From the November 2019 issue of UK music monthly Classic Pop:

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The drummer says the song was inspired by watching on tour the otherwise forgettable 1981 Nostradamus documentary The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, voiced by Orson Welles, which predicts the apocalypse will happen in 1999. "All these movies we saw on VHS on the tour bus inspired Prince," says Bobby. "The ldolmaker, an amazing film about Fabian, inspired Prince to create The Time. A huge part of creating Purple Rain was Quadrophenia — the different styles of clothing for mods and rockers fascinated Prince. We were immersed in culture."

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The influence of Brit pop culture on the younger Prince can never be underestimated. From the clash, Gary Numan, Adam Ant, Boy george etc - all very well documented by those who were there.

Oh wow, I LOVED The Idolmaker!!!! Paul Gallagher's breakout role. It was a huge "sleeper" hit back then. Interesting that this one was his inspiration for The Time. There's another thread going on now about his song "The Sex Of It" and someone posted that they think it was Kid Creole who inspired The Time. Guess it could be both, because Kid Creole was doing his thing in 1980.

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One thing is clear - films inspired MANY of Prince's ideas, projects, and songs.

PURPLEIZED3121 said:

The influence of Brit pop culture on the younger Prince can never be underestimated. From the clash, Gary Numan, Adam Ant, Boy george etc - all very well documented by those who were there.

Yes, he was also very into Kate Bush and Grace Jones in the mid 80's.

*sigh*

I also LOVE that he convinced his Father to take him to see the Woodstock docu film in 1970. He was only 12, and already so passionate about all of those musicians. He stated that is when his Father knew how much music meant to him, and he never talked down to him again about his playing.

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i always thought it was the male !/2 of his brain

jfenster said:

i always thought it was the male !/2 of his brain

That has been the consensus, but it seems he also took a lot of inspiration and ideas from the films he watched.

TheTruth123 said:

When you have quality crafted movies like we did back then how could they not inspire others

. I am glad Prince was a Cinephilia

I appreciate Bobby Z