Today in The Music of New Coke, Prince and the Revolution’s “Pop Life from the album Around the World in a Day, which was released April 22, 1985.

Even as a young kid, Prince amazed me.  Remember those t-shirt stands at the mall where you could select the type of t-shirt you wanted and then have a glittery iron-on photo of a band pressed on it?  I had a Purple Rain baseball style shirt that I wore until the rubbery image of Prince on a motorcycle cracked in half.  (A present from my sleepover birthday party the previous November, if I remember correctly.)

“Pop Life” condemns superficial fluff we fill our lives with; chiding us over being down over meaningless success and drugs, yet understanding this failure singing, “We all have a space 2 fill.”  (The song was written while PURPLE RAIN was still being produced and echoes his character’s relationship with Apollonia in the film.) 

Tonight as I am a little sad and upset over my hockey team being knocked out of the playoffs, Prince’s taunting reminds me there is much more to life than pop. 

Even if that pop is a New Coke.

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