Photographer Robert Whitman has just published a series of images he took of Prince in 1977. Back then, the performer was a relative unknown dabbling in erotofunk before leading us into the future of music about a decade later. His almost hypnotic charisma aside, I couldn’t help but feel this shot taken in front of the landmark Music Wall in Minneapolis deserved its own place on CC.
Of course, Prince will always have a place on CC for this song alone.
You can find more of Robert Whitman’s photos of Prince here.
And in the spirit of this late performer, here is a NSFW CC on the Corvette.
Thank you Don. I’m a huge Prince fan and was saddened by his passing last year. I think it would be fun to do a CC on the cars and motorcycles of Prince. I understand that he really liked BMWs and apparently had a purple 6-series. Also had a ’67 Thunderbird.
In Prince’s 1988 hit “Alphabet Street”, there is a reference in the lead vocals to a “66 Thunderbird”, which is then corrected in the backing vocals to “67 Thunderbird” (or vice versa, I may have it backwards). I always thought that was interesting, for two reasons. First, it indicates an interest or knowledge of the minutiae of telling different model years of cars apart. Second, a ’66 and ’67 Thunderbird look nothing alike, as the T-Bird was radically restyled for ’67, and would never be mixed up by anyone with even a cursory knowledge of Thunderbird history. The video to the song features what I’m assuming is a ’67 Thunderbird (it certainly isn’t a ’66).
Outstanding.
And I still can’t believe he’s gone.
I am from the Twin Cities, and have several things to add. First off, my father saw Prince perform at some dumpy bar venue before he really did anything big, circa 1976ish. He has told me that the crowd essentially left for the bar when he came on, but he walked up to the stage, and was essentially treated to a personal performance until people started to filter back. Dad said to me “this guy is going to be a thing”. How right he was.
I was actually visiting my parents when Prince died. The whole city went NUTS. They had to block off the road around his lake Minnetonka home and around Paisley Park. First Ave had a free dance night that drew a SWARM of people that ended up shutting down the surrounding streets in Minneapolis. When I returned to Chicago, my sister was graduating college. They started the ceremony by playing Let’s Go Crazy, and the crowd did the same. That whole time was surreal…
That is one cool dad, cjiguy.
He has his moments. I’m a lucky son.
There’s a recently-built office building I pass frequently in Mongomery County, MD that has LED light bars between some of the windows that light up at night, usually in blue but the colors can be changed for special occasions, like red and green for Christmas. After hearing of Prince’s passing, the guy who operates the lights called his boss and building management for permission to make the lights purple that night, but he couldn’t reach them as they were away and not taking messages. He decided to turn them purple anyway. About an hour later he got a call from his boss asking him to turn on the lights and make them purple.
It’s weird seeing him in Black and White instead of….Purple.
What a talent Prince was. Absolutely one of a kind. And I still find myself reading about collaborations and behind the scenes influences he had with and on all kinds of artists, it’s amazing just how prolific he was.
You can watch Under the Cherry Moon and see Prince in black and white 1930’s France.
For anyone who’s interested, the music is near the end of Maurice Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit (1909), the fabulously difficult “Scarbo.” I remember seeing this wall when I lived in Minneapolis in the early 1980s – it was a retail music store of the kind that don’t really exist anymore, primarily sheet music but some instruments and lessons as well.
I admire and respect Prince as a musician, singer, and arranger/producer, and saw his act a few times (including the opening show of the in-the-round Lovesexy tour), but unfortunately I can’t agree that he was “leading us into the future of music” at any point in his career; that implies an influence on modern-day songwriters and/or performers that I don’t think he’s exerted.
The building was Schmitt Music. I remember the wall, but I’m not sure if it is still there.
It’s still there. The building is located near 10th Street South and Marquette Avenue.
He’s counted among Client Liaison’s influences. Check out the w126 stretch limo in the video for their song “Long White Limousine”.
ha! Never heard of these guys, but this clip was shot in Melbourne.
