Pod Insights DISGRACELAND Prince (Pt. 2): Bodyguards, Guns, Gangs, and a Revolution About this episode 1984. Prince is at his commercial and creative peak. "Purple Rain" – the album, the soundtrack, and the film – is a sensation. But that's when the backlash sets in. That's when Prince's public persona sours, thanks in part to a tell-all story sold by a former bodyguard for a big drug-money payday. All the while, the world is sinking further into chaos and disorder; guns, gangs, murder, AIDS, earthquakes. In these dark times, can Prince find purpose ... and a musical revolution?
Prince's "Sign o' the Times" was a socially conscious record that addressed contemporary issues head on. What artist best met their moment? Tell Jake at 617-906-6638, [email protected] , or on socials @disgracelandpod.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Speaker 00 This is Exactly Right.
0:13 Jake Brennan? I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.
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1:12 Speaker 03 She's been thinking about this sleepover all week, but I think about her food allergies all the time. Fortunately, her doctor prescribed Zolair, omalizumab. It's proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens.
1:25 Speaker 04 Zolir 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people one year of age and older to reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods. While taking Zolir, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Zolir. Zolir may cause a severe, life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Zolir should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. Zolir is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see zolir.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Zolir.
2:08 Speaker 04 This is an advertisement for Zolir, paid for by Genentech and Novartis. Disgrace Land is a production of Double Elvis.
2:24 Jake Brennan? This is the story about a murder. It's the story of a band member with a gun shoved in his face. A bodyguard selling his boss's story for drug money. It's the story of an earthquake. A cop stuck with a dirty AIDS-infected needle. Of a beating with a baseball bat. It's the story of a revolution and a sign of the times. It is, of course, a story about Prince. A man who might be the greatest pop musician of all time. A man who made great music. Some of the greatest music ever made. Unlike that music I played for you at the top of the show, that wasn't great music.
3:08 Jake Brennan? That was a preset loop from my Mellotron called "Brown Mark's Lament," MK1. I played you that loop because I can't afford the rights to "Livin' on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. And why would I play you that specific slice of slippery-wen-wet cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the number-one song in America on February 18, 1987. And that was the day that Prince released the song "Sign of the Times," his first single in four years without his legendary band, The Revolution. A song from an album about death, rebirth, change, crime, and strife. From one of the greatest to ever do it.
3:52 Jake Brennan? On this episode, bodyguards, drug habits, guns, gangs, and oh yeah, an ejaculating guitar. Did I mention the ejaculating guitar? And of course, Prince. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is DisgraceLand.
4:34 Jake Brennan? As Prince stood up in the audience to accept the first of three American Music Awards in Los Angeles, his bodyguard, Charles Huntsberry, aka Big Chick, stood up with him. Big Chick came as advertised, six foot eight, 300 or maybe 400 something pounds, depending on who you asked. He was a big white dude in a big white Santa beard, wearing a big old black wife beater. And he was not just a protector, but he was an ally, the kind of guy who, when he walked into an establishment alongside a black member of Prince's band, would immediately clock the racist shitheads inside and say without hesitation, "This is my friend, and if you little pussies have a problem with him, then you have a problem
5:17 Jake Brennan? with me." Big Chick was Prince's big shadow, and Prince, all five foot two of him, though a little taller tonight on account of those heels he was wearing, cut a path to the stage with purpose, where representatives of the previous generation, the Beach Boys, handed him his award. He strolled to the mic and said simply, "Thank you very much." No one else brought their bodyguard with them to the American Music Awards that night. But there was no one else like Prince, not that night, not any night. But on January 28th, 1985, the evening of the American Music Awards, no one could do what Prince
6:00 Jake Brennan? could do, which specifically was beat Michael Jackson in his unbeatable album Thriller in the favorite pop album category. Right now, Prince was no longer in the ascendant. At 26 years old, Prince was at the mountaintop.
