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A Celebration of Life - Prince 1958-2016 · The K.B. Radio Network

0:07
Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Movie
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Goodness where we examine life through cinema here on the KB Radio Network.
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I am your host Kevin Reed and today ladies and gentlemen we're going to go back to 10 years ago.
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April 21st 2016 to be exact.
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The day we lost a legend.
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This is the 10 year anniversary.
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of the passing of in my opinion the greatest musical artist of all time prince rogers nelson or simply prince or the artist formerly known as prince or camille
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with whoever you want to address him by but the world universally know him as prince who was born june the 7th 1958
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and passed away on april the 21st of 2016 today we're going to go over the life career accolades and his eventual passing of the late great prince and we're
1:24
going to review his 1984 classic purple rain now it's odd that that we're doing this show
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uh we're doing this 10 year anniversary of the passing of prince oddly the same week that uh hollywood has decided to drop the movie for michael jackson the biopic that
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stars uh his nephew and all that good stuff the same week i i don't know if it's a coincidence you know because if you look back to the
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80s
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I think back,
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you know,
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my era.
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You think back to the 80s,
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it was Prince and Michael.
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It was a friendly competition.
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It wasn't like rap beef.
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It wasn't Kendrick and Drake.
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It's not that type of beef that was going on,
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but it was like a friendly competition,
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maybe in the fans'
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minds,
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more than it was in Michael Jackson and Prince's mind.
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But it was either you were a Prince fan.
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or a Michael fan at least it was around the circles that were traveled by me around that era and of course you know Michael was more mainstream Michael had uh
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I guess appealed to a larger audience you know he was more global starting out with the Jackson 5 and whatnot and branching out on his own by that time in the 70s into the
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80s so it he already had a
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a rabid fan base as it was and he appealed to everybody and in the same thing with prince but i think prince was more contemporary prince was more urban prince prince was was
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for us for the black folks you know and it wasn't intentional it wasn't like he was running around here with the uh uh black power symbol on his on his chest or anything like that but
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It just his music appealed more to urban communities,
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more to the black culture than Michael Jackson,
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which did also appeal to the black culture.
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But it was accepted by other communities as well,
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you know,
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worldwide.
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So it was just more of,
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I guess,
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convenience.
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I don't know.
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I don't know how it all worked.
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But
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I will say that my favorite.
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was always Prince.
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Always loved Prince.
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And just Prince,
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everything Prince touched turned purple to me.
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Number one,
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purple is my favorite color.
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Purple is my mother's favorite color.
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And so purple was always present in my life,
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my entire life.
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But I just love purple.
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And plus purple is the color of royalty.
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And so I always felt like purple had a connection with me.
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Then we get Purple Rain.
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And not just the movie,
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but the soundtrack,
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which is a banger.
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And MTV around this time was dominating the culture.
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And you get these music videos.
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You get the Kiss video.
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You get the
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When Doves Cry video.
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You get all of these,
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along with Purple Rain and the theaters.
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And you get all...
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Prince just appealed.
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to me more than you watch his performances and it was like the greatest thing on guys green earth to watch him perform on stage not just vocally but the fact that he played the guitar he played the piano he played the he played every instrument there was the
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dude was just phenomenal that's the ups he had with me over michael michael was more of a showman you know mike can sing
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Mike can obviously dance.
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If they had a dance-off,
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it's not a contest.
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Yes,
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Michael Jackson wins that.
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But the fact that
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Mike just had a team behind him.
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He had Quincy Jones and all these other great producers behind him.
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Prince did it all.
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He produced.
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He wrote.
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He sung.
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He performed the songs.
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He was.
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He was a one-man wrecking crew.
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He was the,
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I don't want to say reincarnation of James Brown,
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because James Brown was still alive and kicking around this time.
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But he was the hardest working man in show business,
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in my humble opinion.
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And so,
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plus,
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I love the music.
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It wasn't just that he was doing all the work,
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but all the work that he was doing was phenomenal.
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And you can't help but.
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love and respect an individual like that and so let's go over the early life of prince rogers nelson who was born in minnesota on june the 7th 1958 to parents who were believe it or not musical
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artists themselves his mother was a jazz singer and his father was a songwriter and penis and
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All four of Prince's grandparents,
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and this always warmed my heart.
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When I found this out,
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I think I found this out around his death.
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It was either right before he passed away or right after.
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But all four of his grandparents are from Louisiana,
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from down here in the boot.
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And
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I guess that's why I had a connection to them.
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But on a little side note there.
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On a little side note,
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we talked about Michael Jackson earlier.
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There was a connection there with Michael Jackson in my family as well.
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I don't know if I mentioned this on the show before.
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I don't think people care.
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But I don't even think people believe me because I said this.
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Well,
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at least I've been saying this since I was in elementary school and everybody called me a liar.
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And to this day.
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They still call me a liar,
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and you're probably going to call me a liar,
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too,
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after I say it.
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But this is the God honest truth.
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Michael Jackson,
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the Jacksons as a whole,
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are relatives of mine.
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I am connected.
