50 Fun Facts About Purple Rain

Which blockbuster, after seven weeks at number one, did the film Purple Rain knock off the top of the US box office?

Ghostbusters took the top spot straight back a week later, in its ninth weekend on release. Purple Rain still earned almost ten times its $7.2 million budget.

Which singer was sent a ten-minute instrumental of Purple Rain to write lyrics for, but felt too overwhelmed?

Stevie Nicks listened to the tape and told Prince it was too much for her. He then worked the song up with his band in a single six-hour rehearsal.

At which 2007 event in Florida did Prince close his set with Purple Rain just as a real downpour began?

The Super Bowl had never had rain during a halftime show before. Prince is said to have asked the producers whether they could make it rain harder.

Which political spouse co-founded a music watchdog group in 1985 after hearing her daughter play a Purple Rain track?

Tipper Gore's group, the PMRC, put that track first on its list of fifteen objectionable songs. Her husband, then a senator, later became vice president.

Which company built the customized motorcycle that Prince rides in the film Purple Rain and on the album cover?

Honda built the bike, a modest CM400A Hondamatic that was customized for the film. The riding scenes were shot on a road along the Minnesota River.

Prince phoned a member of which band, worried the song Purple Rain sounded too much like their ballad Faithfully?

Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain listened and reassured him that the two songs only shared the same four chords. Faithfully had been in the charts shortly before Prince recorded his song.

Which movie star did studio executives allegedly suggest, at a first meeting, to replace Prince in Purple Rain?

John Travolta was the name floated, the story goes. Every studio approached had rejected the idea of a film led by a musician, so Prince's manager produced it himself.

With Purple Rain, Prince joined the Beatles and which singer in holding America's top film, album and single at once?

Elvis Presley and the Beatles were the only acts to have managed it before. Prince's album then stayed at number one for 24 straight weeks.

Which Minneapolis club, a former Greyhound bus depot, is the main setting of the film Purple Rain?

First Avenue was paid $100,000 and closed for 25 days so the film could shoot there. More than 400 stars on its outside walls honour acts who have played the club.

Which Purple Rain single, Billboard's top song of 1984, did Prince write overnight once the director wanted one more?

When Doves Cry famously has no bass line: Prince took it out because the track sounded too conventional with it. He played every instrument on the recording himself.

Which Netflix series used the song Purple Rain in a climactic sequence of its 2025 series finale?

Stranger Things had already sent a Kate Bush hit back up the charts, and its co-creator credits that success for the Prince estate saying yes.

Which singer joined Prince to open the 2004 Grammy Awards with a medley that began with Purple Rain?

Beyoncé won five Grammys that same night, more than any other artist. The medley slipped one of her own hits in among three Prince songs.

Almost everyone in the film Purple Rain uses the actor's real name, but Prince's character goes by which nickname?

The Kid fronts a band called the Revolution, just as Prince did in real life. It was his first role in a feature film.

Purple Rain swapped the US number one album spot back and forth during 1984 and 1985 with a record by which act?

Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. gave up the top spot to Purple Rain and later took it back. The two were also rivals for the Album of the Year Grammy, and both lost.

Purple Rain lost the 1985 Grammy for Album of the Year to Can't Slow Down, a record by which singer?

Lionel Richie's record had been one of the best sellers of 1984. Prince still left with Grammys that night, including one for writing Chaka Khan's hit I Feel for You.

Which former high-school bandmate of Prince plays his preening rival, under his own first name, in the film Purple Rain?

Morris Day fronted The Time, the rival band in the film, and was reportedly thrown out of the cast's acting classes for clowning around.

In the film Purple Rain, Apollonia strips off and jumps into water she wrongly believes is which Minnesota landmark?

Lake Minnetonka is where Prince's character tells her to purify herself; only once she is in does he say this isn't it. Dave Chappelle later spoofed the scene on his sketch show.

Before the Revolution reworked it, the song Purple Rain was first written by Prince in which genre?

Country was the feel Prince first had in mind, until a bandmate's guitar chords took the song somewhere new. The live take was later cut from 11 minutes to under nine.

The single Purple Rain stalled at number two in America behind a hit from the duo fronted by which singer?

George Michael and Wham! held the top spot with Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go for both weeks. The two singles before it from the album had each reached number one.

Which actress, then a college student, turned down the female lead in Purple Rain before Apollonia Kotero was cast?

Jennifer Beals, fresh from Flashdance, wanted to concentrate on her studies at Yale. Prince's first choice, the singer leading his own girl group, had already walked away.

Which opening track of Purple Rain begins with a funeral-style organ and Prince delivering a spoken eulogy?

Let's Go Crazy became the album's second number one single in America. It also opens the film, and the tour that followed opened with it too.

Which Purple Rain track ends with a hidden vocal recorded backwards, heard after the music gives way to wind and rain?

Darling Nikki was engineered to sound raw and live next to the slick tracks around it. On tour, the backwards message was played the right way round.

Which Purple Rain single is a duet between Prince and his co-star Apollonia, first meant for her own group's album?

Take Me with U was the last US single from the album. A member of the Revolution reportedly doubled Apollonia's vocal on the record.

Which singer, Prince's first choice for the female lead in Purple Rain, quit before filming and signed with Motown?

Vanity led a trio that was renamed around her replacement for the film. She went on to star in the 1985 film The Last Dragon.

Which film editor was hired to direct Purple Rain after pitching his own take on the story on the spot?

Albert Magnoli got the job after the director of Reckless, a film he had edited, turned it down and passed it to him. He briefly managed Prince's career in 1989.

