📰 Prince: The Truth – MOJO: Feb. 1997
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- Feb 1, 1997
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
MOJO — February 1, 1997
Cover + sixteen‑page special feature
The February 1997 issue of MOJO places Nick Drake at the centre of the cover — a mythic, fragile figure framed by the headline:
“Nick Drake & Legend of the Lost Boy”
“The Heart & Soul of England”
But for Prince collectors, the crucial element is the prominent sidebar announcing a sixteen‑page special:
“PRINCE — THE TRUTH”
A rare commitment from MOJO, which seldom devoted this much space to a contemporary artist.
Cover trails include:
• Suede
• Lewis Taylor
• Gillian Welch
• Yes (reunion)
• T. Rex
• Grateful Dead
This blend of heritage rock and modern cult favourites situates Prince within a broader conversation about artistry, legacy, and reinvention.
📰 Overview
The sixteen‑page Prince feature — unusually expansive for MOJO — explores:
• the aftermath of Emancipation
• Prince’s evolving identity as 0(+>
• the creative philosophy behind The Truth
• the tension between independence and industry expectation
• the spiritual and emotional undercurrents shaping his late‑’90s work
The feature positions Prince as a restless, searching figure — someone shedding skins, redefining himself, and challenging the boundaries of genre and persona.
📰 Source Details
Publication: MOJO
Issue Date: February 1, 1997
Format: Cover + sixteen‑page special feature
Provenance Notes: UK heritage‑music magazine; this is one of the most substantial Prince features they ever produced.
📰 The Story
The MOJO special examines Prince at a pivotal moment:
• navigating the post‑Warner landscape
• embracing independence with the NPG label
• exploring acoustic intimacy and raw confession on The Truth
• balancing mystique with vulnerability
• redefining his relationship to fame, identity, and artistic control
The feature treats Prince not as a pop star but as a serious, evolving musician, placing him in dialogue with the magazine’s usual canon of revered, introspective artists.
The juxtaposition with Nick Drake — a symbol of fragility, purity, and myth — adds a subtle layer of commentary: Prince as a modern counterpart, equally enigmatic but radically different in expression.
📰 Key Highlights
• Sixteen‑page deep dive into Prince’s late‑’90s creative philosophy
• Rare MOJO commitment to a contemporary artist
• Contextualised within a cover dominated by Nick Drake
• Explores The Truth, Emancipation, and the 0(+> identity
• A defining snapshot of Prince’s transitional 1997 moment
📰
MOJO — Cover + sixteen‑page feature, February 1, 1997.
📰 Article Text
Paisley Parklife has been rather fraught for some time. Has The Artist Formerly Known As Prince been following a single-minded vision or just having a control freak-out? Have the identity crisis, the battle with Warner Brothers and the increasingly unfocused music amounted to an extended act of commercial suicide?
Marc Weingarten explores behind the scenes in Minneapolis to see what Prince's working practices reveal, and finds out how the greatest music of his purple reign was made. Barney Hoskyns asks of the man's former colleagues and players: "What is he like?" Sylvie Simmons sifts through the later albums to find diamonds in the rough. And, on page 42. the man himself
📰 Related Material
• Explore the tags below for connected eras and themes.
📰 Closing Notes
This MOJO issue stands as one of the most significant UK publications of Prince’s late‑’90s era — a rare moment when a heritage‑music magazine devoted major space to a contemporary artist in full creative transformation.
📰 Tags
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