The current issue of BLENDER magazine has a list of " The 500 Greatest Songs since You were born " which covers the years of 1980 to 2004 and several of Prince's songs were chosen with the highest charted song I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man at #24. Here are all the songs picked:

#24 - I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man
#98 - When You Were Mine
#106 - Little Red Corvette
#113 - Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Conner
#169 - When Doves Cry
#375 - Purple Rain
#412 - If I Was Your Girlfriend

Songs 1 thru 250 are only available from the magazine but 251 thru 500 are available online at blender.com, so check them out. There is also a brief mention of his sister Tyka's troubles in the section titles Rock's Most Embarrassing Siblings . All in all, he's well represented, if that's a good thing.

It should be noted that I missed two songs when I posted this, plus I saw the other thread in the main Prince forum no one really cares, which is fine by me.

I may have to peruse the Tyka story at my local mag stand. I've always been fond of some of her ballads and absolutely love her first album, Royal Blue. I'm curious as to what Blender deems as "embarassing?"

Upon having a torrid, brief romance with a fraulein years ago while stationed in Germany, Would You Be My Friend? (which I asked her to translate to German)
became "our" song along with Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and TTD's "Sign Your Name."

Lost contact with her over the years, then one day while daydreaming I Googled her name and, VOILA!!! there's a link to her name and I see her picture as she's been in the Canary Islands since I put her on the plane 17 years ago!!!!!
I emailed her and she remembered me. How could she not ?


So Tyka holds a special place in my heart.

PS. While still in Germany, I was
at this slammin' club with this fraulein in some small town and what do I hear while jamming? A Tyka song I can't recall. A bit too much to
.


Aaah, those were the best of times


"Ooh yeah, ooh yeah
I wanna bust that body right"

Interesting list...since both ´If I was your girlfriend´ and ´I could never...´ aren´t that obvious...I wonder why ´Kiss´, ´Gett Off´ and ´Cream´ weren´t mentioned, since they were very famous...

Add to the list,

#152 - I Feel For You - Chaka Khan
#259 - Kiss

FIN!

I can't believe ICNTTPOYM is the highest one. Or on there at all.

Here are the write-ups:

24. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

After spending most of his career singing about his perversions, crooning come-ons and doing just about anything else to lure young women into his budoir, Prince recorded, of all things, an anti-seduction, with a surprising message: Don't bother with me, baby, I'm not worth it. A straight-ahead pop-rock song, powered by a seven-note synth line and an indelible melody, it was much less musically eccentric than Prince's previous singles. But it proved, for the hundredth time, that His Royal Badness was simply better at everything than everyone else- a better singer, a better lyricist, a better arranger. And a better guitarist: His torrid solo, filled with shrieking metalisms, must have sent more than a few mulletheads back to the woodshop.


98. When You Were Mine

Years before Tipper Gore flipped out about "Darling Nikki" masturbating with a magazine, Princ'es breakthrough album Dirty Mind described a rocking uptown where kinky people loved to go downtown. Here, over a slapping backbeat and perky synth, our New Romantic imp hornily stalks an ex-lover, even though she spent all his money, wore all his clothes, forced him into threesomes with her new crush and didn't even have the decency to change the sheets.

106. Little Red Corvette

Dirty-minded singers have often used wild horses and fast cars and stand-ins for naughty bits. But in this funky scorcher, Prince hooks up with a woman who has both a flashy chassis and a "place where [her] horses run free." We're just guessing those steeds are condoms and the "little red love machine" is a certain part of the female anatomy. Is "baby you're much too fast" a compliment or a complaint? It hardly matters.

113. Nothing Compares 2 U

Frank Sinatra wanted to kick her ass. The Pope prolly did too. But even they couldn't take Sinead O'Connor's one shining moment away from her. Written and arranged by Prince, this indelible romantic dirge catapulted O'Connor from obscurity to ubiquity. And the video- a four-minute of close-up of O'Connor's close-shaved pate- made her anguish inescapable.

152. I Feel for You

In 1984, Chaka Khan set out to do the impossible: Turn a song into a hit when its author, the mighty Prince, could not. With producer Arif Mardin, the gentle jam became a multi-layered attack- va-va-voom vocals from Chaka, sharp drum machine rhythms, a pneumatic rap from Melle Mel and harmonica runs from Stevie Wonder. The sonic overkill worked- this remains Chaka's biggest hit.


169. When Doves Cry

The biggest record of 1984 was a very odd piece of work: a funk record with no bassline, a tense hunk of neo-psychedelia (the synthesizers are meant to represent crying doves), a club hit wracked with angst about inheriting your folks' worst traits. Even though it was written for a specific moment in the Purple Rain movie, its appeal was universal, becoming the only song ever to be covered by Patti Smith and Ginuwine. But can doves really cry? Er, no.

259. Kiss

Hyper-minimal funk surrounds Prince's tickling falsetto come-ons.

375. Purple Rain

No gender play, no horndog humpery, just sweepingly regretful gospel-rock.

412. If I Was Your Girlfriend

Or, How to be a better lover through androgyny.
[Edited 9/25/05 21:23pm]

thanks Moonbeam.

Wow!! Interesting choices especially ICNTTPOYM at #24. Can anybody post the complete list?? Thanks...

Any list that puts somone like Britney Spears as high as #9 gets thrown out the window or in the trash!

Let's see, can she...

Shake her ass: Yes
Look good: Yes
Carry a tune: Yes

Read music: doubt it
Write music: Hell NO
Write lyrics: probaby not
Play an instrument: Hell NO
Direct, Compose, etc: doubt it

I'm sorry, if the song is so damn great...put a picture of the people that actually wrote the song...all she did was shake her ass while lip synching the damn thing. It must be nice to have a nice ass, fake tits, and a hot face...you could be a superstar like her.

I have nothing against Britney Spears, but just how popular would she be if she had to do EVERYTHING on her own? How many albums would you see from her? If you answered more than ZERO, you are probably wrong.

jpollar said:

uh that should be, carry a tune: NO!

i do not care for blender magazine.