"That ain't Lake Minnetonka" - Prince

If you don’t know where that line is from, you have missed out on one of the greatest cinematic moments of our time from the movie, Purple Rain.

This year marks the 30th Anniversary of both the movie, released on July 27, 1984 and the soundtrack released on June 25, 1984. Both of these entertainment juggernauts helped to cement Prince’s icon status, gave us the soundtrack for many-a-summers, set into motion the implementation of the parental advisory sticker, and provided us with some of the best one-liners to ever be spoken on film.

Purple Rain is Prince’s sixth studio album and is listed on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry as a sound recording that is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important”. The album was written by Prince and was the first to include a credit for The Revolution, the most awesome of lace bedecked bands to grace our eyes and ears.  The soundtrack did lack one of our favorite songs performed in the movie, “Modernaire”, but you can’t have everything.

The soundtrack included many hits, including the title track “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry” and garnered two Grammys and one Oscar. And for all those music history buffs, the lyrics to “Darling Nikki” riled up Tipper Gore so much that she founded the Parents Music Resource Center, which eventually led to the use of the Parental Advisory sticker. And we all know the Parental Advisor sticker really just lets you know what album you need to buy; it’s definitely not a deterrent.

Aside from all of its accolades, Purple Rain is just an amazing album! We’ve got it on vinyl, CD, and digital here at Phashion Phish, so we know what we’re talking about! Not to mention it was THE SOUNDTRACK of the summer in 1984! You couldn’t NOT hear it anywhere, and because it was so good you didn’t mind! But what good is a soundtrack, if the movie isn’t awesome!

The movie Purple Rain was and still is a staple for any Prince fan, music lover, movie lover, or musical movie lover! The movie from start to finish flows and even in 2014 doesn’t seem dated or out of touch. It still works! Not only that, but the movie features some great one liners! Check out our favorites below!

“This is a bi-ness!” – Billy tells The Kid after one of his off the wall performances, later telling him he’s just like his dad.

“Gimme that . . . there on your boot.” – The Kid quips to Apollonia; and surprisingly, she obliges by taking off her anklet and giving it to him. We’d think talking to random strangers AND giving them your jewelry would be a no-no, but what do we know.

“You won’t let me have any fun.” – Mother, says to Father in the middle of one of their legendary fights. Clearly these two need some marriage counseling, but the brooding musician thing always works in a movie, so we’ll let it slide.

“Never get married.” – Father’s advice to The Kid after asking him if he has a girlfriend. Dude, we don’t really think you needed to say this, considering the example you've set for relationships. But hey, sometimes you’ve got to get it all out there.

“You have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.” - The Kid says this to Apollonia during their banter back and forth about him helping her musical career. This whole conversation is one of THE BEST in the movie, and can often be heard at bars during rousing drunken fests!

“Let’s have some action! Let’s have some asses wigglin’ . . . I want some perfection!” – Morris tells his group, Vanity 6 this during rehearsal! Morris had some of the best lines in the whole movie and this one has inspired many to get a lamp with fringes to flick during really great songs!

What are some of your favorite Purple Rain moments? Let us know in the comments below!

What We Learned at the 2014 BET Awards

Who are you??

We are not old per se here at Phashion Phish, but who are all these new singers; some with talent and some without! We’ll take Lionel Richie singing all day, before we have to be subjected to all this yelling, smoke machines to cover up the fact you can’t dance, and the tacky clothes. Can we get a choreographed performance, a well dressed performer, who CAN sing, and whose make-up is beat for the gods??? Is that too much to ask? Where is a Janet Jackson choreographed performance, by Tina Landon when you need one???

90’s R& B needs to make a comeback!

Who got up to slow dance by themselves AS SOON as Troop stepped on the stage??? Because, WE DID! By many accounts, 90’s R & B is a golden era, that won’t likely make a return any time soon. But for a moment last night we were reminded what real singers and performers look and sound like. Silk, Troop, and Color Me Badd set a tone in R & B, which set the stage for a good run of the use of sexual innuendo in music, not seen since. Because well, the music now-a-days has no innuendo and definitely cuts to the chase, but that’s another post for another day. We’re just glad to see a performance that we could sing along with, because we knew all the words!

Nicki Minaj is our hero!

Say what you want, but there was a little bit of truth to what Miss Minaj said during her acceptance speech. No shade indeed, but on the surface we think Hip-Hop heads are fed up with the gimmicks and lack of authenticity, as she put it. And well, will Jay Z one day be touting his historical relevance to Hip-Hop, the way Little Richard does with Rock n’ Roll, because the people who created the genre will be so far removed from it that they won’t matter. We don’t want to live in a world where Tupac, Biggie, and Jay Z are not considered the best. NO! NO! NO! And for all the people who said Nicki’s a hater? Tuuuhh! Hip-Hop is all about the braggadocio and if you don’t know that much about the genre, you are not allowed to comment. No one wants to hear what you have to say. With all this kumbaya, hand holding, and friendliness as of late, people have forgotten that one of the cornerstones of Hip-Hop is the beef! They have made for some great songs; just ask Kool Moe Dee and LL Cool J.

We still LOVE Bey and Jay!

So, they weren’t REALLY there! We’ll take a taped performance from the Queen and her accompanying King, than some of that mess we had to endure last night. And for all the people that won’t be able to attend the On the Run Tour, a look inside one of the most highly anticipated tours of the summer, is not a bad thing. Besides, it gave us another chance to check out Beyonce’s moves on that chair during “Partition”. Do they sell that chair somewhere? We’re asking for a friend.

Myrlie Evers and Phylicia Rashad are THE BOMB!

These two titans, better yet icons of all that is AWESOME were a refreshing break from all the shucking and jiving of the night. But a little part of us wished they would have done some “hood shaming”. As Myrlie Evers mentioned there was a time when a black person came on TV and the screen would go black, but not only that, other people would SING THEIR SONGS!! There are actual covers of quartets busting out Little Richard's, “Tutti Frutti”, because they wouldn’t play his version on the radio! Yes, black musicians have come a long way, but considering what they came from; you would think they’d fall back from all the tomfoolery, gyrating, ignorant lyrics, and other mess they promote to the masses and do something crazy, like use their influence for good. For every “These Hoes Ain’t Loyal”, an updated version of “Self-Destruction” wouldn’t hurt.