Prince's Super Bowl halftime show is widely considered one of the best

The 2007 performance was idiosyncratic, featuring a handful of songs by other artists (including Foo Fighters' "Best of You" and Jimi Hendrix's rendition of "All Along the Watchtower" and a torrential rainstorm. Its differences, along with Prince's legendary stage presence, have led many critics to call it the best Super Bowl halftime performance ever.

A fun analysis of Radiohead's depressive song 'Creep'

Radiohead is a highly acclaimed English rock band founded in 1985. The band has sold more than 30 million albums, and their nine full-length albums are critically appreciated. This episode of One Song goes deep into the band's very first single and by far most-listened-to hit: "Creep," a slacker anthem filled with self-loathing and anxiety. Learn the details of the hit indie song here.

Prince had an eclectic range of influences

Early in his career, Prince would sometimes claim in interviews that he didn't listen to much music outside of his own. In later years, he'd admit that was a lie born out of arrogance. In reality, he listened to a wide array of artists, with great admiration for people like the Cocteau Twins, D'Angelo, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, Miles Davis, De La Soul, and many others. This survey of his career's interviews collects all those mentions of other artists, creating a fascinating database of the music that inspired Prince.

In 2004, Prince paid tribute to George Harrison with a surreal solo

The 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony paid tribute to the recently deceased Beatle with a rendition of one of his most famous songs by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George Harrison's son, Dhani. Several minutes into the performance, Prince suddenly appeared center stage for a virtuosic solo. He ended it by tossing his guitar into the crowd. Tom Petty's drummer would later say, "Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too."

'Purple Rain' was a massive hit, in theaters and on radio

The semi-autobiographical film featured a first-time director and an amateur cast, yet it became a box-office hit, grossing over $70M. Likewise, the accompanying album was a huge success, with four songs reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. It was a watershed moment for Prince, who became a bona fide pop superstar.

Watch a long, personal interview with Prince from 1999

Prince often avoided press junkets, especially after he became a superstar. In 1999, though, in advance of a televised New Year's Eve concert, he sat down for a lengthy interview with Larry King, speaking about his childhood, career, and his conflicts with Warner Bros. He noted that it was uncharacteristic for him to spend so much time reflecting. "As I go through this journey, I don't look back much at all," he told King. "I try to stay in the now and live in the now."

Watch Daft Punk's legendary set

Coachella's main stage is known for attention-grabbing performances, but one of the festival's most momentous was on the smaller Sahara stage. That's where Daft Punk brought their huge LED pyramids and played an inventive mix of their past hits—resulting in a reimagining of dance music's approach to live performances.

In the week after his death, 5 Prince albums appeared in the Billboard top 10

After his death in 2016, the public revisited Prince's catalog in a big way. For the first time in modern Billboard history, half of the magazine's Billboard 200 was concurrently occupied by a single artist. Three of those titles were compilations ("The Very Best of Prince," "The Hits/The B-Sides," and "Ultimate"), with the remaining two taken by studio albums ("Purple Rain" and "1999").

Prince's first TV appearance was in 1980

Prince appeared on "The Midnight Special" on Jan. 11, 1980, and played two songs from his self-titled album, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad." It's a goofy, lip-synced performance, as was not uncommon for music on TV at the time, but the 21-year-old, clad in thigh-high boots and leopard print, made the most of the performance, offering a preview of the over-the-top persona he'd refine over the next few decades.

Watch the live debut of 'Purple Rain' for a packed house in Minneapolis in 1983.

Explore a map of Prince's Minneapolis

Prince might be the most famous and influential musician from a city brimming with them. This interactive map from Prince's estate lets you explore the city's locales that shaped him, from early residences to concert halls and recording studios.

Prince removed the bass from 'When Doves Cry,' creating the song's unique sound.

Prince pioneered what would come to be known as 'the Minneapolis Sound'

Inspired by eclectic artists like Sly and the Family Stone, as well as lesser-known mentors and peers in the Twin Cities, Prince blended R&B, rock, pop, new wave, soul, funk, punk, and more, creating a sound that defied easy categorization.

