25 Albums I Can't Live Without: #21

Prince & the Revolution, "Purple Rain"

Growing up, whenever I heard a song by Prince, it always got my attention. There was always something different, something unique about his music.

That sensation that Prince was unlike any other artist intensified when I heard “When Doves Cry.” From that opening guitar riff to the unforgettable melody to the long ending of the album version, “When Doves Cry” was an experience.

Then, when I saw the video on Channel 69 — growing up in the middle of nowhere, we didn’t have cable, but a local UHF station in Atlanta showed music videos — the song came to life even more for me. The interspersed clips of the movie and performances, Prince’s rawness, and the fascinating mirror effects were like nothing I had ever seen.

“Purple Rain” spawned a few other hit singles as well:

But when I heard the album, I was astonished in both good and bad ways. As a fairly sheltered kid, some of the content shocked me. (It wasn’t the first album I thought my parents would be angry if they knew I listened to — that was the Beastie Boys’ “License to Ill” — but it was much more risqué than what I was used to.)

(NSFW)

But some of the album cuts were as exciting as what I heard on the radio.

A few years ago, I downloaded the Deluxe Edition, and I got to hear more of what made this album and the other tracks from that time period so special.

I didn’t see the movie until I was in high school, but it didn’t wow me like the album did. “Purple Rain” is a classic that is a perfect snapshot of the ‘80s that’s somehow also timeless and never sounds dated or gets old.

Photo credit: Christopher Bahn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons