So well said, thank you! There are so many amazing cover to cover albums out there and Prince has quite a few. I also think Tapestry by Carole King is a perfect album, which makes sense given her writing output for other artists. What are some of your favorites?
Such an excellent piece! As a supremely shy, straight, white-boy teenager, I remember being simultaneously scared of and attracted to the gender-fluid students at my high school. This was the early 80s and both Prince and Culture Club were super popular. New wave and punk were supplanting rock and disco, and the fashions and hairstyles seemed to cross all gender lines. Most of the boys wore eyeliner and it was not uncommon to add blush and lipstick as well. After the girl I had a crush on taught me how to apply it, and teased and sprayed my rocker-style long hair into a John Taylor-esque mullet, my jean-jacketed metal persona was a thing of the past.
I worked at Wherehouse records and my coworker Brian was a Prince fanatic and looked like a younger, taller version of his favorite artist. I of course knew some of Prince's music, but it was Brian who took me under his wing and played me everything in the Prince canon. Since then, Prince has been my favorite artist and I'm so grateful I got to see him perform at least 8 times. Including his 5th to last show on the piano and a microphone tour.
Your piece reminded me of how much that time formed who I became, how I would always gravitate toward people who didn't fit into the traditional boxes of the day.
Prince was so undefinable, so uncategorizable, and that flummoxed so many people. But it's what made everything about him incredibly exciting.
I do hope the Camille project is finally released in a way that honors how Prince would have wanted it shared.
What a beautiful story Steve, thank you for sharing! You've articulated exactly what Songs That Saved Your Life is supposed to be about - celebrating the music that helped us all find our authentic selves. I can't believe you got to see Prince's last tour. That must've felt like an even more precious experience after he passed.
Steve........Jack is committed to releasing "Camille" in the track-order and every other way that Prince had originally wanted. This per Mark Chance, Third Man Records A&R, who is one of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE's first subscribers, a good friend, and someone I see on a virtually daily basis! In fact, he just revealed to me that, with Third Man's pressing schedule, "Camille" will likely see the light of day after November 1.
Steve........Jack is committed to releasing "Camille" in the track-order and every other way that Prince had originally wanted. This per Mark Chance, Third Man Records A&R, who is one of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE's first subscribers, a good friend, and someone I see on a virtually daily basis! In fact, he just revealed to me that, with Third Man's pressing schedule, "Camille" will likely see the light of day after November 1.
Thank you so much for sharing this Brad! As a queer writer with an abnormal Prince obsession, the unreleased Camille album is what I consider the apex of his catalog. Deeply exploring his gender fluidity was the main goal for this project and it would've been a revolutionary gift to the world (especially the LGBTIA community) if it had been celebrated properly in 1986. Since I'm not even sure if many in the queer community are aware of this project, perhaps it still has the potential to inspire. I honestly can't wait.
After reading this I played my “If I Was Your Girlfriend” maxi-single 45 that I’ve owned since high school (and the B-side too). Your observation about the song’s protagonist wanting to strip away masculine norms to be closer to his lover - that those norms are inhibiters to deep intimacy- is what struck me when I heard this as a (straight) teenager back in the late 80s. Heavy metal was very popular back then, at least where I lived, and it was a genre dripping with certain norms and notions of masculinity. “If I Was Your Girlfriend” was the antithesis of that style of music and it’s presentation of masculinity.
Exactly Marcus! I’m impressed you still have this maxi-single! And that this song was able to cut through the fog for you. I was also bowled over by it when I first heard it. Sign o’ the Times is definitely my favorite Prince album (then Dirty Mind probably.) Thank you for reading this!
Beautiful ... thanks for sharing this. I spent 5+ years post-grad school in Minneapolis in the mid '90s, and got to see Prince perform a couple of times (both astonishing) and even shook his hand once (no discernable callouses despite his guitar wizardry). Dude smelled amazing, too; his essential oil game was definitely on point. A radical in gender representation and so many things. RIP.
