Thursday, April 21, 2016

Prince and Duran Duran



It's hard to believe that Prince is no longer with us. He was only 57; a Duran contemporary.

I have listened to Prince since I first heard "Purple Rain" when I was 7 years old. I’m from Prince’s home state; it was just the natural thing to do. 

Over the years, I have been to many shows in Minneapolis clubs where Prince had a history: First Avenue, where scenes from the movie “Purple Rain” were filmed, and the former Glam Slam, which the artist once owned. In 2011, I saw Duran play the latter venue, which had been renamed Epic at the time.

Although I grew up on Prince’s ’80s music, I am partial to his early ’90s work. “Thieves in the Temple,” “Diamonds and Pearls,” and “7” are among my favorite songs.

It was also in the ’90s that Duran opened for Prince and covered his songs. Among the rearranged, unplugged versions of Duran classics the band performed at the time was “Notorious,” which included some of Prince’s “Sexy MF.” It's featured on Duran's "No Ordinary EP."


And in 2008, Duran and Mark Ronson performed Prince’s “Sign ‘O’ the Times” between “Notorious” and “I Don’t Want Your Love."
 

A post on Duran Duran's Facebook page soon after his death called Prince "an enormous talent that we were all big fans of."

And the band echoed the sentiment that many are now feeling: We were "devastated to hear the news about Prince."