Daft Punk's 2006 set helped mainstream electronic dance music

Daft Punk's 2006 Coachella set wasn't just a performance—it was a turning point for electronic music. Their futuristic pyramid, dazzling visuals, and seamless live mixing captivated a packed crowd and pushed EDM into the mainstream.

Prince wrote numerous hits for other artists

Prince is renowned as a performer, but he's also one of the great American songwriters, having penned career-defining songs for acts like Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U"), the Bangles ("Manic Monday"), and many others.

How Pearl Jam helped inspire Coachella

Pearl Jam hasn't yet played Coachella, but they did play a major role in inspiring the annual music festival. The story goes back to 1993, when Pearl Jam was protesting all Ticketmaster-owned venues, which made playing a Los Angeles-area date next to impossible. That led concert promoter Goldenvoice to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, where the first Coachella took place six years later.

Prince pulled 1987's 'The Black Album' days before its planned release

Hot on the heels of the success of "Sign O' the Times," Prince planned to release "The Black Album" in December 1987. But days before it was supposed to hit stores, Prince asked Warner Bros. to cancel the release, leading the company to destroy hundreds of thousands of copies. According to some, Prince had heard the album while on the drug MDMA and believed it was an evil force that he did not want in the world. A two-part episode of the podcast "Disgraceland" unravels the strange story.

A collection of Prince's hilarious encounters with comedians

Charlie Murphy's story about Prince on "Chappelle's Show" became an oft-quoted touchstone in the 2000s, but it's not the only funny story a comedian has about the Purple One. This article collects some of the best from Conan O'Brien, David Alan Grier, and, yes, Charlie Murphy.

Prince was known as a genre-crossing polymath

The son of two Minneapolis jazz musicians, Prince was surrounded by music from a young age. His full name, Prince Rogers, was actually derived from his father's group, the Prince Rogers Trio. He eventually learned how to play his father's piano, teaching himself the themes to popular TV shows. Eventually, he learned other instruments and expanded his music tastes, indulging in records by Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, and more. Below is his junior high school yearbook photo.

After Warner Bros signed him at 18, Prince wrote a song to thank them

The label scooped the young artist in 1977, eager to ink a deal with the promising young savant. In response, Prince wrote a song called "I Hope We Can Work It Out," which suggested together they'd make "Music for the young and old, music bound to be gold." An official recording of the song was never released, but the Minnesota Historical Society acquired the original handwritten lyrics in 2017. You can see them below.

View a guide to Prince's discography

Staring down Prince's catalog, which includes over 40 studio albums alone, can be intimidating for listeners looking to explore the Purple One's work. (It can also be intimidating for fans looking to dive into its depths!) This guide from the AV Club provides a framework for your Prince studies, with entry points for newcomers, casual fans, and more serious listeners alike.

The story behind Prince's rivalry with Michael Jackson

The Purple One was often compared to the King of Pop, but Prince considered himself the superior artist. This retrospective details the many contentious encounters between the two giants, but it also highlights the sincere admiration they had for each other's work.

Take a visual tour of past Coachellas

This collection of photographs features shots from every year of the festival's history, with portraits of acts like Rage Against the Machine, Oasis, and Lady Gaga gracing its legendary stages.

Coachella's early years were seen as a success story for alternative culture

From 2007, this oral history of Coachella provides an interesting snapshot of the festival before it became an international attraction. There are interesting stories about the festival's chaotic first year and interviews from artists who frame the festival as a success story for alternative art.

A dispute with his label led to Prince changing his name to a symbol

Prince wrote and recorded music at a fever pitch. That kind of prolific output, however, concerned his label, Warner Bros., which believed that too many releases might oversaturate the market. That eventually led to tensions between Prince and the label, with Prince asking for his master recordings, which would give him full control over how his music would be used. Warner Bros. declined, and Prince changed his name to the unpronounceable symbol that he'd used on album covers in the past, believing it would void his record contract. It didn't, but Warner Bros. eventually released him, though he began going by Prince in 2000 and resigned with Warner Bros. in 2014.

Prince's 'Sign O' the Times' was considered a major artistic milestone

The double album was an ambitious collection of songs that traversed musical styles—drawing on the emerging hip-hop records of the genre's golden age and technological experimentation—and explored social issues, including the AIDS epidemic, addiction, and violence. It would go on to be one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year and eventually be considered one of the most important in pop music history.