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Now,
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it's down the line.
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It's probably deeply diluted by this point by how far down the line we're related.
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But on my mother's side,
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the Bakers.
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are related to the Jacksons.
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They're like cousins.
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And my mother's family is from Gary,
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Indiana,
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where the Jacksons are from.
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And we're cousins,
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the Bakers and the
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Jacksons. And so my mother told me this when I was super young,
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when I was a kid,
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of course,
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because I went to school and bragged about it.
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And I was called a liar.
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And I remember going home and told my mom that.
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And she was like,
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oh,
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don't worry about them.
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It's the truth.
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And she still says that.
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Don't worry about them.
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It's the truth.
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You show my,
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because I mean,
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everybody called me a liar.
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I don't know why it was hard to believe that I'm related to Michael Jackson.
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It wasn't like I said we go to cookouts together and hang out.
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I just said we're related down the line.
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You know,
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if we go down the lineage of all our families,
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We're probably connected more.
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to people famous people historical people didn't we know we just got to do the research but yeah it's hard it was hard for them to believe that i i just don't get it and it's probably hard for you to believe but it's all good but anyway let's get back to the business
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at hand here we're talking about prince here prince he was named after his father's most popular stage name prince rogers which was used
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while performing with his wife in a jazz group called Prince Roger's
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Trio. But in 1991,
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Prince's father told
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A Current Affair,
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that TV show that Tablo...
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boy tv show that used to come on probably still do i don't know uh but uh he named his son prince because he wanted prince to do whatever he wanted to do when he got older uh that was pretty cool because prince did do whatever
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he wanted to do he lived up to that moniker uh uh triple fold uh prince was not fond of his name of course when he was a child i get it
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because i didn't like my name when growing up and for reasons but i'll go over that on another show but i didn't i couldn't stand my name but prince didn't like his name so he he preferred to be called skipper instead he rather people call him skipper rather
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than prince uh prince said he was born epileptic and had seizures when he was young and you see him gyrate
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well at least we used to see him gyrating on stage he used to look like he had seizures the way he used to move around stage man but when he was younger he legitimately had seizures and um he said that one
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day he walked in and told his mom that he's not going to be sick no more and she said why and prince told her because an angel told me and
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Hey,
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from the mouth of babes,
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you know,
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it's at the age of seven years old.
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Yes.
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Seven years old.
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Prince wrote his first song entitled Funk Machine on his father's piano.
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Seven.
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What were you doing?
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I don't know what you was doing at seven.
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At seven years old,
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Kevin Reed was playing with G.I.
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Joe's and He-Man figurines.
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That was out.
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That was.
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That was.
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That was the extent of my imagination.
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But Prince,
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at seven years old,
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he was writing music.
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The man is phenomenal,
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or was phenomenal,
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God rest him.
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When he was ten years old,
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his parents got a divorce.
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His mother remarried a gentleman by the name of Hayward Baker.
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Baker,
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maybe I'm linked to them,
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too.
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But anywho,
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from whom she had a son named Owen.
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Prince.
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He had,
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let's just say,
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a difficult relationship with his stepbrother or half-brother or however people say it.
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Because we don't do that in my house.
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You know,
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when I was growing up,
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we didn't have half-brothers,
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stepbrothers.
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We had brothers and sisters.
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That didn't play in the Reed house when I was growing up.
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And so,
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yeah,
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he...
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He didn't have the best of relationships with his brother.
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So this caused him to repeatedly switch homes,
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you know,
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between his mother and his father.
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Sometimes even with his stepfather,
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you know,
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when they eventually broke up,
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too.
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And so he was bouncing around and around.
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His stepfather told
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Prince to see James Brown in concert.
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Go see him in concert.
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And so Prince credited his stepfather.
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with improving his family's finance.
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After a brief period of living with his father,
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who brought him his first guitar,
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Prince moved into the basement of his neighbor's house after his father threw him out.
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He befriended his neighbor's son,
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Andre,
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who would later work with Prince.
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Prince briefly attended
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Bryant Junior High.
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After which he moved to Central High School where he played football,
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basketball,
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and baseball.
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And so there's some validity to the Charlie Murphy story about Prince playing basketball.
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He actually was a beast in basketball,
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believe it or not.
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He played at Central's Junior Velociity basketball team and continued to recreationally play basketball as an adult.
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adult uh he he was trained in classical ballet at the minnesota dance theater through the urban arts program and minneapolis public schools prince became an advocate for dancers and used his wealth to save a failing um a
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ballet school in chicago during the
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1990s moving on to prince's musical career or career as a whole.
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In 1977,
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Prince signed a recording contract with Warner Brothers Records.
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Now,
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the contract gave him creative control,
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complete creative control for three albums,
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and retained his publishing rights.
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And now,
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this deal seems sweet,
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but this deal will play...
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major dividends uh going forward in his career uh which we were going to go over in a few minutes but uh it all started in 1977 when he signed with warner brothers records and
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prince he basically put out an album every single year believe it or not up up to his passing i think later on,
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you know,
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or late in his life.
