“We lost our Mozart.” – actor Bruce Dern said of the passing of Prince.
The death of Prince still stings. It’s still hard to believe. It’s now been four years since the artist’s tragic death. The tributes are still coming, as they should, as Usher, FKA Twigs, and Sheila E. recently paid respect to the man in purple at The Grammy Awards. Tonight, a variety of artists are paying tribute on the fourth anniversary of his death, including Foo Fighters’ frontman, Dave Grohl.
The Tribune
Tonight at 9 p.m., CBS is airing Let’s Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince. The special was filmed on January 28th, so long before the coronavirus started shutting down or causing trouble for productions. The special, which is hosted by Saturday Night Live and Inherent Vice’s Maya Rudolph, will lookback on the life and creativity of the artist. It’s now been four years since he passed away at the age of 57 from an opioid overdose.
Artists Paying Tribute
A long list of artists will appear and play covers of Prince’s vast body of work. John Legend (expected), H.E.R. (perfect), Chris Martin (a surprise…), Morris Day and the Time (of course), Alicia Keys (yes!), Dave Grohl and more are appearing and/or performing tributes to Minnesota’s master. Surprisingly missing from the lineup are the great Judith Hill and the Lizzo, as they both worked with Prince.
Dave Grohl’s Tribute
As much as we love Dave Grohl, his inclusion in the tribute instead of notably missing artists is a little surprising, but then again, Prince is a rock ‘n roll figure. The man rocked better than anybody. So maybe Grohl’s presence, in that sense, makes sense. In a clip obtained by People, Grohl expressed his love for Prince:
“I was explaining this to my daughter today as I picked her up from school. I was like, ‘He was the best bass player. He was the best guitar player. He was the best drummer. He was the best singer. He was the best dancer.’ He was just the best and you never imagine that a popular musician could be that talented. Usually, you got one person that’s good at one thing; he was good at everything. He was the best. He was the best.”
Maya Rudolph’s Tribute
Throughout the show, we’ll hear artists covers of “Darling Nikki,” “Purple Rain,” and “Raspberry Beret.” It’s a little bit of a bummer Beck isn’t participating in the tribute, because last when he toured, he did a fantastic cover of “Raspberry Beret.” Beck has cited Prince as a massive influence and has paid tribute to him often.
As for Maya Rudolph, she’ll sing a song and pays her own tribute to the artist:
“This show airing four years to the day when we lost Prince is an expression of love and profound respect. I have difficulty putting into words my personal feelings for Prince, there are words that don’t exactly cut it for me [like] genius, brilliant, gifted, prolific [and] legendary. They’re all true, but they don’t really get right to that feeling that can only be described to his music.”
Get More Prince in Your Life
If you ever need to lift your spirits up, listen to Prince. During this time, I know I’ve listened to him a whole lot. Of course, his ‘80s and ‘90s catalogue is where his most iconic work is at, but even over the last 20 years, he was releasing pure gems worth diving into when there’s ample free time.
3121 is top 10 Prince, but ever heard his cover of Crimson & Clover off Lotusflow3r? It’s fantastic and low-key groovy record of Prince’s. There’s actually a lot of underrated Prince works, which is shocking for a man so beloved, but if you want to brush up on Prince during this time, check out the CBS special. Don’t bother reading the recent unfinished memoir, “The Beautiful Ones,” which has its moments but too often reads as a padded money grab.
