I've never been a huge Prince fan, although I can appreciate his music.
One time during my sophomore week in college, "Kiss" held the coveted song of the week spot - much to the chagrin of my neighbors who apparently didn't understand that it had to be blasted multiple times in a row at full volume.
In any case, Bill Simmons a/k/a ESPN's Sports Guy was talking about him on a podcast a few months ago and he and his buddy Jack-O were saying how amazing of a guitarist he was. I had never thought of Prince as a tremendous guitarist as much as a little weird man that dressed in women's clothes and who wrote some dope pop songs.
But, some googling appears to confirm that he is a pretty amazing guitarist.
The clip below is a tribute to George Harrison at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Watch the clip. This could be the greatest guitar solo ever. Also, watch Dhani Harrison's (he's the one who looks exactly like his father, George Harrison) face when Prince falls backwards off the stage. Amongst the band member's are Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and some other guy who I assume is a famour musician (but obviously not that famous since I don't know who he is). Prince destroys all of them. They're not in the same ballpark, it's not even the same fucking sport. The solo starts at 3:31 if you're too impatient to watch the whole thing.
Anyway, this clip inspired more googling and I came across this very bizarre story about him on YouTube.
Basically, Kevin Smith (of Chasing Amy, Mall Rats & Clerks fame) tells this story how he tried to get Prince to OK his using of one of his songs in an upcoming movie. Prince won't let him use the Prince version but invites him to Minnesota to film a documentary. Kevin Smith goes and bizarness ensues. (It takes a while but it is a hell of a story.)
6 comments:
I have not yet listened to the Kevin Smith story, for the record.
That was a dope guitar solo, but are you really contending that it was the best single guitar solo in history? Like better than any Jimi Hendrix solo, or Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eddie Van Halen, or Jimmy Page with or without violin bow? I think the generic album version guitar solo on the Allman Brothers "Blue Sky" is probably better than this one.
Prince is a dope guitarist, I'm not trying to dispute that, but this claim is like Side Bar after a Ben Harper show.
that statement was a bit hyperbolic, admittedly.
Something else I meant to say in the last comment. You know who else is a dope guitarist, though you wouldn't know it from his music, is John Mayer. He's like an incredible guitar player. Also he's got one of the highest guitar skill to pussified music ratios in history. Which is why it reminded me of Prince.
Yeah, hard to put this solo -- as great as it is -- above numerous Jimmy Page solos (Stairway, Heartbreaker, Dazed and Confused, et al). It's really tough to pick a favorite, but I might go with Duane Allman on Statesboro Blues.
Here are some Best Guitar Solos lists that are at least worth a look:
http://www.guitarworld.com/50_greatest_solos?page=0%2C4
http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/08/06/the-25-coolest-guitar-solos/
http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006/09/best_guitar_sol.html
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