'Purple Rain' or 'Off the Wall'? An '80s fan wants your help deciding

Just got this urgent Facebook message from Stuck in the '80s listener Jennifer Reynolds. She's asking for your help. Let's not let her down!

Hey Steve and Sean. I am stuck on a purchase on amazon.com. I have a $20 gift card to spend. I've already decided on getting Michael Jackson's Thriller Deluxe Edition, but I have a few dollars left and I can't decide between the Purple Rain special edition DVD or MJ's Off the Wall deluxe album.

Can the '80s nation give me some input? Just your input would be fine, but the last time I asked for advice on whether to go to the prom or not, I didn't follow it.

-- Jennifer Reynolds

Comments

[jase]

purple rain. by a long shot. prince has more talent in his finger than mj had in his entire body.

[Blake Britton]

Purple Rian and Off The Wall are both classic albums. But judging on the contents of both albums, I think Purple rain is the obvious choice.

[Jennifer from MWC]

Hi everyone! Thanks for the feedback on my question!

I'm going to do what Johnny Vinyl suggests. Instead of getting the Thriller deluxe edition, I'll get both Off The Wall and Purple Rain.

I do have a copy of both Off The Wall and Thriller on vinyl, but the Off The Wall copy is a bit beat up and doesn't sound good.

[Karen]

Purple Rain. Prince rules over the "king of pop" any day and any time.

[Nemesis]

Purple Rain, there's more choices with Jungle Love & Stuff By Apollina 6 in the movie.

[Dr. Incognito]

I'll dissent from most of the other comments. If you already own either the "regular" "Purple Rain" DVD OR the "regular" CD edition of "Off The Wall", you should obviously get whichever one you don't already have. But given a choice between music and a movie, all else being equal, I'll always take music, because I can listen to it over and over again while doing other things (also, I have little kids, so it's rare for me to be able to sit down and watch a movie w/o interruptions).

Realistically, I probably won't watch any movie more than a few times anyway. And IMHO, "Purple Rain" is NOT a great movie, apart from the music.

[Tonianne]

Do you want him
or do you want me
'Cause I want you

My God, those lyrics still kill me.

Purple Rain. Hands down.

[Adam]

"We had a choice: Purple Rain or Off the Wall."

"Yes, I remember. I picked The Joshua Tree."

[Cathy]

Purple Rain!!!!

[Decaf]

PURPLE RAIN!!!! hands down!!!

[Crockett]

Purple Rain.

Prince can sing and dance, and act and actually play guitar like no one else...

Like, Duh!

[Clark]

I own both, both are good, but if they're the same price, go with the Purple Rain DVD because the extras are better.
OFF THE WALL - There are a couple of original demos that are interesting but not all that great.
PURPLE RAIN - Some pretty cool features, including a history/behind the scenes look at the 1st Avenue nightclub. Prince doesn't appear in any of the bonus features and there's no deleted scenes or outtakes, which is kind of disappointing.

[Dr. Dim]

Hey, Jennifer.
You're torn between a DVD (movie) and a CD (music). This is what I ask myself whenever thinking about buying a movie... "How likely is it that I will watch this movie over and over?" If the likelihood is very high, then I'll buy it. But with that big time movie rental through the mail outfit (I don't think I can say the name and have my comment post, but you know the one.), my wife and I can get just about any movie we want at any time. Subsequently, we don't buy many DVDs anymore.

CDs, on the other hand, are a different story. If you are like me, you are much more likely to listen to an album or individual songs many, many times. You can work, drive, workout, relax, etc. while listening to music. Watching a movie requires putting aside time in order to do it.

So, Jennifer, how often do you think you'll watch 'Purple Rain'? How often will you listen to 'Off The Wall'? Whichever will get more of your attention should be the one you go for.

[DerekW]

No contest, Purple Rain. I have bever bought and MJ record and will not start now.

[Marty]

It doesn't matter. You're going to eventually own all three anyway, so the order is just a formality.

[Jackie]

Purple Rain.

[No question]

P - R - I - N - C - E

[Marissa]

If you're not buying the physical cds and just going with downloads, I'd get the entire Purple Rain soundtrack and then download specific tracks from Off The Wall at a later date. While I'm a fan of Off the Wall, I really only dig 6 of the 10 tracks --downloading the entire cd only saves .21 right now. Purple Rain is great from beginning to end.
I will add that the THRILLER deluxe version has some extras that just blow, in my opinion. Remixes with current artists taints the original. Some things should be left alone. I'd save $3.00 and get the original if you don't already have it.

[Spears]

Johnny does have a good point there. I own the special edition myself, and it's not worth buying if you already have a regular edition of the CD.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Dear Jennifer,
Forget 'Thriller' and buy both 'Off the Wall' and 'Purple Rain' instead. I once read that 1 in 3 households owned a copy of 'Thriller' in the 1980's. You probably already have a copy of it somewhere in a box of LPs sitting snuggly against other classics. Dust it off, whack in on the turntable and dance yourself silly safe in the knowledge that you have saved yourself some cash.
Take care.

[DerekT]

I would pick Purple Rain. It has some of Prince's best songs.
However, MJ has been in the news alot lately, so for historical value you might want Off The Wall. But I like Prince's masterpiece the best.