Prince's Message to Everyone: Stop Bootlegging My Stuff

Prince has a message 4 U: Stop UR illegal downloading! To prove he means business, the Purple One is prepping lawsuits against major file-trading sites like YouTube, eBay and Pirate Bay to reclaim control over bootlegged tunes, videos and merchandise. No legal docs have been filed, but the singer recently hired London-based company Web Sheriff, which has been trolling the Net for sites selling unlicensed goods (everything from Prince-adorned socks to key rings) to provide evidence should the star decide to take the battle to court. "This isn't necessarily about money," says Web Sheriffâ's president John Giacobbi, who has wiped off 2,000 illegally uploaded videos from YouTube and shut down about 300 eBay auctions, as well as multiple multiple overseas sites selling unauthorized merchandise. "Prince feels very strongly about his artistry -- he wants it to be reflected the way he wants. There's no problem with some guy selling his twenty-five-year-old copy of Purple Rain, but we object to a Chinese sweatshop turning out Purple Rain shopping bags and selling them by the thousands."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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