Prince is a legend. We all know that. He batted .1000 for practically a decade, and in the span of just under four years, released Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, and Purple Rain. I’m not telling you anything new.
What you might not know is this: Prince’s merch is as good as any band’s from that era. If you were to put every shirt he made into a box, close your eyes, reach in, and pull one out, you’d almost certainly select the coolest new shirt in your closet. But don’t take my word for it. Here’s photo evidence. This is the merch legacy of Prince.
Prince came of age in a different era. Bands simply didn’t tour with the now ubiquitous wall of merch. They offered a shirt or two–and maybe one for the road crew. That was about it.
But what do we have here? A Controversy shirt! Controversy rules. Because it’s sandwiched between two masterpieces (Dirty Mind and 1999), it’s maybe even slightly underrated. Take a look at that graphic. Gun control, lingerie, and Joni: the holy trinity.
Prince was only getting started.
A couple years later, he put out this nasty tee. The tri-colored face on the front is just so good. And the back, with its sickly, sorta oversaturated flower graphic, is also great. Imagine wearing it under a jean jacket or chore coat or whatever.
Let’s stay in 1984. Prince drops “When Doves Cry,” and America freaks for it. His cold, cold jam triumphs over the pop chart for five weeks. Even Bruce can’t unseat Prince. Full disclosure: “When Doves Cry” is my favorite Prince song, and this is my favorite Prince shirt. It’s one of my favorite pieces of merch, period. Perfect color, perfect image, perfect font. When I monetize this newsletter and start raking in the big bucks, I’m going to buy a stunning example of this historically significant tee from 1984–not a reissue or boot. I should’ve done it back when the market for such things wasn’t so hot.
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Perhaps you want the Purple One himself to grace your shirt. Have no fear, for such a product exists. This must also be from the Purple Rain era. There’s a lot going on here. I especially like whatever font was used to spell out Prince. Also, bubbles.
Parade isn’t my favorite Prince album–not by a long shot–but that album gave us some truly exceptional garments. Look no further than this beauty, which takes the photograph from the “Mountains” single and places it inside a triangle filled with clouds. Nice!
And here’s a shirt Prince released to celebrate the release of his 1986 feature film, Under the Cherry Moon.
Sign ‘O’ the Times is getting the deluxe reissue treatment (13 LPs!), but what the fans really want is a deluxe reissue of the record plus this holy grail. You can’t have one without the other. This shirt is so bad, it’s good.
Another undeniable garment from the Sign era. Let’s move on to Lovesexy.
From what I can tell, this is one of the easier vintage Prince shirts to find on eBay for (relatively) cheap. The back says ‘89 in the same psychedelic Around the World in a Day lettering.
I’m not crazy about this shirt. It’s not bad, but it does kinda look like a Jimi Hendrix shirt you’d buy at Kohl’s or Target or wherever.
You didn’t think I’d end this treatise with a dud, did you? This shirt flipping rocks. It rules. Every album Prince had released through 1989 is included. Squint hard and you’ll even see For You (1978).
Before landing on the Love Symbol, Prince used a less stylized female-male glyph on Purple Rain, the “Take Me With U” single, and Graffiti Bridge (1990).
No modern musician had more affection for symbols than Prince. That guy was something else. By 1993, he no longer called himself Prince, but…well, you know. The New Power Generation–i.e., the ‘90s–was a far more difficult and inconsistent period in Prince’s career. He hit some homers, but he also struck out a lot. I will examine the merch from that time in a future post.
Thank you for joining me. In case it wasn’t clear, I love Prince, and I’m still sad he’s gone. He was a fascinating artist, and his run from 1980-1987 is the stuff of legend. I’m glad that’s reflected in the clothing.