6:18 Jake Brennan? The album for which he won those awards, Purple Rain, was also the soundtrack to the movie of the same name, released the year prior. A number one movie that generated two number one singles, "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy." But the most impressive statistic was that now, in January of 1985, the album slash soundtrack, Purple Rain, had just ended its 24-week streak at number one on the Billboard Album Chart. 24 weeks! That's six months if you don't want to do the math, and you're not alone. Prince didn't want to do the math either. Prince just wanted to do things the way he wanted them done. "Doing It His Way" was how he made his first album,
7:02 Jake Brennan? "For You," back in 1978. While he was still just a teenager, he produced it, arranged it, and performed everything entirely by himself. "Doing It His Way" was how he made his third album, "Dirty Mind," in 1980. That record's raw funk and brazen lyrical content was so game-changing that The Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau wrote, and I quote, "Mick Jagger can just fold up his penis and go home." "In His Way" was also the only way when it came to training his band, The Revolution. The rehearsals went on for hours with no interruptions. And you better learn to play that bass with one hand so that if you get hungry, you can make a sandwich with the other hand and not miss a beat. You want bathroom breaks? Go ask Bruce Springsteen if he's hiring.
7:47 Jake Brennan? And speaking of Bruce, let's get back to the evening of January 28th, 1985. Because on this night, immediately following the awards ceremony, the boss and every other major artist in the room are headed over to A&M Studios in Hollywood. There, they'll record a charity single to benefit famine in Ethiopia called "We Are The World." But not Prince. Corny-ass, supergroup charity songs? File that under "Things Prince Does Not Want To Do."
8:17 Jake Brennan? What do you mean Prince isn't coming? Quincy Jones was pissed. The iconic arranger and producer had assembled a who's who of talent for this song. Michael, Lionel, Cindy, Huey, Bobby, Billy, Tina, both Kennys. But if he didn't have Prince, the man of the hour, the man who dominated popular culture for the last six months, then what did he really have? Prince's manager, Bob Cavalo, could sense Q's patience wearing thin, so he threw him a bone. "Prince says he'll come play guitar on that track." Quincy Jones was now straight up offended. "I don't need him to play guitar, Bob. We've got fucking guitars." And Bob Cavalo panicked.
8:59 Jake Brennan? He lied and told Quincy that the real reason Prince couldn't make it was because he was sick. And then he hung up and called his client Prince and made it very clear that because of that lie, it was imperative that Prince lay low for the evening. Prince heard this kind of thing his whole life. Do this, don't do that. As a kid, his father forbade him from playing his family piano. And because his father, an accomplished jazz musician, saw himself as the talent in the family, and the one with the talent was the one who got to play. And of course, Prince was not just as good as his father, but far better. He had that pure, God-given ability from an early age. But I firmly believe that it was this gatekeeping that drove Prince, first as an unknown and
9:44 Jake Brennan? then as an award-winning icon, to prove not just to his dad, but to the whole world that he could play better than anyone, on any instrument. And by the time of Purple Rain, that talent, that fame, and that power, it was a potent combination that any 26-year-old would find hard to handle. As Wendy Melvoine, the Revolution's other guitarist, said, "Prince at this time was 'almost like a kid with too much candy.'" And Prince wasn't sharing his candy, not with Quincy Jones, or Kenny Rogers, or Kenny Loggins, or Kenny whoever the fuck. So not only was Prince not participating in We Are The World, he was going to ignore the advice of his manager, go hit the town and party like it was, well, you know.
10:29 Jake Brennan? First stop was Carlos and Charlie's, a Mexican joint on the Sunset Strip. Prince and the Revolution, that's Wendy Melvoyn along with keyboardist Lisa Coleman and Matt Dr. Fink, bassist Mark Brown aka Brown Mark and drummer Bobby Zee. They had the run of the place. And after some food, they all transitioned upstairs to El Privado, which, yes, moving in, was a private club where the band could be treated like the VIP rock stars they were. But Wendy and the rest of the Revolution weren't feeling the VIP vibe, especially while their peers were collaborating on a collective good deed. Prince told them to chill. To the victor go the spoils. Besides, who was gonna find out? It was late when they left the club,
11:14 Jake Brennan? and Prince, flanked by his shadow, Big Chick, and his other bodyguard, Wally Safford, slipped into a car outside on the strip. As they did so, the other rear passenger door flung open and a man with a camera jumped inside and began snapping photos. Prince was startled. He threw up his hands in front of his face and then just blurted out, "Get the film! Get the film!" And the photographer quickly bailed, hauling ass on foot down Sunset. Bodyguard Wally Safford gave chase, and the sight of this very capable man, a man who'd learned his trade from the Nation of Islam and had paid his dues protecting hotshot bands from the Commodores to Parliament Funkadelic, sent more paparazzi running out of the shadows. Wally didn't care about the rest of them. He just wanted that fucker who'd taken the photos of Prince in the car.
