Why Stevie Nicks Refused to Write the Words to Prince's 'Purple Rain'
Prince did not record the foundational track in a quiet, climate-controlled studio. On August 3, 1983, Prince and The Revolution played a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre at the First Avenue club in Minneapolis. It was Wendy Melvoin’s first live appearance with the group, and parked outside in the alley sat the Record Plant Mobile Studio truck, running a 24-track recorder.
When Prince launched into the song that evening, the audience had never heard a single note of it. The live performance stretched past thirteen minutes. Prince poured every ounce of vocal desperation into the microphone, screaming the final falsetto runs before strapping on his custom "Cloud" guitar.
The performance captured on tape that night is not a demo, it is the exact rhythm track, vocal, and guitar solo that appears on the multi-platinum 1984 album. While Prince later trimmed roughly three minutes of instrumental indulgence and a redundant verse at Sunset Sound, the foundational emotional storm was tracked completely live in front of a sweaty, stunned club crowd.
