and I was a fan. But in my world of U2, the Who, and the Smiths, Prince was still “The Other.”
But I put in my time. I camped overnight at Ticketron that winter but didn’t get tickets to either of Prince’s March 1985 Worcester Centrum gigs (he didn’t play an official Boston date from 1982 to 1997). But I have enjoyed the March 28 soundboard recording that leaked in 2016.
While in college, Prince ceased to be “The Other” and became “The One.” He was “The One” in part because he was everything that I’m not: black, funky, erotic, and spiritual. It’s not that I ever wanted to be black, not even in a sardonic, Lou Reed way, just that Prince opened windows on a fascinating culture I barely knew existed. A similar cultural awakening and obsession happened when I spent a month in Rome. Now people ask me if I’m Italian, but no one’s ever asked me if I’m black.
The other thing Prince was that I’m not is obscenely talented musically. And it’s that talent—writing, performing, producing—that really hooked me. And it’s what this book is about.
The August 1988 Iron Horse show from The Hague finally sent me down the rabbit hole. The concept of an aftershow was unbelievable. Not only did Prince play a whole show after another show, but it was totally different and included unreleased songs! A band like U2 would play a handful of rarities during a yearlong tour, and Prince outdid them in one night. It was mind blowing. And that’s without mentioning the guitar on “Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic,” still one of best things ever committed to tape. The whole thing was genius.
And that’s also what this book is about—genius or, at least, amazing artistic creativity.
In his 1996 book Creativity: The Work and Lives of 91 Eminent People, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identified ten “antithetical traits” possessed by truly creative people. We know that Prince was creative, but it’s shocking how integral some of these traits were to his persona. According to Csikszentmihalyi, creative people
1 have a great deal of energy that’s not ruled by the clock (often this energy is expressed sexually),
2 are both extroverted and introverted,
3 avoid strict gender categorizations, and
4 are both rebellious and conservative.
While this book is not a psychological analysis of Prince, at times I do speculate on his thought process: Traces of these “antithetical traits” can be seen on almost every page.
The book is also not a critical analysis, although it makes clear what work I most value. Instead, it’s a loose chronological history told through a look at Prince’s audio and video output, his live performances, and his work with band members, associated artists, and protégés.
My work is deeply indebted to all sources in the selected bibliography, but Prince Vault (http://www.princevault.com) make me wanna holler extra loud. The site’s fastidious research provides the online Prince community with an authoritative and reliable repository of Prince facts. It’s an invaluable resource.
I would also like to acknowledge the support and feedback given to me by Ric Dube, Duane Tudahl, Alex Hahn, and many other correspondents over the years and editor Bernadette Malavarca.
The following sources have been kind enough to share their images for the book: Femke Niehof (unused-prince-tickets.com), Jeff Munson, Stéphane “Zed” Counil, Bob Poppo, and Ric Dube.
I’d also like to thank my alternative recording connections over the years, especially “My friend Dave” and Ron at Inner Light, the merchants who showed up at the University of New Hampshire’s MUB every few months with cassettes, the unusually masculine telephone presence “Karen,” and Dr. K.
Finally, I thank my family, Susan, Eloise, and Orson, for allowing me to mentally disappear for months of research and writing. I do it for you and couldn’t do it without you.
1
Beginning Endlessly 7 Heck-a-Slammin’ Ideas about Prince
Prince claimed that digital technology “can’t be good for you” because it packed your head with numbers. But his head often seemed packed with numbers, from the apocalypse of “1999” to “the numbers” for his latest release to that “kickdrum pound on the 2 and 4.” But it’s folly to make those numbers mean too much. Musicology? Sure. Numerology? Not so much.
But one number seemed more important: 7. Prince was brought up a Seventh-day Adventist. He wrote the Time’s “777-9311”—Dez Dickerson’s phone number, which means he probably had the 777 telephone exchange as a kid. There are the songs “7” and “77 Beverly Park,” the latter also his Beverly Hills address. And there are website fees: $77/year, $7.77/month, $1.77/video download. And he was born on the 7th. Prince missed 7/7/7 as Planet Earth’s release date by a week but performed a special Minneapolis concert that day.
Does it mean anything more than he liked the number 7? Probably not. But with this septenary tendency in mind, here are 7 thoughts about Prince that provide context for the tale that follows.
And once we have “The Truth,” we can “all trade bank accounts and move to Neptune.” Agreed?
1. O(+>
Even if Prince’s music fades from memory, he’ll be remembered for changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol. That a 2017 sports report calls the Buffalo Bills’s football stadium the Stadium Formerly Known as Ralph Wilson points in this direction.
Pseudonym use in the entertainment industry is nothing outrageous or new. Everyone knows John Wayne. Few know Marion Morrison. Greta Gustafsson? Nope. Greta Garbo? Yup. But Prince’s June 1993 name change was different for three reasons.
Before graphic designer Mitch Monson created the fused male/female icon that Prince adopted as his name in 1993, a simpler icon was frequently used, as on this CD single from summer 1990. (Author’s collection)
First, Prince was his real name that he swapped after he was a star. This distinguishes him from artists who adopted a stage name before fame, such as Ringo Starr and David Bowie. It also separates him from those who swapped one stage name for another post-fame, such as Steven Georgiou, who hit as Cat Stevens and then changed his name to Yusuf Islam.
Second, he made the switch for political reasons. This puts him in some rarified air, with Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, both of who changed their names for political and religious reasons
How is Prince’s move political? It was a form of protest.
Prince changed his name because he wanted to benefit monetarily from his labor. He wanted to own his writing and music rather than allowing the benefits to flow to the record company, the capitalists who controlled the means of production. He professed that if he were no longer Prince, then he wouldn’t have to abide by Prince’s contract terms.
Does this method make Prince a Marxist? No. He was probably a libertarian, although actress/pal Rosario Dawson thought Prince’s spirit was going to help elect Bernie Sanders president in 2016.
Does it make him crazy, as some would suggest? Again, no, although he wanted to go there. On the surface, the name change seems bizarre, and it’s unlikely the reasoning would have withstood a legal challenge. But his label, Warner Bros., didn’t challenge, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort in the court of law or public opinion. Prince’s move was more shrewd than crazy.
Finally,