The enigmatic rock star Prince showed off his new quartet on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon a few days ago. He and his all-female band played the classic "Bambi," as well as his new single "Screwdriver."
As I watched, I recall thinking "that guitar he's playing is very un-Prince-like." It was quite plain, and not at all adorned in the way we are accustomed to seeing Prince's guitars. At the end of "Bambi," Prince took said guitar off his shoulder, and threw it about 12 feet up in the air. The band was so tightly rehearsed, they played the final shot of the song precisely in time with the guitar hitting the stage.
At first, I thought this was the reason Prince was playing a plain-looking guitar. But in actual fact, the guitar was a classic - a 1961 Epiphone Crestwood, owned by Captain Kirk Douglas of The Roots - Fallon's house band. According to this article, Prince asked Douglas if he could play it, and Douglas graciously obliged.
Imagine yourself in that scenario. A living legend asks you if he can play your guitar, and then promptly smashes the bejeezus out of it. What would you do? To add insult to injury, when Douglas asked Prince to sign the smashed guitar, he refused.
Online reaction ranges from outrage, to affirmations of Prince's rock-god status, to mild indifference.
The phenomenon of instrument destruction is not new. Heck, there's a whole Wikipedia entry on the subject. Personally, I'm of two minds on the subject. Prince is unpredictable at the best of times. One necessarily takes a risk when putting his instrument into Prince's hands. That said, I cannot stand when musicians disrespect instruments in the name of showmanship. I never liked it when Pete Townshend of The Who smashed his guitars. I boiled with rage at Jamie Cullum's video for "Don't Stop The Music"
I hate it anytime an artist abuses an instrument, in the hopes that fans will say "that's cool." It's not cool. It's disrespectful to the craftspeople, the artisans, the luthiers and builders who devote their lives to making instruments through which musicians can channel the Divine.
Perhaps having the financial resources that Prince possesses has made him forget what value truly is. If Captain Kirk Douglas' instrument didn't have perceived value (measured in terms of playability, tone, and aesthetics), Prince wouldn't have asked to play it in the first place. If he values it, why does he destroy it? I'll leave it to the Jungian analysts to break that one down. In the meantime, however, it's my position that, if you truly love an instrument, you should squeeze every ounce of passion and feeling out of it as you can. And if you're done with it, don't destroy it - give it to someone who'll continue to win hearts with it.
On a more positive note, flanking Prince on stage was Donna Grantis, Prince's new guitarist. Donna's a Toronto-based musician, fabulously talented, and she made it look like she was born to rock with His Purpleness. Donna is living proof that Canada generates world-class talent. Keep rockin', Donna!
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