The Devil's Music

I never was a huge Prince fan, but for a period I thought he was pretty awesome, and some of his songs are truly phenomenal. My cousin John had a couple of his early albums and I remember loving 'Purple Rain'. I also remember, when I was about 17, really fancying a girl who used to catch the same bus to work every morning. One day I plucked up the courage to talk to her and found out she was a massive Prince fan. I wished I was more into him so I could hold a more authoritative conversation with her about the great man, but alas I floundered. I never did muster the courage to ask her out. Maybe my lack of knowledge of Prince didn't do me any favours anyway, so rejection was probably inevitable.

I hadn't planned to post this today, something else was lined up, but with 2016 being such a fucking heartless bitch, draining the world of immense talent while also keeping every member of fucking Duran Duran alive, I felt I should pay tribute to one of the most unique rock stars the planet has ever seen. Prince never touched my soul like Bowie did, but there's a big argument to say he was nearly as influential. Wherever it is that pop stars go when they burn out, it's glowing a shade of purple this week.

Dance With The Devil was written for the Batman soundtrack in 1989 but didn't make the cut. It takes its title from the Joker's famous phrase "Did you ever dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight?" and remains officially unreleased. However, it leaked in 2011 on the gargantuan 34-disc (yes, thirty-friggin'-four CDs!) bootleg 'Work It!' There are, apparently, countless unreleased albums, films and videos in Prince's personal archive. I have no doubt some will see the light of day at some point in the no-so-distant-future.


Soundtrack:

• Dance With The Devil - Prince (from 'Work It!' bootleg)