11:59 Jake Brennan? Wally closed in, and the photographer stopped, turned around, and took a swing at Wally's head with his long-lens camera. Wally's memories of hanging around Muhammad Ali as a kid came flooding back. He ducked, then rose, and drilled the shutterbug right in his eye, knocking him into some bushes.
12:18 Jake Brennan? The next morning, just as manager Bob Cavalo had predicted, and just how Wendy and the others had feared, the story was all over the papers. Wally Safford was arrested. Prince was disgraced, exposed as a selfish outlier, who is now being hit along with his bodyguards with a $15 million lawsuit. Big Chick freaked out. This is more than the usual crowd control bullshit he normally dealt with. He worried the next time it would be worse. The next time, someone would really get hurt. His next move shocked Prince as much as that paparazzo who jumped into his car. Big Chick quit. But he wasn't out of Prince's life just yet. Big Chick had an equally big cocaine problem.
13:03 Jake Brennan? And in order to pay for that problem, he sold a scandalous story about his one-time boss to The National Enquirer for a quick buck. And the resulting article would play a huge part in how the general public's perception of Prince began to shift. But you can't really blame Big Chick. The wheels were already in motion. As early as the night of January 28, 1985, the night of the American Music Awards and of "We Are The World", Prince may have reached the mountaintop, but that meant that there was nowhere to go but down. And so, as a photographer nursed his wounds, as the LA Times ran the kind of headline that Bob Cavalo could have written himself, and as the lawyers started to come for Prince's wallet,
13:46 Jake Brennan? all of it so clearly pointed to the next phase of Prince's career: the backlash.
14:14 Jake Brennan? I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.
14:44 Speaker 05 Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
15:15 Speaker 06 Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.
15:30 Speaker 07 People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.
15:41 Speaker 06 And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.
15:46 Speaker 08 One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.
15:52 Speaker 06 So join us and hear their stories and more, because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At the Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At the Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.
16:13 Jake Brennan? Four years earlier, in 1981, 19-year-old Mark Brown, just out of high school, had yet to flip his name around to create the stage name Brown Mark. He had also yet to be drafted by Prince for a role in the revolution. But being a Minneapolis kid, playing bass in a band on the city scene, of course, Mark already knew about Prince. Everybody in the Twin Cities knew about Prince. He was the local prodigy, the one they called the Kid, a sonic wizard who was putting their Midwestern town on the musical map. Prince was the success story that all other Minneapolis funk and R&B bands measured against when they dreamed of scoring their own big break. At the moment, however, Mark wasn't thinking about big breaks or about Prince.
16:57 Jake Brennan? He was thinking about the gun aimed at his head, a gun that had been pulled on him by his own bandmate.
17:06 Jake Brennan? Mark was used to this sort of thing. The threat of violence that was always bubbling under the surface. Especially in the north side of town. Where a local disc jockey, DJ Kyle Ray, had been shot dead the year prior. But to have your own bandmate pull a gun on you and threaten to pull the trigger all over creative differences, that was fucked up. Mark with the guy winning the argument over how to play the song or whatever bug was up his ass. Besides, the gun was all for show. The tool of an insecure musician who was likely overcompensating. Mark knew then and there that it was time for a change. Change was good. It was healthy. Change was survival. And when change literally came calling, Mark answered.
17:52 Jake Brennan? The phone rang, not at Mark's house, but in the rehearsal space where he and his group Fantasy were in the middle of a band practice. It was none other than Prince calling for Mark. No shit. Prince asked Mark if he would come audition for his band tomorrow night. And this required a careful exit strategy to avoid another gun to the face when Mark broke the news to the rest of his band. And when it came to showing up at Prince's place to audition, that also required another kind of strategy. This one even more delicate than the last. Because everybody in Minneapolis knew about Prince. And I'm not just talking about the kid's musical talent. They'd all heard the gossip. That Prince was a freaky motherfucker.
18:37 Jake Brennan? As freaky as they came. Just look at the cover of his latest record, Dirty Mind. Dude's wearing a trench coat and black briefs and rocking that mustache. Singing songs about oral sex and incest in that falsetto. Rumor had it, there was one particularly shocking and taboo initiation rite that Prince made all of his auditionees perform. Or so one of Mark's friends told him. And that friend further told him that Prince's house, where the audition was to be held, was not a house, but instead a compound guarded by armored tanks and German shepherds. As Mark would discover firsthand, the craziest part of Prince's house was the automatic driveway gate opener that split the black chain link fence in two.
