Prince’s Musical Legacy: The King of The B sides

The funk legend’s artistic generosity remains unmatched

Many of us reacted in shock to the passing of music superstar Prince, who was found dead early Thursday in his suburban Minneapolis home. While there were reports that he hadn’t been feeling well lately, the news that an undisputed rock and soul music legend had left us shook fans to their core. He was in the midst of a bare-bones tour around the U.S., accompanied by only a mic and piano.

For those of us who grew up on His Purple Badness, a mic and piano were just some of the many musical tools he used through the years to delight audiences for more than three decades. And while he leaves behind no offspring or spouses, true fans can only hope that a treasure trove of unreleased music — purportedly hundreds of tracks stored in something called “The Vault,” will one day see the light of day.

What made Prince the epitome of artistic excellence was not only his prolific catalog, but the many great and original “B sides” he gave fans.

For those of you t0o young to know, “B side” is vinyl vernacular for the other side of the record. In this case, the song that was a single, or hit, was the “A side.” On other artists’ B sides, you might get a dub version of the “A side” hit or a remix of it. On Prince’s B sides he gave you a whole other song from the album’s recording sessions. This B side was in many ways superior to the A side because it lacked the artistic restraint one would need to get the record played on the radio. The result was a fanciful, eccentric jam that hardcore fans could relish. With Prince though, it didn’t matter: Radio still played his B sides.

Ever heard of “Erotic City”? It was a B side to the 1984 hit “Let’s Go Crazy.” The seminal jam “17 Days,” which stayed on the airwaves, was the B side to “When Doves Cry”. I could go on and on.

The artistic generosity of his B sides were just one of many attributes that made Prince, born Prince Rogers Nelson, the consummate artist. In contrast to today’s disposable file music, Prince’s album imagery, boundary-pushing originality and liner notes (which included his own take on spelling of certain words like “U” and “eye” for I”) make his passing almost unbearable for the modern lover of musical freedom and unbridled expression.

His spirit of giving did not endear him to his music label though. Warner Brothers tried to rein in his proficient musical outpourings in the early 1990s, which led to a severe fallout between the two parties. Prince protested by scrawling “Slave” on his cheek and foregoing his name for an unpronounceable symbol. But the music continued to flow.

Not to be forgotten were the absolutely awesome unreleased and longer versions of many Prince hits. “Little Red Corvette” goes on for more than 11 minutes in a version released in the UK. Others have leaked via studio heads who couldn’t help themselves. There’s an unreleased version of “Darling Nikki” that has a jam sparse guitar solo right in the middle of it.

Michael Jackson may have been a Dancing Machine, but Prince was The Artist. Always was. Always will B.