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is when he kind of
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took hiatus between albums but early on it was every year beginning in 1978 with the album for you in 1979 the self-titled prince in 1980 dirty mind 1981 controversy in 1982 1999 and 1984 the iconic,
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the legendary soundtrack to the film Purple Rain.
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Purple Rain.
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In 1985,
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Around the World in a Date.
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In 1986,
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Parade.
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In 1987,
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Sign All the Times.
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1988,
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Sexy,
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well,
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Love Sexy.
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In 1989,
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he had a complimentary soundtrack to Batman.
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It was the Batman soundtrack.
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In
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1990, Graffiti Bridge.
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In 91,
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Diamonds and...
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pearls in 92 love symbol album in 1994 come in 1994 as well the black album in 1995 the gold experience in 1986 chaos and disorder in 1996 as well emancipation
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in
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1998 crystal ball Also in 98 The Truth In 1999
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the vault old friends for sale in 2001 the rainbow children in 2002 one night alone in 2003 expectation in 2003 n-e-w-s or news uh in 19 uh not 19 but in 2004 musicology in
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2004 the chocolate invasion also into yeah he put out
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three in 2004 uh the slaughterhouse in 2006 31
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21 in 2007 planet earth in 2009 lolis uh lotus flower also in 2009 you had mpl sound and 2010
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2010 uh in 2014 Art Official Age and in 2015 he released
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Hit and Run Phase 1 and
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Hit and Run
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Phase 2 before his passing in 2016.
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But they did release an album in 2021,
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Welcome to America,
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that contains unreleased tracks from
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Prince himself.
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It was going to be released.
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He was working on it before his passing.
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But,
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of course,
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he didn't get to officially finish it.
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when it comes to the world of films everybody knows about the 1984 classic purple rain which he stars as the kid in that movie which was a semi-biographical
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take on his life but he starred in four other films which he also directed um along with the 1984 film purple rain he also starred in direct
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under the cherry moon in 1986 in 1987 a sign of the times in 1990 graffiti bridge was what which was a spiritual sequel to purple rain believe it or not because
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he's playing the same character well let's be honest he played the same character in everything and prince wasn't an actor that That wasn't his strong suit,
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but he played.
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the kid as well in graffiti bridge and in 1984 three chains of gold and that was his final film appearance as well he also directed that as well uh but on television he
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popped up on the muffet show i think in 1997 and on the new girl that uh sitcom that was on fox uh he played himself on that uh
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iconic episode i must say i wasn't a new girl fan my daughter loved that show and she showed me that episode i thought it was hilarious i thought prince was hilarious in it uh but that was in uh 2014 but uh going back to his uh recording career going all the way back to his first album to be exact for you in 1978 and on that album
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Prince performed
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Wrote,
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arranged,
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composed,
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produced,
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all...
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the music for that album with the exception of one it was one song on that album that he didn't produce and perform all the instruments which was 27
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27 instruments as he performed on that album but the one song that he didn't um uh didn't write on the album uh well technically he co-wrote it but he didn't he didn't uh do it all himself and that was soft and wet
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That was the one song on that album,
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and I only mention that for those of you who probably have trivia night coming up.
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And that song,
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Soft and Wet,
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reached number 12 on the Hot Soul Singles charts and number 92 on the Billboard Top 100.
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The song,
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Just As Long As We're Together,
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it reached 91 on the Hot Soul Singles charts as well.
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And so...
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Prince,
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he came out the gate swinging and connecting.
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His second album entitled Prince,
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it reached number three on the Billboard top
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R&B and black albums,
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the charts,
21:51
and 22 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum.
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It contained two hits off of that album,
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Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad and
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I Wanna Be Your Lover,
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which I still rock.
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to this day the latter of which sold more than 1 million copies and it reached number 11 on the billboard hot 100 and stayed at number one for two weeks on the hot soul singles chart in 1981 prince formed a side project band called the time the
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band released four albums between 1981 and 1990
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with Prince writing and performing most of the instruments and background vocals for the band,
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sometimes being credited under the synonym
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Jamie Starr or the Starr Company,
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with lead vocals by
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Morris Day,
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baby.
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In late 1982,
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Prince released a double album,
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1999,
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which sold more than not one,
22:59
not two,
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not three,
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but four million copies.
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the title track was a protest against nuclear war and nuclear uh profiteering uh and it became prince first top 10 hit in countries outside the united states a
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little later prince released a single a little red corvette and also the music video which was one of the first two videos by black artists along with michael jackson's billy jean
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to be played in heavy rotation on MTV,
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which was early on in MTV's infancy,
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perceived to be against black music until CBS president at the time threatened to pull all CBS videos.
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Prince and Michael Jackson had a competitive rivalry,
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as I mentioned early on in the show,
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which lasted for many years.
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The song
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Delirious, also placed on the top
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Top 10 of the Billboard
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Hot 100 charts.
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International Lover earned Prince the first Grammy
24:09
Award nomination at the
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23rd Annual Grammy Awards.
