2016 has been a very sad year for music fans. Not only did we lose David Bowie back in January, but now we’ve lost Prince at the age of 57. TMZ is reporting that Prince was found dead at his Paisley Park compound in Minnesota on Thursday morning. The iconic musician had an emergency medical procedure last week and he cancelled his most recent performance due to health concerns. No one, however, suspected that his health problems were anywhere close to this serious.
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Prince might have been the single most talented pop musician of his generation. On his early albums he played all his own instruments and his instincts as as songwriter were pretty much unmatched. Prince wrote music that appealed to everyone at one time or another. For instance, most old-school soul fans can’t help but love tracks like “Adore,” funk fans grooved to classics like “Kiss,” while rock fans admired his guitar heroics on “Purple Rain.”
I had originally been planning to do a tribute of YouTube videos like I did with David Bowie back in January, but I’d forgotten how amazingly anal Prince was about posting his music on the Internet. In fact, it’s hard to even find live performance videos. Here is a live performance of “Purple Rain,” however:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8BMm6Jn6oU
Here’s a full performance of a 1988 show for his Lovesexy tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etMqfDsFIKw
If you’re looking to get into Prince, the best songs to start with are the aforementioned “Purple Rain” and “Kiss,” along with hits like “Raspberry Beret,” “When Doves Cry,”and “1999.” If you really want to get into the deep cuts, though, you should listen to the full double album Sign O’ The Times, which features some great underrated gems like “Starfish and Coffee” and “Housequake.”
RIP, His Purpleness. You were truly one of a kind and you will be missed.
