The Gist

Purpleness

How Prince defined the sound of the ’80s, even when his name wasn’t on the records.

Prince performs onstage at the 36th NAACP Image Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 19, 2005, in Los Angeles.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

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On The Gist, music writer Chris Molanphy guides us through the purple rain. We’ll remember Prince’s impact on the Billboard chats over the course of his career. Chris writes Slate’s Why Is That Song No. 1 column. He recently wrote about Prince for Slate: “How Prince Ruled the Charts in the ’80s—Even When His Name Wasn’t on the Songs.” For the Spiel, where should we draw the line when it comes to how we treat our prisoners?

Read more from Slate on Prince.

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