We’re Celebrating Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ on Flashback Friday

Prince has a massive catalog spanning decades, in the spotlight for this B101.7 Flashback Friday is Purple Rain.

Prince sold more than 100 million records, won seven Grammys and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

The 1984 Grammy Award winning album Purple Rain is highly regarded as one of the greatest and most significant recordings in history. It served as the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, which starred the Purple One making his movie debut.

'When Doves Cry' and 'Let's Go Crazy' are both #1 hits. 'Purple Rain' peaked at #2. Also receiving airplay as singles from the album, 'Take Me With You,' 'I Would Die 4 You/Baby I'm A Star.' That's 5 hit singles!

Then, there's 'Darling Nikki.' This song never really did receive much radio airplay due to its reference to masturbation and strong sexual content. But, it became well-known and is given partial credit for the move towards having 'Parental Advisory' labels.

The award winning title track, 'Purple Rain' was said to be regular for Prince to perform in concert, except for the years when he went by the symbol avoiding older hits.

the song 'Purple Rain' also serves as a centerpiec to the movie, as Lisa and Wendy of Prince's band The Revolution are seen in various scenes through the movie working on the song. Prince shows little interest. Towards the end of the movie Prince and The Revolution are up to play after their rivals Morris Day and Time crush it. Looking for a something to bring the house down, he turns to 'Purple Rain.'

At Prince's final concert in Atlanta, the last song performed was 'Purple Rain.'

Prince was very against any internet distribution of his music, making it next to impossible to find his videos on YouTube. What pops up here and there are bootleg recordings, mainly of live performances. Like the one below from the Super Bowl in the pouring rain.

Prince - 'Purple Rain' Live

Love flashback songs??  Oh, we have a whole night of them for you!  Yeah, check out the Saturday Night Party starting at 7 p.m. only on B101.7!