Musicians are sometimes known for their eccentricities as much as they are their music. Some, for example, are known to be so demanding that they’ll refuse to perform if their backstage demands aren’t met to the letter. (Remember Van Halen and the brown M&Ms?) Others will angrily leave an interview if they don’t care for the interviewer’s questions. Still others inexplicably maintain an aura of mystery about who they really are, even though the internet has made it possible to find out just about everything there is to know about someone with a few mouse clicks.

Prince, for his part, was known throughout his life and career for his eccentricities. For example, there was his reliance on purple early in his career, or the period of time when he went by an unpronounceable symbol, rather than his name, in protest of the way he was being treated by his record company. Another Prince eccentricity that may have flown under the radar is an object he kept in his recording studio, and the rules that surrounded it.

Prince kept a swear box in his studio

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