Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop. Those shiny pants, the weird looking guitar lookin like some wood project gone wrong. The fake microphone with the wire, Dr. Fink's red jacket. Lisa Chapman lookin foine. What a silly vid. Makes me smile. Naive

Considering the time frame, it's pretty normal, I'd say. But I will always love that video because it was the first appearance of any cloud-type guitar, and it was Andre's bass. For those that don't know, it was the precursor to Prince's long love of the cloud design. Prince bought that guitar for Andre to play, but Prince owned it. It would later make an appearance in the video for "The Most Beautiful Girl In The World" and "My Name Is Prince".

I forget off hand, but I think it's in the Guitar & Bass book that Paisley Park sells. Andre loved the sound of it, but I'm surprised Prince never pulled it out more over the years. Despite it being popular in the Purple Rain era as Prince's guitar, I think the bass would have fit into the Parade era's look more.

We all looked a little silly back then...

It was Prince developing a look with no budget. I was surprised to find out he used the budget for the Purple Rain movie to upgrade the quality of his clothes. It was the costume designer who said most of his stuff before that was thrift store items and cheap materials.

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop. Those shiny pants, the weird looking guitar lookin like some wood project gone wrong. The fake microphone with the wire, Dr. Fink's red jacket. Lisa Chapman lookin foine. What a silly vid. Makes me smile. Naive

It is called 1979 .

1979 a damn fine year in my opinon & Prince was fine looking - fresh, raw and ALIVE!

laurarichardson said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop. Those shiny pants, the weird looking guitar lookin like some wood project gone wrong. The fake microphone with the wire, Dr. Fink's red jacket. Lisa Chapman lookin foine. What a silly vid. Makes me smile. Naive

It is called 1979 .

Yes, and besides the mere fact that fashion and "cool" were waaaay different back then, to Prince's (and the director's) defence, music videos were a very new form of art in 1979. It's easy to look at those music vids from the 70's and 80's from today's perspective, now that we've seen thousands of music videos including state of the arts mini-films, but it's not really before Thriller (1982-83) that music vids became ambitious and even then, it took a few more years for the average music video's production standards to go from cheap to decent. There's a pretty number of hilarious musioc videos from the early and mi-80's, much worse than any by Prince, so bad they're good

This being said, and quite unfortunately, on the average later Prince music videos often looked relatively cheap for an artist of his stature, but you can't give him shit for something shot in 1979.

databank said:

laurarichardson said:

It is called 1979 .

Yes, and besides the mere fact that fashion and "cool" were waaaay different back then, to Prince's (and the director's) defence, music videos were a very new form of art in 1979. It's easy to look at those music vids from the 70's and 80's from today's perspective, now that we've seen thousands of music videos including state of the arts mini-films, but it's not really before Thriller (1982-83) that music vids became ambitious and even then, it took a few more years for the average music video's production standards to go from cheap to decent. There's a pretty number of hilarious musioc videos from the early and mi-80's, much worse than any by Prince, so bad they're good

This being said, and quite unfortunately, on the average later Prince music videos often looked relatively cheap for an artist of his stature, but you can't give him shit for something shot in 1979.

WB was not spending any money on him.

laurarichardson said:

databank said:

Yes, and besides the mere fact that fashion and "cool" were waaaay different back then, to Prince's (and the director's) defence, music videos were a very new form of art in 1979. It's easy to look at those music vids from the 70's and 80's from today's perspective, now that we've seen thousands of music videos including state of the arts mini-films, but it's not really before Thriller (1982-83) that music vids became ambitious and even then, it took a few more years for the average music video's production standards to go from cheap to decent. There's a pretty number of hilarious musioc videos from the early and mi-80's, much worse than any by Prince, so bad they're good

This being said, and quite unfortunately, on the average later Prince music videos often looked relatively cheap for an artist of his stature, but you can't give him shit for something shot in 1979.

WB was not spending any money on him.

IDK if it was so much a matter of money. Some people make great vids with little budget.

databank said:

nextedition said:

databank said:

laurarichardson said:

databank said:

Yes, and besides the mere fact that fashion and "cool" were waaaay different back then, to Prince's (and the director's) defence, music videos were a very new form of art in 1979. It's easy to look at those music vids from the 70's and 80's from today's perspective, now that we've seen thousands of music videos including state of the arts mini-films, but it's not really before Thriller (1982-83) that music vids became ambitious and even then, it took a few more years for the average music video's production standards to go from cheap to decent. There's a pretty number of hilarious musioc videos from the early and mi-80's, much worse than any by Prince, so bad they're good

This being said, and quite unfortunately, on the average later Prince music videos often looked relatively cheap for an artist of his stature, but you can't give him shit for something shot in 1979.

WB was not spending any money on him.

IDK if it was so much a matter of money. Some people make great vids with little budget.

Not in 1979!

He donated the jeans to a homeless shelter.