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Now,
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with the release of 1999,
24:17
the backing band for Prince would be referred to as The Revolution.
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And the band's name was printed in reverse on the album cover of 1999 inside of the leather eye.
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and the word Prince.
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The members of the revolution,
24:36
you had Lisa Coleman and Dr.
24:38
Funk,
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or Dr.
24:40
Fink.
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They were on the keyboard.
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Bobby Z,
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he was on the drums.
24:47
Brown Mark was on bass.
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Daz Dickerson was on guitar.
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Jill
24:54
Jones was the backup singer as well,
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rounded out the band.
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In 19...
25:01
Early in the
25:02
1980s, according to Prince former manager Bob
25:06
Cavalio, he requested,
25:11
or should I say required,
25:13
his management to attain a deal for him to star in a major motion picture.
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Even though his exposure at that point was very limited.
25:23
At that point,
25:25
he wasn't a megastar.
25:26
He wasn't Prince.
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He had a couple of hits.
25:31
on the pop charts and R&B charts,
25:33
but nothing,
25:34
nothing to warrant a movie deal,
25:37
you know,
25:38
at that point.
25:39
And so in 1984,
25:42
this resulted in the hit film.
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Purple Rain,
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in which Prince starred and was loosely autobiographical.
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And
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Prince released the album Purple Rain at the same time,
25:56
which served as the film's soundtrack.
26:00
Needless to say,
26:01
the movie was a smash.
26:04
Prince became the first singer to simultaneously have a number one film at the box office,
26:13
a number one album.
26:14
on the charts as well as a number one single in the united states we're talking at the same time and for for once again the trivia night people which single was
26:30
the number one single off of that album now let's keep in mind you had the the title track purple rain uh uh beautiful ones you had when dubs cry
26:44
You had
26:46
Let's Go Crazy.
26:47
The album was phenomenal.
26:50
Phenomenal album.
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Which one of those tracks you think was the best-selling single off of that album?
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If you guessed
26:58
When Doves Cry,
27:00
you are correct.
27:01
That was the best-selling single off of that album.
27:05
The album,
27:07
it was recorded with his band,
27:09
The Revolution,
27:09
of course.
27:11
And it spent six.
27:13
Six consecutive months atop the United States Billboard Top
27:20
200 charts and won the Academy Award for Best Original
27:27
Song.
27:28
After the disbandment of
27:31
The Revolution,
27:32
Prince released his first independent double LP album in 1987,
27:38
Sign of the Times,
27:40
widely considered his greatest work.
27:43
and one of the greatest records in music.
27:47
I think a lot of people sleep on Sign of the Times.
27:51
I don't hear a lot of folks talk about that.
27:53
A lot of people listen to it,
27:55
but it is a masterpiece of sorts.
27:58
I mean,
27:58
it is.
28:00
Listen to that album.
28:02
If you go back,
28:03
listen to that album.
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Bruh,
28:05
Prince was in his bag for Sign of the Times.
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Movie,
28:09
not so much.
28:10
But the album?
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Mwah.
28:13
chef's kiss um in 1983 or 1993 in the midst of a contract dispute with warner brothers prince changed his stage name to a symbol he changed it to the symbol of i don't know what it is i
28:32
guess we'll never know or or certain few may know but the symbol um a lot of people a lot of his fans and
28:41
A lot of people just assumed,
28:42
I guess,
28:43
that it was a symbol of love.
28:45
It was called the love symbol.
28:47
And Prince was often referred to as the artist formerly known as Prince,
28:52
or simply the artist.
28:55
After signing a contract with Arista Records in 1998,
28:59
Prince reverted back to his original name in 2000 and continued releasing albums,
29:05
including the double
29:07
Grammy award-winning Musicology in 19.
29:11
or in 2004 excuse me he released
29:14
39 albums during his life while still having a vast array of unreleased material that leads us to april 21st 2016 at the age of 57 years old prince
29:32
died at his prasley park home and recording studio in minnesota after accidentally overdosing on
29:40
counterfeit
29:41
hydrocodone pills uh which was laced with fentanyl it was clearly an accident prince wasn't a pill well i would say he's not he wasn't a drug abuser that that wasn't his thing uh
29:56
this was more of a self-medicating thing that got out of hand and uh unfortunately uh we are without this legend because of that
30:09
Prince
30:10
sold more than 100 million records worldwide,
30:14
making him one of the best-selling music artists.
30:18
His awards include
30:20
Grammy President's Merit Award,
30:23
the American Music Awards for Achievement and of Merit,
30:27
the Billboard Icon Award,
30:29
an Academy Award,
30:30
a
30:31
Golden Globe Award.
30:33
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
30:38
The Rhythm and Blues Music...
30:40
hall of fame in 2016 the songwriters hall of fame in 2024 and twice into the black music and entertainment walk of fame in 2022 prince will be sorely missed his legacy lives
30:58
on through his music through his art through those who uh he has influenced you know uh i can't i remember a quote
31:10
uh eric clapton and he was doing an interview and the the uh interviewer asked eric clapton he was like man how does it how does it feel to be the greatest guitarist of all time and
31:25
eric clapton without breaking without thought without without without uh uh a lick of um sarcasm in his voice.
