Best - Gett Off
Worst - Betcha By Golly Wow

I forgot to mention Insatiable as one of my favs. Surprised no one else has mentioned it.

If we're talking just video,
for me
I Wish U Heaven
&
Kiss
are cool.

Best: Anything from Lovesexy.
Runner Up: Loose!
Worst: Gangster Glam. I felt...uh
Most disturbing: Dirty Mind.
[Edited 3/2/06 18:22pm]

nurse said:

I personally like the When 2 R in Love video, but I listed it as one of P's worst because in the context of his video oeuvre, it's one of his worst. I understand that WB had to do it b/c P pulled out, but the simplicity of the black screen with the words at the bottom fits the song imo. "When 2 R in Love" everything else falls to the wayside and you don't pay attention to anything else--you could be surrounded by darkness but all the matters is the person you love. "Nothing's forbidden, nothing's taboo when 2 R in love."

The best Prince videos are the performance ones, like:

Dirty Mind
Sexuality
LRC
1999
Automatic
Controversy
WDC

I also like The Greatest Romance That's Ever Been Sold video.

Love, love, love the Batdance video.

I also like U Got The Look video.

Worst video would be Scandalous.

sosgemini said:

eye think dolphin's pretty bad.

best: girls & boys
worst: come on

BEST = Partyman
WORST = Betcha By Golly Wow

herb4 said:

Yeah,there is a video for this song,but it is really dumb.It's basically just two kids on a see-saw,if I'm not mistaken.Prince is nowhere to be found.

BEST: "I Wish U Heaven"
WORST: "Come On"

Worst video:
- Most video's from the songs on Emancipation: cheap, cheap, cheap... like the artwork of that album: just plain awfull

Best video:
- Girls and Boys: nice, a bit avantgardesque, understated humoresque performance , great black and white filming.
- Sign of the Times: a very revolutionary video around that time, altough indeed it looks a bit like a powerpointpresentation nowadays. Great, because it eniterely focussened on the lyrics, as far as i know, no (major) artist had put out a video like that before.
- Glam Slam - nice, swirling performance (just a shame he didnt use real strings on the recorded song...lol)

AboutPaisley Park: i think many peeps consider this his worst, because he wasnt in it himselve, and it looked like it was shot very cheap. But i remember interviews with Prince during the release of Around the World in a day where he was stating that that album was his 'Fuck You record. The record he made, because he wanted to made it'.
A direct reaction on Purple Rain which (i might get flamed for this...lol) was in some ways a calculated move to reach a mass audience. Both Prince himselve, as his managers and consultants around that time have confirmed that their goal from controversy on to Purple Rain was to have a breaktrough with the bigger (white) audience (Dont get me wrong: I dont consider Purple Rain a bad cd for that, its one of his best in my opinion, because of the quality of songwriting, the focussed production and the energy of the music)
As i said, Around the World in a day was a reaction on that, a Fuck You, and what way to promote a cd like that with the video of the first single not including the artist himselve , and being the opposite people would expect from the 'Purple Rain-Prince' (maybe even the fact the kids in this video were white, were part of this strategy, but i am not sure).

Okay, i am drifting of a bit...lol... I end with my most favorite video of Prince: I could never take the place of your man. I dont consider Prince as an artist with good video's in general. Some are good, few are great, but most i find too cheap, lacking idea's or originality or (sometimes) too narcistic for their own good. For good visuals you have to look at artists like REM, Depeche Mode, Bjork and The Chemical Brothers.
So, what about those few great video's: in my opinion Princes best video's are those of his live performances. On the stage he is in his element en more importantly, he has, in the first place, the tendency to create richer, more layered arrangements for the songs he performs, and second, some songs benefit hugely from that. When it comes to I could never take the place of your man, i consider it one of the more mediocre tracks on Sign of the Times, because of the very sober demo-like instrumentation, and the lack of colour and energy in the music and arrangement. The video-version (from the concertmovie) has a much richer arrangement (with addes horns, keyboards, bonne boyers background whales, and Sheila's drivening drums), also theres far more energy in the performance, notably on Princes vocals, they are full of live, and lift this song to a higher level (not the mention the earsplitting guitarsolo near the end of the song).

Everytime i see and hear this video i feel the energy creep into me, i want to move and dance, and get very joyfull from the whole experience. And, in my opinion thats what good music (or art in general) should do: inspire you and motivate you on a deeper level. So: thats what I could never take the place of your man is my favorite Prince video.

Best Video - 'I could never take the place of your man'
Worst video - Strollin' eeeh! that was wrong..

Best

Gett Off
Cream
Kiss
Partyman
Batman
Glam Slam
I wish U Heaven
When Doves Cry
Diamonds & Pearls
Black Sweat
Dolphin
Thieves in the temple

Worst

Paisley Park
The most beautiful girl...
Alphabet St
Sexuality
I wanna be your lover

mrmarcus said:

That's not constructive at all

Ive never ever seen the Paisley Park Video - even though its one of my fave songs - Is it really that bad?

Oh my goooddddd.....
thats horrific.....
Could only just make it out, but what I saw was baaddddd!!!
He needs a good kick up the beehind for that one...

wendyrachel said:

No I kinda like it actually. It is so eighties and charming. Not everything has to be a big multi million dollar production. Something about it is simple and free like the song to me.

Agrees with Krystal666, I love artists who take risks, and Prince was taking a risk with Paisley Park (the song and video) and Around the world in a day, as some sort of artistic statement i guess...

Thats the inspiring / irritating aspect about the fellow i guess, the one moment he does things like that, the other moment my toes start to curl when you hear and see some bland R&B cut like the 'Greatest romance ever sold'.. lol

Lol wendyrachel,

I think many Prince-fans confuse (at least the superficial glance of) his lyrics / words with reality.

I mean, Prince definitely looked coked-out during many performances in the Purple-Rain era. And during the slave era (look at those pics with the curly hair on his cheek, and the anorexic body) he obviously was on 'something' also.

I mean, Prince was a great musician during the eighties, a sometimes very good during one the nineties, but in no way i feel the need to defend him as a person (like some of the fans seem to do). Prince has used some drugs / medicines during his career to know on, like most rockartists, that doesnt make him a less talented / inspiring musician to me and certainly doesnt give me the feeling to defend him or something (gee, its just a human and a musician)

Riverpoet31 said:

It doesnt bother me at all - whatever hes done - its just I always thought he was against all that - It would certainly explain the song 'superfunkycalafragisexy' (have I spelt that right???)he he

Am I the only one here that likes the Paisley Park video? It's got such a 60's hippie vibe to it.