Regarding the direct to video film of the same name, not the brilliant song: I am not exagerating when I say that might have been the worst film I've ever seen in my life. I've seen student films that put it to shame. It makes Grafitti Bridge seem like an arthouse masterpeice!

I'm serious. You know that feeling where something is so embarrasing, it makes you physically uncomfortable just watching it?

I have never experienced such a useless waste of time. It almost ruined the album for me.

Does anyone feel the same? I want to hear some opinions on this. What was it like to witness this era back when it was happening?

It was very delayed, obviously due to dispute with Warners and just sort of dribbled out, understandably without much fanfare.

The preview for the clips from the Sexy Mf video single looked quite good but it felt like a bargaining chip that Prince was using at the time whereby he wanted to give Warners as little as possible. And that's what we got. Half-assed, embarrassing, semi-cryptic , soft-porn bullshit.

I like some of the videos - "Sexy MF" and "Damn U" in particular, but yeah, the whole thing seems very patchy and half-finished. And don't even bother with the storyline

3 Chains O'Gold film: WTF???!!!...

Watched it again after 15 years the other day.

This film is nonsense!

So 1st and 4most: why the butchering edits on most songs? Why not putting them entirely since the videos were shot anyway?!

And why no videos 4 "Arrogance", "The Flow", "And God Created Woman", "3 Chains O' Gold" (despite the orchestral version) and "The sacrifice Of Victor"? if that goddamn album and film was supposed 2 tell a story what's the point in skipping the end of the story if u're gonna tell it anyway?

And what the hell's that story about anyway?

1st, 7 dudes (who?) kill Mayte's father (why?). Then Mayte goes to MPLS (why?) and sees on the news that Prince is kind of encouraging a violent riot (why?), so she goes there and gives him her precious gold chains (why?). Then Prince puts his whole own band in jail (why?), fails to fuck a woman because he thinks of Mayte (why: they just met?) and then frees his band 4 a photoshoot (!!!). Then he meets Mayte again and they fall in love and as she worries about the 7 dudes, he tells her that she can relax because "the max is in control" (what the fuck is "the max" anyway?) and they have wonderful times together but suddenly, as she makes an horrible nightmare, he decides to leave her (why?) and he takes a train to Japan (how on earth do u reach Japan by train if u're in the USA?!), where he claims he's such a "continental" hotshot to the crowd and possibly fucks Carmen (but as she's been edited out, we don't know), but in the end he decides to get back to Mayte because he can't put her outta his mind, and suddenly we skip 2 songs and jump to "7", which is slaughtered by interviews of the bandmembers about Mayte (why? and who cares what they think anyway?) and Prince kills both the seven dudes and his past selves (why?) and then the good guys won and we skip one more song and jump to this instrumental version of "3Chains O'Gold" with Mayte reading her infamous letter about Prince's namechange and he signs a contract with Japanese executives (why?), which is so absurd because this is all about the name change, which happened in 1993 while this film/albums' concept goes back to late 1991, at a time when Prince wasn't thinking of changing his name or leaving Warner Bros, meaning that Prince suddenly changed the plot to make it fit with recent events in his life and that makes the story even more impossible to understand and spoils whatever original ending was there in the 1st place. And in the end they bury Mayte's precious chains of gold (why?) and we have a written message about Prince's spiritual revolution which has nothing to do with Mayte anymore, and that's it, story's over.

Damn, u can say whatever u want about Graffiti Bridge, but this film is a masterpiece in comparison to that absurd piece of crap that was released on video!!!

I'll add that the story in the video slightly differs from the story that's told by the album's unreleased segues, making the whole thing even more confusing.

Does someone understand something that i don't in the middle of that whole narrative mess???

I wouldn't class it as a film, just a bunch of promo videos.

I remember being very excited when this came out, I bought it the day it was released (in the UK).

Looking at it now, it is what it is. A collection of narcissistic music videos, with a very loose storyline which no one really understands.

I don't think this was ever intended to be or advertised as a "film" though.

I think that comparing it to an actual motion picture movie (despite how bad anyone thinks Graffiti Bridge is) is unfair.

