Saturday, April 23, 2016

The Overlooked Prince videos

Like David Bowie, Prince didn't really fit perfectly into the MTV limelight. Their music videos weren't consistent in quality, innovation, and conception like Michael Jackson's or Madonna's were. When the 90s decade came around, Prince never made the transition to the big-budget, cinematic era as others did. It's okay, nobody really left the 80s intact... Prince is still an Advanced Genius in any decade.



When you think of Prince visually, you probably think of "When Doves Cry", "1999" or maybe "Batdance". I once saw "Gold" on BET, but his MTV airplay diminished significantly post-1993. I wanted to educate those on some of the more unpopular, forgotten (or even rare) videos that the Purple One graced us with during his short time on this Planet Earth.

I'll update this post more videos and maybe some legit YouTube links as time goes on...

"Black Sweat" (2006)
When it was released, it seemed to be an exclusive to Yahoo! Music. Really nice beat here, and  a simplistic black-and-white aesthetic sure suits Prince and female companion well. It predate's Beyonce's "Single Ladies" by two years.

"Cinnamon Girl" (2004)
OK, this is one I considered Best Video of Year. Prince gets political in this one, defending the Islamic community in a post Sept 11th world. It was very powerful when I first saw it in 2004, and I think it still rings truer today, especially for immigrants and the discriminated.

"Partyman" (1989)
I wrote a retrospective about this quirky video back in 2011. For a good laugh, and some furrowed brows, check it out!

My Top 7 Prince Videos of All Time
  1. When Doves Cry / Purple Rain (tie)
  2. Batdance
  3. Cinnamon Girl
  4. Raspberry Beret
  5. Partyman
  6. 1999
Related: My Prince experience