Wonderful! As a decidedly straight kid who was a social outcast because of my ethnicity and my sensitivity (I was called "fairy" all the time), I had no clue about, really, anything. But I intuitively sensed that Prince and Bowie represented something valuable for all of us--the freedom to be whoever we were. It is fascinating how mainstream society tolerated them and the rampantly gay New Wave scene. Mainstream sensibilities couldn't even register stuff that radical. Sort of the way the previous generation were fans of Liberace, or the 50's TV censors totally missed the subversive messages permeating Saturday morning cartoons.
That is EXACTLY right Charles. Often people in our own community missed some of the cues because they were so entrenched in mainstream culture and didn't catch on to the subliminal messaging until later in life. I love uncovering and retelling those stories in music. It often acts as a reminder for folx who didn't get a chance to truly consider it the first time around.
A wonderful piece. As a bisexual, cis-gendered Boomer, I never really related to Prince'sexuality as much as his music, which was an apex of sorts of the music of the '70s that was so important to me. But reading this gave me new insight into his role as a role model in ways I didn't really catch (duh, I know...). Your pieces are often very enlightening to me, almost reintroducing me to art and artists that I knew, but didn't really KNOW. So thanks for that!! Also, NB: I remember when the "symbol" album came out, and one more bit of Prince's wit: The label made a big deal of sending the publication I worked for a then-new GIF of the symbol so that we didn't publish "Prince" when reviewing the album. And then the album came, (huge) symbol on the cover, and the opening song: "My Name is Prince." I mean...LOL!!
Thank you David! I'm so glad you're finding these stories and appreciated them. Since queer history hasn't ever been properly integrated into mainstream culture, there's so much information about our favorite bands that just got passed over. Also, I TOTALLY remember the floppy disks Prince's team used to send to news outlets when he changed his name. It was amazing.
So well said, thank you! There are so many amazing cover to cover albums out there and Prince has quite a few. I also think Tapestry by Carole King is a perfect album, which makes sense given her writing output for other artists. What are some of your favorites?
Such an excellent piece! As a supremely shy, straight, white-boy teenager, I remember being simultaneously scared of and attracted to the gender-fluid students at my high school. This was the early 80s and both Prince and Culture Club were super popular. New wave and punk were supplanting rock and disco, and the fashions and hairstyles seemed to cross all gender lines. Most of the boys wore eyeliner and it was not uncommon to add blush and lipstick as well. After the girl I had a crush on taught me how to apply it, and teased and sprayed my rocker-style long hair into a John Taylor-esque mullet, my jean-jacketed metal persona was a thing of the past.
I worked at Wherehouse records and my coworker Brian was a Prince fanatic and looked like a younger, taller version of his favorite artist. I of course knew some of Prince's music, but it was Brian who took me under his wing and played me everything in the Prince canon. Since then, Prince has been my favorite artist and I'm so grateful I got to see him perform at least 8 times. Including his 5th to last show on the piano and a microphone tour.
Your piece reminded me of how much that time formed who I became, how I would always gravitate toward people who didn't fit into the traditional boxes of the day.
Prince was so undefinable, so uncategorizable, and that flummoxed so many people. But it's what made everything about him incredibly exciting.
I do hope the Camille project is finally released in a way that honors how Prince would have wanted it shared.
What a beautiful story Steve, thank you for sharing! You've articulated exactly what Songs That Saved Your Life is supposed to be about - celebrating the music that helped us all find our authentic selves. I can't believe you got to see Prince's last tour. That must've felt like an even more precious experience after he passed.
Steve........Jack is committed to releasing "Camille" in the track-order and every other way that Prince had originally wanted. This per Mark Chance, Third Man Records A&R, who is one of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE's first subscribers, a good friend, and someone I see on a virtually daily basis! In fact, he just revealed to me that, with Third Man's pressing schedule, "Camille" will likely see the light of day after November 1.
