Written by TeNeil Spaeth

Published June 17, 2024

Woodward, OK---I often have difficulty categorizing my level of fam within the Prince famdom. I have always thought of myself as much more than a casual fan. I remember the very moment I first heard his music – played on my little, red, Panasonic cassette player. I "borrowed" the 1999 album cassette from my much older aunt’s boyfriend during a stay at my grandparents’ mountain cabin. I was hidden amongst the majestic pines of Taos Canyon as “Let’s Pretend We’re Married” echoed from the mountain face. I was approximately seven years old, and what little I knew about what married couples did behind closed bedroom doors was enough for me to be confident that my parents would not want me listening to this tune. But listen I did. A side and B side without interruption. And that was all it took. Prince was a part of me.

When I was a little older, I went to a dance convention where a tall, majestic Black man (much like the aforementioned pine trees) in a white unitard taught a classic jazz number to "Kiss." Yet, another core childhood memory set in stone. Fast forward to my high school and college years where there was the dancing to "Cream" in front of the mirror before every date night, the consuming of all of his music that I could get my hands on without much knowledge of the NPG Club (much less the internet that it could be found on), and the seeing him live in concert my one and only time in 1997.

Then adulting happened. Four children happened. Traumatic life events happened. And I lived as though Prince would live forever. And then he didn’t. When the uncertain times of 2020 rolled around, I took a nose dive into the depths of the Prince universe in what I can now only justify as some sort of search to be soothed. A search for a distraction from the unknown that surrounded me into the known arms of the music of my youth. Prince did not disappoint as those same stomach flutters I felt as a child upon hearing his music for the first time returned. And I haven’t turned back. Just when I think that I know all I can about the life, music, and times of Prince, I meet someone who knows twice as much, or I discover an unreleased song that I’ve never heard before, and, well, I wonder if I should just turn in my Prince card for good, because I am unworthy.

Andrea Swensson’s new book is much like my own trip down Prince memory lane. Titled Prince & Purple Rain: 40 Years, with a foreword by Maya Rudolph, it is a love letter to the meteor that was Purple Rain and the impact it had on those both close to its radius and those seemingly a world away (like an 8 year old girl in rural Oklahoma). It left its mark on music and culture alike, and, as Swensson so eloquently states “Its style has become so interwoven into contemporary fashion that it’s impossible to tell where one glistening metallic thread begins and another one ends.”

For some who may not know, Andrea Swensson is a Minneapolis-based journalist who has covered all things Prince and the Minneapolis Sound for years. She hosts the Official Prince Podcast, has written for numerous publications, and has published seven books. I have appreciated her level headed voice in regards to Prince. In my opinion, she has an inquisitive but kind spirit about her that doesn’t just assume but rather longs to understand her subjects. In Prince & the Purple Rain: 40 Years, Swensson covers Prince’s early start as a child meddling with his father’s piano, to his high school years with community bands, to his skyrocket to fame with the Purple Rain era. She details in such a meaningful way without bogging down the reader with too much information. 

Using gorgeous photographs to pull the story together, Swensson tugs at the hearts of fans who remember how that first glimpse of his royal badness on that purple motorcycle made them feel. How that crawl from the steaming bathtub in the “When Doves Cry” music video became a permanent picture etched into the brains of a generation. She paints a full picture of the main players in the making of both the film, the album, and the tour using both quotes and anecdotes from those players, and, most fascinatingly, quotes directly from Prince years later as he reflected upon those explosive couple of years. Ironically, something that Prince often said himself that he disliked to do – looking back instead of plowing forward. Much in that same vein as Prince, I choose to look past a couple typos and mis-captioned photos in the book and plow forward to the air of the book as a whole.

Many of the facts and stories in the book won’t be new to the “hardcore” fan, but it is presented in a manner that brings nostalgia to the forefront. As much as it is a love letter to those Purple Rain years, I couldn’t help but think it is also a nod to those who were there in real time. The kids who were raised by MTV. The teens who cosplayed their way through The Kid, Apollonia, and The Revolution. The very young children like myself who were too young to fully grasp the cultural significance but still have vivid flashes of purple, synthesizers, high heels, and parents proclaiming that all of it was inappropriate for their impressionable eyes.

The book allowed me an hour or so to once again contemplate how I view the genius and artistry of Prince through my own lens, both as the naïve little white girl from a mostly sheltered environment and as the now 48-year-old dancer and choreographer. Swensson reminds us a couple times in her words that Prince reinvented himself over and over again with each album and each project, but I have a different theory.

I don’t believe Prince reinvented himself as much as he simply peeled back layer after layer of parts of himself for us to witness. Each character from each era wasn’t a reinvention. Each character was a manifestation of a piece of himself he was willing to reveal at that specific time. Hardcore fans may roll their eyes and declare “Prince is much more than Purple Rain,” and on that I can certainly agree. But one cannot deny that Purple Rain was a part of Prince and the layer he chose to unveil at that ideal, fateful moment when, like a perfect storm, all elements came together to birth a musical and cultural bombshell that the sounds, sights, and sensations of which have continued to radiate for 40 years, and I imagine will continue to radiate for 40 more. And 40 more. Into infinity.

And for all those moments of reflection, the book is worth a look.

Book Information

Title: Prince and Purple Rain: 40 Years

Author: Andrea Swensson

Price: $50.00 / £38.00

Subject Area: Music

ISBN: 9780760386491

Published Date: May 21st, 2024

Imprint: Motorbooks International

TeNeil Spaeth is a dance studio owner and choreographer residing in Woodward, OK. She has spent the past 26 years working in the performing arts, including dance, musical theatre, and opera. In her spare time, she is a tv, movie, book, and restaurant critic. For more Prince content, donut reviews, and other shenanigans, visit @princeanddonuts.