31:37
He told the interviewer
31:40
I don't know.
31:41
You have to ask Prince that.
31:43
And that was the end of the interview.
31:47
Prince would shred a guitar.
31:50
I'm telling y'all,
31:51
man,
31:51
Prince was the greatest artist ever in my lifetime.
31:56
I can't think of an artist that was so impactful,
32:00
that did so much.
32:02
You know,
32:03
look,
32:03
I respect all artists,
32:06
even music I don't listen to,
32:07
I don't like.
32:08
I respect them because that is not easy.
32:12
It's not easy to record a song,
32:15
sing a song,
32:16
to tour,
32:17
to,
32:18
I mean,
32:19
if you perform instruments,
32:20
it's hard to do that.
32:21
It's hard to write.
32:23
You know,
32:24
it's hard to do all of this stuff.
32:26
Whether it connects or not,
32:27
that's,
32:28
you know,
32:29
that's subjective.
32:30
That's up to the listener.
32:32
But it is hard.
32:33
And so I respect them all.
32:36
I got a greater level of respect for Prince because he did it all.
32:42
He did it all and did it all relatively with ease.
32:47
And I'm saying that on the outside looking in.
32:50
He just made it look easy.
32:51
He made it look easy on the stage and when you're listening to it.
32:58
My greatest memory of Prince was the Super Bowl halftime show in...
33:04
2007 I think it was and it was in Miami and that was one of the best halftime shows if not the best halftime show I've ever seen
33:18
I've never seen a halftime show like that look
33:25
I know as of late there's been the Thank you.
33:29
talk of all the super bowls they don't even they care about the game but everybody's talking about the halftime shows whether it's bad bunny kendrick lamar or beyonce it's all about oh who's going to perform and all this other foolishness you know but there was a time when
33:46
we didn't have all that there was a time when especially when it came to black artists after the janet jackson nipple gate debacle.
33:56
The dream was a...
33:57
It was a long,
33:59
dry period for black artists in the halftime show.
34:04
Michael Jackson did the halftime show.
34:05
I can't remember what year it was.
34:07
It was pretty good.
34:09
It was pretty,
34:10
pretty good.
34:11
I mean,
34:11
it's Michael Jackson.
34:12
He's going to work the stage.
34:14
But I remember them announcing Prince for the halftime show.
34:19
And the first thing ran across my mind.
34:21
Now,
34:22
mind you,
34:23
this is coming from one of the biggest Prince fans of all time.
34:27
I remember.
34:29
saying why because football halftime super bowl halftime show and prince did not come together to me it just did not mish i i didn't see
34:44
the vision i did not i didn't see how uh want to be your lover is going to give me hype for the second half of this game i don't see where purple rain
34:58
It's going to get me hyped up for the third quarter kickoff.
35:01
I didn't see it until
35:04
I saw it.
35:07
This man,
35:10
for 12 minutes,
35:12
12 minutes,
35:14
put on the greatest show I ever saw in my life.
35:16
He did a cover of We Will Rock You by Queen during that performance,
35:22
which was just bananas.
35:24
That's how he started.
35:25
He started off with that.
35:27
I'm like,
35:27
okay,
35:28
my worries are over.
35:29
And so at that point,
35:31
we were all in.
35:33
There was threats of rain throughout the evening at the Super Bowl.
35:38
In the first half,
35:39
the rain,
35:40
it kind of drizzled or whatever,
35:41
but it stopped.
35:43
And so at halftime,
35:45
they were still worried about the rain.
35:46
Now,
35:46
mind you,
35:47
this is an open stadium in Miami.
35:51
In the middle of
35:52
Prince's performance,
35:54
he just started.
35:56
at the well not in the middle it was at the end he got through the whole performance and it was great the whole performance and at the very last song he started playing purple rain and i kid you not you
36:12
can't make this up hollywood i don't care what special effects ai generated what is nothing you could have did to top this moment and this was purely purely real he started It's...
36:26
performing purple rain and it started to rain and he just kept performing it was oh my i'm getting chills thinking about it now if you didn't watch that halftime show i'm sure it's on youtube somewhere i'm sure it's somewhere you can find it it
36:46
it will run chills up your spine and he closed the performance with that and it started raining I mean...
36:54
It was like God was looking down and said,
36:56
here you go.
36:57
Let me just sprinkle a little.
37:00
Let me just break a little something,
37:01
something to end the night.
37:04
After that,
37:04
I can't even remember who won a Super Bowl.
37:06
Was it?
37:09
I think that was the was that the Colts?
37:12
Yeah,
37:12
that was the Colts and the Bears and the Colts won.
37:15
And I remember that because two years later and the Colts went back to the Super Bowl again.
37:22
And in Miami,
37:23
that same stadium,
37:24
and played the Saints in the Saints 1.
37:26
Hey,
37:26
hey,
37:26
hey.
37:27
And so I remember that much.
