These are just some of the things we have Prince to thank for

Prince was a trailblazer, pushing boundaries and opening musical doors that no one knew were even there. Constantly innovating, he was responsible for some of the most memorable songs, music videos, and styles of the last several decades, as well as the following:

Parental Advisory stickers

After hearing the sexually explicit lyrics to the song "Darling Nikki," Tipper Gore formed the Parents Music Resource Center in 1985, which pushed to create a music rating system similar to the one used for movies (the group placed "Darling Nikki" at the top of its "Filthy Fifteen" list). The rating system never came to fruition, but the record companies did start affixing those black and white parental advisory stickers onto certain albums. That actually didn't bother Prince, Mental Floss says — he didn't fight against the labels, and was one of the first artists to release "clean" versions of albums deemed explicit.

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Sheila E, Vanity, Apollonia, Carmen Electra, and other female artists

Several talented women joined forces with Prince over the years, becoming some of his most trusted collaborators. He performed with and wrote material for protégés like Sheila E., Vanity, and Apollonia, and if he thought you needed a new identity, he'd give you one of those, too — Carmen Electra was born Tara Leigh Patrick, but Prince christened her Carmen, writing her a song called "Carmen on Top" and telling her, "You're not a Tara. You're not a Tara. You're Carmen."

Making it acceptable 4 U 2 write in text speak

Talk about being groundbreaking, Prince was using "U" instead of "you" and "2" instead of "too" years before AIM and texting. Many of his songs, including 1990's "Nothing Compares 2 U" and 1984's "I Would Die 4 U," gave us a vision of how we'd all be communicating in the future.

Hit songs for other artists

Prince had 39 studio albums, 19 hits in the Billboard top 10, and five that made it to the No. 1 spot. He also was behind hits for other artists, including The Bangles ("Manic Monday"), Chaka Khan ("I Feel For You"), and Patti Labelle ("Yo Mister"). Although Prince released "Nothing Compares 2 U" in 1990, it was Sinead O'Connor's cover of the song that shot her to fame.

Helping us survive Y2K

Had Prince not written "1999" in 1982, would we have made it through 2000? Probably, but it still made it easier for us to not freak out about the millennium bug as we partied like it was 1999 (since it finally was).

Instantly quotable lyrics

Prince's bold lyrics were distinctive and told stories, going into great detail about love, sex, what happens when doves cry, and even the nuclear arms race. With so many songs under his belt, it can be hard to choose a favorite, but something as simple as "Act your age, mama/Not your shoe size" from "Kiss" is hard to top.

This GIF. Catherine Garcia