Prince: Entering a New Decade

In Episode 14 of The Violet Vault, we begin exploring Prince's transformative 1990s with a look at Graffiti Bridge—the ambitious film and soundtrack that marked the end of one creative era and the beginning of another. Discover how Prince revisited familiar characters from Purple Rain, drew inspiration from a real Minnesota landmark, and exercised unprecedented creative control by filming primarily at Paisley Park. While the film struggled with critics and audiences, the soundtrack became a commercial success, featuring standout songs like "Thieves in the Temple" and "New Power Generation," which introduced the band that would help define Prince's next chapter. Join host Ava Cyr as we uncover how Graffiti Bridge became a pivotal bridge between the Prince of the 1980s and the fearless artist who would reshape his career throughout the 1990s.

Transcript

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The first time Ava Seer heard Prince was the day he passed. At 12 years old, she sat in her room listening to Purple Rain, and something in her changed. Now, years later, that moment lives on through the Violet Vault, a podcast exploring Prince's legacy, his music, and the world he created. Join Ava Seer as she opens the vault. One story, one era, one purple mystery at a time.

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Hello and welcome back to the Violet Vault. I'm your host, Ava Seer, and this is episode 14 of our Purple Journey. And if you've been keeping up with our latest episodes, you know that we're stepping into a brand new decade in Prince's story, the 1990s. Now the 90s would become one of the biggest turning points of Prince's career. This decade would bring artistic reinvention, public battles over creative freedom, and some of the boldest decisions he ever made. But before I get ahead of myself, let's start at the beginning with the year 1990. So last episode, we talked about Prince's first opportunity to create music for a major Hollywood film that wasn't his own, which was Batman. And that project proved that Prince could write music that complemented someone else's vision while still making it his own. But after Batman, the tables turned once again. Inspired by his renewed interest in filmmaking, Prince decided he wanted to get back behind the camera himself. Only this time things looked a little bit different than they had during the Purple Rain or under the Cherry Moon era. Instead of working with a major Hollywood production, Prince wanted something a little bit more personal and something that he could create almost entirely on his own terms. And that project would become Graffiti Bridge. But what's interesting though is the seeds for Graffiti Bridge had actually been planted years earlier. Prince kind of first began toying with the idea of creating a musical movie way back in 1987. So audiences kind of saw it as this new idea and project in 1990. It actually had been brewing for a few years. But Warner Brothers wasn't too keen on Prince kind of straying and doing a totally different film idea because, as we talked about before, Honor the Cherry Moon did receive a Razzie, so they were still a little skeptical about his filmmaking skills, and they said they would only green light the project and funding if it was a sequel to Purple Rain for marketing purposes. But instead of picking up immediately where the story left off, it revisited some familiar characters, explored themes of love, temptation, faith, and redemption. And Prince once again played the kid, while Morris Day returned alongside the time, and they would all these people would play significant roles in the story. But unlike Purple Rain, which featured plenty of real-world Minneapolis locations, Graffiti Bridge was actually largely filmed indoors. And most of the production took place inside the Paisley Park soundstage, which is wild to think about because I've if you've ever been in that space, it doesn't it's it's quite big, but it doesn't seem like an entire film set could be on there. But if it was completely cleared out and it was also open to where the MPG lounges as well, I guess I could see that, but it was just mind-blowing to me to learn that. By having this at Paisley Park's own studio, this allowed Prince to have nearly complete creative control over everything. The set, shot, every visual detail. And it's funny because even the title has a connection to Minnesota history. The Graffiti Bridge was actually inspired by a real bridge in Eden Prairie, Minnesota that had become covered in layers of graffiti over the years. And it became something of a local landmark before eventually being torn down to build a bigger highway and expansion, but its image lived on through Prince's imagination. And while Prince wrote and directed the film himself, audiences and critics didn't exactly embrace it. The movie struggled both critically and commercially and would even go on to receive multiple Razzies for worst actor, worst film, worst screenwriting, it was bad. And it also won