This is an incident that happened fifteen years ago, but to this day, a No. 3 single by Prince haunts me with a horrid memory.

It was 1991. I was stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky at the height of my brief military career, having finished a short stint in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War. My barracks buddy, Gary, was getting married to his girlfriend, Heather, at the church on the grounds of the base. He knew I was into rock music, so he asked me to be the DJ at his wedding. I was honored he asked. Gary told me he and Heather had a selection of songs they wanted played in a certain order. The song selected as their personal and pre-ceremony theme? “Diamonds And Pearls” by Prince and the New Power Generation.

Now, this was a traditional DJ set. No turntables or fancy hip-hop scratching. At the ceremony, Gary and Heather brought me cassettes (uncued) of the songs they had selected. It would’ve been better if they had a single CD of them, but nonetheless, I had to make the best of what was on the table. The ceremony was great. I managed to play all the songs in order despite the delays of the cassettes. But at the wedding reception, a few of my soldier buddies had the nerve to criticize my DJing skills. I explained that I had no control over the cassettes’ cueing and I was used to playing CDs, but it was to no avail. Of course, not everyone complained, but the criticism left me with an uneasy feeling of guilt and shame.

The following morning was when the feeling really sank in. The CQ specialist at the front desk greeted me with, “So, I heard you screwed up the music at Gary’s wedding.” I tried to explain, again, that it had been something I had no control over. He replied that I could’ve cued those cassettes to play on time. I didn’t bother telling him that I couldn’t have done it during the ceremony, and not at the last minute.

I left Fort Campbell and the Army for good several months later, but I also had to take with me the memory of being told I had disgraced my soldier buddy’s big day. I knew Gary and Heather were happy with the job I did. I also wanted to believe that everyone’s comments were out of jealousy and ill will. I haven’t seen Gary since that time, but now whenever I hear “Diamonds And Pearls,” the memories of that day come back to me with a mixture of sadness and bitterness. Don’t get me wrong! I love the song and I even put it on a mix honoring No. 3 singles in the BillBoard Hot 100 (I’m an avid student of the charts). Eventually I had to remove it because when I played that song, it just brought me back that day. So, that’s my story. A great song ruined by the spite of soldiers who wanted to rain on my parade.