Back in 2004, Prince pulled off one of the greatest guitar solos of all time — and it turns out he was inspired not by love, or God, or the power of music... but vengeance.
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00:00Back in 2004, Prince pulled off one of the greatest guitar solos of all time,
00:04and it turns out he was inspired not by love, or God, or the power of music, but vengeance.
00:11It was March 15, 2004, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in New York City was
00:16in full swing. Among the inductees that year was pop superstar Prince, as well as former
00:21Beatle George Harrison, who had died around two years earlier. As part of the event,
00:26an all-star lineup of musicians paid tribute to Harrison with a rendition of one of his
00:30best-known Beatles songs, While My Guitar Gently Weeps. This included Tom Petty and members of his
00:36band The Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, Steve Wynwood on keyboards,
00:40and Harrison's son Danny on acoustic guitar, among others. Off on stage left stood Prince,
00:46in a black-and-red pinstripe suit, open-collared blood-red shirt, and matching Hornburg hat.
00:52Prince was one of the most famous solo acts in history, but he still played with others,
00:56including his backup bands such as The Revolution and The New Power Generation.
01:01Still, he wasn't about to be overshadowed by anyone, and as he began the song's final solo,
01:06he showed the world that he could wail on the electric guitar with the best of the best.
01:11Notably, Rolling Stone magazine had, in a glaring omission,
01:15failed to include him in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists the previous year.
01:20And it seems that Prince might have been letting the editors of that magazine know
01:24just how badly they'd messed up by not including him.
01:27Born Prince Rogers Nelson in 1958,
01:30Prince was a musical prodigy who taught himself how to play the guitar, among other instruments.
01:35"...learned early on this was what I wanted to do. Maybe about 12 years old,
01:39I knew that this is what I'd want to do the rest of my life."
01:41His early albums were more squarely focused on a layered synthesizer sound,
01:46but by the early 1980s, he had begun to incorporate more rock guitar into his work.
01:51His 1984 album Purple Rain is awash in his iconic wailing guitar sound,
01:56which was later compared to that of Jimi Hendrix, although Prince denied any connection.
02:00He told Rolling Stone in 1985,
02:03"...it's only because he's black. That's really the only thing we have in common.
02:07He plays different guitar than I do."
02:09Prince suggested that his own playing was closer to Carlos Santana's style,
02:13which he also called prettier.
02:15In 2003, Rolling Stone released its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,
02:21which included Hendrix, Santana, even George Harrison. But Prince was nowhere to be found.
02:26Over the years, Prince had been known to hold grudges with a long list of celebrities,
02:30and it's not too far-fetched to assume he felt some rancor for this snub from Rolling Stone.
02:35The next year, Prince got his shot at payback against the magazine and Jan Wenner,
02:40who co-founded both the publication and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
02:44Joel Gallan, who produced and directed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony,
02:48had wanted Prince to participate in the George Harrison tribute from the get-go.
02:52And although Harrison's widow, Olivia, initially only wanted musicians who'd known her husband to
02:57be involved, Gallan got his way. But during the one rehearsal that took place, Mark Mann,
03:03Jeff Lynne's guitarist, played the iconic solo in the middle of While My Guitar Gently Weeps
03:08that Eric Clapton had performed in the original Beatles song. Mann edged Prince out of all the
03:13solos during the rehearsal, in fact, leading Gallan to discuss the situation with Prince.
03:18Reportedly, Prince told Gallan,
03:21"'Look, let this guy do what he does, and I'll just step in at the end,
03:24for the end solo. Forget the middle solo. Don't worry about it.'"
03:27Prince left after the conversation with Gallan, meaning he never actually rehearsed his solo.
03:33During the performance that night, when Prince began shredding on his Hohner
03:36Mad Cat electric guitar for nearly three minutes, the rest of the band was as
03:40blown away as everyone else. Tom Petty later told The New York Times,
03:44"'You could feel the electricity of, something really big's going down here.'"
03:49Prince's performance that night has been hailed as one of the greatest guitar solos in history.
03:54Rolling Stone has since amended its list of the greatest guitarists of all time,
03:58of course. In the 2023 list, Prince is listed at number 14.