Prince's legendary performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony may have been more than a spectacular display of electric-guitar playing. According to revelations from an unreleased documentary about the musician, it was also an opportunity to settle a score with Rolling Stone.
The guitarist reportedly felt slighted after being omitted from the magazine’s 2003 list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. And when he took the stage the following year alongside Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood and Dhani Harrison to honor George Harrison, he apparently had something to prove.
Prince’s contribution to the Beatles classic became one of the most celebrated guitar performances of his career. Stepping forward for an extended solo, he unleashed a breathtaking display of melodic playing, high-speed runs and showmanship before tossing his guitar into the air and strutting offstage.
As a New York Times Magazine feature on an epic, nine-hour Prince documentary by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ezra Edelman revealed in 2024, the performance may have carried a more personal message.
“On its face, it’s a supreme expression of Prince’s superiority and bravura,” the magazine wrote. “But the film gives it a new context. Questlove, on the screen, talks about his disbelief, the previous year, when Rolling Stone made a list of the 100 greatest guitar players of all time, and Prince was left off it.”
The documentary reportedly suggests that Prince didn’t forget the omission, waiting for an opportunity to make his feelings known.
“Prince nursed these kinds of slights, and his commandeering of the stage — at an event associated with [founder] Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone — was, in part, an act of revenge,” the article continued. “There’s spite and aggression in the performance. But there’s also pain — in his wincing face, his apartness: a small, soigné Black man onstage with these rumpled white rockers.”
Whatever his motivation, the performance left a lasting impression on his fellow musicians. Petty, who was onstage with Prince that night, recalled recognizing that something extraordinary was happening as the guitarist launched into his solo.
“You see me nodding at him, to say, ‘Go on, go on.’ He just burned it up. You could feel the electricity of ‘something really big’s going down here,’” the late singer-songwriter told The New York Times in 2016, reflecting on Prince’s career following his death.
The performance has since become one of Prince’s most enduring musical moments, with Guitar Player previously naming it one of the greatest guitar solos in music history.
And perhaps Rolling Stone eventually got the message, too. In 2023, the magazine expanded its 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time ranking to 250 players, finally giving Prince his due with a number 14 placement. Then, in May 2026, it went considerably further. Its new 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time list placed Prince’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” performance at number 15 — while awarding the top spot to his solo on “Purple Rain.”
It’s quite a turnaround for a publication that had once left him off its list of the world’s greatest guitarists.
There’s an unfortunate footnote to the documentary revelations that originally brought Prince’s alleged motivation to light. Despite Edelman’s extensive work and access to the musician’s archives, his film will not be released. In February 2025, Netflix and Prince’s estate announced an agreement to scrap the project, with the estate instead developing a separate documentary featuring material from Prince’s vault.
