Good Night, Sweet Prince

By Patti Martinson
May 30, 2016

Life was going pretty good for me lately. Work was going well, and I was enjoying a sudden burst of creativity that led me to complete a few projects. In between bursts of writing, I relax and check out the internet for news. When I saw that the death of Prince was being reported, I assumed it was a hoax. Prince was only 57 and seemed to be in the prime of life musically.

It soon became clear that it wasn't a hoax, the icon of my teenage years was gone. I still can't quite come to grips with it. It's like I'm fully aware he's gone, but I can't quite accept it, like I'm unable to mourn. It's a rather strange feeling . With other celebrity deaths, my reaction is usually different. With musicians like David Bowie or Glen Campbell, the reaction was different. David Bowie was shocking, but it seemed like his life was complete in a sense. With Glenn, it was something foreseen quite some time ago.

My teenage years were 1980-1986, pretty much the exact time Prince exploded on the scene with his fifth album, 1999. Back then, Prince was something of a marvel to me. Growing up in a small town in South Dakota, country or folk music dominated the area and the airwaves. I hadn't had much experience with the heady blend of genres Prince played in: funk, R&B, soul.

Prince himself was something I've never seen before either; MTV was on the horizon as well and Prince was the most visually arresting person I've ever seen. The hair, the eyeliner, the purple regalia, and the moves. It is only looking back now that I saw that what Prince did was extremely revolutionary and ahead of the times.

I followed Prince throughout high school: "Little Red Corvette", "Purple Rain", "Raspberry Beret", "Kiss". By the time I graduated high school, Prince more or less fell out of my rotation, as I was focused more on other things like college and work.

Like many people, I was considerably confused during his "Artist Formerly Known as Prince" years. I recognized he was taking a stance against his label, but he seemed to me he was going a bit off the rails. Again, looking backward, Prince was fighting for his rights as an artist and that was another aspect of his remarkable life. This seemed ages before the online world, with your iPads, mp3, iTunes, and digital downloads. He was shining a light on the imbalance between musical artists and the production machinery. Prince never stopped fighting and always sought new innovative ways for his music to reach people.

I was aware that Prince himself had something of a complicated relationship with his own fans. He appreciated them for sure but also seemed to go against them as much as he did with record companies. These days, folks talk about an authentic life and Prince is pretty much the perfect example of that. He never explained who or what he was, he just did it His Way and earned respect and love of people worldwide.

One other thing that gets overlooked is that from the very start, women were a huge component of his life and music. I don't know of any other artist who championed and showcased other women in his music or his videos. That he loved as well as respected women and visibly supported them is truly remarkable, especially in this day and age when it seems like women in music are still lagging as ever.

Prince was a man of many talents, endless creativity, unwavering support for other musicians, and as complicated a person as you can get. And we all loved him for it.