19:22 Jake Brennan? And there were no tanks, no dogs, and no sexual favors required. Prince was Prince, which is to say, he was just cool as shit. And yes, Mark Brown, AKA Brown Mark, passed the audition.
19:39 Jake Brennan? A few years later, in 1985, Mark was doing the thing, living the dream. An integral part of the Purple Rain tour, which was, let's be honest, more than a tour. It was a daily grind which consisted of the following. You pull into a new city, set up the equipment and soundcheck for hours. The soundcheck is like its own show, and often it doesn't end until that night's audience starts to arrive. Next, you grab dinner. But you don't get to savor it because you gotta rush back to the venue where sometimes over a hundred thousand people are waiting to see you perform. The show is two hours long, give or take, and it's huge, as huge as the loads that Prince's custom-made guitar shoots over the crowd.
20:21 Jake Brennan? One hundred feet into the air, all that white ivory liquid soap ejaculate, and I'm not even fucking kidding here, this is the thing that happened. Prince had a guitar that he could make come in a jacucaster, he called it. Look it up. But after, you know, the load is blown and all that, the night's not over because next, you have to play yet another full set, this time at an after-party at a club somewhere in town. And that takes you into the wee hours of the morning. And some nights, you get lucky. Some nights, Prince wants to record new music instead, which he does in the mobile recording truck that is part of the touring caravan, or maybe at a local studio. And oh, don't forget, on many days, you also have to fit into that itinerary, another show, a full two-hour set in the afternoon, perform for sick children, because contrary
21:05 Jake Brennan? to his freaky reputation, contrary to all that negative press he received over the "we are the world" bullshit, Prince was as charitable as they came. But he didn't do it for the publicity, not like the rest of them, mugging for the camera in that video that was playing every day on MTV. They were the ones who made a brighter day. Prince was out here doing the work, real work, for real people who needed it, while Quincy Jones's crew was mugging for the cameras and patting themselves on the backs.
21:34 Jake Brennan? It didn't matter. Many were now approaching Prince with the same kind of skepticism that Brown Mark once had. Because stirring the pot was that new National Enquirer article, courtesy of the tell-all payday earned by Prince's former shadow, Big Chick, who took the $3,000 check he received for spilling his supposed guts and promptly snorted it up his nose. The headline of that article read, "The Real Prince: He's Trapped in a Bizarre, Secret World of Terror." They said Prince lived in an armed fortress, not with a girlfriend or a wife, but with a food taster who ensured that every meal was safe for the purple one's consumption.
22:15 Jake Brennan? They said the Prince had wall-to-wall portraits of Marilyn Monroe, that he talked to them as if they were real. They said about his erotic song "Darling Nikki," you know, the one that US Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper deemed pornographic and wanted censored, thanks to the financial backing of the Beach Boys' "Mike Love," the one in the same who presented Prince with an American Music Award in 1985, "That Little Weasel," but I digress. They said, the National Enquirer, "They said that if you played the weird, backwards section of 'Darling Nikki' in reverse, you'd hear a creepy, satanic message." Prince, of course, didn't publicly reply to all of this, just as he didn't publicly share that he performed shows on the regular for kids in need. Instead, he let the mystery play out.
22:59 Jake Brennan? Mystery being the thing that sells copies of the Enquirer, sure, but mystery sells records too. Like "Around the World in a Day," the follow-up to "Purple Rain," released just weeks after that record-breaking tour ended. It, too, went right to number one on the album chart, even as Prince's reputation was taking hits on all fronts. Unlike "Purple Rain," "Around the World in a Day" only held the top spot for three weeks. So Prince tried a new tactic. That fall, he granted Rolling Stone an interview to show that he wasn't what everyone had made him out to be, and also to show that truth could be stranger than fiction.
23:40 Jake Brennan? Like, for instance, the backwards section of Darling Nikki, that wasn't some subversive satanic message. In fact, you play that part in reverse and you hear a message about God. That, right there, that was fantasy versus reality. And reality, at that moment, in all of its beautiful and ugly forms, was playing out in real time on the streets of Prince's beloved Minneapolis.
24:13 Speaker 02 We'll be right back after this word, word, word.
24:19 Jake Brennan? I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.