37:28
But,
37:29
yeah,
37:30
that was an amazing moment.
37:32
And it put Prince back in the pop culture zeitgeist,
37:36
you know,
37:37
because he was kind of,
37:38
I'm not going to say fading because he's Prince,
37:41
but nobody was really talking about Prince like that.
37:44
But after that,
37:46
everybody was back on the Prince bandwagon when it came.
37:51
to uh uh uh how great of an artist that he is uh before before we move on to our movie review let me mention let me mention this batman situation let me because it's funny it's a funny thing now uh
38:09
on paper this should be great for kevin reed kevin reed's favorite comic book character of all time batman kevin reed's favorite music artist of all time
38:21
Prince.
38:21
You put the two together,
38:22
it should be perfection,
38:24
right?
38:24
Well,
38:24
it wasn't.
38:27
It wasn't.
38:28
I did like a couple of tracks off of that album,
38:32
but it didn't fit the Batman to me.
38:36
It didn't fit the vibe.
38:40
And there's background reasons for that.
38:44
This was a Warner Brothers thing.
38:47
It had nothing to do with Prince.
38:48
Prince didn't lobby.
38:50
to uh do the soundtrack for batman tim burton who directed the batman he didn't lobby for prince to do the soundtrack for batman but he there went prince went on uh went into the studio he produced an entire nine track album which
39:10
was released in 1989 to go along with batman and it ended up peaking at number one on the Billboard 200.
39:20
selling 4.3 million copies.
39:23
The single,
39:24
Batdance,
39:25
which is horrible,
39:27
it topped.
39:29
billboards hot 100 and r&b charts bad dance maybe horrible isn't the right word it's not a bad song but it's like i said it just doesn't fit the vibe of that movie it if the
39:44
the movie was gloom it was dark it was campy uh bad dance felt like it felt like it should be in a marvel movie you know a Happy-go-lucky.
39:59
a superhero movie it just didn't match um a party man another song i like party man party man fit the vibe of joker and i think that's what the the uh uh inspiration
40:15
for that song was but it topped at number 18 on the hot 100 and number five on the r&b charts while the ballot scandalous scandalous on the
40:27
batman soundtrack it was a love ballad and it was the best song off of that album it just doesn't fit the album but it is an amazing song it um it went up to number five on the r&b charts prince had
40:43
to sign away all publishing rights to the songs on the album to warner brothers as part of the deal to do the soundtrack and so that's where it kind of started to nosedive with warner brothers
40:57
from that point on so let's get into our review shall we let's get into the 1984 musical drama starring prince purple rain this was his feature film debut the film was directed by albert magnoli
41:18
and it also stars apollonia morris day and clarence williams the third and in the film
41:27
Prince plays the kid,
41:28
a rising musician grappling with his turbulent personal life as he competes with local musician
41:38
Morris Day.
41:40
Well,
41:41
Morris in the movie,
41:42
but it was Morris Day.
41:43
Anywho,
41:45
this movie,
41:46
it began development in 1982,
41:49
and it came from the desire of Prince.
41:52
This was his baby.
41:55
He basically wrote.
41:56
the story and uh they hired screenwriters to fill in the gaps between those stories to extend it to a full-length feature film uh magnanoli he was hired as director and changed several elements of the screenplay however casting for purple
42:14
rain was extensive and studio executives attempted to replace Prince himself in the movie.
42:22
They were they were
42:24
uh they were not happy with the way things were going and i'll you know that just goes to show you how arrogant hollywood is now this was this man's idea he took the time trying to develop this get it off the ground they got writers they got a director they got a star and you're gonna move him off of it but
42:44
cool of course uh common sense prevailed and prince kept the gig uh principal photography began in October of 1980.
42:54
and lasted until December of that year and filming primarily took place in Minnesota.
43:00
They did face some delays and some scheduling alterations because of,
43:09
you know,
43:09
the feud.
43:11
There was an actual feud between Morris Day and Prince.
43:15
They really,
43:16
they could not be on set together.
43:18
And so they had to kind of film around that.
43:24
in order to get this film made uh the film was released theatrically on july the 27th of 1984 uh it grossed 70.3 million dollars worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics the
43:42
film went on to win best original song at the
43:47
57th annual academy awards and its song
43:51
when doves cried let's go crazy and purple rain went platinum in the united states purple rain in 2019 was preserved by the u.s national film registry by
44:06
the library of congress for its historical and cultural significance purple rain is one of those movies that when you sit down especially now.
44:19
Penis dough has been what 42 years since its release and you can sit back and acknowledge the flaws and there are many many
44:36
Many flaws in Purple Rain.
44:38
But you can't help but love this movie.
44:45
I've watched this film at least once a year ever since 1984.
44:53
So you could say that I've seen it over
44:57
40-something times.
44:58
This movie has some of the worst acting you could ever see in a...
45:05
film television show or web series this is so bad prince cannot act he can play any instrument god created he can sing any song he can dance around a stage he can keep you entertained but he cannot act
45:24
this this was so bad this was so bad uh that
45:31
At times you will get cringed,
45:32
and I felt this way in 1984.