The edits are annoying, and the whole thing has not aged well at all, but then not a lot has aged so good from this period in his career. In saying that, if it were to one day get an official release on dvd, then I would probably buy it. And I think that quite a lot of the people who complain about it would too.

^ Well yeah, being a completist involves getting stuff one doesn't like. When i think i had to buy this crappy Kenny Rogers album back in the days!!!

[Edited 3/30/11 3:54am]

I'm sitting here trying to think of a joke involving weed and gangsta rappers that would explain this movie. But 3 Chains O' Gold is so bad that I can't even turn it into a joke.

Cyra said:

Regarding the direct to video film of the same name, not the brilliant song: I am not exagerating when I say that might have been the worst film I've ever seen in my life. I've seen student films that put it to shame. It makes Grafitti Bridge seem like an arthouse masterpeice!

I'm serious. You know that feeling where something is so embarrasing, it makes you physically uncomfortable just watching it?

I have never experienced such a useless waste of time. It almost ruined the album for me.

Does anyone feel the same? I want to hear some opinions on this. What was it like to witness this era back when it was happening?

WTF???

databank said:

And what the hell's that story about anyway?

Right, here we go.

1st, 7 dudes (who?) kill Mayte's father (why?).

Egyptian reasons. See Mannequin for more information.

Then Mayte goes to MPLS (why?)

Shortlived Prince protection racket, never took off. Like all his projects he grew bored with it.

and sees on the news that Prince is kind of encouraging a violent riot (why?),

Prince is a badass with a protection racket. RIOT.

so she goes there and gives him her precious gold chains (why?).

Protection costs $$$. or gold chains I guess.

Then Prince puts his whole own band in jail (why?),

cos of what they were going to say about Mayte later in the film.

fails to fuck a woman because he thinks of Mayte (why: they just met?)

TMBGITW > other women.

and then frees his band 4 a photoshoot (!!!).Then he meets Mayte again and they fall in love and as she worries about the 7 dudes, he tells her that she can relax because "the max is in control" (what the fuck is "the max" anyway?)

the name of shortlived Prince protection racket, never took off. Like all his projects he grew bored with it. Rather than breaking kneecaps they break backs.

and they have wonderful times together but suddenly, as she makes an horrible nightmare, he decides to leave her (why?)

he has problems committing, we all know that.

and he takes a train to Japan (how on earth do u reach Japan by train if u're in the USA?!),

He took the continental

where he claims he's such a "continental" hotshot to the crowd and possibly fucks Carmen (but as she's been edited out, we don't know),

yup

but in the end he decides to get back to Mayte because he can't put her outta his mind,

TMBGITW

and suddenly we skip 2 songs and jump to "7", which is slaughtered by interviews of the bandmembers about Mayte (why?)

because prince put them in prison.

and who cares what they think anyway?)

ah now.

and Prince kills both the seven dudes and his past selves (why?)

Er... Protection racket is all I got.

and then the good guys won and we skip one more song and jump to this instrumental version of "3Chains O'Gold" with Mayte reading her infamous letter about Prince's namechange and he signs a contract with Japanese executives (why?),

Damn execs. They were gonna turn prince in for his protection racket so he had to change his name to avoid prosecution.

which is so absurd because this is all about the name change, which happened in 1993 while this film/albums' concept goes back to late 1991, at a time when Prince wasn't thinking of changing his name or leaving Warner Bros, meaning that Prince suddenly changed the plot to make it fit with recent events in his life and that makes the story even more impossible to understand and spoils whatever original ending was there in the 1st place.

These are the ways of the Pharoah.

And in the end they bury Mayte's precious chains of gold (why?)

Prince is a good conspiracy theorist, he knows the gold will keep it's value so he buries it for safekeeping

and we have a written message about Prince's spiritual revolution which has nothing to do with Mayte anymore, and that's it, story's over.

I love the fact that the solution to a murder involves turning to a famous popstar for protection.

Compared to the Love 4 One Another 'film', 3 Chains O Gold is a work of godlike genius.

jaawwnn said:

databank said:

and then frees his band 4 a photoshoot (!!!).Then he meets Mayte again and they fall in love and as she worries about the 7 dudes, he tells her that she can relax because "the max is in control" (what the fuck is "the max" anyway?)

the name of shortlived Prince protection racket, never took off. Like all his projects he grew bored with it. Rather than breaking kneecaps they break backs.

