On July 27th,1984 Prince’s landmark movie “Purple Rain” opened in theaters. I was there for that first night premiere, but I need to share some back story first.
Motorcycle riding Prince posing for his movie’s poster.
I got into Prince’s music in 1981 when I started on the air at Elmhurst College’s radio station WRSE, 88.7 on your FM dial. College radio played lots of off the main roads music and that’s when I was introduced to and started spinning Prince tunes like “Controversy” and my personal favorite, “When You Were Mine.”
In the fall of 1982, Prince’s double album “1999” came out. Leading with the M-TV favorite “Little Red Corvette” along with the title track and songs like “Delirious” and “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” I was all over that set of songs. So were millions of other music fans.
A month after “1999’s” release, Michael Jackson’s mega hits album “Thriller” came out. This is when the whole “Who’s better, Prince or Michael Jackson?” debates began. I liked Michael’s music but I preferred Prince. That Prince/Michael debate continues to this day.
Fast forward to June of 1984- Prince released the “Purple Rain” album with the lead single “When Doves Cry.” “Doves” was another huge video hit on M-TV showing the lady killing star naked in a bathtub.
Prince in his video for the single “When Doves Cry.”
My dear friend and mentor, Lee Swanson was a massive Michael Jackson fan but thanks to my urging, he was beginning to explore Prince’s music. This brings us to late July and the opening night of the “Purple Rain” movie. Lee and I were all in and showed up early to get tickets to the 7:00 showing at the Hillside Square Movie Theater. This cinema had 4 screens which preceded the whole 20 screens googolplexes theaters that would come out in a few years.
Lee and I took seats in the last row of the center section and were totally into the film from the opening scene of Prince and the Revolution performing, “Let’s Go Crazy” to the final song of the film, “Baby I’m a Star.” “Purple Rain” was a perfect mix of great music, family and backstage drama and even goofy humor, thanks to Morris Day of The Time.
Seeing the buxom bare chest of Prince protege “Apollonia” in the scene at the lake was fine by us too. This movie had a little bit for everyone and was a huge hit across the country and established Prince as a major music and now movie star.
Apolonia, about to jump into Lake Minnetonka.
Our theater was oversold and a group of folks had to stand in the aisle behind our last row seats for the whole film. At one point, some of these moviegoers started talking loudly and yelling back at the screen. I wanted to focus on the dialog and was getting annoyed. Finally, I turned to these yakkers and told them to shut up. Lee quickly elbowed me in the ribs and whispered, “We’re the only white guys in this whole place!” He was right but those who gabbed DID quiet down. (Me shouting down those loud movie goers was like what George Costanza did to some goofs in a “Seinfeld” episode titled “The Opposite.”)
Like George Costanza would do years later on ‘Seinfeld’, I had to quiet down some rowdy talkers during “Purple Rain.”
Witnessing “Purple Rain” on the big screen, Lee Swanson fully appreciated the musical genius and appeal of Prince. He loved Michael but ended up being almost as devoted to the purple clothed guitar slinging dude from Minneapolis. Later in 1984, Lee was one of the first of us to see Prince in concert.
In fact, Lee got so into Prince, a few years later he dragged me and some friends out to see Prince’s bad movie, “Under the Cherry Moon”, which should’ve been titled “Under the Cherry Bomb!”
All of this “Purple Rain” fun was going on 40 years ago. Lee has been gone for almost 30 years and I still miss him. But, whenever I hear a song or see a clip from that film, I think of my pal and smile about our time at that movie and so many other great times we had together. 40 years ago, and it feels like yesterday.
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