His heyday band was called the Revolution, but it was Prince who was the revolutionary.
Maybe he didn't set out to change the world. Maybe he just wanted to do things his way. But in his 39-year recording career, Prince had an impact on the world of music, popular culture and the music industry that, as Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich put it, was "immeasurable."
Prince did everything from helping to desegregate MTV (that sounds like ancient pop history) to pioneering music distribution on the internet (his breakthrough approach seems ancient now) to fighting for artists' rights and independence to devising inventive and alternative methods of distributing CDs.
In the context of rock history, Prince was to the 1980s what Elvis was to the '50s, the Beatles to the '60s and punk rockers to the '70s: He was a giant middle finger to the world, as his former tour manager Alan Leeds put it.
Prince fought conventions in so many ways. From Day 1, he strove for control of his music, gaining the unheard-of opportunity to self-produce his debut album even though he was only 18. Then he grabbed attention by shocking with provocative outfits and controversial lyrics set to irresistibly catchy music.
Like Sly and the Family Stone a decade or so earlier, Prince had a coed, multiracial band. He wanted diversity before anyone championed that notion. "Don't make me black," he famously told a Warner Bros. Records executive after he signed with the label. He didn't want his race to confine him to the world of R&B. He wanted to reach a wider audience with a genre-blending and genre-defying sound.
With Michael Jackson, Prince kicked down the doors at MTV, which, when it started in 1981, was programming only rock music by white acts. Jackson's "Thriller" and Prince's "1999" were one-two punches at MTV's color barriers. Moreover, his "Purple Rain" movie proved that integrated audiences, integrated bands and mixed-race couples could be everyday parts of the world, not exceptions.
"Purple Rain" was not only a sociological, musical and artistic triumph, but it sent a message that you could stay in your hometown and become an international star. There was no need to move to New York, Los Angeles or Nashville anymore.