Track 7: Baby, I’m a Star Prince and the Revolution, Purple Rain From the summer of 1984 through the spring of 1985, Purple Rain was everywhere. The mainstream media was frenzied with rave reviews, speculation about his links to his protégés, and the delicious controversy over his brazen sexuality. Each element of the promotion machine compounded upon the others to create an undeniable force. Videos promoted the singles. The singles promoted the soundtrack. The soundtrack promoted the movie. The movie promoted the tour. Purple Rain was a pop cultural phenomenon. The album displaced Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA at the top of charts and remained there for over six months, the third longest run in history. It moved more than 13 million …show more content…
He didn’t even try. Instead, he challenged his public with a confounding reinvention. In a series of commerce-defying contortions, Prince thumbed his nose at the “great follow-up complex” and again established self-guidance as his overriding principle. If nothing else, he would be an original. It started with a stunning announcement before the last date of the Purple Rain tour. Manager Steve Fargnoli issued a statement saying, “Prince is withdrawing from the live performance scene for an indefinite period of time.” That weekend’s show, on Easter Sunday at Miami’s Orange Bowl, was to be “his last performance for an indeterminate number of years.” Fargnoli told reporters, “I asked what he planned to do. He told me, ‘I’m going to look for the ladder.’” Three weeks after the press conference, with almost no advance notice, a new album by His Purple Majesty suddenly arrived in stores. It was titled Around the World in a Day, and the central ballad was called “The Ladder.” In the opening phrases, Prince talked of an unloving, unappreciative king who didn’t deserve his throne. The song was followed by a grinding mood piece (“Temptation”) in which Prince played out the essential love vs. lust conflict of Purple Rain. Beaten and resigned, he told his God he finally understood the error of his ways and then advised his listeners that he’d be going away for what might be a long period of