{"id":821,"date":"2016-05-12T23:49:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T23:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrzeros.com\/blog\/?p=821"},"modified":"2016-05-12T23:49:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-12T23:49:10","slug":"2016-prince-and-the-death-of-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrzeros.com\/blog\/2016-prince-and-the-death-of-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Prince and the Death of Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

“2016: The Death Of Rock”<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

BUZZ Newspaper Article (#62-pR) May- Jun 2016<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By: RLSchwinden aka MrZerr0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hey Rik! I hope all’s well with you. I’ve been working on coverage about Prince’s death for the New York Daily News, I was wondering if people are coming in to Mr. Zero’s to get Prince Memorabilia? I thought I’d check in with you and see if you’ve been seeing a noticeable demand there. Thanks for your help, Anna P. Mon 25 Apr 2016: 11:35am <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hello Anna,<\/p>\n

On the death of any Rock Star,<\/u><\/em><\/strong> I have been in the “Record Biz”<\/u><\/em><\/strong> for 31 years<\/em><\/strong> now, I started with RecordShop<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, in 1986<\/u><\/em><\/strong> from there Archives<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, then my own Mail Order Business “Dr. Rox<\/u><\/em><\/strong> Remember When?”<\/u><\/em><\/strong> (Pre-internet),<\/em> Wherehouse<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, Musicland<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, BestBuy<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, Disc Jockey<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, fye<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, all of these\u00a0in 5 different states<\/em>, & then Discland<\/u><\/em><\/strong> & finally I opened Mr. Zero\u2019s in Roseville 55113<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in 2009.<\/u><\/em><\/strong> When I 1st started in “The Biz”<\/em> all those years ago, Ricky Nelson<\/u><\/em><\/strong> was the 1st to die in \u201885<\/em><\/strong>, followed by Benny Goodman<\/u> <\/em><\/strong>in \u201986<\/em><\/strong> & in \u201887 Maria Von Trapp,\u00a0 Liberace,, Andreas Segovia<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, Buddy Rich<\/u><\/em><\/strong> & then Peter Tosh<\/u><\/em><\/strong> kicking off\u00a0 the Reggae movement in Des Moines.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

> Feels Like The 1st Time <<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It wasn’t until Mar ’88<\/u><\/em><\/strong> when Andy Gibb<\/u><\/em><\/strong> died & his old fans started coming into\u00a0 RecordShop<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, where I was working\u00a0 in W. Des Moines,<\/em> looking to buy Gibb’s <\/u><\/em><\/strong>Cassettes, Vinyl & CDs<\/em>. (this was long before the internet started robbing retail stores of sales & States of Retail Taxes, which<\/em> began around 2000)<\/em> so Buying Cassettes, Vinyl & CDs<\/em> was still a HUGE<\/u><\/em> Deal at the time, but there was a term back then for Catalog Titles “In Print” or “Out Of Print”<\/em><\/strong> & Andy Gibb<\/u><\/em><\/strong> was “Out Of Print” (meaning no real demand for any of his recordings)<\/em> at the time of his death, so there was nothing to purchase, for some time by then, as his last release was in sometime in \u201881<\/em><\/strong> & his next release was 3 years later, a CD Hits package in ’91<\/em>. So this was my 1st real exposure to this trend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The next one to go, was Roy Orbison<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, who died in Dec ’88<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, this is where we in “The Biz”<\/em> really took notice of the trend. Roy <\/u><\/em><\/strong>had a newer “Re-Recorded” Greatest Hits Album<\/em>, released in Sep ’87<\/em><\/strong>, about a year earlier. When that album came out it did not sell very well, Then Roy Died. The Demand for that Record & Cassette was staggering, so from then on we “In The Biz”<\/em> watched very carefully who was “ill or about to<\/em> die or had died”,<\/em> we would then stock up on that Artists Titles: Cassette, CD\u00a0(Vinyl if it was available as<\/em> Vinyl was put to death in Dec ’87)<\/em> so this tread is not a new one for those who have been around in the biz for decades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

