I searched to see if this has been discussed and didn't find any mention of it. The article in the link talks about Purple Rain as a reaction to two albums that proceeded it (Thriller and Synchronicity II). It's a good read and should inspire discussion.

http://www.popmatters.com...d-purple-/

Interesting article that illustrates "the concept of synchronicity itself, in particular the occurrence of two synchronic events that are connected symbolically but not causally or logically."

There are some logical leaps here about prince's motivations, but it's an interesting academic exercise.

Good God talk about over analysing something.This article is ridiculous It ends up managing to say absolutely nothing

Crap!

I agree with the analysis of the songs and the point each song was trying to make but I seriously doubt that Prince had Thriller and Synchronicity in mind (conciously or subconciously) when he was making Purple Rain. I'm sure he set out to equal the success of those albums though.

xpertluva said:

Exactly. Journalists seem to forget that Prince was constantly composing new material years before it's release. The music from Purple Rain had to have been brewing in his mind/on the drawing board during Controversy/1999 periods and he just didn't see fit to use it then. I don't even think he expected such success with the music or the movie. It seemed to be made to please his core audience at the time and maybe introduce him to new listeners. No one could have expected it to be such a colossal hit for him.

Don't blame it on Anxiety.