Even though I've watched all of Prince's films...some multiple times...I never ever watch because I'm expecting an amazing plot that is cohesive and makes any kind of sense..it is what it is with him..the only one in which I truly enjoyed the storyline was UTCM. Never get tired of watching that.

So 3 Chains O' Gold I didn't mind. It was just what I expected it to be.

Jaaaawn...

Wasn't this an edited version of a longer 'film' called Neo-Manifesto?

As I don't give a fuck about videos I watched both of them once (Neo-Manifesto is circulating on a bootleg DVD) but NM seemed to me a longer versions of 3COG.

After '.... Hard Life' Prince should've realized that making 'movies' is not exactly his bigger virtue...

I like it

I find this way more exciting than Graffiti Bridge.The only problem is the editing on some videos.....they should have used the full clips!

vitriol said:

Wasn't this an edited version of a longer 'film' called Neo-Manifesto?

As I don't give a fuck about videos I watched both of them once (Neo-Manifesto is circulating on a bootleg DVD) but NM seemed to me a longer versions of 3COG.

does it make any more sense?

I probably prefer 3COG to Graffitti Bridge but that's not exactly praise

^I don't remember it making exactly 'sense'.

SoulAlive said:

I like it

I find this way more exciting than Graffiti Bridge.The only problem is the editing on some videos.....they should have used the full clips!

Mayte is so hot...

Mayte swims nude with several other woman. There is NO other point to this "movie" except to put out some videos for the album. However, the videos are meaningless when you compare it to:

Mayte swims nude with several other woman.

The End.

databank said:

3 Chains O'Gold film: WTF???!!!...

Watched it again after 15 years the other day.

This film is nonsense!

So 1st and 4most: why the butchering edits on most songs? Why not putting them entirely since the videos were shot anyway?!

And why no videos 4 "Arrogance", "The Flow", "And God Created Woman", "3 Chains O' Gold" (despite the orchestral version) and "The sacrifice Of Victor"? if that goddamn album and film was supposed 2 tell a story what's the point in skipping the end of the story if u're gonna tell it anyway?

And what the hell's that story about anyway?

1st, 7 dudes (who?) kill Mayte's father (why?). Then Mayte goes to MPLS (why?) and sees on the news that Prince is kind of encouraging a violent riot (why?), so she goes there and gives him her precious gold chains (why?). Then Prince puts his whole own band in jail (why?), fails to fuck a woman because he thinks of Mayte (why: they just met?) and then frees his band 4 a photoshoot (!!!). Then he meets Mayte again and they fall in love and as she worries about the 7 dudes, he tells her that she can relax because "the max is in control" (what the fuck is "the max" anyway?) and they have wonderful times together but suddenly, as she makes an horrible nightmare, he decides to leave her (why?) and he takes a train to Japan (how on earth do u reach Japan by train if u're in the USA?!), where he claims he's such a "continental" hotshot to the crowd and possibly fucks Carmen (but as she's been edited out, we don't know), but in the end he decides to get back to Mayte because he can't put her outta his mind, and suddenly we skip 2 songs and jump to "7", which is slaughtered by interviews of the bandmembers about Mayte (why? and who cares what they think anyway?) and Prince kills both the seven dudes and his past selves (why?) and then the good guys won and we skip one more song and jump to this instrumental version of "3Chains O'Gold" with Mayte reading her infamous letter about Prince's namechange and he signs a contract with Japanese executives (why?), which is so absurd because this is all about the name change, which happened in 1993 while this film/albums' concept goes back to late 1991, at a time when Prince wasn't thinking of changing his name or leaving Warner Bros, meaning that Prince suddenly changed the plot to make it fit with recent events in his life and that makes the story even more impossible to understand and spoils whatever original ending was there in the 1st place. And in the end they bury Mayte's precious chains of gold (why?) and we have a written message about Prince's spiritual revolution which has nothing to do with Mayte anymore, and that's it, story's over.

Damn, u can say whatever u want about Graffiti Bridge, but this film is a masterpiece in comparison to that absurd piece of crap that was released on video!!!

