Even though YouTube started up in early 2005, I didn’t really know about or use it until I’d listened to a story about it on NPR in the summer of 2006 (on Fresh Air maybe?). In the story, they mentioned this particular video where James Brown is performing at the Beverly Theatre in Los Angeles and calls out to Michael Jackson and then Prince to join him on stage. Michael Jackson is, of course, awesome, but it’s Prince that steals the show in all of his weird purple glory.
YouTube is ubiquitous today after the Google acquisition, but this video was what opened my eyes to how awesome the internet is in it’s ability to archive and share content. I became a YouTube junkie, hunting down and finding footage of bands I used to know and love, and discovering new bands along the way.
Nowadays any time you have a inclination to find some video footage of ANYTHING, where do you go? I don’t know if the service would have continued to flourish without Google’s cash, but I’m glad they bought it. Now excuse me while I go look up some more Prince footage…
