Royalty Remembered: Prince at the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame
By Abe Orabi As the story goes, Eric Clapton was once asked, “What is it like to be the greatest guitar player who ever lived?” His response, “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Prince.” It’s a great one-liner. It’s also completely made up. Another urban legend spawned from the information cesspool now known as the internet. Yet, while the anecdote may be false the overarching premise is spot-on. Prince most definitely was (and is) one of the greatest guitar players to ever strike a chord. Price: Rockin' in the free world For most of us, Prince’s musical persona was shrouded in extravagance and mystery. His fashion trends, music, and death all shared a common thread—unpredictability. Prince routinely abandoned convention in favor of the egregiously unconventional. His birth-name (Prince Rogers Nelson) was truncated and changed, then changed back, then truncated once more until all that remained was a symbol, difficult to draw and impossible to pronounce. Ultimat...