I clearly remember the moment when I got the news. I was at a party when my friend Gitte told me that she had read that Prince had fired Wendy & Lisa. I was stunned. I was horrified. I just couldn't believe it. Imagining Prince without the Revolution was almost impossible.

First I was afraid, I was petrified, kept thinking I could never live without you by my side.

When Gitte saw my facial expression, she was all sorry for having brought me such bad news.

Then I got drunk and danced my sorrows away.

But then Wendy & Lisa started their solo career and Sheila E. turned out to be in Prince's new band, so I felt renewed resolve: I can survive this.

What's your memory of that seminal event?
[Edited 3/23/10 8:20am]

i was about three years old. so i wouldn't be able to in4m u of the emotions i went thru

I don't remember exactly

but it was in connection with hearing the song SOTT, and empty cold and dark was how it felt to me

My pain was soothed knowing Sheila E. Dr Fink Mico Atlanta Bliss & Eric Leads were there

I never meshed with Levi, (knowing he actually wanted BrownMark 2 stay made it harder 4 me 2 dig Levi place in the band)
Boni wasn't around long enough, yeah she could belt, but I never cared for that with Prince music. And Cat was a good addition

the fact that most of the people in the band were there during the Purple Rain-ATWIAD-Parade years was very good

I cannot tell, cuz I did not hear this news about W&L/ The Revolution, Prince news were random those days...

I was just surprised W&L weren't on the Sign O The Times album or in the movie.

I was very surprised and sad they had to leave, I really enjoyed what they were delivering on the Revolution albums...

their backing voices on Parade are so amzing....


-
[Edited 3/23/10 7:48am]

I was in my skin. Still am

Sorry, the opportunity to post that came up

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yeah, Dr. Fink, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss and Miko were still there. That helped a little.

I remember being in my living room and hearing Mark Goodman report it on MTV News. I was shocked.

thedance said:

Well, they were a little, which also helped ease the transition.

Slow Love, Strange Relationship, It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night.
[Edited 3/23/10 7:54am]

skywalker said:

Yes, but we didn't know that would be the case at the time, not having experienced the Lovesexy band or the NPG yet.

Fun question, but I do remember.

I had moved to my dad's in Tulsa, after graduating high school in Oklahoma City. I was home alone during the day. MTV News came on (as it did at the time at :50 of every hour). Martha Quinn read it once, and I think Mark Goodman read it another time. I remember them saying Prince had disbanded The Revolution. I wasn't sure what "disbanded" meant, but I knew it wasn't good. I eventually got that the band had broken up. I remember something being mentioned about W&L leaving, and they also mentioned the tour just finishing up, I believe. I was just heart-broken.

I loved that band at the time. It's all we know of Prince. His band through the years had evolved and grown into the machine we knew as The Revolution. It's ALL we knew to that point, then it was just gone. I wasn't sure if it meant no more Prince music, or just different Prince music. That had to be late 1986, as I didn't move to Tulsa until mid-September 1986.

I remember also, recording the report on my boom box. I had made a little compilation tape (almost my first bootleg - homemade) that opened with the strings from "The Ladder", and had "Alexa De Paris", "Venus De Milo", and a few other misc things on it. In between some of the tracks, I put both Martha and Mark's reports about the band breaking up on there. I can see the tape and the cover in my head.

I was in bootcamp in early 1987. I didn't know about SOTT coming out, and didn't find it until April in the Navy Exchange. I was so stoked to get that cassette. I listened to it nonstop and loved it. I read every letter in the liner notes, and was relieved to see The Revolution on at least one song.

Where was I? Off somewhere, being a grown-up, I guess. You know...working two jobs...paying bills...

In other words, too busy to worry about things that didn't really affect me one way or another.

I was listening to the radio when the DJ said it. At the time I thought it wouldn't matter that much and may even be a good idea since Prince was so far out there with Parade. I was wrong though.

I was at my aunt and uncle's house when my oldest brother came in and said "did you hear Prince and the Revolution broke up?" I thought he was just being a dick, as he usually was back then, and trying to get a rise out of me. This time he was telling the truth.

ernestsewell said:

skywalker said:

bull shee iii tt!

CuddlyBear said:

Big brothers can be so MEAN.

(I know because I have one, too. )

funksterr said:

It's ok to have change of heart. Happens to everybody.

I took it in stride. In hindsight, I realized later what they brought to the table, especially Wendy & Lisa (Brofie should be showing up soon to bash W&L now...), but SOTT being stripped of the Revolution's music could not be stripped of their influence.