Clarence Williams III, the troubled parent of Prince's character in Purple Rain, starred as a cop in which TV series?

The Mod Squad made him a star as undercover officer Linc Hayes from 1968 to 1973. In Purple Rain his character is a tormented musician with a hidden box of his own compositions.

Which 1990 film, written and directed by Prince himself, is the sequel that revisits his Purple Rain character?

Graffiti Bridge brought back his old rival from The Time as well, now fighting him for control of a club. It was Prince's last major role in a cinema film.

Which institution chose the film Purple Rain for the National Film Registry in 2019, having already honoured the album?

The Library of Congress added the album to its National Recording Registry in 2012. Both lists are reserved for works judged culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Which artist, then riding high with The Glamorous Life, was the opening act on the Purple Rain Tour?

Sheila E. had released her debut album that year and often joined Prince for long jams at the end of the show. The Time, despite their part in the film, were not invited on the tour.

In which city did the Purple Rain Tour begin in November 1984, on the stage of Joe Louis Arena?

Detroit hosted the opening night, though Prince had quietly tried the show out at a small Cincinnati club six weeks earlier.

Which rapper's 2002 film, about a musician facing a hated rival in a Midwest city, is often compared to Purple Rain?

Eminem's loosely autobiographical 8 Mile follows the same arc: a young musician fails, then wins a showdown against a rival. One critic called the two plots identical.

Purple Rain was reborn in which new form in 2025, premiering at the State Theatre in Prince's hometown?

A musical it was, built on Prince's songs with a new script based on the film. After its Minneapolis run, the show set its sights on Broadway.

Which critic, one of two Prince dreamed had torn Purple Rain apart, later called it one of the greatest rock movies?

Roger Ebert and his TV partner both put the film on their lists of the ten best of 1984. Prince had feared the pair would hate it.

The outcry over a Purple Rain track helped bring about which warning label for albums with explicit lyrics?

Parental Advisory labels were the record industry's answer to complaints from a group known as the Washington Wives. Frank Zappa and Dee Snider testified against the idea at a Senate hearing.

Which studio, whose record label already had Prince under contract, released Purple Rain after an internal debate?

Warner Bros. thought the film outrageous and argued over whether to distribute it at all. Its home video arm then put the tape on sale while the film was still in cinemas.

In the film Purple Rain, Prince's character says two bandmates wrote the title song, then dedicates it to whom?

His father has just survived a self-inflicted gunshot in the family basement. The song wins over the crowd, and by the encores even his rival approves.

Which pop star made a surprise appearance on stage with Prince during a 1985 Purple Rain Tour show at the Forum?

Madonna came out during Baby I'm a Star, the song Prince liked to stretch into a jam of twenty minutes or more with his guests.

For which element of the film did Purple Rain win its only Academy Award, at the ceremony Amadeus dominated?

Its song score won Prince the Oscar, in a category that honoured a film's whole set of songs rather than a single number. Amadeus took eight awards the same night.

In which European nation did the single Purple Rain finally reach number one in 2016, a week after Prince's death?

France had only sent the single to number twelve in the 1980s. In America it re-entered the Hot 100 that spring and climbed to number four.

Which song, performed by The Time in the film Purple Rain, gave the band a US top 20 hit?

Jungle Love reached number 20 on the Hot 100, lifted by the film's momentum. Kevin Smith later had the band play it at the end of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Matt Fink, the Revolution's keyboardist in the film Purple Rain, is known for performing on stage dressed as what?

A surgeon's mask and scrubs gave him the stage name Doctor Fink. He also shares a writing credit on the album track Computer Blue.

Which Prince double album, home to the hit Little Red Corvette, came directly before Purple Rain?

1999 was his first album to reach the US top ten, and its success gave Prince the leverage to demand a starring film role from his manager.

Which ABC sitcom named its hundredth episode Purple Rain and had its cast perform Prince songs in tribute?

Black-ish aired the episode in November 2018, two years after Prince's death, as a salute to his cultural legacy.

The 1983 club show that produced Purple Rain's live tracks was the first gig for which 19-year-old Revolution guitarist?

Wendy Melvoin had been asked to join after standing in at a soundcheck when the previous guitarist failed to show. She later formed a duo with a fellow band member.

Which song does Apollonia's girl group perform at their club debut in the film Purple Rain?

Sex Shooter was written and produced by Prince and became the trio's debut single. Billboard later ranked it among the 100 greatest girl group songs.

After Purple Rain, Apollonia Kotero joined which prime-time soap opera, playing a character who shared her name?

Falcon Crest cast her in 1985 as Apollonia, girlfriend of the character played by Lorenzo Lamas. The two actors later worked together again on the series Air America.

The first Purple Rain script came from William Blinn, hired on the strength of which TV series he executive produced?

Fame, set in a performing-arts school, had Blinn as a writer and executive producer. The director then reworked his much darker first draft.

A 2015 remake of Purple Rain, shot in Niger with guitarist Mdou Moctar, was the first fiction film in which language?

Tuareg audiences got it under a title that translates as Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It. The film draws on its star's own life as a musician.

The 1983 concert where the album version of Purple Rain was recorded live was a benefit for what kind of organisation?

A dance company it was: the Minnesota Dance Theatre, where Prince had taken classes as a schoolboy. A mobile recording truck parked outside caught the show.

Purple Rain was the last song Prince ever performed live, closing his final concert at the Fox Theatre in which city?

Atlanta saw the show on April 14, 2016, one week before Prince died. The tour was billed simply as Piano & a Microphone.