an award recognizing as the year's one of the year's worst films. But this is where things get a little bit interesting. So while the film kind of stumbled and didn't do so great in the box office, the soundtrack actually did do well. So in fact, history has been surprisingly kind to the Graffiti Bridge album. So it was released in August of 1990, and the soundtrack ended up outperforming the film by a wide margin. It reached number six on the Billboard charts in the United States and climbed all the way to number one in the UK. And that made it Prince's third consecutive album to reach number one in the UK, showing that even if one project didn't resonate everywhere, his international fanbase remained incredibly loyal. Critics also found much more to love in the music than they did in the movie. Time magazine even described the album as a groovable feast, praising its blend of funk, rock, soul, and pop. To me, that's one of the things that I think makes Prince so fascinating during this era as he was able to blend all these different genres and make a cohesive album. The album produced several memorable singles, including Thieves in the Temple, and it's built around dramatic rhythms and layered vocals, and it became one of the standout tracks from the project and remains a fan favorite today. And another important song was New Power Generation. At first glance, it simply was another energetic Prince track, but in hindsight, it marked the beginning of something much bigger. The phrase New Power Generation wasn't just the title of the song. It became the name of Prince's brand new backing band, The New Power Generation, or simply known as The MPG. And the New Power Generation was actually a recycled song. It was from the 1999 era. It was actually called Bull Generation. So I highly recommend going and listening to both different tracks. One is a lot more energetic than the other, in my opinion, but it's really cool to see how Prince will kind of keep these songs in the back of head of his head that he knows he has in the vault and will he'll reuse later. So as the 1990s unfolded, Prince's new backing band would become an essential part of Prince's performances and recordings, helping usher in a fresh musical era while expanding on his sound beyond what fans had come to expect during the revolution years. And the creation of the MPG symbolized something larger than just adding new musicians. Prince had always reinvented himself. Every few years he seemed to shed one identity and create another. He always changed up his hairstyles, completely new aesthetic for every single album. And the revolution defined much of the 80s, but now this decade has changed, and Prince was once again looking forward instead of backward. And even some of the album's deeper cuts reflected his tendency to revisit old ideas in new ways. And for example, the song Tick Tick Bang, although it appeared on Graffiti Bridge, the song's origins actually stretch all the way back to controversy, which was almost a decade earlier. And again, he's recycling these songs that he has. And the original version reportedly had a much more punk rock sound. And the estate is releasing the original version in August, so I'm so excited to hear that version. But it just kind of shows how Prince is willing to just revisit older material, reshape it, and fit it into an entirely different creative context years later. And again, that's something you'll notice Prince will keep doing throughout his career. And looking back today, Graffiti Bridge feels almost like a bridge in more ways than one. It connected the larger than life Prince of the 1980s with the artist he was becoming in the 1990s. The movie may have not lived up to the impossible expectations created by Purple Rain, but the music revealed an artist who was still pushing forward, still experimenting and still refusing to repeat himself just because it was expected. And that's something we'll continue to see throughout this decade. The 1990s would bring new bands, new sounds, new identities, and eventually some of the biggest battles Prince would ever fight over ownership, artistic freedom, and control of his music. Graffiti Bridge kind of served as this final chapter of one era while quietly opening the door to the next. Thank you so much for joining me for another episode of The Violet Vault. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcast. Also follow us on Instagram and Facebook at the Violet Vault Podcast. And if you'd like to support the show, you actually can now. It's in linked in the show notes of this podcast. You can also find it on our Bud Sprout website, which is also linked on our social media pages. And also, I just want to thank you again for listening. I'm your host, Ava Seer. Peace and be wild.

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The Violet Vault is hosted by Ava Seer, celebrating the sound, style, and spirit of Prince. Subscribe wherever you find your podcasts and follow the Violet Vault on Instagram and Facebook for new episodes and bonus stories.