I had a geography professor once make the claim that no good romantic literature or art ever came out of the American Midwest.  This was due to the climatology of the region (it was within the humid continental climate), which gave the region severe, cold winters and long, hot, and humid summers but barely a spring or fall in which writers could find inspiration.  Minneapolis, though, in the 1980s saw a flourishing period for the music scene of the city.  As Paul Westerberg once remarked in an interview, the winters kept you indoors for half of the year, facilitating inspiration and creative outbursts.  Winter in MPLS in 1984 must've been a frigid one, as the city spawned three of the most monumental albums in rock history that year.  Today, in part one of a three part saga, we take a look at Purple Rain.

 "Baby I'm A Star" 

The mere fact that his real name is "Prince" is already indicative of the grand scale of what the Purple One was out to achieve when he began his rule from his humble city.  Breaking through in 1982 with his double-album 1999, songs like "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" were smash hits but did little to elevate himself above the level of just another pop star.  It was especially tough to be a Prince when the King of Pop was Michael Jackson (who would dominate 1983 with Thriller).  Unlike Jackson, though, Prince had prolificacy and the ability to write and compose hits without the help of Quincy Jones.  Every year in the decade saw the release of a Prince album with the exception of 1983, but when you follow that year with something as massive as Purple Rain, you need an extra year to prepare. [note: neither Jackson nor Prince saw each other as 'threat' and both would later work on the song "Bad" together, although Prince dropped out due to creative differences]

The All Music Guide says Purple Rain was "the project that would make [Prince] a superstar, and, surprisingly, that is exactly what happened."  Why this is a surprise to anyone is confounding.  After the glamour of disco and the gradiosity of rock were wiped by nihlist comet of punk and post-punk (later dished up for public consumption as "new wave"), Prince was the superstar the world needed for the incarnation of every grandeur dream and fantasy we all harbored within ourselves.  Deep down inside, everyone wanted to ride that purple motorcycle that adorns the cover.

Side 1 kicks off with the hit single  "Let's Go Crazy," one of the most aptly named opening tracks.  With an electric organ kicking off what seems to be a eulogy for "this thing called life," it serves more as an electrically charged sermon calling for to "make everything go wrong." The song itself is a perfect blend of funk, rock and roll, and R&B; no doubt a result of the collective creativity he enjoyed with his backing band, The Revolution.  Ending with an earth-shattering guitar solo, it's hard to believe the rest of the album lives up to the introduction.

Much like Abbey Road, Purple Rain comes to life and realizes its full potential on the second side of the vinyl.  While certainly among the better songs Prince has written, songs like "The Beautiful Ones," the electro-jam of "Computer Blue," his duet with Apollonia on "Take Me With U," and the sexually-provocative "Darling Nikki" were a slight letdown after the core was shaken with "Let's Go Crazy." "Nikki" would gain notoriety as the song that inspired Tipper Gore to establish the PRMC.

The flipside kicked off with the smash "When Doves Cry," among the more unusual songs to top the charts and one of the most personal narratives sung by Prince.  Bass-less and skeletal in its arrangement, the song came off as almost post-punk; but no post-punk song could ever be so catchy.  Following up with the one-two punch of "I Would Die 4 U" and "Baby I'm A Star" (no other song rang more true), the album appropriately ended with the epic title track which served alternately as his ultimate love ballad or as a testimony to his faith.

Ego-ridden and at times self-reflective, it'd be hard to consider this a "romantic" album at first.  But Purple Rain is a chronicle of the ultimate fantasy of stardom.   "Baby I'm A Star" is the obvious song to point at, but it is clear throughout the album with its running messianic themes that it is the 13 million people who purchased the album that he wants to see "bathing in the Purple Rain."

Purple Rain was everywhere in 1984: four Top 40 hits (two of which went to #1), over a million copies sold in a day, 24 consecutive weeks at the top of the album charts, and the release of a feature film shortly after the release of the album.  While Purple Rain may not have left a lasting influence on music or spawned a new genre in its wake, its impossible to deny the visceral impact it left in the music world since.  The album raised the bar, much like The Beatles did, as to what the album meant as an artistic statement in an era that was culturally devoid.  The feature film served as the ultimate rock star vanity project, inspiring the likes of 8 Mile, Get Rich Or Die Tryin', and the infamous Cool As Ice .  While Prince never reached the incredible highs achieved since this album, let's face it, no one else will.

- Carman

Download: Prince And The Revolution – "Let's Go Crazy" (live in Syracuse 3/30/85)