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Prince: A Sign O’ The Times — An Interview with John McKie

·47 min·3 clips

Andrew Watt has a tattoo of Prince’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame solo in his pinky.

Phil Aston opens the conversation with John McKee, music writer and former editor of Smash Hits and Q Magazine, about McKee's new book, Prince, A Sign of the Times, published by Bonnier Books on the 18th of September. The book draws on over 200 interviews with people around Prince's world, including bandmates, engineers, ex-girlfriends, bodyguards, personal assistants, and chefs. McKee says he wanted to avoid a straightforward greatest-hits biography and instead use Sign of the Times as the lens for the story. The talk keeps circling back to the gap between myth and man. Aston asks when Prince first clicked for McKee, and McKee points to seeing him on Entertainment USA. The exchange stays relaxed and curious. They talk about Prince producing so much of his own work and whether that freedom sharpened him or pushed him into excess. McKee says it depends on where you sit as a Prince listener, and he pushes back on the easy complaint that the artist simply made too much. That leads into broader comparisons with Miles Davis, Madonna, Sly Stone, and Kate Bush as a way of thinking about how unusual Prince was. The conversation also asks whether being dressed for the stage even in ordinary spaces was part of his armor, branding, or just who he was. A Diamonds and Pearls-era anecdote from Robia Scott adds a lighter note. Aston keeps the tone warm and admiring throughout. The result is a Prince conversation that values context, memory, and close listening more than blunt verdicts.

As heard by us

A Prince conversation anchored by over 200 interviews and a clear focus on Sign of the Times.

Phil Aston and John McKee frame Prince, A Sign of the Times as a study of Prince as both myth and man. The more than 200 interviews give the discussion real authority, and McKee keeps circling back to why Sign of the Times became the book's central prism.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Hear Prince's myth measured against the man, with a book built from over 200 interviews and centered on Sign of the Times.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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