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Nothing Compares to Prince

Posted by: Pat Padua

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Catalog card for a 35mm print of the movie Purple Rain in the Division of Motion Pictures, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound. Photo by Pat Padua
Catalog card for a 35mm print of the movie Purple Rain in the Division of Motion Pictures, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound. Photo by Pat Padua

The music world continues to mourn Prince, who died on April 21 at the young age of 57. The diminutive purple icon was a mad musical scientist who took James Brown and Jimi Hendrix into his lab and concocted something uniquely and unforgettably fabulous.

Prince fans come from all walks of life, and he entered the cultural consciousness in the most unlikely places: from Nolan Thomas’ “Yo’ Little Brother,” a 1984 one-hit wonder whose music video featured a pint-sized Prince impersonator; to the recent Nigerien film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (Rain the Color Red with a Little Blue in It), loosely based on Prince’s 1984 movie Purple Rain.

The singer registered nearly 500 titles for copyright under his full name, Prince Rogers Nelson, including unreleased tracks like “Make it Through the Storm” and “Xenophobia.” The Library of Congress collections include a variety of Prince’s recordings and films, including a cassette of his 1978 solo debut For You, the 12” extended single version of “Let’s Go Crazy” (backed with the non-album B-side “Erotic City”), 35mm prints of Purple Rain and its unofficial sequel, Graffiti Bridge,  and more than one biography printed in purple hardcover binding. Last but not least, the soundtrack album to Purple Rain was added to the National Recording Registry in 2012.

Comments

  1. Kathleen O’Neill says:

    Do you know who the muse was for Nothing Compares?

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