The odd backstage encounter between Prince and The Flaming Lips
Prince was largely celebrated for his unyielding candour. When he held a distaste for something, he did not attempt to mask it. While his dissatisfaction with fellow musicians and the music industry was widely acknowledged, a few individuals have candidly recounted their interactions with the iconic artist.
The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne found himself on the receiving end of Prince’s cold shoulder in a cautionary tale that has endured through the ages. The situation all unfolded at the 2006 Brit Awards, where Prince was slated to deliver a four-song performance with the Revolution, drawing hordes of eager well-wishers.
While lingering backstage, The Flaming Lips seized the opportunity and approached Prince’s bodyguard, presenting him with a stack of their CDs. As Coyne vividly recounted: “We were ecstatic at the mere prospect of him listening to our music. However, as the night drew to a close, the bodyguard sought us out and returned all the CDs. He simply stated, ‘Prince has no interest in these’.”
Sometimes, meeting your heroes can be a bitter pill to swallow, and in this instance, The Flaming Lips were certainly dealt a cold hand by being dismissed so abruptly by The Purple One. However troubling as it may have felt, it probably wasn’t personal. Prince always discussed those he didn’t have a particular interest in or respect for, and he was open about how much he disliked industry trends like others covering his songs.
In a 2011 interview, Prince discussed his dislike of the internet, giving his opinion on digital music, claiming that it can’t provide any valuable replacement for analogue. “I personally can’t stand digital music,” he said. “You’re getting sound in bits. It affects a different place in your brain. When you play it back, you can’t feel anything. We’re analogue people, not digital.”
He then slated a trend of charing cover songs following a Glee cover of ‘Kiss’, which was gaining significant attention from fans. “There’s no other art form where you can do that. You can’t go and do your own version of Harry Potter. Do you want to hear somebody else sing ‘Kiss’?”
That said, there was one exception to the rule, which came when Foo Fighters incorporated a cover of ‘Darling Nikki’ into their setlist and later performed it at the MTV VMAs. At first, the band thought it rubbed Prince up the wrong way, until he expressed his gratitude the next day: “They did a good job,” he noted. “I do like the way Dave [Grohl] keeps the integrity of the song in his performance.”
Although Prince dismissed The Flaming Lips, it’s difficult to understand whether his action came from lack of time or lack of respect. Regardless, many who came into contact with his brashness rarely took it too personally, and the legacy of his music far outdoes his reputation as an unfriendly presence.
