articles on Prince

I meant to put this together when Prince died, but it fell to the back of the desk. Getting to it today...

I was "into" pop music for a relatively brief time-- in the last 70s through the mid-80s. And so, Prince was part of that time frame (and many others). I was a huge fan of Purple Rain (the album and the movie) and then listened to Around the World a lot too. 

Songs like "I would die 4 U" (and a handful of others) were explicitly and amazingly Christian. Songs like "Darling Nikki" (and many others) were somewhere between vulgar and ok given their context (as DN in the movie). 

Dude did creative, interesting stuff-- and he was a heckuva guitar player. (Here's Prince, starting at 3:30, in the all-star tribute to George Harrison.) And he had longevity in the field, indicating excellence and genius. (See: e.g., his acclaimed Super Bowl halftime show in 2007-- during a storm, with a marching band. See: his songs that hit with other artists, including "Donald Trump, Black Version"-- what?!, The Bangles' "Just Another Manic Monday" [we called this "Macro Monday" in grad school], and Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U".)  

Some articles I enjoyed:

Arsenio Orteza in World on his "memorable, if discordant legacy"

Martin Saunders in CT on Christian themes in Prince's music

Hans Fiene on the combination of "sexually explicit material" and the most "explicitly Christian lyrics" (aside from Bono) from mainstream musicians

Mike Cosper in CT on Prince as a "pop music priest in a secular world" 

Hagerty and Audi in the WSJ on the public/private persona clash

video clips of Prince as human vs. pop culture icon