IS IT OVER YET? Among 2016’s many regrettable qualities, this year was a particularly unkind one for musicians. From the shocking January death of David Bowie to the December passing of prog bassist Greg Lake, hardly a week went by without one of our favorite artists getting called to join that great gig in the sky. Now that we’re on the verge of finally putting these 12 months behind us, it’s worth paying tribute to who was lost this year. And there’s no better way to remember our favorite musicians than through their songs—these are some of the tracks that have been sticking with us as this miserable fucking year draws to a close. (Caveat: So many musicians died this year that we couldn’t include them all. This list, by unfair virtue of space, is only the tip of a large, sad iceberg.)
PRINCE
“Free” from 1999 (1982)
Particularly at the beginning of his career, Prince’s art was one of combining overt sexual expression with throbbing religious ecstasy. Early records like Dirty Mind and Controversy were also about avoiding the limitations of prescribed labels like black, white, straight, or gay in favor of finding liberty through expression and self-actualization. But after Prince’s disturbing, premature death in April, our world seemed to grow darker and more restrictive. And “Free,” the cooing ballad tucked away on Side 3 of 1999, has burst out of its once-trite trappings to become a radical statement of resolve and protest in the year 2016. “Be glad that U R free/There’s many a man who’s not,” sings the Purple One over a bed of sexily tinkling piano and slow, heavy drums. A recording of marching feet opens the track, reminding us how easily those freedoms can be trampled or disfigured to fit into lockstep formation. Prince died a victim of prescription drugs, his own freedom tragically impinged. We owe it to him to not succumb to our own freedom-killing evils.