No one would blame Prince and Bruce Springsteen if they were enemies.
In 1984, they were two giants vying for the same musical throne. In August of the same year, Prince’s “Purple Rain” knocked Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” off the top of the charts.
But there was no competition. Instead, the man known as “His Royal Evil” and the one called “The Boss” shared something else – respect and true love.
Now, almost ten years after the death of Prince, the two are connected again – this time in Minneapolis, the city that founded Prince and that Springsteen has risen to celebrate while fighting against the anti-immigration actions of President Donald Trump there.
Springsteen will begin his latest tour in the city on Tuesday, more than two months after releasing “Streets of Minneapolis,” his anti-Trump and anti-ICE protest song written after the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents.
The New Jersey native first flew to Minneapolis in January to sing the song and performed it again at the No Kings convention near St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday, told a crowd of thousands: “This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. They chose the wrong city.”
Springsteen releases song against ICE
Bruce Springsteen has released a new song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” dedicated to the city’s residents, including Alex Pretti and Renee Good, who were both killed by federal agents this month.
It is possible that Prince would have said the same thing.
After George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police in 2020 – just over four years after Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at the age of 57 in April 2016 – the meme quickly spread as protests broke out around the country and the world: “No one thought the revolution would start in Minneapolis… without Prince.”
He was the leader of his band, The Revolution. And to whom Prince.
Prince has spent years using his platform to advocate for the rights of artists, the Black Lives Matter movement and young people in need.
A year before his death, in response to the death of Freddie Gray, while in police custody, Prince wrote “Baltimore,” went to the city to sing the song at a rally and released a music video that ended with a statement from him: “The system is broken.”
“It will take young people to fix it this time,” he said in the statement. “We need new ideas, new life.”
Springsteen lived by the same code – standing up for unions, for veterans, for the forgotten. In 2001, he sang a song called “American Skin (41 shots),” to protest the murder of Amadou Diallo, who was shot dead by officers of the New York Police Department.
She has been outspoken about her opposition to the Trump administration and recently allowed the American Civil Liberties Union to use her song “Born in the USA” for an ad campaign about Trump’s challenge to birthright.
But what connected Prince and Springsteen was not politics. It was music.
Prince was impressed by the way both Springsteen treated his audience and commanded his band, he told Rolling Stone in an interview in 1990. “There is one man I could never take away from his fans,” he told the magazine at his signing.
These two men went to each other’s shows. Photographer Steve Parke, who worked as Prince’s art director, recalled accompanying Prince on Springsteen’s Tunnel of Love tour in 1988.
“Prince had told me that, like Prince, Springsteen could play like a three-hour show,” Parke told CNN. “I think he had respect for someone who could be there and do it as long as Springsteen did it.”
The feeling was the same. Springsteen has made his admiration for Prince clear over the years, opening his Brooklyn concert days after Prince’s death with a cover of “Purple Rain.”
She later told Rolling Stone that she “felt a good relationship” with Prince.
“When I went to see him, I was like, ‘Oh, man, all right, go back to the theater,'” Springsteen said.
L. Londell McMillan, Prince’s longtime publicist, friend, and business partner, told CNN that he fully understands the bond.
“One thing about Bruce Springsteen is that he’s just real. He’s real and he’s real in his own skin,” McMillan said. Prince also spoke the truth and didn’t care what anyone said.
Two men from different cities, different sounds, different worlds. One Black. One is white. Both uncompromising. Both fearless.
Prince is gone. But his city is still standing – and still fighting. With The Boss in its corner.
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