His Purple Majesty: RIP

Readers, we seem to be in the midst of a rare phenomenon, a landmark Celebrity Death Cloud year, and although it is not yet May, it may have peaked today on 21 April when the world lost Prince Rogers Nelson.

 

As a little girl in the American Midwest, I was raised on my dad’s classic rock collection, and when I got my own radio at 5 or 6 years old, could very well have fallen prey to the boring white-bread pop music aimed at my demographic—Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, and that ilk. Instead there was Prince.

 

Prince was a genius. I say this not just as a nostalgic child of the 80’s, thinking back to the nights I spent in my bedroom with a blank cassette tape, trying to hit ‘record’ at just the right moment to preserve my own copy of “When the Doves Cry” or “1999.” I say this as an adult in awe of the facts that he played 27 instruments, recorded several hundred songs between the late 70’s and December of last year, and influenced many of the best artists making music today. What’s more, unlike the late-era recordings of many of his contemporaries, his music never stopped being good. Like David Bowie, the other musical mastermind we lost this year, Prince was an innovator, and he didn’t stop innovating even into his 50s.

 

Prince’s contribution to the world of pop music is staggering, but it wasn’t just his music that changed the cultural landscape for those of us who grew up in the 80’s. Prince provoked: he taught us to ask our parents the questions that made them blush, to wonder about the adult things no one would fill us in on back before the Internet existed. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Give “Darling Nikki” a listen, and you’ll understand. More importantly, he taught us to value and praise different interpretations of masculinity, of identity, of sex appeal—to recognize that a man who wore eye makeup and ruffled blouses could be every bit as manly as one in jeans and cowboy boots. And his envelope-pushing interpretations, of course, helped us to accept and embrace our own human peculiarities and weirdnesses. Idolizing Prince made me a better and more interesting person, and his music will continue to brighten my playlists and my life for the rest of my days.

 

Once I finish my weeping, I’ll probably watch one of the greatest comedy sketches ever made, also inspired by Prince (look for Dave Chapelle’s True HollyWood Stories). And whenever I buy, wear, or see a blouse, I’ll celebrate His Purple Majesty. #shirtsvsblouse