24:49 Speaker 05 Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
25:20 Speaker 06 Hi, I'm Jenna Oshkowitz. You might know me from Glee. This is At the Table, the food allergy podcast, a show about food, connection, and what it really looks like to live with food allergies. Each episode, we hear stories from real people like Daniel.
25:35 Speaker 07 People would always think I was lactose intolerant, so I just kind of shortened my explanation to I'm deathly allergic, in a big way that defined a lot of my childhood.
25:46 Speaker 06 And while there are challenges, there are moments that remind you you're not alone.
25:51 Speaker 08 One of the best guys that I dated, he made a point to memorize all my food allergies.
25:57 Speaker 06 So join us and hear their stories and more. Because living with food allergies isn't just about what you can't eat. It's about still having your seat at the table. Brought to you by Genentech and Novartis. Listen to At The Table, the food allergy podcast, on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow At The Table and start listening on the free iHeart Radio app today.
26:22 Jake Brennan? John Scruggs, the self-appointed leader of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, aka The Disciples, told Sandra White to bring her .22 revolver to tonight's meeting. It was October 13th, 1985, just after midnight. Sandra White did as she was told, as any loyal disciple would do when John Scruggs spoke. If Scruggs said "jump," you asked how high. So White showed up with the gun, and then listened carefully as Scruggs laid out the plan to her and the rest of the group.
26:56 Jake Brennan? Three weeks earlier, their street gang had robbed a gun store in their hometown of Minneapolis. The crime was almost perfect, but the cops managed to get their hands on 16-year-old disciple Christine Kreitz, and Scruggs was concerned that she had turned snitch. That's why Christine Kreitz had to go. Sandra White and the others would make that happen. They were to take her out tonight with Sandra White's gun. John Scruggs laid it all out. Follow Christine Kreitz home and shoot her dead. This was their mission. Sandra White, Mary Braxton, and Graylin Williams did as John Scruggs told them.
27:39 Jake Brennan? They followed 16-year-old Christine Kreitz back to her place, stopping just shy of her front door at the tennis courts near Martin Luther King Jr. Park in South Minneapolis. There, Graylin Williams took hold of the .22. He thought again of John Scruggs's orders. Follow her home and shoot her dead. This was their mission. As Graylin Williams did so, Sandra White and Mary Bruxton lit a joint and tried to look nonchalant. And they didn't even notice the moment when Williams pulled the gun to Christine Kreitz's head and pulled the trigger.
28:17 Jake Brennan? Nine months later, in the summer of 1986, Prince was reading all about the murder of Christine Kreitz, and the arrest of the Disciples' gang, and the impending trial in the pages of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "Kids killing kids," Prince thought. "Man, what the hell was going on?" The crime raid in his hometown was reaching a fever pitch. But it was obviously just a small part of a larger narrative happening everywhere. He turned the page to read about ballistic nuclear missiles, locked, cocked, and ready to fly. US bombs in Libya, AIDS, drugs, and famine. Another page, the ongoing investigation into the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion.
28:59 Jake Brennan? Another page, an earthquake out west. In 1986, the fault lines weren't just out in Southern California. They lay beneath the ranks of the revolution, many of whom were beginning to feel iced out by the new members Prince was bringing on board, including Susanna Melvoin, Wendy's twin sister, who was also Prince's fiance at the time. Those shaky fault lines were also undermining Prince's unwavering desire to change, creatively speaking. He knew this, just like Brown Mark knew it as a musician on the come up with a gun in his face. Change was survival. Just look at Miles Davis. You change your clothes, you change your sound. Do you think Miles gave two shits about what Columbia Records thought about "Bitches Brew"?
29:44 Jake Brennan? Change is why Prince refused to repeat the playbook for "Purple Rain", moving on to psychedelia, funk, and pop for around the world in a day, and the underrated "Parade." But by doing so, it cost him. First with R&B fans, who accused Prince of turning his back on black music. And then it cost his bottom line, too. Neither album sold nearly as well as "Purple Rain", and the movie for which "Parade" also doubled as a soundtrack, "Under the Cherry Moon," was a box office bomb. And now that commercial failure was putting unexpected pressure on his construction of Paisley Park. His 65,000 square foot complex 20 minutes outside Minneapolis, which included
30:27 Jake Brennan? three private recording studios, it was nearing completion. A complex into which Prince had sunk $10 million. Financial pain, box office poison, the disgruntled members of his own band, none of it could stop Prince from finding energy in change. But there was another form of energy right now, a dark energy wrestling with the light, the energy of total existential dread staring him dead in the face every time he opened a newspaper or turned on the TV. Prince tapped into them both, the light and the dark, and he used them to power his next move, which was happening behind closed doors in the one place where Prince felt
31:10 Jake Brennan? capable of real transformation, the recording studio. So, hold up. To understand this, I have to make sure you understand exactly how Prince worked in the recording studio and how his process differed from his peers. First of all, and I don't mean to get into another Prince versus Michael Jackson thing here, but as legendary producer Jimmy Jam observed, when Prince went into the studio, he would leave at the end of the day with a classic song like 1999, fully written and recorded. Now, when Michael went into the studio, he would leave at the end of the day having spent the entire session obsessing over the volume of the handclaps on the track. I'm not saying there's anything right or wrong about either method here, I'm just illustrating the difference.