45:34
Mind you,
45:35
I was five years old.
45:37
But you can't help but notice how bad the acting is.
45:42
And he's basically playing himself.
45:44
That's what makes it even more confusing.
45:47
You're playing yourself.
45:49
How is that hard?
45:50
But he was just trying.
45:51
But he was trying.
45:53
And that's why I appreciate it,
45:55
because he was actually trying to be so dramatic.
45:59
I think...
46:00
it's a meme now uh 40 40 years later it's a meme of him when he runs it when he goes in the house looking for his dad and he does that dramatic turn you know that the
46:16
turn that he it is it is it is the most unintentional funny moment of all films this was a drama and at the time that particular scene.
46:29
was a hard scene that was a scene that called for some heavy drama and you couldn't help but laugh at the way prince turned he just did it it was like a military style stiff turn
46:45
and he had to do it toward to the left you know he couldn't turn his body to the right it was it was the weirdest thing but uh what i will say some of his best acting moments well
46:57
The moments where he did act well was between him and Apollonia.
47:02
And the chemistry was great between those two because,
47:06
you know,
47:09
off the set,
47:10
yeah,
47:11
they were an item.
47:13
And so they had a level of chemistry that worked on stream.
47:19
And that was the moments where
47:21
Prince actually felt comfortable.
47:23
He looked comfortable.
47:25
in front of the camera outside of that and not um not when he's on stage when he's doing these other dramatic moments and whatnot and having to uh uh converse with other actors it
47:40
just didn't get there but outside of that with apollonia and dan i'm dancing yeah dancing but performing on stage.
47:49
He was awesome.
47:50
He was awesome.
47:52
Morris Day.
47:54
Morris Day stole the movie.
47:57
He was the star of this movie.
47:59
And to say that they were able to work through their differences.
48:06
But when you go back and watch it,
48:08
you don't see them together for a while.
48:10
They are not on screen a lot,
48:13
you know,
48:14
face to face.
48:15
Because they couldn't.
48:18
They really didn't like each other,
48:20
which is weird.
48:23
I never
48:23
I didn't know that until after uh
48:26
Prince had passed and uh Morris Day was doing an interview I think they had patched it up by the end of whatever of course but um were there was a beef day and Morris Day was talking about it but
48:43
the movie does have some real deep messaging within it you know uh dealing with trauma dealing with
48:50
childhood trauma and your parents and uh trying to achieve your goals and having a vision for yourself uh chasing your dreams and all this all that was there and i think the movie did a really really good job of of
49:06
flushing that out especially the trauma side of it all because in 1984 you didn't really get a lot of films like that you didn't get movies that addressed mental health and this film did
49:20
This film really attacked that,
49:22
how...
49:24
these traumatic events that went on throughout the kid's life uh affect him it affected his personal life it affected his professional life it it affected him in every walk of life in which that's
49:40
what it do you know that's what mental health does that's what trauma does and i give big ups to this movie for that now did i realize that in 1984 no i didn't
49:53
I didn't realize that until,
49:55
I'll say about five,
49:56
six years ago while I was watching it again.
49:59
And it just clicked with me,
50:02
really paying attention to this story.
50:04
And
50:07
I just grew a greater appreciation for the film.
50:10
Now,
50:11
did it address every single thing that it needed to in that category?
50:17
No.
50:18
But once again,
50:18
it was 1984.
50:20
The performances...
50:22
All the stage performances was amazing.
50:25
It was almost,
50:26
almost a concert movie.
50:29
It was almost that.
50:31
You got maybe four or five
50:33
Prince performances.
50:34
You got
50:35
Mars Day and the Time performing.
50:38
You have Apollonia 6 performing.
50:41
The Revolution themselves,
50:43
just by themselves performing.
50:46
It was a lot of performances,
50:48
but that's what they do.
50:50
These weren't actors.
50:51
there weren't too many actors in this movie aside from clarence williams iii um who else i think the mother the actress who played the uh uh the kid's mother i think she was an actress but
51:08
outside of that everybody else was they were performance artists they were they were art uh music artists and so you can't really judge them off of that
51:21
You know,
51:21
that's like trying to grade homework from a newborn baby for trying to do arithmetic.
51:30
You know,
51:31
oh,
51:31
you get an F.
51:32
You didn't know two plus two.
51:33
What would you expect?
51:35
You know,
51:35
it's a newborn baby.
51:37
And so I'm not going to grade them or make that affect the grade of the film because they didn't act.
51:44
They couldn't act.
51:45
They're not actors.
51:47
But in any event,
51:49
this is a...
51:50
classic despite the fact there's the bad acting everything else in this movie works you know like i said the performances the uh chemistry between prince and apollonia the the robbery is well flushed out between prince and and morris day actually
52:11
thinking back on it now it was more life imitating art or art imitating life or however you want to look at it um that was believable
52:20
And the way the music was used,
52:22
it was somewhat of a musical because
52:25
Prince couldn't act dialogue wise,
52:27
but he told the story through the music.
