Thursday, April 21, 2016

In Memoriam: Prince


Rock musician and legend Prince has died at the age of 57.

I didn't always like his music, but I had to respect him as one of the most innovative and talented musicians of his generation.  He'll leave a gap that I don't think will be filled for some time.

To honor his memory, here he is at his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.  He appears with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and others in a performance of George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".  His guitar solo (from about 3m. 29s. onward) is one of the all-time greats of its kind, IMHO.





May he rest in peace.

Peter

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too strummed a guitar. Famous!

Anonymous said...

Wow ! Amazing guitar playing, the entire ensemble did a fine job, but Prince really left nothing left else to be played. Thanks for the link - I've never seen that one before.

Ajdshootist said...

Plus George's son look's so like his dad. RIP

Anonymous said...

Good riddance!

Many fans boycotted him anyway, ever since his lawyers shut down almost every fan site a few years ago, as a prelude to then also sue 22 fans for $1 million each because of linking to live bootlegs, which were not even available to buy.

m4 said...

@Anon: What Prince did was something that is almost unthinkable in this day and age: He took control of his media profile in its entirety. He owned his appearance, his sound, and his music. He would only allow himself to be recorded on his terms, and even any interviews he gave had to be written down rather than recorded. If anything, it's admirable.

On the other hand, with him so stringent on controlling this, there's the small issue with his vault. As I recall, Prince has a vault of music, where all his unreleased music sits, and will likely forever sit. And it's massive. Here is a man who would go on binges of recording music, hours at a time, from his mind straight to disk, and none of it ever saw the light of day. What will become of that legacy I wonder.

0007 said...

Sorry, but when I want to here a guitar being played, I put on a Chet Atkins album...jist sayin'.
And for the real old timers, there's always Les Paul and Mary Ford on acoustics.