David Bowie be damned, there was no greater all-around musician than Prince; now that he’s gone, who do we have left?
I’m not reacting to this the way I figured I would.
In a year when we’ve lost so many influential artists, be they musicians, actors or otherwise, losing Prince at the relatively young age of 57 didn’t hit me with the impact that such a huge loss should.
That said, this isn’t about how we should or shouldn’t process grief, particularly when it comes to the loss of people we don’t know, but the reality behind that isn’t so much that the little guy with musical genius is dead, but the death reminds us of our own mortality.
For so many of us, our lives are guided by music. Whether in the foreground or background, every great composition has memories wrapped around it. When a song makes you feel something, it takes something in return; what it takes are the memories of the moment, starting with the first time you ever heard a song and fell madly in love with it.
With a career as long and as prolific as Prince’s, the reality is that whether you were moved by funk, rock, new wave, soul or plain old pop, his words and melodies permeated a piece of your life, and now that he’s gone, he can’t do that for you anymore.
But that’s a lie, isn’t it?
If you want Prince, you can have him right now, that is, if you purchased any of his albums. As an artist, he’s one of the more protective over his work, so it’s not as easy as going to iTunes or YouTube to get your fix.
Whether it’s right or wrong doesn’t really make a difference, now that he’s gone, we’ll be deluged with hours upon hours of his work, and that’s in no way a bad thing.
Speaking of, rumor has always had it that Prince has a vault somewhere in his Paisley Park estate that holds an Emperor’s treasure of his unheard, unpublished work. We’re not talking about an album or two, but possibly hundreds of songs, most of which are fully-produced.
So even if we’ve lost Prince, we still have his music, some who’ve worked with him say that maybe 70 percent of his recordings have yet to be heard publicly.
At least we have that.
If you really want to honor the Purple One, just press play. Listen to the greatest ever guitar solo in “Purple Rain”, make love to your (or someone else’s) significant other while “The Beautiful Ones” play, go on a long, long drive with the top down or your head hanging out the window with “Little Red Corvette” blaring as loud as possible.
No matter what you’re doing, just listen and remember why it is that Prince was a musical god among the rest of us. The music is all that matters.
Maybe a pancake or two wouldn’t hurt.
Hashim R. Hathaway (Uncle Shimbo) is the host of the Never Daunted Radio Network, and proud father to NeverDaunted.Net. You can reach him on Twitter @NeverDauntedNet