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Who was the mysterious artist known, among other things,as Prince? Last year, an epic Netflix documentary by the late musician's estate for itstoo-negative take on this question. As a fan himself,Prince biographer Matt Thorne is "torn" about never gettingto see the film and also sympathetic towards efforts toprotect the musician's image. "There are fans who justwant to see it because it's like, 'Great, nine hours ofPrince.
' There are fans who desperately don't want it to bereleased because they don't want the general public to havea negative view of Prince." In the meantime, he says,the wildly prolific songwriter revealed a lot about himselfin his song lyrics. "He was a very autobiographicallyric writer.
He almost always writes about himself...
He'llchange things, but he's really surprisingly direct. Quiteoften in the second or third verse of a song, you'll findhe's being very truthful in a surprising way" Thorne tellsCharlotte Ryan. Due to the manner of his death - aseemingly accidental overdose of painkillers at 57 - it'seasy to present Prince's story as a dark one, Thornesays.
From people who've seen the authorised Netflixdocumentary, he's heard that Oscar-winning documentarydirector Ezra Edelman seems to take quite a negative view ofPrince's psyche. "[It seems] there's an attempt topsychoanalyse Prince and there's an attempt to resolve himas a mystery. There's a particular solution that's presentedas resolving the Prince mystery.
"What I understand isa lot of it is about the loneliness and isolation ofcreativity and how Prince's parents might have had an impact...
his domestic situation as a child may have had an impacton the music that he subsequently created." Americanmusician Questlove, who was interviewed for the Netflixfilm, told the after seeing thedocumentary because it was so disturbing to him as afan. Prince biographer John Bream, who was alsointerviewed, stated Edelman and his producers pressed him to .
"[Bream] felt that they were sort ofdigging for a negative perspective or at least trying to sayPrince had quite a combative relationship. The director andthe producers were presenting it to him like, 'This musthave really upset you,' and he was just like 'Oh no, it'sfine. That's just who he was.
That was hischaracter'." Thorne's acclaimed biography was published in 2012, four years before themusician's death. In an updated edition released thisyear, he includes stories from Prince's final years,including a report from a Kiwi woman who saw "sadness" inthe late musician during his final 2016 tour.
Of the dozens of Princeacquaintances Thorne interviewed for his book - includingmanagers, confidants and girlfriends - some were frustratedwith him or found him annoying, he says, but not many wereleft really upset by his behaviour. "I was gettinglots of people saying, 'The time I spent with him was thegreatest part of my life and I'll remember itforever.'" In interviews himself, Prince was "verycryptic", Thorne says, and repeatedly said 'the rearviewmirror's broken off' to avoid talking about thepast.
To him, this doesn't confirm Prince's story asprimarily a sad one. "He had an incredible life. Hecreated an incredible body of work.
He was so generous. Hedid so much for his fans. He gave so much to everybody.
Ithink the idea of a documentary that casts him in a negativelight doesn't seem to me to tell the wholestory." This1998 track is no less than "Prince's greatest personalachievement", Thorne says. "It was so ambitious,adventurous.
He recorded it shortly after , I believe, with a 40-piece orchestra. It's about10 minutes long but it's still really funky and a reallygreat song ..
. Prince considered it his finest work himselfand thought it was the best thing he everrecorded." ' "If Iwas DJing and wanted to put a song on and get everybody offthe dance floor it's the 'Erotic City', which is my absolutefavouritesong.
".
