I’m coming at this completely biased, because Prince has had such a large impact on my life. I’ve written about him on my tumblr before, and not to rehash what I’ve already gushed about, I have an anecdote to share:
A few years ago, near the anniversary of Prince’s death, my sister and her husband went to visit Paisley Park. This was around Easter weekend, and while I was at my ex’s parents house for lunch, I told them my family wasn’t celebrating that year because my sister was out of town. My ex’s father couldn’t understand why anybody would want to visit Prince’s compound. I tried to explain it’s like Prince’s Graceland, and he went on a mini rant about how Prince was unappealing, that he wasn’t good at playing the guitar or singing, and that it was a total fluke he was popular.
Keep in mind, I have never been close to any of my exes families – I am friendly and do about as much as I can to seem completely inoffensive because it makes things a lot easier for everyone involved. As much as I wanted to just sit there and eat my ham in silence, I um… did not keep my cool. I basically told him he was entitled to his opinion, but he was colossally wrong. I grew up with Prince. He may be the most talented pop musician that has ever lived. And if he was going to disparage him, it wasn’t going to change my mind about how I felt about him.
Apparently this made an impression on my ex’s stepmom, because next time she saw him, she sent him home with a magazine with Prince on the cover for me as an apology. I’m fairly certain this will be the only thing his family will remember about me.
That being said, I acknowledge Purple Rain is a mixed bag. I read that Prince wouldn’t sign a new contract with his manager until he got him a movie deal. This was fairly early on in his career, and it was not easy finding a director who wanted to cast Prince as the lead, but Albert Magnoli was like, fuck it, this is going to be great. Albert reviewed Prince’s movie ideas and wrote the script based off of Prince’s life. And man, it is a purple motorcycle ride of a lifetime.
The Kid (Prince), and his band, The Revolution, are a headlining act at one of the hottest nightclubs in Minneapolis. Due to tensions in the band (read: The Kid doesn’t want creative input from anybody but himself), they are dwindling in popularity, pushing the club owner to threaten to replace them. Morris Day, the other headlining act, sees this as an opportunity to push out The Kid and cement his own road to stardom. Morris convinces The Kid’s girlfriend, Apollonia, an aspiring musician herself, to join a girl group he is producing, with the intention to replace the Revolution with it. When The Kid finds out, he physically lashes out at her, causing her to leave him. After his own abusive father attempts suicide, The Kid realizes his own mental health issues are causing him to sabotage the things that are important in his life. He uses this pain, his father’s piano compositions, and Wendy and Lisa’s beat, to pen THE MOST prolific song ever written, “Purple Rain”. When he performs it at the nightclub at the end of the movie, I start sobbing, The Revolution forgives him, the audience is brought to tears, Apollonia comes back to him, Morris Day and the club owner realize The Kid’s talent, and they all live happily ever after. Also, we were gifted with the Bathing in the Waters of Lake Minnetonka meme.
Certain aspects of the movie do not age well. This is 1984, though, so it’s hard to get pissed off at Morris Day throwing a girl in a dumpster. The comedy bits are so fucking bad. The acting is abysmal, but in a way that makes it delicious and not cringy. Even when Prince is corny as hell, he is iconic.
The costumes are :chefs kiss:. All the women are basically parading around in lingerie. Marie France took Prince’s style and upped it to 11. She said she was the first to put him in lace, and the world is better for it. My goal in life is to own a version of his purple studded jacket.
If the story isn’t enough to pull you in, the songs should be. Watching Prince perform is mesmerizing. It’s worth more than the price of admission. He’s athletic, charismatic as fucking hell, and all the songs written for this movie are on another level. The cultural impact of “When Doves Cry” or “Purple Rain” cannot be quantified.
Turns out, my sexuality is choreographed rock bands.
And let’s not forget Morris Day and the Motherfucking Time. Songs written by God himself and handed down to the best band in the world. You NEVER say an unkind word about The Time.
Bruno Mars could never.
I really cannot understate how amazingly fantastic this movie is. It is 2 hours of gloriously bad dialogue and peak 80′s wardrobe, interspersed with musical genius. If I had to recommend a movie on this list to drunkenly watch with your friends, this is it.
Speaking of the list… I just want to mention there are 6 Muppet movies on it, 5 of which I need Disney+ to watch. I may need to binge those all at once, so I’ll see you guys in a few weeks… #thoughtsandprayers
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