31:55 Jake Brennan? As Jimmy Jam's example demonstrates, Prince's genius was largely rooted in inspiration. But, and this is the second thing, Prince's genius was also the result of impatience.
32:09 Jake Brennan? You know why Prince used real drums on some songs and a drum machine on others? The call was made based solely on whichever one his engineer, Susan Rogers, got set up first. If the drum machine was plugged in and ready to rock, the drums were made by a machine. He simply could not wait for a drummer to get his or her shit together. And third, when inspiration struck, at any time of the day or night, he'd call Susan, again, his engineer, who would meet him in the studio to get to work. It was like a constant, flow state. And there's one particular count of a day in the studio when Prince recorded four songs simultaneously, without saying anything to anyone, without having anything written down. He had Susan roll tape, and then he sat behind the drums and recorded the drum track for one song.
32:55 Jake Brennan? And the tape kept rolling, and he proceeded to record the drum track for the next song, and so forth. And then he went back and put down the bass for the first song, and then the next song, and you get the idea. He started at 4:00 PM, and nine and a half hours later, at 1:30 AM, he had four brand-new, completed songs, with all the instruments, all the vocals, the whole nine. And these are the first four songs on the Parade album, if you want to go take another listen, now that you know how they were made. By September of 1986, six months after the release of Parade, the new songs he was recording were really piling up. And there were so many that he planned for his next release to be a triple album. Bruce Springsteen's new five-record live box set set the precedent, as far as Prince was concerned.
33:37 Jake Brennan? But Springsteen was just coming off the incredibly successful Born in the USA. A triple album from a guy like Prince, whose last two records had underperformed, that was the kind of thing that gave the executives at Warner Brothers heartburn. But Prince was unfazed. He kept his head down, and his vision tunneled. Warner Brothers, like his father, could go ahead and try and tell him what he could and couldn't do. And ditto for his fans, clamoring for another Purple Rain, for a return to his dirty mind roots, to anything that wasn't what he'd been doing. He used it all. He used the pain of whatever was going on between him and Susanna. He knew the relationship was ending, just as the revolution was ending.
34:21 Jake Brennan? But there was another revolution happening, right here in the studio, where Prince was alone, save for his loyal engineer, Susan Rogers.
34:30 Jake Brennan? He told Susan to roll tape. And he laid down a pattern on the Lin ML1 drum machine. And then to the Fairlight digital workstation for a bubbling synth sound and a bluesy bassline. And he kept building, more tracks, more instrumentation. But then, he abruptly stripped most of them away until the song was reduced to just the drums, the Fairlight, and his guitar, most likely his iconic Hohner Mad Cat telly model. And he mixed the music down onto a cassette, popped it into the tape deck of his Ford Thunderbird, hit the gas, and rode around town listening to the mix while writing lyrics in his head. Prince thought again about the Disciples gang. He thought about bombs and missiles, health crises, and society on the brink, and the
35:13 Jake Brennan? collective pain of a world that needed healing. He was calling this one "Sign of the Times." He knew he was on to something new, something that could match the power of Purple Rain, even if it sounded completely different. So much so, that he did something he didn't normally do. He played the song for Lenny Waronker, then-president of Warner's, the father figure, the gatekeeper. And Lenny listened. Four minutes and 56 seconds later, when the song ended, Lenny was speechless. "It totally freaked me out," he later said. "When I heard the record, I thought, 'Oh my God, he's gone to another, just another zone.'"
35:57 Jake Brennan? It was just unbelievable.
