Dystopian Listening Party Podcast: Prince, 1958-2016

If it wasn’t official before, it is now: 2016 is a terrible year for musical icons. Callie and I were blindsided by the news of Prince‘s untimely death last Thursday; it hit us even harder than the news of David Bowie‘s passing back in January (and that, as you might recall, hit us pretty damn hard). It’s difficult to overstate just how much Prince means to both of us. He’s easily our favorite solo artist in all of pop music; check our frequently used tags on Dystopian Dance Party, and you’ll see that he’s the most talked-about topic by some distance. All of which fails to adequately capture the feelings we have for his body of work, and the sense of loss we feel now that he’s gone.

Unlike with Bowie, we weren’t actually planning on podcasting about Prince this month–but we had to, if only so we could talk through all the emotions we’ve both been feeling for the last week. The podcast we originally recorded earlier in the month, on Nintendo‘s Legend of Zelda series, will be posted eventually, when it all feels a little less meaningless. But for now, dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life…

00:00:00 “Let’s Go Crazy” (from Purple Rain, 1984)

00:05:31 “When Doves Cry” (from Purple Rain)

00:06:31 “Kiss” (from Parade, 1986)

00:07:52 Jack Nicholson–or is That Prince?–Dancing to “Trust” in Tim Burton‘s Batman (1989)

https://youtu.be/wWx_sv8MH6Q

00:10:18 “Controversy” (from Controversy, 1981)

00:12:45 “The Beautiful Ones” (from Purple Rain)

00:13:57 “‘Beautiful Ones’: The Moment Prince Became a Movie Star”

00:18:35 “When Doves Cry” Again

00:20:25 “Raspberry Beret” (from Around the World in a Day, 1985)

00:21:36 “Automatic” (from 1999, 1982)

00:22:42 Jheri Curl June: Prince’s Greatest Inspiration