52:31
And,
52:32
you know,
52:33
when he got mad at Apollonia and then he went up there and performed Darling Nikki,
52:37
that was that was perfect because you knew where he was coming from at that moment.
52:45
when he performed Purple Rain at the end.
52:48
You knew...
52:50
where that was coming from what the emotion behind it it was set up perfectly with uh lisa and um who was the other one jill i think that uh uh no wendy uh lisa and wendy they wrote the uh uh purple
53:05
ring at least in terms of the movie um they wrote purple rain and tried to get him to perform it and he didn't want to perform it and he finally did it at the end after the uh uh
53:18
attempted suicide of his father he found the the paper you know it was a lot of emotion behind that scene that was actually a great scene i should have touched in on that a little more that was a great scene or with uh uh his father attempting suicide shoots himself in the head and the kid he's frustrated he he
53:38
tears up the basement and it was just full of emotion it was a really good scene.
53:45
Really,
53:45
really good scene by Prince.
53:47
He performed a
53:48
He performed the mess out of that.
53:50
I give him that.
53:51
That was great.
53:52
And then to perform
53:55
Purple Rain after that and get the reaction that he got from the crowd,
54:01
great.
54:02
Returning to the stage and performing two songs at the end.
54:07
you know uh uh what was it i would die for you and uh baby you i'm a star those would i'm telling you that that man had album i'm telling you after i finish here i'm gonna listen to it listen to it again it
54:23
was great uh that was a a heck of a way to end this film this movie purple rain which came out in 1984 yeah full of flaws cheesy in a lot of ways is pure
54:37
80s cheese but it still gets a letter grade of an eight i'd love purple rain purple rain as far as music musicians uh uh in kind of semi-biographical films autobiographical films i think this is one of the top ones i i really loved it because it took it took big swings man It wasn't a happy-go-lucky movie.
55:05
It wasn't that type,
55:07
oh,
55:07
I'm going to fight to the top,
55:08
and he signs a recording contract at the end of the film and all this other fool.
55:13
It was none of that.
55:14
This was real.
55:18
It really could be,
55:19
but it was real-ish,
55:21
and
55:22
I really do love Purple Rain.
55:26
Yeah,
55:27
man,
55:27
Prince.
55:27
Prince is the greatest,
55:31
or was the greatest.
55:32
No,
55:32
I was right the first time.
55:34
is because...
55:35
His legacy is still here.
55:36
His music is still here.
55:38
Purple Rain is still here for us to watch and listen to.
55:42
I mean,
55:43
the man left a legacy that
55:48
I don't know,
55:48
not too many artists can top.
55:51
Maybe Michael Jackson.
55:53
Maybe.
55:54
But that's,
55:57
I don't know.
55:57
I'm just throwing that out there.
55:59
I don't think,
55:59
I don't even think Mike can,
56:01
but I'm just trying to be nice to Michael Jackson.
56:04
But Prince was the greatest,
56:06
and he is sorely missed.
56:08
Ten years later,
56:09
it still doesn't feel right.
56:11
It still feels like there's a void missing there.
56:15
But
56:16
I will continue.
56:18
I will continue to my dying day to bump Prince ad nauseum.
56:24
I know people who pull on side of me and be listening to me.
56:30
Like,
56:30
what is he listening to?
56:31
Like,
56:31
yeah,
56:32
baby,
56:32
I'm a star.
56:34
Yeah,
56:35
international lover.
56:36
Yeah,
56:36
I'm listening to all that.
56:38
Bumping it up the highway.
56:39
Don't care.
56:40
Don't care.
56:41
Love him and miss him.
56:43
I would love to know,
56:44
what was your favorite Prince song?
56:47
Was it on the Purple Rain soundtrack or was it something else?
56:51
What is it?
56:53
Was it her?
56:54
Because I didn't touch in on all the work he did behind the scenes,
56:58
you know,
56:58
writing for
57:00
Chaka Khan,
57:01
writing for Madonna.
57:03
writing for Sinead O'Connor.
57:05
He did a lot of behind-the-scenes work as well.
57:09
And so there's a lot of Prince songs.
57:11
You probably don't realize the Prince songs performed by artists that you wouldn't think.
57:17
Like,
57:17
wait,
57:18
they worked with Prince?
57:19
Yeah,
57:20
yeah.
57:20
Prince was a mega,
57:22
mega big deal in the music industry.
57:25
But I would like to know what was your favorite.
57:28
One of the ways you can let me know is by email.
57:31
kbradiopodcast at gmail.com another way is on all social media platforms just search for the kbradio network don't forget about youtube subscribe to the kbradio network channel and like this video if you don't mind don't forget about the five stars the reviews and sharing this show if you're listening on apple podcast spotify iheart radio wherever you are currently listening to movie goodness here on
57:59
the kb radio
58:00
network everybody thank you for joining me as we looked back at the life the career the legacy of prince
58:11
10 years after his passing may he rest in peace god bless his soul once again everybody i want you all to know that i love you continue to love everyone and until we speak again now you all be blessed