The Legacy of Purple Rain

Music journalist Andrea Swensson teamed up with MPR news host Tom Weber to create an in-depth audio documentary that looks at the legacy of Purple Rain, thirty years after the release of the movie. The pair toured First Avenue and interviewed Bobby Z (the drummer for Prince’s band the Revolution) and Prince’s co-star in the movie, Apollonia. Aired on the Current this last Sunday night, this musical history explores how a group of Minneapolis musicians changed rock and roll around the world.

This postcard–from the Hennepin County Libraries Special Collections–shows the building formerly known as the Greyhound Bus Terminal. This image was created in the late 1930s, long before the music world imagined First Avenue. Thanks to citizen-researcher Rita Yeada for finding and digitizing this image.