It sounds like Wendy and Lisa were just as surprised as us when they recall their infamous pink-slip and chicken dinner at the Menendez- Murder house.

skywalker said:

Ur actually taking the conversation somewhere else into a battle of the bands thread

The person is asking a simple question of where were you,
If you weren't a fan then, don't answer
If you don't care, don't answer
that simple my friend

squirrelgrease said:

Yes, but they really shouldn't have been. After all, they quit before the European Parade Tour, and we all now how vindictive Prince can be: "Nobody quits me! I'm the only star in this town! I know, I'll get them back for the tour and then I'll FIRE their asses!"

Genesia said:

man, people can really kill a topic lol

U know what the person is asking, this is a Prince discussion group
I was still in High School a Junior, do this doing that yadah yadah yadah

OldFriends4Sale said:

Just ignore them. If no one bites, they'll get bored and go away.

scififilmnerd said:

True.

I was a junior in high school and remember the short article in our local paper (still have it) that the Revolution were disbanded. I was very disappointed. However, I really got into the SOTT/Lovesexy band and later the NPG. After that, not so much.

scififilmnerd said:

Although that makes for a good story, I'm not quite sure it happened that way. W&L stayed JUST for that tour. They knew they weren't staying beyond that, whether it was their choice or Prince's. Brownmark had already had a bad taste in his mouth during the tour and was practically flipping the bird before the tour ended to go his own way. Bobby Z knew that Sheila was slowly making her way into the group and that he would probably be out. That's not to dismiss Prince's massive ego at the time.

Matt Fink told me that Boni Boyer and Prince used to yell at each other and fight while walking through the dark, and the audience, to the stage during the Lovesexy tour. "Fuck you!" "No, fuck you!" Given that, it's easy to say she was more than ready to quit him by the time the tour ended Japan in February 1990.

So yeah, plenty have quit Prince. But that's not to say he didn't WANT to quit them first and be the big man on campus.

Yes, but they really shouldn't have been. After all, they quit before the European Parade Tour, and we all now how vindictive Prince can be: "Nobody quits me! I'm the only star in this town! I know, I'll get them back for the tour and then I'll FIRE their asses!" [/quote]

Quit you say? Never heard that before. Details???

scififilmnerd said:

Where were you when Prince disbanded the Revolution?

inside my girlfriend.
[Edited 3/23/10 8:58am]

motherfunka said:

It's in one of them there books, DMSR by Per Nielsen or Possessed by Alex Hahn.

They felt hurt when Prince expanded the Revolution. And personally, I agree that the Revolution was a better stage act on the Purple Rain tour than on the Parade tour. WAY too many people on the stage there.
[Edited 3/23/10 8:59am]

motherfunka said:

Quit you say? Never heard that before. Details???[/quote]
Read above. The stories of Mark, Wendy and Lisa wanting to leave aren't any secret. They quit before all that. W&L were at the airport leaving, and Bobby was sent by Prince to talk them back. Mark was leaving and Prince promised him "a lot of money" to be made on the tour. Mark turned down touring with Stevie Nicks. Prince only paid Mark around $3000 a week. That's an extremely paltry sum compared to what a band member, or a touring musician, would make normally on a tour, especially in a band as popular and big as The Revolution was at the time. He stood to make 2 or 3 times that much if he toured with Nicks instead. Prince lied, and he left anyway. Also, W&L were reported to not have enjoyed the expanded version of The Revolution, especially the inclusion of Jerome, Wally, and Greg as comic foils.

So in short, Prince pulled them all back for the tour, then it all ended a year later.

It's not really surprising though, that Prince wanted to keep the band in tact at least through 1986. Remember he told Dez back in 1982, "I need you for a 3 year commitment. If you don't want to stick around for that, I understand." Basically telling Dez, either you're in for this period of time, or you can go now on your own. Dez obviously chose to leave. Prince knew that the movie would be a year, plus videos, then the tour would be the next year, and a quick follow up, then probably another tour (and another movie). He knew that would be a three year time frame, and to have band personnel change during that time would not be good for sales, publicity, or otherwise. He needed The Revolution, as a unit, to stay intact. Faces, and names were familiar immediately in 1984 with Purple Rain. It was all about momentum into 1985/1986. Once the Hit N Run tour was over, and the momentum died a little bit, that's when it was a good time for folks to REALLY jump ship. And that they did.