Prince
Eric Clapton was asked about how it felt to be the world’s best guitarist.
His response: “I don’t know. Ask Prince.”
This is one of the most prestigious compliments I’ve ever learnt about Prince from various social media.
So, is it real?
No one knows but it is quite unlikely that Eric Clapton has made such a comment as similar quotes have been circulating around on other artists.
Frankly speaking, I’m not really concerned about truthfulness of the quote. To me, he is great and I enjoy “watching” Prince’s guitar playing!
Oh wait … , why “watching” and not “listening” ?
Just take a look at this YouTube video and you will know.
I first learnt about Prince was his song “Purple Rain” around the period I started to work.
At that time, this song did not get much of my attention and to be honest, I was a little bit sick of his stage performance and his outlook as a rock player. May be I was too young to appreciate his performance style.
Another thing that I did not like are those strange guitars that he used.
However, those guitars are perfectly in-lined with his flamboyant styles.
Things have changed and my feeling with Prince has significantly changed in recent years.
What triggered this sudden change?
It was the outro of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” performed by Prince at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony 2004 (the above video).
Interestingly enough, the performance was for George Harrison and not he himself as a inductee in the same ceremony.
I must admitted that Prince’s live performance was highly enjoyable. His playing was confident, deeply emotional, inspirational and demonstrated a mastery level of guitar skills. He captured everyone’s attention and burning up the stage.
One more thing to note, the “Telecaster style” guitar he was playing (Hofner Mat Cat) looked gorgeous!
There is a saying that Prince was an underrated guitarist.
Personally I don’t agree and I do believe that it was his multi-talented nature as a musician and great stage performer that outshone his guitar playing.
On 21 April 2016, Prince left all his fans at the age of 57, suffering from accidental fentanyl overdose.
As a salute to the greatest performer, let me share with you another YouTube video on Prince’s iconic Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show through a rain and wind storm.
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“Can you make it rain harder”
he was so cool!!! The coolest!! And that Super Bowl live performance was classic !!! The twins dancers were fantastic too!!! In retrospect, that was the glorious era in terms of culture, music, performance quality, etc Perhaps,
Legendary Prince had set the bar too high.
That’s why I think he’s the best 👍
Irreplaceable !!!!!
And he wore colors that many would say clash, but in Prince, he made it work. So magical !!!
Yes, that was what I feel in early days but now I think he managed to carry them 👍👍
As you say ~ flamboyant, a very strong maximalism, but he managed all colours so well. Perhaps he got a gender bending traits inside and he wanted to crush off “What ought to be wore”, which equates to his mood “can you make the rain harder “
Exactly! Prince exhibited these type of cross-dressing for most of his performing career.
In fact, his famous “Love Symbol” actually carried both the male and female symbol.