Line #21 Awesome/Prince


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/prince_super_bowl_halftime_show.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Greatest. UsefulNotes/SuperBowl. Halftime Show. Ever.]]
3	* Prince recording multiple classic albums by ''himself'' could be considered Moments of Awesome. Take 1980's ''Music/DirtyMind,'' for example. Prince produced the entire album himself in his home studio, doing all the instruments and all the vocals (besides a couple of appearances from Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink). Multiple times, he finished a song in a single night. These were supposed to be demos, which accounts for the dry sound of the record, but Prince considered them good enough to release as is. He was right -- the finished product is considered one of the greatest albums of TheEighties. And he hadn't even truly started GrowingTheBeard yet.
4	* In 1984, Prince became the first and only person to simultaneously have the #1 album, #1 single, and #1 film in the USA (''Music/PurpleRain,'' "When Doves Cry" and ''Film/PurpleRain,'' respectively).
5	* February 2, 2007: Prince plays at UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XLI, performing on a giant symbol, busting out old mid-'80s classics, and covers Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival and the Music/FooFighters. All while rocking an aqua-colored suit. In the middle of a ''thunderstorm''. Billboard.com rated it the best Super Bowl performance of all time.
6	** He played "Music/{{Purple Rain\|Album}}" when there was actual purple rain in the sky. Only Prince could make the weather seem choreographed.
7	** When the producers warned him that he'd have to perform in the rain, he replied:
8	--->[[BadassBoast "Can you make it rain any harder?"]]
9	* The 2004 UsefulNotes/RockAndRollHallOfFame ceremony. A Music/GeorgeHarrison tribute, in the form of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," is going just fine until [[http://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y?t=3m10s Prince plays the climactic guitar solo]]. For the entirety of the song beforehand, Prince is just standing off to the side with the spotlight not even on him. He's just sitting in the shadows quietly playing the rhythm section…and then ''explodes.'' This man is on stage with such luminaries as Music/TomPetty and Jeff Lynne from Music/ElectricLightOrchestra, plus Harrison's own son Dhani, and Prince (who'd just been inducted into the Hall himself that night) completely stole the show.
10	-->'''Website/YouTube comment:''' Prince casually pulls one of the greatest solos in rock and roll history out of his jacket pocket.
11	** Watch the other performers on the stage when Prince really gets grooving; Tom Petty keeps nodding, urging Prince on, and Dhani Harrison can't get the smile off his face.
12	** It's more due to the camera angle, but at the end of his solo, Prince tosses his guitar in the air and we never see it come down or someone catch it. Fans like to joke that George Harrison himself caught it up in heaven. The 2021 re-edit did eventually reveal that Prince ''threw it into the crowd'', which also means that someone in that audience now just ''has'' the guitar that Prince absolutely ''shredded'' to within an inch of its life.
13	** This performance, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdfMh8QgJjA which was re-edited in 2021 to show MORE Prince]], has become ''the'' de facto go-to clip to showcase Prince's incredible skill on the six-string.
14	** The best part is that the entire solo was done off-the-cuff and unrehearsed. The reason? During rehearsals, the sections that Prince was supposed to play and solo on were taken instead by Jeff Lynne's lead guitarist, Marc Mann, who simply played Eric Clapton's original solos phrase for phrase. Prince brushed it off, and just asked that he was allowed to do his thing once the live performance actually happened. The rest is nearly 3 minutes of history.
15	* Let's be real here, practically '''all''' his guitar solos are at least somewhat awesome. But when Prince was really feeling it, [[http://scandalous-vanitym.tumblr.com/post/99265138153/this-guitar-solo-is-everything his solos were so good, he'd melt his OWN face.]]
16	* Also, anytime Prince really hits the listener with a '''high-pitched shriek''' is pretty amazing, but special mention goes to "The Beautiful Ones" from ''Purple Rain,'' and "Endorphinmachine" from ''The Gold Experience'', both of which end with Prince just shredding his poor vocal cords to dust.
17	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ddXb54cqxY His infamous butt-window pants]] from his 1991 MTV [=VMAs=] performance of "Gett Off" is Moment Of Awesome meets RefugeInAudacity. Wasn't nominated for anything, stole the show anyway.
18	* After years of distaste for Website/YouTube and similar sites, and a poor sense of humor about himself, Prince released [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzWX1gv6u2s a single]] inspired by a ''Series/ChappellesShow'' skit at his expense, with Creator/DaveChappelle dressed as him as [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/19/prince-breakfast-can-wait-cover-art_n_3778923.html the cover]]. Like the skit, the video also does not feature him in it but instead has the video's (female) director/choreographer impersonating him.
19	-->'''[[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tonight-show-dave-chappelle-explains-711896 Dave Chappelle]]:''' That’s a Prince judo move right there. You make fun of Prince in a sketch and he’ll just use you in his album cover. What am I going to do -- sue him for using a picture of me dressed up like him? That’s checkmate right there.
20	* All of his ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' performances were awesome (including his first one during ''SNL''[='=]s [[SeasonalRot horrible sixth season]]), but his performance on November 1, 2014, the final one before his death, deserves special mention. Forgoing the typical two songs the show affords musical guests (one in the middle, one at the end), he did a single eight-minute medley tearing ass through his newest songs with his all-girl backing band 3rdEyeGirl. Creator/ChrisRock and the audience were so hyped, they were barely coherent during the intro.
21	-->'''Chris Rock:''' Ladies and gentlemen, ''YOU ARE SO LUCKY TO BE HERE TONIGHT!''
22	* The tribute to him in the halftime show for Super Bowl LII, played in his hometown of Minneapolis two years after his death. First, a giant projection of his performance in ''Purple Rain'' was played on the stage, before it was revealed that ''several blocks'' all around the stadium were being bathed in purple light, which then turned brighter in the form of his symbol.

Context Awesome / Prince