Steve........Jack is committed to releasing "Camille" in the track-order and every other way that Prince had originally wanted. This per Mark Chance, Third Man Records A&R, who is one of FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE's first subscribers, a good friend, and someone I see on a virtually daily basis! In fact, he just revealed to me that, with Third Man's pressing schedule, "Camille" will likely see the light of day after November 1.
Thank you so much for sharing this Brad! As a queer writer with an abnormal Prince obsession, the unreleased Camille album is what I consider the apex of his catalog. Deeply exploring his gender fluidity was the main goal for this project and it would've been a revolutionary gift to the world (especially the LGBTIA community) if it had been celebrated properly in 1986. Since I'm not even sure if many in the queer community are aware of this project, perhaps it still has the potential to inspire. I honestly can't wait.
Fucking AWESOME! Thanks for that symbol and inspiration to KEEP IT JUICY.
After reading this I played my “If I Was Your Girlfriend” maxi-single 45 that I’ve owned since high school (and the B-side too). Your observation about the song’s protagonist wanting to strip away masculine norms to be closer to his lover - that those norms are inhibiters to deep intimacy- is what struck me when I heard this as a (straight) teenager back in the late 80s. Heavy metal was very popular back then, at least where I lived, and it was a genre dripping with certain norms and notions of masculinity. “If I Was Your Girlfriend” was the antithesis of that style of music and it’s presentation of masculinity.
Exactly Marcus! I’m impressed you still have this maxi-single! And that this song was able to cut through the fog for you. I was also bowled over by it when I first heard it. Sign o’ the Times is definitely my favorite Prince album (then Dirty Mind probably.) Thank you for reading this!
Beautiful ... thanks for sharing this. I spent 5+ years post-grad school in Minneapolis in the mid '90s, and got to see Prince perform a couple of times (both astonishing) and even shook his hand once (no discernable callouses despite his guitar wizardry). Dude smelled amazing, too; his essential oil game was definitely on point. A radical in gender representation and so many things. RIP.
Wonderful! As a decidedly straight kid who was a social outcast because of my ethnicity and my sensitivity (I was called "fairy" all the time), I had no clue about, really, anything. But I intuitively sensed that Prince and Bowie represented something valuable for all of us--the freedom to be whoever we were. It is fascinating how mainstream society tolerated them and the rampantly gay New Wave scene. Mainstream sensibilities couldn't even register stuff that radical. Sort of the way the previous generation were fans of Liberace, or the 50's TV censors totally missed the subversive messages permeating Saturday morning cartoons.
That is EXACTLY right Charles. Often people in our own community missed some of the cues because they were so entrenched in mainstream culture and didn't catch on to the subliminal messaging until later in life. I love uncovering and retelling those stories in music. It often acts as a reminder for folx who didn't get a chance to truly consider it the first time around.
A wonderful piece. As a bisexual, cis-gendered Boomer, I never really related to Prince'sexuality as much as his music, which was an apex of sorts of the music of the '70s that was so important to me. But reading this gave me new insight into his role as a role model in ways I didn't really catch (duh, I know...). Your pieces are often very enlightening to me, almost reintroducing me to art and artists that I knew, but didn't really KNOW. So thanks for that!! Also, NB: I remember when the "symbol" album came out, and one more bit of Prince's wit: The label made a big deal of sending the publication I worked for a then-new GIF of the symbol so that we didn't publish "Prince" when reviewing the album. And then the album came, (huge) symbol on the cover, and the opening song: "My Name is Prince." I mean...LOL!!
Thank you David! I'm so glad you're finding these stories and appreciated them. Since queer history hasn't ever been properly integrated into mainstream culture, there's so much information about our favorite bands that just got passed over. Also, I TOTALLY remember the floppy disks Prince's team used to send to news outlets when he changed his name. It was amazing.