36:18 Jake Brennan? On March 31, 1987, a police officer in Baltimore was placed on medical leave after being stuck with a hypodermic needle hidden in the pocket of the perp he'd just arrested, a perp who had tested positive for the AIDS virus. Over in Chicago, elementary school students fearfully pass through an infamous playground on their way to class, where just months earlier, a kid was attacked by a local street gang, beaten so badly with a baseball bat that he lost an eye. In New Jersey, 21 men went on trial for running drugs, gambling, and other illegal activities out of the hole-in-the-wall Luncheonette in Newark, allegedly as part of the Lucchese organized crime family.
37:00 Jake Brennan? Meanwhile, nightly news broadcasts from coast to coast continued to report on the fallout from President Reagan's recent admission that the United States government had been trading arms with Iran in return for hostages.
37:15 Jake Brennan? On that same day, March 31, 1987, Prince released "Sign of the Times," his ninth studio album, which led off with the title track that Warner Brothers president Lenny Warniker had described as "unbelievable."
37:32 Jake Brennan? And that song, which had been released as a single a month prior, was as timely as anything Prince had ever released. It was as potent in 87 as Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" was in 71, or Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City" was in 73. And as a number-one single on the R&B chart, it was also sweet revenge against those who kept calling him out for crossing over into the pop world.
37:57 Jake Brennan? "Sign of the Times," the album, was not a triple album, as was originally intended under its working titles "Dream Factory" and "Crystal Ball," but instead, a double album, the first of Prince's career. And like many of the greatest double albums in history, The Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street," The Clash's "London Calling," "Sign of the Times" is an eclectic set of songs that tackled not just the hot-button issues of the day, but sex, God, love, and everything in between.
38:28 Jake Brennan? Over at The Village Voice, home of the dean of rock critics Robert Criscow, who just seven years earlier had told Mick Jagger to check his dick into a nursing home, "Sign of the Times" became the biggest winner in the history of the paper's influential year-end Paz and Jop writers poll. It beat out Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" for the number one spot by an even wider margin than Michael Jackson's "Thriller" had beat R.E.M.'s "Murmur" in 1983. But although Michael was nominated for his album "Bad" alongside Prince for Album of the Year at the 30th Grammy Awards a year later in March of 1988, neither artist won. That trophy went to U2 for their blockbuster album,
39:08 Jake Brennan? "The Joshua Tree." Prince, again, was unfazed. It didn't matter that "Sign of the Times" didn't win a bunch of awards the way that "Purple Rain" once had, nor did it matter that it didn't sell as well as "Purple Rain." Hell, it didn't sell as well as "Parade" or "Around the World" and "Day" either, but it once and for all established Prince as a megawatt craftsman and artist in addition to his existing status as a megawatt performer. Baby, he was a star, but he was a star in his own way, not how anyone else wanted him to be. And back at the American Music Awards in 1985, on the night of the recording of "We Are the World," the night that one of his bodyguards was arrested and another
39:50 Jake Brennan? quit, while accepting the award for favorite pop album, Prince told a screaming crowd in that deep bedroom voice of his, quote, "For all of us, life is death without adventure. Adventure only comes to those who are willing to be daring and take chances," unquote. Adventure, change, impatience, inspiration, anything less than all that would be a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, and this is DisgraceLand.
40:35 Jake Brennan? All right. Thanks for keeping it purple with me in this week's episode. Just a reminder to Apple Podcast listeners, make sure you get those auto downloads turned on. This week's question of the week is, which artist best nailed their moment? Was it Prince with Sign of the Times? Was it Stevie with Living for the City? Was it Marvin Gaye with What's Going On? Was it someone else, Public Enemy, Lauryn Hill? Lots to choose from. Hit me up and let me know, 617-906-6638. We'll get into it in the after-party. Leave me a voicemail, send me a text. You might hear yourself on that bonus episode of the after-party coming up right after this episode. You can also send your answers to me at @disgracelandpod on Instagram, X, and Facebook. Leave a review for the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and win some free merch. All right, here comes some credits.
41:16 Jake Brennan? Disgraceland was created by yours truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be found on the show notes page at disgracelandpod.com. If you're listening as a Disgraceland All-Access member, thank you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And if not, you can become a member right now by going to disgracelandpod.com/membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland ad-free. Plus, you'll get one brand-new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelandpod.com/membership for details. Rate and review the show and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook,
42:00 Jake Brennan? @disgracelandpod, and on YouTube at youtube.com-at-disgracelandpod. Rock-a-roller.
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