Looking back at July 1984, it’s hard to believe just how many musical events shook up Minneapolis and continue to inspire and mystify us 30 years later. In just the span of a few short months Hüsker Dü would release their revered album Zen Arcade, the Replacements would drop Let It Be, and Prince would…

Technically speaking, Saturday night wasn’t my first visit to Paisley Park—Prince’s studio and performance space in Chanhassen, Minnesota. I’d been there a couple of months ago, with the okay of the management, to take external photos of the facility. Paisley Park at night, though, is a whole different story. For one thing, it’s purple. “Whoa!”…

Prince is our Local Current Artist of the Month this July, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Purple Rain. When Haim visited the Current’s studios in May, Este and Alana Haim talked about their passion for Prince—Este goes so far as to call it an “obsession”—and the time Alana thought the band were about to…

The Monkees dumped Jimi Hendrix, Beck was born, and Prince was forced off the stage Today in Music History.

When you live in Minnesota, trying to understand the magnitude of Prince’s accomplishment is kind of like trying to talk about the sun when you’re standing on it. Here’s a story that helped me get my mind around the extent of Prince’s musical celebrity. When Michael Jackson agreed to play a set of wildly-anticipated comeback…

Prince is funny. That may sound like too basic a descriptor for one of the most iconic, eccentric, and enigmatic pop artists of our time, but after spending several hours with him last night at Paisley Park I was left thinking that he is really, really funny. It’s rare that more than five minutes goes by without Prince…

An article being passed around the Internet claims to have verification from the writers of “Let It Go,” the hit Oscar-winning anthem from Disney’s Frozen, that they were inspired by Prince’s 1994 song “Letitgo” and in fact shared a demo with the artist, adding the line “the cold never bothered me anyway” after Prince made that…

It’s Prince’s house of pain, but it can be your new dream home: a 13-room villa on the coast of the Alboran Sea in southern Spain. “Music Star Prince’s Villa IN Marbella West For Sale!” enthuses the listing on LuxuryEstate.com. “Love Your Dreams…and Live Your Dreams!” Don’t expect to find any 3RDEYEGIRL merch or Super…

How does the Twin Cities’ NHL hockey team celebrate after a big win? With a 90s R&B hit, of course. The Minnesota Wild—currently in a tight playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche—have declared “This is How We Do It” to be their official victory anthem, even going so far as to distribute a press release with…

Last week, Prince announced that he’s made up with Warner Bros., the label with whom he had previously cut ties. Almost immediately, the Purple One promptly released a new single, “The Breakdown,” available for streaming and for download on iTunes. He debuted the song in concert last fall, and during his takeover of Arsenio Hall’s show…