And that ethereal female howl/sigh near the start of the track is from Lalo Schifrin’s Dirty Harry soundtrack
I was trying to place that, thanks Don. It’s actually on my bucket list to do a Dirty Harry tour next time I’m in San Frantastic, but I always seem to end up (at the end up) south of market when I’m there. I’m posting a link to info about the Hilton San Francisco where the pool scene was filmed and a link to the scene on Youtube. Great cars, music and scenery in that movie!! Okay enough tangents for me today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJjn9Vt7k1Q
https://dirtyharryfilminglocations.wordpress.com/the-first-5-minutes-the-hilton/
Yep, that future of music claim was a tad ambitious – particularly as the future is always open-ended. Having said that (and EDM and hip-hop aside), if there’s one track from the 20th century that seems to have been a harbinger of future music, its ‘Sign of the Times’. I felt it then, and still feel that way now.
The cars and that righteous ‘fro really take me back in time! My favorite thing here is the lady in the background. Looks like she got taken by surprise, and is standing still in order to avoid wasting film in those pre-digital days. I think I’m gonna have Purple Rain stuck in my head for a while…
Love Prince. I remember “1999” being played constantly during the summer of 1983 when I was 19, then again being big when the real year rang in years later. That, “Let’s Go Crazy” and “Little Red Corvette” remain among my favourite ’80s tunes.
RIP Prince. You are greatly missed.
In classic CC effect (once again) last night I watched Prince rock out on lead guitar on “My Guitar Gently Weeps” with recently departed Tom Petty.
There are many genres of music- rock, hip-hop, jazz, R&B- then there’s Prince. I dont have his discography in my regular rotation but I always enjoy hearing him.
Chevrolet posted this on Twitter the day he died:
http://twitter.com/chevrolet/status/723317157157691392
I remember having the radio on early in 1983 and the DJ announcing he was going to play a new song by Prince called “Little Red Corvette”. At that point I was a teen who knew Prince only from his late-’70s hit “I Wanna Be Your Lover” and some enthusiastic album reviews in music magazines, so I was all excited to hear he had a new song about cars. And I remember how disappointed I was that the song didn’t seem to have much to do with Corvettes. Now I listen to the same song and marvel at its brilliance. It’s right up there with the Beach Boys’ “Don’t Worry Baby”, another great song that’s all about cars, and yet so all not about cars.
As for Prince’s own actual automotive taste, I recall reading five years ago about Stevie Nicks going for a ride in Prince’s purple Camaro.
That Twitter memorial is nice. Reminds me of VW’s response to Jerry Garcia’s passing.
I remember that one. I think it was the only time VW acknowledged the Deadheads’ love of VW buses.
My worlds collide here on CC today, being a predominantly-classical musician/teacher. FWIW, old-school music stores started taking a hit from the big discounters decades ago, and now online retail has hurt a great many, especially the mom-and-pop places. Here’s another photo of Schmitt:
Prince music has no bass line and no bass drums.
This is what distinguishes Prince from any other modern composer.
On this pic he is standing below a barline, which seems to spread right out of his head. The bar line indicates a time signature here. Better known as “sign of the times”.
OK, what is that thing that looks like a big roof rack bar on top of the ’71-’73 Olds 98 coupe (I think that’s what is it) on the right side of the picture (to Prince’s left)?
It is a curious one. Definitely attached to the drip rail. It looks like something that’s designed to carry a bit of weight; that slightly convex curved crossbar suggesting a bit of ‘give’ in the structure.
Those racks were commonly used to carry a canoe or small boat on the roof — a popular activity in Minnesota.
Prince was an huge and unique talent (the vastly overrated Michael Jackson ought not to be mentioned in the same breath), and although I wasn’t that enamoured with his later material from around the time he changed his name to a symbol, I still maintained my admiration.
I still find it hard to believe he’s gone. I regret not seeing him live as unfortunately his last performances in Sydney sold out extremely quickly.
I also think it would be a great idea if someone did a CC article on Prince’s cars. Aside from the aforementioned BMW’s and Thunderbirds, I remember reading one article (of many) following his passing which mentioned that in the late 1970s/early 1980s Prince picked up a collaborator from a bus/train station or airport in his Fiat sports car. I wonder whether that was a 124 convertible or an X19?