A tour of Paisley Park, Prince's artistic oasis

The compound, located in the suburbs of Minneapolis, was Prince's residence, recording studio, and a concert venue. (In the '80s and '90s, it was also Prince's record label, funded by Warner Bros.) After his death in 2016, it was turned into a museum for the Purple One. In the video below, a Vice journalist takes a tour of Paisley Park, allowing you to see the grounds without traveling to Minnesota.

Coachella is one of the largest music festivals in the world

Coachella is one of the largest music festivals in the US, though it almost didn't make it past its tumultuous first year. This overview explores how that show inspired the first Coachella in 1999, its early setbacks, and how it grew into a cultural mainstay.

In 2022, a Minneapolis news station stumbled upon footage of Prince as a child

A production manager at the city's CBS affiliate was looking through the archives for footage of a 1970 teacher strike when he noticed a young boy he believed was Prince. The newsroom worked to extract the audio and identify the childhood friends of the famous musician, who confirmed it was indeed him in the video.

Goldenvoice, Coachella's promoter, began with punk and gangster rap

This documentary produced by Coachella tells the story of Goldenvoice—a scrappy upstart booking punk, hardcore, and gangster rap shows in Southern California—and how it created one of the biggest festivals in the world. Beyond the narrative, though, this is worth watching for incredible performances from the White Stripes, Kendrick Lamar, Amy Winehouse, and more.

See every Coachella lineup from the festival's 2-plus decades

The unveiling of the Coachella poster has become an annual cultural tradition (and an amusing internet meme). This official collection of every poster from the festival's lifespan showcases the undercard acts that eventually became headliners, as well as the big names that fell into obscurity. The collection shows not only a fascinating illustration of the evolution of pop culture, but also subtle changes in Coachella's design, offering a case study in slowly refining a brand's identity.

Ironically, Prince's infamous 'Darling Nikki' ends with a Christian message

The Parents Music Resource Center targeted the "Purple Rain" cut as being a particularly dangerous example of sexually explicit music. The song ends with nearly 30 seconds of indecipherable backwards vocals. When they're reversed, however, you can hear a Christian message: "Hello, how are you? / Fine, fine, 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon / Coming, coming soon." That might've surprised the members of the PMRC, but it wouldn't have surprised fans of Prince, who spoke often about being a Christian.

Prince often used pseudonyms when working with other people

Prince was seemingly everywhere in the '80s, though his ubiquity wasn't always apparent on the surface, thanks to a number of pseudonyms he used when contributing to other artists' projects.

Frank Ocean's 2023 appearance was a notorious catastrophe

Ocean's Coachella performance was one of the most anticipated in the festival's 20-plus years. He was an enigmatic but generation-defining artist, so a headlining set on Coachella's legendary stage seemed like the perfect place for him to reveal the next step in his artistic journey. Unfortunately, it was a slipshod and confusing spectacle—rife with technical issues—and left fans disappointed and confused.

Justin Bieber spent Coachella on YouTube

The pop star was the festival's Saturday headliner, a slot typically reserved for massive spectacles. Bieber, however, spent a significant portion of it scrolling YouTube. Timothy Karoff's evenhanded review tries to make sense of the unexpected scene.

Prince died in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose

The music legend was found dead in an elevator at his Paisley Park residence on April 21, 2016. The cause of death was an accidental overdose from taking pills he believed to be Vicodin, but were actually counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl. Law enforcement was unable to determine who provided him with those pills. He was 57 at the time of his death.

Influencers have changed what music festivals look like

One major criticism of Coachella is that it's a playground for ultrarich people, with celebrities and influencers posing for selfies at a polo club. This article dissects the legitimacy of that stereotype and argues that the backlash to it has altered the festival's cultural standing.

Beyoncé's 2018 headlining set is among the festival's most famous

The singer's admirers dubbed the performance "Beychella"—which included a full marching band and a reunited Destiny's Child. It was a symbol-laden commentary on the significance of Beyoncé's status as the first Black woman to headline the festival.