For Fans of Prince

Released in 1987, Sign o' the Times contains thirty-two minutes of social commentary, thirty-two minutes of psychedelic church, thirty-two minutes of the most sensual slow jams ever recorded, and thirty-two minutes of pure rock and roll aggression. It did all of that without a wasted moment. It was not a statement about how wide Prince's range was; it was proof that the range itself was the statement. Every great double album since owes it a debt.

At the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Prince stepped to the mic for a collaborative performance of the Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps and, in four minutes, reminded everyone in the room who the best guitarist alive was. He finished the solo by throwing his guitar into the air and walking off, and the guitar never came back down in any way that made sense to anyone watching. It is the most efficient use of four minutes in rock music.

Tim Schafer's Brutal Legend is nominally about heavy metal, but its core argument, that music is a form of supernatural power and that genuine devotion to sound reshapes reality, is exactly the argument Prince made every night onstage. The game never feels like licensed content; it feels like someone who actually believes in this. Prince fans who have never touched a controller should start here.

Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous is not about Prince. It is set in a different decade, a different genre, a different city. But it captures something Prince always embodied: the terror and joy of being so devoted to music that real life feels secondary. The scene on the bus where everyone sings Elton John's Tiny Dancer is about that devotion. Prince fans will recognize the feeling immediately.