There was often political consciousness running through Prince’s music. But it was his sexually explicit lyrics in the 1980’s that inspired outrage from the wife of Democratic Sen. Al Gore.
After Prince’s Purple Rain won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score in 1984, Tipper Gore, wife of future Vice President Al Gore, bought the album for her young daughter Karenna.
According to TIME when Tipper heard the opening line to the song “Darling Nikki” (I knew a girl named Nikki/ I guess you could say she was a sex fiend/ I met her in a hotel lobby/ Masturbating with a magazine), she was appalled.
The album prompted Tipper to form the Parents Music Resource Center, dedicated to monitoring objectionable content in pop music. After just one congressional hearing, “Parental Advisory” stickers began to grace album covers.
Tipper then wrote the book Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society published by Abingdon Press, a religious publishing house. The book touched on the influence of music videos.
Prince never publicly commented on Tipper Gore or the hearings that his lyrics inspired.
In 2002, rapper Eminem directly referenced Tipper Gore in White America the opening song on his album The Eminem show: “To burn the {flag} and replace it with a Parental Advisory sticker/To spit liquor in the faces of this democracy of hypocrisy/Fuck you Ms. Cheney, Fuck you Tipper Gore.”
The release of “Purple Rain” in 1984 made Prince an international superstar. That album spent 24 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts and sold more than 13 million copies.
During his career he won seven Grammys, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award and was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility.
Throughout his life Prince donated millions to various charities benefiting art, children and the less fortunate.
Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness in 2001 and for the rest of his life abstained from drinking, swearing, and eating meat.