I had a Members Only jacket. I was fly as fuck.

2freaky4church1 said:

He donated the jeans to a homeless shelter.

I had a Members Only jacket. I was fly as fuck.

Less silly than the alternate I Wanna Be Your Lover video

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop. Those shiny pants, the weird looking guitar lookin like some wood project gone wrong. The fake microphone with the wire, Dr. Fink's red jacket. Lisa Chapman lookin foine. What a silly vid. Makes me smile. Naive

I think you are being very harsh, it is from the infancy of music videos and they were very basic and expensive back then. The fact most videos were by huge stars and only Michael Jackson at the time had anything better for his Off the Wall era short films.

.

Prince was braely known, he had one hit and it is doubtful that the song had even peaked when he cut the video for WYWTMSB, and even less helpful was that the song was a complete flop and Prince would not really consolidate his chart success until 1983.

.

Plus before the Dirty Mind era, WB has pigeonholed him as a "Black Artist" and gave him less consideration than their white rock artists. The fact he got a video was a miracle. He had 3, this, 2 versions of Lover and then the appearances on American Bandstand - so 5.

.

I will agree the videos were crappy - okay the music was great, but no real concept videos came until WDC, all the earlier ones are merely stage performances of the songs (Funky as they are, they are hardly Julian Temple type masterpieces).

I actually LOVE those early, less-polished years He was just figuring out his sound and his look, trying to be cool and not quite getting there. Seem him be a bit amateurish makes him seem more human, like he's learning on job. Which he was of course.

It really makes you appreciate how much he must have worked his ass off to become such a slick pop act during 1999 and PR era.

How can you hate on a video when P's hair looks sleek and fly as f**k. Dude came out of the blocks right there with his hair just *perfecto*.

Have you seen the "I wanna be your lover" full band video? I think it is a little more cheesy!


But I love them!

and the woman that was the subject of "Little Red Corvette" (and maybe Sexy Dancer) said he was a mess on the dance floor back then...

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Have you seen the "I wanna be your lover" full band video? I think it is a little more cheesy!


But I love them!

and the woman that was the subject of "Little Red Corvette" (and maybe Sexy Dancer) said he was a mess on the dance floor back then...

I agree, most of that video he is humping the floor or that drum kit.

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop.

You don't like it that way?

NouveauDance said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop.

You don't like it that way?

and he never really did!

ShaggyDog said:

RJOrion said:

ShaggyDog said:

How can you hate on a video when P's hair looks sleek and fly as f**k. Dude came out of the blocks right there with his hair just *perfecto*.

word...i laughed and side-eyed the video when i first saw it because of his over the top femininity, but looking back at it now, his Farah Faucett Majors hair, and the silky scarves hanging from the mic stand and pants and Andre's bass, was some next-level cool shit forreal

HELL YEAH!!! Farrah Fawcett 'Do!!! PLUS: 1979 Prince was the blueprint 4 Leroy (Gene Anthony Ray) from FAME!!!

Gayle Chapman was the Keyboardist b4 Lisa Coleman......

TXfan said:

1979 I’m sure to younger members here that year sounds so far back even before they were born. To me it was not too long ago, I was about 12 yrs old. Gold pants, funky hair, and fake performance videos were all the rage. I always liked that song and video from Prince. You clearly see he didn’t have much money and he hadn’t quite figured out what dance moves work best for his kind of music. He looks almost alien compared to his later image(s) and seems to be having fun finding what works. Those were the days.

naww he just was a bad dancer.

SpinsterSister said:

1979 a damn fine year in my opinon & Prince was fine looking - fresh, raw and ALIVE!

OMG, wasn't he though!!!!!!

Adorecream said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop. Those shiny pants, the weird looking guitar lookin like some wood project gone wrong. The fake microphone with the wire, Dr. Fink's red jacket. Lisa Chapman lookin foine. What a silly vid. Makes me smile. Naive

I think you are being very harsh, it is from the infancy of music videos and they were very basic and expensive back then. The fact most videos were by huge stars and only Michael Jackson at the time had anything better for his Off the Wall era short films.

.

Prince was braely known, he had one hit and it is doubtful that the song had even peaked when he cut the video for WYWTMSB, and even less helpful was that the song was a complete flop and Prince would not really consolidate his chart success until 1983.

.

Plus before the Dirty Mind era, WB has pigeonholed him as a "Black Artist" and gave him less consideration than their white rock artists. The fact he got a video was a miracle. He had 3, this, 2 versions of Lover and then the appearances on American Bandstand - so 5.

.

I will agree the videos were crappy - okay the music was great, but no real concept videos came until WDC, all the earlier ones are merely stage performances of the songs (Funky as they are, they are hardly Julian Temple type masterpieces).

What is your definition of "a complete flop"?

NouveauDance said:

2freaky4church1 said:

Prince couldn't decide if he was rock or funk or soul or pop.

You don't like it that way?

tou·ché