An Interdisciplinary Conference June 2 – 3, 2020 Minneapolis, MN Conference Presenters and Abstracts Hosted by The School of Arts and Media, University of Salford, UK Organized by Dr. Kirsty Fairclough, School of Arts and Media, University of Salford Kristen Zschomler, Minneapolis-based historian and writer, Sound History, LLC Chris Aguilar-Garcia Independent Scholar, USA Dirty Mind and Controversy: Creating a Queer Icon Sex and sexuality were key elements of the Prince persona and catalog from the release of his debut album and first single, “Soft and Wet.” While his early releases were essentially heteronormative and barely transgressive, particularly at the tail end of the sexually liberated disco era, in 1980’s “Dirty Mind,” we see the beginnings of a queer sensibility. Beyond what critic Ken Tucker termed a “liberating lewdness” in his Rolling Stone review, the album also included Prince’s first songs of outright social commentary with “Uptown,” and “Partyup.” In “Uptown,” Prince is pegged as gay because of his clothes and hair, and in “Partyup,” the 30- minute album closes out to the defiant chant “You’re gonna have to fight your own damn war / ‘Cause we don’t wanna fight no more!” A year later, in the title track to 1981’s Controversy, Prince ponders, “Am I straight or gay?,” a bold question at a time fellow Queer icons Elton John and Freddie Mercury were not publicly out. In “Sexuality,” Prince goes on to proclaim the Second Coming not as the return of Christ, but the dawn of an “anything goes” sexual revolution free of segregation. Within the framework of these two definitive albums, Prince solidly planted himself in the pantheon of Queer icons, laying the groundwork for a blockbuster career that relentlessly defied social and industry norms. Please note that the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is not affiliated, associated or connected with the conference, nor has it endorsed or sponsored us. Further, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson has not licensed any of its intellectual property to the organizers or speakers. Conference Speakers and Abstracts 78 -88 Prince, The First Decade: An Interdisciplinary Conference June 2-3, 2020 Zaheer Ali New York University, USA “Teacher, Why Won’t Jimmy Pledge Allegiance?”: Prince as Citizen On August 23, 1984, at the Republican National Convention renominating Ronald Reagan for President, Ray Charles closed out the ceremonies with his soulful rendition of “America the Beautiful,” a version that he had made popular through his 1972 release A Message from the People. The original song, long celebrated as a popular alternative to the American national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” celebrates American greatness, prosperity, and Providential favor—all themes Reagan effectively exploited during his presidency. Less than a year later, Prince released the album Around the World in a Day, featuring the song “America,” which borrowed both a musical and lyrical phrase from “America the Beautiful”’s chorus: “America, America, God shed His grace on thee.” However, in Prince’s “America,” the soaring chorus was transgressively rendered with a growling lead guitar, verses warned of the perils of inequality, and the chorus closed with both a prayer and a warning: “Keep your children free.” In an almost Hendrixian way, Prince’s interpolation of “America the Beautiful” had turned a patriot’s anthem into a citizen’s jeremiad against the perils of Reagan-era policies, with a call to government and society to live up to its democratic ideals, or suffer a divine and political chastisement. To date, “America” was Prince’s most explicit, but not only, critique of state power. Beginning with a close examination of “America,” this presentation seeks to draw out Prince’s often overlooked political concerns during the first decade of his career, and challenges us to appreciate Prince’s early artistic voice as citizen. Please note that the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is not affiliated, associated or connected with the conference, nor has it endorsed or sponsored us. Further, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson has not licensed any of its intellectual property to the organizers or speakers. Conference Speakers and Abstracts 78 -88 Prince, The First Decade: An Interdisciplinary Conference June 2-3, 2020 Julie Beauregard University of Missouri – St. Louis, USA A Phenomenological Study of Prince Fandom: Identity, Intimacy, and Idolatry This study addresses individual experiences of Prince’s music and celebrity through a phenomenological examination of Prince fandom. In this research paradigm, “the ‘essence’ of human experiences concerning a phenomenon, as described by participants in a study” is focal and explored “in great detail” (Creswell, 2003, p. 15; p. 134). Data were gathered through a series of “unstructured in-depth phenomenological interviews” accompanied by researcher bracketing, memoing, and taking of formal field notes (Groenewald, 2004, p. 