As our own Joseph Degroot pointed out earlier this year, 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of Prince's classic album Purple Rain. The title song wasn't officially released until September 26 however, so upon its own birthday we decided to check out what other colors of rain were floating around in the songosphere. Naturally none of them live up to Prince's epic closing track but we decided to list what we found for you. Here they are, listed in the traditional color spectrum order.
"White Rain" by Junip (2011)
This Swedish indie rock trio gets us started off right in terms of colored rain songs. "White Rain" features guitarist/vocalist José González backed by the humming resonance of his instrument and a wide echo trails off his words. The mood is dark albeit not stormy, and "as soon as you step into the room (he) just wants to look at you." His desired must stand out like white rain falling in a song with a very gray vibe.
"Blue Rain (Coming Down)" by Roy Orbison (1973)
Roy Orbison is an expert at sounding blue and he's in full force on "Blue Rain (Coming Down)" from his album Milestones. His falsetto-vibrato cocktail laments his lost love, who he watches while standing in the less-than-symbolic blue rain. This isn't the old Sun Records sound at all but rather baroque pop, with a harp setting the mood for the rest of the song at the opening. A guitar eventually stops by but can't life the mood.
"Green Rain" by SHINee (2013)
SHINee fits into the branch of K-Pop that we might call adult contemporary in the United States. Accordingly, "Green Rain" is a tale of growing up in a good way, as "we become fresher in the pouring green rain" (translation). We've never been to Korea so we can't attest as to what color the rain is over there but we sure hope it isn't green. This song appeared on the original soundtrack for Korean drama series The Queen's Classroom.
"Yellow Rain" by Pretty Maids (1987)
Pretty Maids is actually a Danish hair metal band full of dudes. They seem to have jumped on the largely power metal theme of dystopian society for its '87 album Future World, and the oddly colored precipitation actually seems to work in context as the result of mankind's irresponsible lifestyle. Vocalist Ronnie Atkins shouts in his huskiest of voices that "it doesn't matter anymore" while guitarist Ken Hammer taps out a hair-worthy solo.
"Raining Brown" by Stinkhole (?)
We, understandably, were concerned about listening to a song titled "Raining Brown" by a band called Stinkhole and we were't wrong. This song is about exactly what it sounds like. The mysterious group plays comical thrash metal while claiming to be a demonic presence capable of creating literal tidal waves of fecal matter. Unfortunately we couldn't find any other band that bothered to try recording a song called "Brown Rain." Don't say we didn't warn you.
"Red Rain" by Peter Gabriel (1986)
Peter Gabriel recorded "Red Rain" as a sung description of a recurring nightmare he had been having. Although there was no rain itself in his fantasy, you have to admit that it would make any nightmare a little worse. Red rain also serves as a plot point in the musician's never realized film idea Mozo, which was to feature red rain as punishment from a pagan god upon a sinful society. So the track is actually an insider reference that no one could really get. He did hire former The Police drummer Stewart Copeland to play the hi-hat and create a rain-on-a-rooftop effect for the song however.
"Soft, Grey Rain" by Kid Sam (2009)
Kid Sam describes a generally melancholy day in, presumably, the folk duo's home of Melbourne, Australia. The title comes from the weather falling upon the taxi that takes vocalist Kieran Ryan home while pondering the relationship crisis he and his are having. His guitar playing (and cousin Kishore Ryan's drumming) keep upbeat but never too peppy. The instrumental outro may be the track's best part.
"Black Rain" by Soundgarden (2010)
"Black Rain" seemed like a somewhat clichéd first track for Soundgarden to introduce when it reemerged during 2010, considering that its most well-known song is "Black Hole Sun" and another huge single ("Fell On Black Days") also appeared on Superunknown. The Avengers soundtrack single chugged along like heavier tracks on the Seattle band's best album however, such as Fresh Tendrils. Maybe this single serves as the literal sequel to "Black Days"?
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