18 Purple Rain

PRINCE AND THE REVOLUTION 1984

On the 1999 tour in 1983, Prince found himself sharing arenas with Bob Seger, and he challenged himself to write a Seger-like ballad, but instead of “Night Moves,” he channeled a heartrending meditation on love, trust, God, and purple rain. “It was so different,” said the Revolution’s Bobby Z. “It was almost country. It was almost rock. It was almost gospel.” The version on the Purple Rain soundtrack is actually a live recording from 1983 that Prince later polished into a transcendent anthem. Within a year, he’d have the Number One song, album, and movie in the country.