> Top 5 Prince Memories <<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

My 1st<\/sup> Prince<\/u><\/em><\/strong> memory; was at West High <\/u><\/em><\/strong>in \u201879<\/u><\/em><\/strong> a girl in my English class made a “Photo Image Book”<\/em> to Prince\u2019s<\/em><\/strong> song \u201cI Wanna Be Your Lover\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> I remember hearing the song on the\u00a0 radio & I thought it was pretty good.\u00a0 My 2nd<\/sup> Prince <\/u><\/em><\/strong>memory; I was living in Bemidji, MN<\/u><\/em><\/strong>. in ’83<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, working on the cleaning crew at the local collage & our crew chief was playing Prince<\/u><\/em><\/strong> records he had taped from records onto cassettes on his boombox, I really remember liking \u201cLet\u2019s Pretend We\u2019re Married\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> this made me seek out the LP ‘1999’<\/u><\/em><\/strong>. My 3rd<\/sup> Prince<\/em><\/strong> memory; was, my girlfriend at the time, Cathy<\/em> & I going to see \u201cPurple Rain\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> in the theatre & thinking this is the greatest film I have ever seen, & Apollonia , was\u00a0 the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My 4th<\/sup> memory of Prince<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, was the song \u201cThe Cross\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> from 1987\u2019s \u2018Sign O The Times\u2019<\/u><\/em><\/strong> I thought how cool is this, an artist of his caliber wrote such a song about God.<\/u><\/em><\/strong> My 5th best memory of Prince<\/em><\/strong> is the song \u201cBob<\/u><\/em><\/strong> George\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> from 1988\u2019s \u2018Black Album\u2019<\/u><\/em><\/strong> my then Boss Matt M.<\/u><\/em><\/strong> gave me a recorded cassette copy of the album, as it was not released to the public until 1994 <\/u><\/em><\/strong>(on CD & Cassette)<\/em>. If you haven’t heard it give it a listen, I loved that song so much, I often quoted it, some years later my co-worker Damon<\/u><\/em><\/strong>, turned me in onto “Cloreen Baconskin”<\/u><\/em><\/strong> from ‘Crystal Ball’<\/u><\/em><\/strong> (CD only),<\/em> from ’83<\/u><\/em><\/strong> with Morris Day on Drums<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, my all time best memory\u00a0 of Prince<\/em><\/strong>: Sometime in late \u201908,<\/em><\/strong> Record Producer<\/em> Greg H<\/u><\/em><\/strong>. had told me Prince<\/em><\/strong> was interested in playing on a Tommy Bolin Guitar Tribute CD: ‘Whirlwind’<\/u><\/em><\/strong> which did not come to fruition, however shortly after this conversation Prince<\/u><\/em><\/strong> did perform Billy Cobham\u2019s “Spectrum<\/u><\/em><\/strong>” live in Jul ’09<\/u><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

> Back Where We Started <<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Around the early 2000’s <\/u><\/em><\/strong>when “Hard Product”<\/em> was being phased out in “New Retail Stores”<\/em> we saw a “New Trend”<\/em> in the “Used Stores”<\/em> the availability of certain Artists product at all, whether Alive OR Dead, some artists were simply, very hard to have in stock, in any form in the “Used Shops”.<\/em> Here’s a brief list in no Particular Order:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prince<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

David Bowie<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

James Brown<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gram Parsons<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Replacements<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Smiths<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Trashmen<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Townes Van Zant<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom Waits<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yardbirds<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Frank Zappa<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SO … it was hard enough to get a hold of these Artists before they DIED<\/em>, so when they Died…. Forget about it, that Very Limited Supply dries up in a hurry. So when I heard Prince<\/em><\/strong> died, that Thurs morning I knew what to expect. Since I have known about this trend for almost 30 years<\/em>, I was not taken by surprise & on that, I think more Musicians have died in 2016<\/u><\/em><\/strong> than any other year, one of my piers stated recently “2016 the year Rock Music Died”<\/u><\/em><\/strong> HOWEVER with PRINCE:<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe Requests we received In Order Were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. ‘Purple Rain’: DVD<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. ‘Purple Rain’: Vinyl<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. ‘HITS: 1 & 2’ on Vinyl BUT WAS ONLY MADE ON CD & Cassette: NO VINYL<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. ‘Crystal Ball’: on Vinyl BUT WAS ONLY MADE ON CD! NO Vinyl or even Cassette<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. ‘Black Album’ on Vinyl BUT WAS ONLY MADE ON CD & Cassette … NO VINYL<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. 12″ Mixes on CD… BUT Only Made ON VINYL not Even Cassette<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  7. Full Size Prince Posters 3 x 2 feet<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  8. Prince T-Shirts<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  9. ‘Hit & Run’ 1&2: on Vinyl, BUT Only Made on CD … NO Vinyl<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. A DVD of all of “Prince’s MTV Videos” … which has NOT Been Made Ever (few artists have been)<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  11. ‘Batman’ on Vinyl very hard to find (but at least made) as it mostly sold on Cassette & CD<\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    I find it Strange in the \u201cInformation Age\u201d<\/em>, where people can “Google”<\/u><\/em><\/strong> anything & do all the time … it seems to elude them they are looking for & asking for things that were simply NOT MADE<\/em> ….. So being in the Twin Cities<\/u><\/em><\/strong> we did try to always stock up on Prince<\/em><\/strong>, & we did have many Records & CDs, a few<\/em> Cassettes & some VHS<\/em>, & yes we did sell many of them. I write a monthly music column for St. Cloud\u2019s<\/u><\/em><\/strong> \u201cBUZZ Newspaper\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> (my 5th year<\/em>) & \u201cRoseville Patch\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> on-line<\/em>, in June of last year I wrote an article on Prince<\/em><\/strong> (for his Bday),<\/em> I was a little nervous to publish it, because Prince<\/em><\/strong> has his company closely monitor anything pertaining to him, though I never print \u201cGossipy\u201d<\/em>\u00a0material I was still a little nervous to put something out there, the article was never flagged. I did re-run the Article upon Prince\u2019s passing, because up to his death you could not find any on his\u00a0music on \u201cYouTube\u201d<\/u><\/em><\/strong> (& why should you, NO Artist receives<\/em> any money from being pirated on YouTube).<\/em> Now that he’s gone you can find all sorts of video of Prince on “YouTube”<\/p>\n

    So there it is, my experience of the death of musicians in Rock N Roll over the last 3 decades<\/em>. You can catch my Bi-Annual Radio Show<\/em> “Mr. Zero’s: PsychoGello” Music from 1965 – 1972 on KAFI 90.3FM & 106.7AM at 12:01am till 2am (Mon) Tues 24 May 2016. <\/u><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n