Blackstar Rising and the Purple Reign

Daphne A. Brooks is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Black Studies, American Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Music at Yale University. She is the author of Liner Notes for the Revolution and Jeff Buckley’s Grace, as well as Bodies in Dissent, published by Duke University Press.

“Daphne Brooks remains one of our most thoughtful and incisive thinkers when it comes to music and its impacts on corners of culture that might otherwise go overlooked. This book is rich with research, but even richer with language, and delivery of information that is warm, inviting, and feels like you are bearing witness to someone, eager and excited to share a world with you.”—Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A Little Devil in America: In Praise of Black Performance“Blackstar Rising and the Purple Reign offers an interdisciplinary deep dive into two iconic musicians who died within months of each other. Mixing a rich variety of formats, including critical essays, interviews, and ‘critical karaoke,’ a who’s who of pop writers and scholars tackle the lives and loss of these two figures. There are no books to my knowledge that offer this depth and breadth of thinking about David Bowie and Prince, or indeed about popular music in general.”—Evelyn McDonnell, editor of Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyoncé. Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl"Rife with rigorous analysis, careful scholarship, and a few delightfully quirky sections. . . ."—Publishers Weekly

• Introduction“Dearly Beloved,” “Give Me Your Hands”: Toward a (Rock and Roll) Commons / Daphne A. Brooks 1“Adore”: A Map to the Chapters, Meditations, Conversations, and a Spirited Round of Karaoke / Daphne A. Brooks 35Part I. “Punch a Higher Floor”: David Bowie, Prince, the Utopian, and the Spiritual1. This Is What It’s Like When Starships Cry: A Cosmic Soliloquy on the Warp-Driven Vessels Christened Bowe and Prince / Greg Tate 532. Am I Nowhere Now? Hoping for Utopia in David Bowie’s Lazarus / Tiffany Naiman 61Critical Karaoke Interlude IFarah Jasmine Griffin: Prince, “Nothing Compares 2 U” 74Matthew Frye Jacobson: David Bowie, “Space Oddity” 773. “This Thing Called Life” (After Prince and Bowie): On Blackstars and Purple Rain / Kara Keeling 804. Not Quite Dying: Late Bowie / Eric Lott 925. “Adore,” Alternative / Ashon Crawley 101Critical Karaoke Interlude IIGayle Wald: David Bowie, “Starman” 113Richard Yarborough: Prince, “Housequake” (All-the-Way-Live Version) 116Part II. “Station to Station”: Traversing Cities and Borders with Bowie and Prince6. Heroes Across the Border / Josh Kun 1237. Riding in Cars with Prince / Van My Truong 129Critical Karaoke Interlude IIIGustavus Stadler: Prince, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” or, Could / Be the Most Beautiful Girl in the World? 137Daphne Carr: David Bowie, “I’m Afraid of Americans” (Nine Inch Nails V1 Mix) 140Nicole R. Fleetwood: Prince, “Darling Nikki” 1448. Queer Nightlife Autopoiesis: A Self-Guided Downtown Bowie Walking Tour / Shane Vogel 1479. “There Will Be No Death”: Prince’s Afterlife in Minneapolis / Emma BalÁzs and Kristen Zshomler 16010. From the Depot to Uncle Sam’s: Minneapolis, Clubs, Album-Oriented Rock, and Prince in the Seventies / Michaelangelo Matos 175Critical Karaoke Interlude IVKathryn Lofton: David Bowie, “Modern Love” 186Sonnet Retman: Queen and David Bowie, “Under Pressure” 189Part III. The Black Album: Bowie, Prince, and the Art of Sonic Experimentalism11. David Bowie and the Texture of Guitar Experimentlism / Michael E. Veal 19312. Mapping Prince’s “Erotic City” / Jason King 203Critical Karaoke Interlude VGayle Wald: Prince, “Pop Life” 218Matthew Frye Jacobson: Prince, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” 22113. His Magical Instruments: An Interview with Donny McCaslin / Maureen Mahon 22414. New Waves, Shifting Terrains: Prince’s and David Bowie’s Transatlantic Crossovers / Alexander G. Weheliye 23115. Young Americans: A Heat Rocks Podcast Conversations / Lynell George, Oliver Wang, and Morgan Rhodes 244Critical Karaoke Interlude VIChristine Bacareza Balance: Prince, “Soft and Wet” 252Andreana Clay: David Bowie, “Golden Years” 256Part IV. “Oh! You Pretty Things”: Spectacular Bowie, Spectacular Prince-Visual and Performance Politics16. David Bowie Is . . . A Curatorial Adventure / Victoria Broackes and Geoffrey Marsh 26117. Like David Bowie / Jonathan Flatley 273Critical Karaoke Interlide VIIDaphne Carr: Prince and the New Power Generation, “7” 289Emly Lordi: Prince, “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” 29218. “He Lives . . . the Clothes”: A Conversation with Prince Costume Designer Marie France / Jacqueline Stewart 29519. “I Was Dreaming When I Wrote This”: Prince and Black Social Dreaming / Tavia Nyong’o 31620. “Like a Poem”: An Interview with D.A. Pennebaker on Filming David Bowie / Matthew Frye Jackson 334Critical Karaoke Interlude VIIKaren Tongson: David Bowie, “China Girl” 345Andreana Clay: Prince, “If I Was Your Girlfriend” 348Part V. “Rebirth of the Flesh”: Adventures in Intersectionality with Bowie and Prince21. Trans* Bowie . . . Trans* Prince / Jack Halberstam 35322. Prince as Revolutionary Mother: Creativity, Kinship, Collaboration, and Care, from Meshell Ndegeocello to Janelle MonÁe / Francesca T. Royster 369Critical Karaoke Interlude IXGustavus Stadler: David Bowie, “Girl Loves Me” 385Kathryn Lofton: Prince, “When You Were Mine” 38823. “I Am Something That You’ll Never Understand”: Facing the Strange with Bowie and Prince / Ann Powers 39124. “You’ve Got to Go In”: An Interview with Sheila E. / Alexandra T. Vazquez 40525. Blackstar, Bright Star, Not a Gangstar: Black Feminist Imaginaries Through Bowie and Prince / Daphne A. Brooks 420Part VI. OutrÉ Outro: “Where Are We Now?”Critical Karaoke Interlude X Michelle Habell-PallÁn: David Bowie, “Let’s Dance” 459Oliver Wang: Prince, “Kiss” 46426. Fun Fun Fun: Having a Good Time with Prince and Duke / Greil Marcus 467Acknowledgments 477Sound and Vision PlaylistsL’Rain 479Kimbra 481Meshell Ndegeocello 483Contributors 487Index 497