How Bob Seger ballads, a teenage guitarist, and a wildly ambitious film concept played into the defining statement of the artist’s career
“The place was just absolutely packed to the rafters,” recalled Prince tour manager Alan Leeds. “Steve McClellen, who ran First Avenue, was afraid the fire marshals were going to come and close us down.” The concert marked the first appearance of the Revolution’s new guitarist, a teenage Wendy Melvoin. It was also the public debut of the song that would define the next chapter of Prince’s career and, in some ways, the rest of his life.
Crucially, he also made one key change in the Revolution lineup, replacing Dickerson with Melvoin, a childhood friend of keyboardist Lisa Coleman who had been hanging around the tour and made a few vocal contributions toA band that had previously had a front line of three black men was now mixed in terms of race and gender. It was a visual manifestation of the sonic goal Prince had presented to his musicians — a cross between Fleetwood Mac and Sly and the Family Stone.
His crossover dreams were so big, in fact, that he initially sent the track to Stevie Nicks — he played keyboards on her hit “Stand Back” — and asked if she would write the song’s lyrics; she replied, “I wish I could, [but] it’s too much for me.” Filming in Minneapolis concluded in late December 1983, but the music continued developing through the editing phase.
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