Prince - "I Would Die 4 U" (spotlight)

Super Bowl LII has come and gone and it was quite a good game, especially since I did not care who won.  Justin Timberlake was the halftime show, and reviews appeared to be mixed (e.g., "This is how Justin Timberlake lost the Super Bowl" vs. "Halftime Review: Justin Timberlake Emerges Fumble-Free After Bad Pre-Game PR").  I'm ambivalent about Justin Timberlake: he's funny on SNL, and he brought sexy back and for that I'm grateful, but otherwise I don't care that much; his performance seemed fine to me but I had set the bar pretty low.

For me, the truly interesting part of the halftime show was JT's tribute to Prince (presumably because the Super Bowl was in Minneapolis?) and the controversy leading up to the event.  Apparently the plan was to "recreate" Prince via a hologram (similar to that used for Maria Callas and Roy Orbison), a technique that Prince had previously called "demonic".  The hologram idea was eventually scrapped courtesy of Sheila E.'s advice, and instead we were treated to Prince singing ""I Would Die 4 U" via old Purple Rain* footage projected on what looked like a giant bed sheet.  Apparently that still upset some Prince fans; I can only assume they destroyed their DVDs (VHSes?) of "Purple Rain" on April 21, 2016.

Prince - "I Would Die 4 U" 




* Ok, technically it was footage from both "Purple Rain" and "Prince and the Revolution Live!", but while you've likely seen "Purple Rain" a dozen or more times, have you actually seen the latter concert film?

Prince - "Litte Red Corvette" (spotlight)

Prince died today.  First, he was only 11 years older than me.  Second,  Haggard, Frey, Bowie, Lyons -- 2016 is not shaping up to be a good year for musicians.

I wasn't the biggest Prince fan growing up -- I was more into metal and related genres in the 80s -- but even then I knew he was important, respected what he was doing, and had to admit that LPs like 1999 and Purple Rain were really good.   And I always appreciated that, certainly more than his peers, he maintained a heavy guitar sound in many of his songs.

I will choose to remember him with "Little Red Corvette", the second single off his break through LP "1999", for several reasons:

• I remember when it came out (1982), 1999 seemed a million years away.  Oddly enough, the 17 years between 1982 & 1999 is now the same as between 2016 and 1999 (and sadly, sometimes 1999 seems like a million years ago).  
• I vaguely recall this LP, and especially this song, as the sound track for a junior high party at Tim(my) Young's house  (probably in early 1983) where I had my first kiss while playing spin the bottle.  I don't even remember her name, and I'm not even sure she continued at my high school.  But she was a "popular girl" and well above my middle school station, and so I was quite satisfied with the luck of the bottle.
• At some point a few years later, I discovered the difference between the radio edit (3:08) and the LP version (5:03).  And boy, what a difference those 2 minutes make...
• Having established at a young age that he was singing about a car, it wasn't until much later in life where I actually paid attention to the lyrics and realized he's not really singing about her car.

Prince - "Little Red Corvette" (LP Version, Radio Edit)




N.B. It will surely be a struggle to keep the links current in this post since, despite all the accolades Prince deserves, he was kinda a tool about copyright, cover songs, etc.

The Time - "Jungle Love" (forgotten song)

Super Bowl 50 is now in the books.  The game itself was pretty good (if you like defense), but as always there has a been a lot of talk about the halftime show.  Coldplay was ... well, Coldplay.  On paper I "should" like them but wow, I just can't.  I can't even say I dislike them... they're just so boring that I feel nothing at all.

(Full disclosure: I did buy "Parachutes" in 2000, but I honestly can't remember the last time I played it).  Apparently it's cool to hate on Coldplay, so I won't waste any more time with them (although their bit on CBS Sunday Morning did make them seem like pretty decent guys...)

Beyonce caused quite the stir with her contribution (Giuliani inserted himself into the story without even mentioning 9/11!), but I don't have anything to offer there either.

I want to talk about the uninspired inclusion of Bruno Mars (ok, technically "Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars").   One, we just had him two years ago.  Two, "Uptown Funk" is over a year old at this point.  Three, doesn't it bother anyone that "Uptown Funk" sounds exactly like "Jungle Love"?  There are a lot of articles that talk about how it sounds like many different funk songs, but to me it sounds identical to The Time's 1984 single from "Ice Cream Castle" and featured prominently in "Purple Rain".  Side note: I didn't realize in the 80s that The Time basically was Prince.  As Danette's college roommate said: "Prince dresses him" (or her, where appropriate).

So I just wanted to take this opportunity to say that for the last year, every time we heard "Uptown Funk" (which was a lot!), Danette and I always said "Jerome bring me my mirror!"

The Time - "Jungle Love"

Foo Fighters - "Best of You" (the song remains the same)

In honor of tomorrow's quasi-national holiday, Super Bowl XLV...

"Best of You" was the first single of the Foo Fighter's highly successful 2005 LP "In Your Honor". The song is excellent: it has hooks, emotion, power -- everything you want in power pop. Dave Grohl has a great rock/punk voice: raspy, powerful, and with range.

I'm always amazed at the success and longevity of the Foo Fighters: I would not have believed you if you told me in 1994 after Kurt Cobain's death that Grohl, Nirvana's drummer (insert Spinal Tap reference here), would 1) switch to vocals & guitar, and 2) have a 15+ year run of commercial and critical success.

This story really begins with the Foos doing a cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki" on the B-side of their 2003 single "Have it All". In fact, the B-side was originally available on only foreign versions of the single (Australia & UK), but it gained some airplay in the US. The story goes that although Grohl did the cover because he was a Prince fan, Prince was not too happy that the Foos covered his song ("No! I don't like anyone covering my work. Write your own tunes!"), and Grohl later apologized and asked radio stations to stop playing their cover of "Darling Nikki".

Fast forward to 2007 and Super Bowl XLI and Prince is the halftime show. How does one of the most prolific and influential artists of our times fill a 12 minute slot? It begins with the marching band doing "We Will Rock You"; ok that's surely some kind of marching band law, so that doesn't really count. He then does two songs from the Purple Rain LP: "Let's Go Crazy" and "Baby I'm a Star". Then two covers (a medley, really) of "Proud Mary" and "All Along the Watchtower" -- covers, but so well known that they're standards.

We were watching the Super Bowl at Terry's house, and I still remember my total surprise when Prince segued from "two riders were approaching / and the wind began to howl" to "are you gone and onto someone new?" -- was Prince really singing "Best of You"?! That's a rather obscure, recent, and heavy song for a Super Bowl halftime performance. Given all the songs Prince could have chosen, using ~2:15 of a 12 minute slot to cover a Foo Fighters song was a pretty bold decision. From "Best of You", Prince closed the show with the song "Purple Rain".

Some people seemed to think Prince's cover was a dig at the Foos, but that just doesn't make sense: you don't skip over your own songs like "1999", "Little Red Corvette", "When Doves Cry", "I Would Die 4 U", etc. just to insult another artist. I prefer to think of it as a peace offering from Prince, realizing that he had been a bad sport about the whole "Darling Nikki" affair. For the record the Foo's were flattered, their reaction is covered in this story from mtv.com.

Is it too much to hope the Black Eyed Peas have a similar surprise in store? (edit: turns out it was too much to hope for -- I don't think it was the disaster that some claim, but it wasn't very good).

Foo Fighters: studio version, live version, live on Jools Holland, acoustic version

Prince: audio only version, full halftime show ("Best of You" begins at ~6:00).

"Darling Nikki" Bonus links:

Prince: studio version, "Purple Rain" movie version

Foo Fighters: studio version, live version