Purple Rain - The 25th Anniversary

25 years ago, a sexed-up guitar-wizard road his purple motorcycle out of the midwest and began his journey on a path that would take him to the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.

If it sounds unlikely, it probably would be...for most people.
But, Prince is not like most people.

Purple Rain will be remembered for many things.

The soundtrack to the film produced four Top 40 hits. To this day, it is considered a pop-rock masterpiece. The movie itself, released on July, 27, 1984, stands as a testament to Prince's steely determination. It was the ultimate gamble. Prince plays The Kid, a struggling musician who battles with his alcoholic father, slaps his girlfriend, and imposes his musical-will on his bandmates. However, the movie isn't just the folly of a musician who decided he needed a vanity-project. Purple Rain is a $7 million dollar spectacle that could have destroyed Prince's ascendant career.

Prince rarely talks. And, when he does...he doesn't talk to me, especially about Purple Rain. But, after many years, it might be safe to say that Purple Rain is about as close as we'll get to the truth.

The idea of doing a movie was always bubbling. Prince carried a notebook with him, and he would write down different scenarios that he felt would work in a movie. So, when it came time for Prince to re-up with his management team (Bob Cavallo & Steve Fargnoli), Prince responded that he would only resign, "...if he gets a major motion picture. It has to be with a studio - not with some drug-dealer or jeweler financing. And his name has to be above the title. Then he'd resign with us", remembers Cavallo. At that point, Prince wasn't a star. To put it bluntly, the demand was ballsy.

So, Cavallo began pitching the idea to potential investors like David Geffen and Richard Pryor. Once financing for the film was secured, the story began to take shape. The impetus for the film began on the "Triple Threat" tour. During that time, The Revolution and The Time "...had an epic food fight that went from a show to the hotel and back to the bus to the airport and never stopped for about three days", remembers Prince's drummer, Bobby Z. Although this did not make it into the movie, it is considered the event that spurred the whole Time-versus-Revolution myth.

"To me, it is one of the best albums of its time. Musically, it has some great songwriting and arrangements. One example is When Doves Cry. It is a simple, but strong melody with simple instrumentation. No bass at all. He was very different to other artists releasing songs at the time. And Purple Rain itself is a song I never get tired listening to."*****

"I can’t believe it has been 25 years." *****

Once financing was secured, writing a script became the next obstacle. How could Prince be introduced to the world in a film that captured an audience's attention without making the movie look like a vanity project?

If you can believe it, the idea for the opening of the film (directed by Albert Magnoli - a recent USC grad with only a docudrama to his credit) was taken from the last scene of The Godfather. Magnoli's idea was that, "Prince will be performing, but we'll introduce all the characters as we cut back and forth between Prince getting ready to go for the gig."

The day I saw the film, I remember my friend Randy and I purchased two tickets to "The Neverending Story" and snuck into the theater that was showing Purple Rain - because it had an "R" rating. The opening of the film was hypnotic. I remember watching Prince on that screen thinking, "Man, this is what I want to do with my life." He was amazing.

"On a humorous note, I went to the theatre to see the movie when it was released. When Prince first appears on the screen, two thirds of the audience (all girls, I am sure) stood up, screaming like at a concert, and starting taking flash photos of him on the screen! And did it a couple more times into the movie. I couldn’t stop laughing."****

"The music is what mattered. As I think back to how Prince managed to deal with personal issues and air out his own dirty laundry regarding life, love, and family, and yet put it in a pop format that is easily digestible by the masses, it reminds me of what Eminem has done with rap. The rest of the field is regurgitating the same weak rhymes about bitches and such, and Eminem comes along giving himself therapy about problems with his mom and his girlfriend, and finding a way to keep it palatable."*

Movie-goers/record-buyers agreed.

In its opening weekend, the movie grossed about $7 million dollars. At the time, this was good money. Because of this, Warner Brothers added the movie to 1,000 more screens in its second week. It went on to make $68 million dollars as it became the ninth-highest grossing film of 1984. But, the real triumph was the soundtrack album. "Purple Rain" topped the charts in September on the strength of "Let's Go Crazy" and remained at Number 1 for 24 weeks. Since its release, the album has gone on to sell 20 million copies worldwide.

"Purple Rain was the first album I ever owned, that I couldn't listen to with my parents. Even now it exudes a sexiness that doesn't seem tame by today's standards."**

Another musician (who asked me to keep his name out of this) told me, "I am one of the few people who have actually performed the album front to back with (the band he played with). We did it in the 80's when it was released and it is a brilliant piece of music to play or listen to..."***

I concur.

"Purple Rain" marked a pivotal moment in Prince's career and served notice that a major talent was no longer going to settle for being a "rising star". Prince had arrived like a comet crashing into a planet. The only thing that stood in Prince's way was the phenomenal success of Michael Jackson. Music fans who didn't need their entertainment sugary-sweet made the choice clear.

"For me, Thriller didn't have near the impact of Purple Rain, on any level. They were both great albums, with a alot of great pop singles. But, for me, Thriller begins and ends with pop. They are fun tunes with great beats, but lyrically empty. Even "Human Nature", when I sit down and read the lyrics, is a yawner. It can't hold a candle to "When Doves Cry".*

Purple Rain was everything Thriller was, from a pop standpoint, but lyrically deeper on so many levels. Plus, we're talking about a guy who wrote all his own lyrics AND all his own music AND was perfectly capable of sitting down and playing all the music on each and every instrument."*

"Purple Rain is a classic, musically and lyrically. There's still the times in my life when the album has what I need, and listening to it beginning to end gets me where I wanna go. Classic."*

So, spare yourself an hour and crank up this classic. If you are feeling really adventurous, invite some friends over and watch the movie. It is, admittedly, pretty cheesy. "The film was great, at the time, but I don't think the depths the music reached in me personally had anything to do with the film. It was a fun summer flick, filled with much coolness, from Prince's bike to everything Morris Day said to the eye-crossing hotness of Apollonia. But, beyond that, it was just a fun flick, not noteworthy or a classic in any way."*

It's true.

The movie doesn't really hold up, in many ways. But, the live-performance sequences are absolutely amazing. In those moments, Prince became a superstar and took his friends with him. The intense nature of his performances jumped from the screen and achieved a visceral quality I don't think I've seen since. The music, however, was never an issue. "Purple Rain" is a breakthrough moment in Prince's career and helped him transcend the R&B market. In a matter of months he was an amazing crossover success. Even today, "Purple Rain" can turn the speakers of my car inside-out and take me back to 1984. It is one of the few albums I can listen to from start to finish without losing my attention.

Twenty-five years on, "Purple Rain" stands the test of time and all the musical trends that have followed it. It's an absolute landmark album that helped define a generation for anyone who claims to love music.

Rediscover it.

(Many thanks to the contributors)
*Randy
**Spencer
***Name withheld
****Chris

Some info for this piece is taken from Brian Raftery's piece in Spin Magazine 246 - June 2009.