9. PrincePurple Rain

I kept noticing picture of this weird looking bloke in magazines. Sometimes the magazines printed his lyrics and I couldn’t believe what I was reading.He stops a bride on her way to the altar and does what? By then, my classmates were circulating bonk busters by Jackie Collins, Harold Robbins and Sidney Sheldon.

We were all clued up on what ‘went on’, but I still felt shocked by this guy’s smutty lyrics. What was the story with this weirdo in the black budgie smugglers, the visible pubes and the nasty moustache? I was a born-again Christian at the time; it didn’t help.

I’ll never forget that afternoon. I was at home alone. I was sitting on the floor. I think I was sewing a button on or something like that. An almighty sound came out of the radio. It was an organ of some kind. It sounded as if it had been recorded on a warped tape. A voice like the voice of God or a god spoke. "Dearly beloved/ We are gathered here today/ To get through this thing called life./ Electric word life/ It means forever and that’s a mighty long time/ But I’m here to tell you/ There’s something else./ The after world." I don’t remember anything else about that moment except the sonic storm of screams, screaming guitars and drums that surged from the radio. I felt pinned to the wall. "The elevator" would try to break me down. The solution was to "go crazy"!

I swear it was like my first proper orgasm; too much information, I know, but you never forget that. When the song concluded the announcer said, "That was Prince!" I thought, "WOOOOW. So that’s what he sounds like." Shortly after that I was invited to a friend’s house to watch Purple Rain on video. I can’t tell you if the film was any good, but the music was electric. It was the first time that I became a true fan of anything or anyone. I had found a hero. He got me through high school.