of my first time listening to this song.


0:00 Little do I know my musical world is about to change.

0:00 – :20 Beginning a song with an electric guitar solo? That’s odd. And wait a second, guitar solos belong on rock records – so why am I now hearing a dance beat?  And why has the guitar morphed into something that sounds like an asthmatic robot saying ‘nyah nyah nyah’? This has got to be the strangest opening of any song I’ve ever heard. And . . . I think I love it!

:30 – 1:30  I don’t know what else is about to happen, but right now, in this moment, I think this is the best song I’ve ever heard. Period. Everything I’m hearing is different and amazing. I love the singer’s voice (it sounds both atonal and melodic). The lyrics are surreal and sexy ( ‘Animals strike curious poses’? I’m going to put some energy into figuring out what that means). And that drum beat.  I don’t think I’ve ever really paid attention to the way drums sound until now but there’s something so different and distinctive about the way these drums sound. They crunch and echo. I need to turn this song up! WDCVinyl

1:45 – It’s official – this is definitely the best song I’ve ever heard!

1:50 Oh wait – why am I not taping this?! (As I head to press the play + record buttons on my boom box – a revelation!) … hold up – I can’t start the recording half way through. That seems wrong. Blasphemous. This song deserved to be recorded from start to finish. I owe that to the song. I owe it to myself!!

2:05 Ok – here comes the chorus again – let me try to figure out what he’s singing about:

How Can U Just Live Me Standing

Alone in a World So Cold

Maybe I’m Just 2 Demanding

Maybe I’m Just Like My Father – 2 Bold

Maybe You’re Just Like My Mother

She’s Never Satisfied

Why Do we Scream at Each Other

This is what is sounds like

When Doves Cry

princewdc1Hmmmm –  could this be the same Prince who sings 1999 and Little Red Corvette? Is this song about his family? His girlfriend?

3:00 ( Note – The one memory of this experience that isn’t crystal clear is whether I started dancing. Trust me, there would be many times I would dance along to “When Doves Cry” in my bedroom (many times in ’84 and as recently as two weeks ago) but I can’t recall whether this happened during this first listen. Let’s just say that IF I danced – I would have probably started right about now).

4:15 – I don’t want the song to end. The song doesn’t sound like it wants to end. More guitar solos.  High pitched shrieks. A synthesizer that sounds like an electronic chorus of violins. Now the singer is harmonizing with himself in some high-pitched falsetto. Now he’s just singing “don’t cry’ over and over again and it sounds weird and brilliant.

And finally that synthesizer is back and wraps it all up. The song ended and some other song started and I was floored. Before I knew it was performed by Prince and before I knew it was the single from what would be one of the greatest soundtracks of all time I fell in love with that song. revolution

When Doves Cry went on to win WLIR’s Screamer of the Week competition and I had many opportunities to record it. It remains one of my favorite songs of all time. Over 30 years I’ve listened to this song on cassette, vinyl, CD, and MP3 – and every time it feels like a gift.

Additional Screamer of the Week posts:

The Psychedelic Furs – Heaven

The Thompson Twins – You Take Me Up

R.E.M. – Pretty Persuasion

Thompson Twins – Sister of Mercy

Welcome to 1984

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This blog is dedicated to the irrefutable, undeniable fact that in the year of our lord, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Four, the pop culture gods smiled down and bestowed upon us the single greatest year of pop music the world has ever known.

Why 1984?

Why not ‘83 or ’85 or ‘64 of ‘92 or any other year that contained a number of great singles and albums? Well, it’s my belief that in 1984 the pop world coalesced in a way it had never coalesced before (and most likely will never again). Call it Karma or call it blessed coincidence  – but this was a unique moment in time when musicians were creating masterpieces AND music labels were making the right decisions AND the general public was ready to hear and see and embrace it all. The result? 12 months of great (the greatest) pop music; from January when Michael Jackson’s Thriller  – THRILLER!!  – sat in the top 10; through December when Band Aid released “Do They Know Its Christmas?”

1984 brought ascension (RUN-D.M.C., Madonna, R.E.M.,), resurrection (Tina Turner, Chaka Khan) and evolution (Bruce Springsteen, Patti Labelle) for countless musicians (and listeners).

1984 also brought us the seminal song, soundtrack and film all sharing the two-word title:

Purple.

Rain!

(MUCH MUCH MUCH SO MUCH MORE on Prince and Wendy and Lisa and Doc Fink and Brown Mark and Bobby Z in future posts!)

I have to admit my love of 1984 has just as much to do with who I was during that year as it does with the great music I listened to. Does anyone love or connect to music as much as they do as a teenager?

At age 16 I was ready to tackle the radical political commentary of Frankie Goes to Hollywood‘s Two Tribes and the subtle sexual lyricism of Depeche Mode‘s Master and Servant.  I also believed that the analytical muscles I developed studying Lord of the Flies and Julius Caesar fully empowered me to decipher the deeper meaning of songs like New Moon on Monday, Pretty Persuasion, and Karma Chameleon.

In ’84 I also fell in with a group of friends who became my group. We came from all 5 boroughs of NYC and were black and white and Asian and Latino and biracial. That level of diversity seemed rare but it felt comfortable and it fit (People are People, indeed). So when I saw Mikey Craig in Culture Club or The System or General Public or Hall & Oates‘ live band or The Revolution – all of the decisions I was making (at the time I didn’t realize they were decisions) felt affirmed.

During this year I also noticed a number of music artists who were playing with gender and sexuality just enough to intrigue, but not freak out an adolescent who had recently become aware of some unexpected desires. Whether it was Annie Lennox or Boy George‘s gender bending or Bronski Beat‘s lyrics or Rockwell‘s eyeliner (and his alleged romantic relationship with Michael) – some of my favorite artists seemed to take their inner most desires and literally wear them on their sleeves. I was far from ready to do that, but felt grateful they were willing to do it for me.

So here’s to the music that entertained me, changed me, guided me, and inspired me to such an extent that 30 years later I’m compelled to return for a visit.