For anyone who likes their musical history linear, it’d be fair to say that The Rolling Stones played a key part in Prince going global – even if they weren’t aware of it at the time. Prince’s two shows supporting The Stones at the Coliseum in LA in October 1981 have gone down in folklore as “That time Prince got booed offstage”. With Prince dressed in a see-through jacket and tiny black briefs, The Stones’ audience weren’t ready for a future superstar.
He lasted just four songs, before the fl ying detritus got too much and he left during Jack U Off. Two nights later, he had to endure it all again.
“The Rolling Stones beatdown was a dark period,” recalls Bobby Z, the drummer who had played with Prince since they both left different Minneapolis schools in 1976. “When you play as young musicians you don’t in your wildest nightmares expect to be physically, mentally and audibly ordered off stage with objects and boos coming at you. It was very traumatic – and it happened twice.” It was especially saddening for Prince, as he was such a huge Stones fan. Guitarist Dez Dickerson, who joined Prince’s band in 1979, says: “In all my time with Prince, I resonated most with his stated goal when I fi rst joined – to be a black version of The Rolling Stones. He’d say to me, ‘I’m Mick and you’re Keith.’ That came naturally to me. Actually, the opening two-thirds of that fi rst show with The Stones was stunning and memorable.