Purple Rain anniversary quiz: The answers
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Don't go crazy, don't get nuts—see below for the Purple truth.
1. True or false: Purple Rain was filmed entirely in Minneapolis.
Answer: False—some scenes were filmed in Los Angeles.
2. What song off her 11-year-old daughter's copy of Purple Rain inspired Tipper Gore to co-found the Parents Music Resource Center, eventually leading to the music industry's adoption of the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" warning?
Answer: "Darling Nikki"
3. In the film Purple Rain, Apollonia Kotero plays the Kid's love interest. Which singer was originally slated for the role?
Answer: Vanity, the lead singer from Prince's Vanity 6
4. In one infamous scene, Apollonia strips after the Kid tells her she must purify herself in the waters of what Minnesota lake?
Answer: Lake Minnetonka ("... but that ain't Lake Minnetonka")
5. Although Apollonia says she never had a romantic relationship with Prince, she claims that Prince asked her to dump what celebrity boyfriend?
Answer: David Lee Roth
6. What code word does Jerome Benton use to tell Morris Day that Apollonia has arrived at First Avenue?
Answer: "What"
7. In the movie, Apollonia 6 debut at a nightclub called "The Taste." Where was the scene actually shot?
Answer: The Union Bar in Minneapolis (which later became a Christian music club called the New Union). The Taste Show Lounge in Minneapolis, a favorite of the Prince crowd, was closed by the time filming began.
8. In the movie, Wendy & Lisa write the music for the song that becomes "Purple Rain." Which song off the soundtrack did they actually co-write?
Answer: "Computer Blue"
9. What title is written on the cassette of Wendy & Lisa's unfinished song?
Answer: "Slow Groove"
10. What actor from TV's The Mod Squad played the Kid's father?
Answer: Clarence Williams III
11. What marriage advice does his character offer the Kid?
Answer: "Never get married."
12. True or false: William Blinn's first draft of the movie script was titled Red Rain.
Answer: False—it was called Dreams.
13. In the movie, the late Charles "Big Chick" Huntsberry plays the bouncer at First Avenue. What was Huntsberry's real-life job at the time?
Answer: Prince's bodyguard
14. Which three songs on the soundtrack were recorded live at First Avenue (before edits and overdubs)?
Answer: "I Would Die 4 U," "Baby I'm A Star," and "Purple Rain"
15. What B-side of the U.S. single "Let's Go Crazy" introduced the world to Sheila E?
Answer: "Erotic City"
16. True or false: MTV influenced Purple Rain director-writer Albert Magnoli's style.
Answer: False—according to Magnoli, he didn't even own a television at the time.
17. Before filming began, Prince fired what two members of The Time (and future Janet Jackson producers)?
Answer: Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
18. What song from the soundtrack is thought by some fans to be sung from the point of view of Jesus?
Answer: "I Would Die 4 U"
19. What drum machine is featured prominently on "When Doves Cry"?
Answer: The LinnDrum
20. What instrument did Prince remove from the mix to make "When Doves Cry" complete?
Answer: bass
21. True or false: A Prince film was shot—and shelved—before Purple Rain.
Answer: True—Acclaimed music-video director Chuck Statler shot a concert film at the now-demolished Met Center and sequences featuring women in lingerie at Prince's home in Chanhassen. The film was later shelved.
22. What song did Public Enemy sample on its Million Man March-predicting 1990 single "Brothers Gonna Work It Out"?
Answer: "Let's Go Crazy"
23. Purple Rain features a rivalry between two bands, The Revolution and The Time. In real life, Prince's Grand Central (later renamed Champagne) was a rival of what band featuring Terry Lewis in the '70s?
Answer: Flyte Tyme. The rivalry ended when Prince created The Time by recruiting its members from Flyte Tyme and making Morris Day, his earlier drummer in Grand Central, the singer.
24. What's painted on the side of the Kid's motorcycle's gas tank?
Answer: An early draft of the unpronounceable symbol Prince later used for his name.
25. What New Yorker film critic wrote of Purple Rain, "Prince is in charge, and he knows how he wants to appear—like Dionysus crossed with a convent girl on her first bender."
Answer: Pauline Kael.
