This week’s Creative Commons song picks are inspired by the brilliance that was Prince.
I was in my hotel room in Pisa, Italy, literally a block from the famous leaning tower, when I got this text from my friend (and Radio Film School regular guest) Yolanda Cochran. It was simply:
#Prince 💔 😢😞
I, like the rest of the world, was shocked and dismayed at the news of Prince’s death. There are so many fond memories of junior high school, high school and college associated with Prince’s music. He was one of those rare anomalies of talent that changed the face of music. He cannot and will never be replaced, emulated, or duplicated.
I had already written and pre-scheduled my Saturday Song Selection blog post for the week he passed, and since I was traveling, I wasn’t able to do a more timely post. But this being my first Saturday back from Europe, I wanted to take this time to honor his memory. So here are five Creative Commons song picks inspired by the music of his purple majesty!
Note: It should go without saying that trying to find five Creative Commons songs that sound as good as Prince’s music is damn near impossible. I mean, c’mon. This is Prince for crying out loud. So most of these songs are inspired by the kind of music The Artist Formerly Known as “the Artist” made. Electric guitar. Funky beats. Etc. Hopefully, you’ll find them inspiring.
Click here to learn about Creative Commons licenses and meanings.
Marginal Funk by Fasol Productions (CC BY-NC-ND). Funny enough, I found this song looking for copyright approved images to use for this blog post. The YouTube thumbnail for this song appeared. When I played the video, I was pleasantly surprised to find this creative commons song that was specifically designed to sound like Prince. It’s pretty good actually. You can use if for free for non-profit and non-commercial projects. (It’s only $25 to license it).
These next two songs are each by Jahzzar, off his “Sketches” album on FreeMusicArchive.org. The first is “money” (CC BY-SA). I picked this one because the beginning reminded me of the beginning of “Nasty Girl” by the group Vanity 6, which was an 80s girl trio founded by Prince (he wrote “Nasty Girl”. To this day, I’m still in awe how given the explicit lyrics, this song played in major rotation on the air back in the early 80s). The lead singer Vanity (Denise Matthews) was supposedly one of Prince’s love interests. She famously renounced her sexualized musical background later in life and became a devoted Christian (even an ordained minister). In an ironic and sad twist of fate, she too died this year, on February 16, at the same age Prince was at his death: 57.
The other song from this album I picked is “do it” (CC BY-SA). I picked this song mainly again because of the beginning. The electronic organ is reminiscent of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy“. Lastly, the album cover kinda looks like Prince, dontcha think?
Rain Begins to Fall by Silence is Sexy (CC BY-NC-SA). I’ll give you one guess as to why I picked this song. It’s right there in the title. 🙂
MC Cullah’s Guitar by Cullah (CC BY-SA). Cullah is one of my favorite artists on Free Music Archive. I knew he’d come through for me on this list. I mainly picked this one for the Jimi Hendrix style guitar riff, which is also very reminiscent of Prince. But I also like this song because it’s a mish-mash of genres: funk, hip-hop, and rock; in much the same way Prince wrote for and represented so many different styles.
Rest in Peace Prince. Thank you for the decades of magnificent music and memories. You will never be forgotten. Jimmy Corden’s short tribute expresses my feelings way better than any other I’ve heard.
Other artists paid tribute to Prince as well. He was truly a celebrity to celebrities.