I'll add that the story in the video slightly differs from the story that's told by the album's unreleased segues, making the whole thing even more confusing.

Does someone understand something that i don't in the middle of that whole narrative mess???

This is extraordinarily awful.

I've never seen 3 Chains of Gold, but after reading your synopsis, I am now on a personal mission to find it.

Lammastide said:

databank said:

3 Chains O'Gold film: WTF???!!!...

Watched it again after 15 years the other day.

This film is nonsense!

So 1st and 4most: why the butchering edits on most songs? Why not putting them entirely since the videos were shot anyway?!

And why no videos 4 "Arrogance", "The Flow", "And God Created Woman", "3 Chains O' Gold" (despite the orchestral version) and "The sacrifice Of Victor"? if that goddamn album and film was supposed 2 tell a story what's the point in skipping the end of the story if u're gonna tell it anyway?

And what the hell's that story about anyway?

1st, 7 dudes (who?) kill Mayte's father (why?). Then Mayte goes to MPLS (why?) and sees on the news that Prince is kind of encouraging a violent riot (why?), so she goes there and gives him her precious gold chains (why?). Then Prince puts his whole own band in jail (why?), fails to fuck a woman because he thinks of Mayte (why: they just met?) and then frees his band 4 a photoshoot (!!!). Then he meets Mayte again and they fall in love and as she worries about the 7 dudes, he tells her that she can relax because "the max is in control" (what the fuck is "the max" anyway?) and they have wonderful times together but suddenly, as she makes an horrible nightmare, he decides to leave her (why?) and he takes a train to Japan (how on earth do u reach Japan by train if u're in the USA?!), where he claims he's such a "continental" hotshot to the crowd and possibly fucks Carmen (but as she's been edited out, we don't know), but in the end he decides to get back to Mayte because he can't put her outta his mind, and suddenly we skip 2 songs and jump to "7", which is slaughtered by interviews of the bandmembers about Mayte (why? and who cares what they think anyway?) and Prince kills both the seven dudes and his past selves (why?) and then the good guys won and we skip one more song and jump to this instrumental version of "3Chains O'Gold" with Mayte reading her infamous letter about Prince's namechange and he signs a contract with Japanese executives (why?), which is so absurd because this is all about the name change, which happened in 1993 while this film/albums' concept goes back to late 1991, at a time when Prince wasn't thinking of changing his name or leaving Warner Bros, meaning that Prince suddenly changed the plot to make it fit with recent events in his life and that makes the story even more impossible to understand and spoils whatever original ending was there in the 1st place. And in the end they bury Mayte's precious chains of gold (why?) and we have a written message about Prince's spiritual revolution which has nothing to do with Mayte anymore, and that's it, story's over.

Damn, u can say whatever u want about Graffiti Bridge, but this film is a masterpiece in comparison to that absurd piece of crap that was released on video!!!

I'll add that the story in the video slightly differs from the story that's told by the album's unreleased segues, making the whole thing even more confusing.

Does someone understand something that i don't in the middle of that whole narrative mess???

This is extraordinarily awful.

I've never seen 3 Chains of Gold, but after reading your synopsis, I am now on a personal mission to find it.

x forever.

To add to the "fails to fuck a woman because of Mayte (why--he just met her)", he fails to fuck her while they're watching a midnight showing of "Barberella" in a public movie theater. Barberella!! Soooooooooooo gay.

And the scene that he chooses actually is sampled in D&Ps in several sections (namely snippets in "Live 4 Love") why? What's the link?

Nothing makes sense. How Mayte is an Egyptian Princess (she's not), how the Japanese business men (gangsters really) get involved. Nothing makes sense. Poker games in gar garages, riots in streets, Kirsty Alley, future landscapes in "7"...just nothing.

...But, it's also far more entertaining than Graffiti Bridge. Graffiti Bridge is just painful and boring. This is actually so bad, it's funny. and because it doesn't hold to any single plot and has tons of tits and ass and musical numbers, it's actually quite entertaining.

You even get to see vajajay a few times. That's worth the price of the video alone.

And is it just me, or did anyone else notice that for a few years, Prince actually played with the Asian theme. All the "escorts and thugs" in his Partyman video were Japanese, weren't they?