Grafitti Bridge may very well be the first "Parental Advisory" album I got to buy as a kid. I remember vividly the day I got it. We were driving from Oregon to Virginia, in one of our many family relocation periods. Over the course of the one week drive, eight or so hours a day, we eventually stopped at a local retail store, which I believe was a K Mart.
While we all took a well needed stretch of the legs, I wandered into the music section, a beautiful array of shelves with cassette after cassette neatly organized in alphabetical order. It was here that I found Graffiti Bridge. I'd never heard of it, but was a young fan of Prince. I certainly had no clue that it was the soundtrack to a movie, which was technically the sequel to Purple Rain. Still, something about the cassette made me want it. Either mom didn't look at it, or she did and didn't care about the advisory label. I'm guessing the latter was not the case. I think I just lucked out this time by it not being thoroughly inspected before getting approval.
Back in the car, the headphones went on, the cassette went into the Walkman, and it began.
"Dear dad. Things didn't turn out quite like I wanted them to. Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode..." From that intro, the music kicked into high gear, and I was whisked away into a mix of heavy rock, funk, soul and ballads.From that day, Graffiti Bridge became one of my all time favorites from Prince. I went through a phase in my young high school years where this thing got played daily. That cassette had to have been on its last legs by the time I retired it for a CD version.
What I think stands out about the album, from other works from Prince, is the overall collaboration with Morris Day And The Time, the horizon of The New Power Generation, and the introduction and brief career of Tevin Campbell. It's masterfully crafted to not only contain great music, but also a story when listed to from start to finish.
Though Prince has undoubtedly made some great music since Grafitti Bridge, I think overall, for me, it remains his last best achievement in his career. It's a solid album from front to back, and one I really enjoy playing every now and then.
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