Prince – King of B-sides

Manifesting as an ‘MTV Ready’ generational icon, before MTV was even a thing; his name was Prince, aka ‘The Purple Yoda from the heart of Minnesota.’ Unlike anyone else before or since, Prince defied the pigeonholes of musical categorisation common within the music industry, and through a combination of his innate talent, hard graft, imagination, business sense and personal artistic bravery, did things his way throughout his career. His songs tackled love, sex, lust, religion and society with unflinching honesty and equal abandon, challenging racial divides, and redefined masculinity through his flamboyant persona and lyrics. He’s responsible for the ultimate ‘Hold My Beer’ moment in the entire history of pop music, the greatest Super Bowl Halftime Show to date and was identified as the only entertainer in the world Eddie Murphy said he’d willingly swap places with, in an interview promoting his ‘Trading Places’ movie in 1983. He created the Minneapolis Sound, championed real music by real musicians, was a pioneer of DIY music creation and WFH, and became the catalyst for the PMRC Filthy 15 playlist and their ‘Parental Advisory Explicit Content’ stickers. He had song titles that could have been Bond Girl names to rival Pussy Galore. He wrote songs about the sort of girls you didn’t take home to mother. Songs about the sort of girls your mother warned you about and songs about the sort of girls you wanted to meet. Songs with stories to tell… Many acts dream of creating an album that’s ‘all killer and no filler’, Prince did this repeatedly and he did so with songs to spare. These spare songs invariably ended up either gifted to other artists, collecting dust in his vault or were shared with us, as B-sides. 31 new songs as B-sides in total, enough for a further 3 albums. Some of the 31 tracks will almost certainly have gone under the radar of anyone who bought into the prevailing media narrative on Prince’s music post the 80s. Fixated on the rise of hip-hop and grunge, or in the case of the UK, on Britpop too; indolent music critics painted a picture of his music being in a creative decline. This narrative of creative malaise and that ‘Prince was over’ was subsequently eclipsed by Prince’s battle with Warner Bros. and both tabloid and music media journalists could mock the name change to ‘The Artist Formerly Known as Prince’, to gain easy editorial quick wins. In doing so, these music journalists not only highlighted their scant appreciation for Prince’s stance but also for the broader implications it had for all artists. This blinkered outlook lacked recognition of Prince’s undeniable dedication to evolving his musicianship and exposed a tin ear to his actual musical output. A failing exacerbated by a lack of appreciation that he wasn’t always chasing another hit, and / or, a lack of exposure to having seen him live, tearing up the stage with the NPG. A place he continued to outperform, all comers, throughout his career. Far from mere throwaways, Prince’s B-sides were akin to what we now call Easter eggs on DVDs and computer games, and depending upon the choice of A-side they resided on, sometimes the ‘B’ of B-side really should have stood for ‘best’ side. Each of the 31 songs is listed here with background details where known, and sprinkled with thoughts, personal anecdotes and recollections, as I have marked my life and times by whichever Prince songs were out at the time. I’ll end this Prince paean now, safe in the knowledge we will never witness such a unique confluence of innate musical talent and circumstance again. Between 1958 – 2016, Minnesota, the record industry, culture, religion, society, technology, family, lovers, friends, and fellow musicians all coalesced in one way or another, to help form a true unicorn of a human being among us. There’ll never be another like him; which is why I am confident in my conviction to give this book the title I have: Prince – King of B-sides. | ASIN : B0DGDCHQ92 | ISBN13 : 9798337637488 | ISBN-13 : 979-8337637488