“I have fond memories of having my very first slow dance at my very first sock hop with a very cute boy to that awesome song. "Purple Rain" lasts like 7 minutes, so I got to be in his arms for a really long time. I didn't know him at all at the time, as I don't think our freshman year had barely started, but I was giddy that he picked me for the very last song of the dance. I remember him telling me I was a good dancer, and I was smiling on the inside but kept my cool, of course! I'm sure he remembers NOTHING of this, but it's always stuck with me, ever since then, which was August 1984.”
That was a memory friend, Anne Marie Ross Alegre, shared with me when social media learned of pop-star Prince’s death at the untimely age of 57 April 21.
I remember that night clearly as I was there (No, I am not the “cute boy” Miss Alegre danced with) over thirty years ago. It was an orientation dance for our entering Freshman class at Bishop Lynch High School and the cafeteria doubled as the dance floor, which was dimly lit when "Purple Rain" played on the speakers. If we had been allowed to have candles in the cafeteria, I wouldn’t have been surprised if classmates chose to light them up as the song played.
Her memory is one among a few examples that friends and former co-workers of mine shared on social media upon learning of the singer’s passing, whose death at this time is still being investigated. Some temporarily changed their profiles to the color purple while others got tattoos to honor the late artist.
Friend Angela Bardis took glee that she can still shock her young boys when she had Prince’s "Darling Nikki", from the "Purple Rain" soundtrack playing in the car. It was that song in which the sexual lyrics spoke of masturbation that led to the creation of the Parental Advisory label seen today on compact discs and the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center organized by Tipper Gore, wife of then Senator Al Gore according to an article in USA Today.
For me, I still remember seeing all the entertainment coverage of Prince’s first music film, "Purple Rain" (1984), on MTV during the summer of 1984. No, I was not a fan, but I did like the album, which I bought on compact disc for the first time the week he passed away and had it playing in my car over the past week.Prince’s death was not the first time social media went into a grieving frenzy this year. The same happened with the deaths of British rock star/actor David Bowie and Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in January as fans posted quotes from the singers’ lyrics and YouTube videos on their pages to express their grief.
When Prince died, fans it seemed had already been delivered so much of a crushing loss since January that memes were posted on social media with the words asking God, “If you give us back Prince and David Bowie, we promise to give you Kanye West, Lil Wayne and all the Kardashians.”
In the days before social media, fans expressed their grief gathering at a songwriter’s residence the way hundreds flocked to Graceland on Aug. 16, 1977, after learning of the death of Elvis Presley and at the Dakota in New York City where ex-Beatle John Lennon was killed outside the gates of his apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. Fans lit candles, brought flowers and gathered around to sing Give Peace A Chance.Today, fans don’t just flock to a musician’s residence, grave site or their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to pay tribute as they have been doing since Prince’s death on April 21 outside his compound at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minn. social media is now another form for fans to express their grief.
Prince’s death is sadly another nail in that 1980’s coffin; a reminder that the things my generation grew up on are slowly disappearing.
Our loss is Heaven’s gain.
Somewhere in the afterlife, Prince is probably jamming alongside so many other singers who’ve gone before him. It reminds me of another song the Commodores did back in 1985 called "Nightshift," which was a tribute to R&B singers, Jackie Wilson and Marvin Gaye who died in 1984. The end lyrics to that song seem rather appropriate now with Prince.
"Gonna be some sweet sounds Coming down on the night shift. I bet you're singing proud. Oh I bet you'll pull a crowd. Gonna be a long night. It's gonna be all right On the night shift. Oh you found another home. I know you're not alone On the nightshift."
©4/27/16
