can someone describe the video? i've never seen it before. was shown back in around 2005/06 on rage (australian music video program) prince special according to their website

Warner Brothers made this video.
It's entirely black screen with the lyrics scrolling across the bottom.
Nothing great and actually a slap in Prince's face by the record company.

If I recall it even made it onto Beavis an Butthead and they said it was Princes butthole

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[Edited 3/21/10 2:20am]

muirdo said:

They said how much he rocked on some other video (I think either LRC or LGC).

HonestMan13 said:

Not really. It may have been tongue in cheek, but it's not like Prince was actually going to make one is it. He was too busy pissing away money on making videos of then unreleased music and doing nothing with them.

NouveauDance said:

The Black Album only got released to piss off Prince and to hopefully give Warners a platinum disc. They only pressed 1 million CD's in the hopes it would sell out and give them an instant hit CD. Prince never wanted it released and said so many times. Why would he promote something he wasn't behind in the first place?

sign 'o the times video was the same. Why was't the money? Who was going to play it on TV?

HonestMan13 said:

Uh, no... the Black album was released with Prince's consent in order to fulfill his contract. In fact they worked out a special deal with him to release it and he got some extra dough out of it.

errant said:

What was the deal?

HonestMan13 said:

they release it, he gets paid?

prime said:

I liked the SOTT promo. It was played in the UK on prime time music show Top Of The Pops.
As for the When 2 R In Love promo, it sucks. Black screen with the lyrics, very similar to a karaoke video... including getting the lyrics wrong!

prime said:

The SOTT promo was played a lot on UK music channels like MTV and VH1 in the early 90s. It's simple, but very effective, and I know a lot of people remember that video as really standing out at the time.

HonestMan13 said:

The Vault says he got a cool million (approx.)

errant said:

There was more to it than that. Prince had to deliver so many albums to WB in order to get out of his contract. They decided to release the Black album and allow it to count toward the big 100 million dollar deal he signed in 92 or 93. All of the albums released (with the exception of The Very Best of Prince and Ultimate) counted toward that deal.

errant said:

http://prince.org/wiki/Th..._1994_Deal

$$$$$

aT LEAST WITH sIGN O THE TIMES THERE WAS a VIDEO CASSETTE SEMI-MOVIE/CONCERT TO WATCH AND LISTEN TO ALL THE SONGS FROM THE ALBUM. WHEN 2 R IN LOVE IN MY OPINION COULD HAVE HAD A BETTER VIDEO. sTILL A LOVELY SONG.

daPrettyman said:

Very Best Of WAS part of the deal to get out of the contract. it was announced that he had delivered C&D, the Vault and a compilation to be determined later as his out for the contract.

From the Org's Wiki page:

The 1994 Deal

In 1994, Warner Bros. officially released the Black Album. By the time it was released by Warner Bros. legitimately in November 1994—again, containing only a track listing and a new catalog number—45793—printed onto the disc itself, the copyright date of 1994 (with the exception of “When 2 R in Love,” which was released in 1988), and only legal copy appearing on the spine—almost every dedicated Prince fan already owned an illegal copy. It was released in a strictly limited edition and deleted by Warner Bros. the following January.

Fans have speculated that this release was legitimized so that Prince could get out of his new seven-album contract with the label. While that's partially true, it isn't the full story. During 1994, Warner Bros. negotiated a deal with Prince which involved them paying $4 million upfront in exchange for the release of The Black Album in November 1994, the release of The Gold Experience in early 1995, and a soundtrack album. These three albums would count towards Prince's contract as two of the four he owed them at that point.

However, Prince canceled this deal while his attorney was on his way to Warner Bros to pick up the cheque and sign the papers. Prince's attorney advised him against canceling the deal but Prince insisted. The attorney left a week later, and this is when Prince hired his sixth lawyer since he signed with Warner Bros., then 28-year old L. Londell McMillan.

Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin were leaving Warner Bros. around that time, but still managed to secure part of the deal: they paid Prince $1 million, in exchange for an official release of The Black Album. However, the album did not count towards the seven-album contract.[1]

funkylust said:

oh, that Prince... what a card.

errant said:

It's good that it got an official release, but I hate how it was used so cheaply as some sort of bargaining chip. It sold poorly because of the lack of promo and the timing, but had the album been sat on and released, like now or much later when Prince's public stock was higher, it would've done the album's history and 'legendary' status much more service.

errant said:

No, it wasn't. Compilations are always built into these kind of deals. WB had the rights to release two compilations, and so they did: VBO + Ultimate. The 6 album deal was for NEW material.

Love the song, I've never seen the video.

NouveauDance said:

Really...my bad. I never saw it until the "Hits" VHS came out. I was so disappointed.

BartVanHemelen said:

um, right. which is what i said. VBOP was part of his deal.

Tame said:

Believe me, you're really not missing anything.