47; see also Klenke, 2016) to answer the guiding question: What effect(s) did the first ten years of Prince’s career have on you? Using purposeful sampling (Patton, 2002), a sample of two “gatekeepers” were identified, ideal for phenomenological inquiry (Klenke, 2016). One is a Black woman from New York City; she was 7 when Prince’s first album was released. The second is a White man from small-town southwest Missouri who was 2 years old in 1978. Gatekeepers were selected because of their self-proclaimed superfan status and age, each citing Prince as a key influencer on their identities and cultural worldviews since childhood. Both are Christian, cisgender, and identify as straight. Gatekeeper commonalities and differences in relation to one another and to Prince’s complex performative displays of sexuality, gender, and race, musicking, and espoused beliefs yielded rich, descriptive data (Bailey, 1996), allowing for multiple subjectivities to be illuminated and saturation to be achieved (Leininger, 1994). Data explications included embodied experiences of consuming Prince’s music, reconciling tensions between the sacred and profane, and fandom’s impact on personal identity. References Bailey, C. A. (2007). A guide to qualitative field research, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Groenewald, T. (2004). A Phenomenological Research Design Illustrated. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 3(1): 42-55. Klenke, K. (2016). Qualitative research in the study of leadership, 2nd ed. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing. Leininger, M. (1994). Evaluation criteria and critique of qualitative research studies. In J. M. Morse (Ed.) Critical Issues in Qualitative Research Methods (pp. 95-115). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Please note that the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is not affiliated, associated or connected with the conference, nor has it endorsed or sponsored us. Further, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson has not licensed any of its intellectual property to the organizers or speakers. Conference Speakers and Abstracts 78 -88 Prince, The First Decade: An Interdisciplinary Conference June 2-3, 2020 Julie Billong Independent Scholar, France Prince and the Fan Fiction World: The Early Years (Was I what you wanted me to be?) The phenomenon and adoration of Prince has extended far beyond his original music and the music industry, helped largely by fandom and the dynamics of online fan communities. One aspect of this phenomenon has been fan fiction. Uncountable novels, short stories, remakes of Prince’s many lives have blossomed on sites and apps such as Quotev & Wattpad. Those still well-hidden gems provide evidence of how Prince fan fiction relates to the known history/canon of the subject while at the same time projecting an alternative history. If, as Matt Hills observes (2003), fandom is performative, then fan fiction provides an outlet where fans of Prince can perform personal desire and longing, alongside a shared experience with a wider fan community and knowledge base. The importance of fan fiction in extending (and keeping alive) the Prince phenomenon (artistic world) is undeniable and this paper will examine the early years of Prince fan fiction from 1978- 88. In particular, it will examine how representations of desire and longing for Prince in fan fiction, as well as the fan representations of Prince himself, tells us something about the nature of that fandom, and the image strategies created by Prince himself. It will also hope to show how both these show change and evolution over time. What can be referred to as ‘Prince Fanon’ has become a special playground where fans can perform and transcend the Prince universe in interesting and highly symbolic ways. The aim is to show how Prince fan fiction adapted to, mirrored, and even transcended the fluid evolution of Prince’s image and music, creating performances where everything is doable, accepted, and, as with Prince himself, resistant to accepted norms. Please note that the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson is not affiliated, associated or connected with the conference, nor has it endorsed or sponsored us. Further, the Estate of Prince Rogers Nelson has not licensed any of its intellectual property to the organizers or speakers. Conference Speakers and Abstracts 78 -88 Prince, The First Decade: An Interdisciplinary Conference June 2-3, 2020 Scott Bogen Independent Scholar, USA Prince and Me: How I Became Prince “I have no interest in staying to see Prince, I hate disco…” On October 5, 1981 I spoke those words to a friend, we had gone to First Avenue to see a rock-a-billy band whose headlining slot had been usurped at the last moment by Prince. My friend’s response was to pin me to the stage, telling me that I was staying. I protested but relented. The entire course of my life changed that night, within 6 months I would perform on that same stage, winning a lip-synch contest as Prince.