I think the videos, for the most part, show the limits of what Prince can do. He was very musical and could translate what he heard in his head into music - when he needed help to do this he was simply furthering his vision through others. His control here was a blessing.

When it comes to the videos his need to control meant more talented people could not come forward and put their own vision across or work in a 50/50 collaboration. So we get some shocking efforts like Alphabet Street. Whereas Michael Jackson (musically and visually) knew when to let others take over; he knew his own limits. That said the lyric video for Sign 'o' The Times is fantastic as is WDC.

My favourite P videos are "SOTT", "U Got The Look (Extended)", "I Wish U Heaven" and "Dolphin" - all gentle, spiritual, mysterious, funky, rock n' roll and underground productions. "Kiss" is certainly a good one, it's one of the most overplayed P videos in the mainstream.

I suppose P was cautious of music videos, and he was quoted to say music videos are "evil" - given his spiritual beleifs, it's not all that surprising.

As far as recent (post 2000) videos go, I do like the "Cinnamon Girl" music video - its story was heartwrenching and the special effects were good.

I think some of his later videos were well done.I loved the ones for Musicology,3121 and Crimson & Clover from Lotus Flow3r.

pinkcashmere23 said:

I think some of his later videos were well done.I loved the ones for Musicology,3121 and Crimson & Clover from Lotus Flow3r.

^ I agree.

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

pinkcashmere23 said:

I think some of his later videos were well done.I loved the ones for Musicology,3121 and Crimson & Clover from Lotus Flow3r.

^ I agree.

I think C&C was the last video he released that I found visually interesting.There are most likely several videos in the vault.His friend,dancer Lala Escarzega revealed that she had worked on some that were shelved.She posted stills from the video for Dance 4 Me along with some from Extraloveable that looked pretty cool.She says that the video for Extraloveable will hopefully be released eventually.

bergowitz said:

I think the videos, for the most part, show the limits of what Prince can do. He was very musical and could translate what he heard in his head into music - when he needed help to do this he was simply furthering his vision through others. His control here was a blessing.

When it comes to the videos his need to control meant more talented people could not come forward and put their own vision across or work in a 50/50 collaboration. So we get some shocking efforts like Alphabet Street. Whereas Michael Jackson (musically and visually) knew when to let others take over; he knew his own limits. That said the lyric video for Sign 'o' The Times is fantastic as is WDC.

who knows? maybe it was intentional, he didn't show a lot of respect for the medium. and as far as his visual talents, there was no more a visual artist in terms of stagecraft in his era in my opinion, in fact it was over the top at some points. and as far as his eye for film, i always thought some of his camerawork in UTCM was promising but that, yes, he did not know how to leave some things in other peoples hands and he didn't know when he wasn't ready to do something. I still believe he could have been a fine filmaker but he gave up after a couple squashed efforts.

"Alphabet Street" is a cheap looking video,but it has a certain charm to it.I like it alot.Reminds me of some of those early-80s,pre-Thriller music videos.You knows,the ones that look really simple and cheap

TrivialPursuit said:

thisisreece said:

Prince has some good music videos, such as the videos for Raspberry Beret, Kiss, Sign o the Times, and Cinnamon Girl,

"Sign O The Times" is literally a lyric video. Boring as shit. It feel 70/30 with bad or lame vs. good.

yeah,I'm surprised that some fans are saying that "Sign O The Times" was a good video it's nothing more than a lyric video! With a song like that,he could have done something really incredible.

SoulAlive said:

TrivialPursuit said:

"Sign O The Times" is literally a lyric video. Boring as shit. It feel 70/30 with bad or lame vs. good.

yeah,I'm surprised that some fans are saying that "Sign O The Times" was a good video it's nothing more than a lyric video! With a song like that,he could have done something really incredible.

It might be safe to assume that they mean the concert film version but that was never an officially released video for the song. He really did have a chance to use the footage filmed for the concert, and insert some good stuff (a la "Live 4 Love") or create a storyline (like the quasi-story with "Lovesign" or "Diamonds and Pearls" etc). So much footage that could have created an aesthetic across different videos. "U Got The Look" was a good bouncing point with the pseudo-concert in it, the backstage silliness of him dreaming it all; vault from that into something very cool. Eh - shoulda coulda woulda.

darkroman said:

Most of Prince's videos are exceptional! He was lucky enough to work with the mighty Jean Baptise Mondino! There are too many great videos to name then all. Even The One credited to Mayte is beautiful.

Yeah right...

SoulAlive said:

TrivialPursuit said:

"Sign O The Times" is literally a lyric video. Boring as shit. It feel 70/30 with bad or lame vs. good.

yeah,I'm surprised that some fans are saying that "Sign O The Times" was a good video it's nothing more than a lyric video! With a song like that,he could have done something really incredible.

SOTT should have been a much better video, wasted opportunity

TrivialPursuit said:

SoulAlive said:

yeah,I'm surprised that some fans are saying that "Sign O The Times" was a good video it's nothing more than a lyric video! With a song like that,he could have done something really incredible.

It might be safe to assume that they mean the concert film version but that was never an officially released video for the song. He really did have a chance to use the footage filmed for the concert, and insert some good stuff (a la "Live 4 Love") or create a storyline (like the quasi-story with "Lovesign" or "Diamonds and Pearls" etc). So much footage that could have created an aesthetic across different videos. "U Got The Look" was a good bouncing point with the pseudo-concert in it, the backstage silliness of him dreaming it all; vault from that into something very cool. Eh - shoulda coulda woulda.

???

Release date Sign 'O' The Times (single): February 18, 1987

Release date Sign 'O' The Times (film): November 20, 1987 (concert June 26, 1987)

The lyric video was good and different.

On the subject of his music videos which is the one filmed near or inside a zoo at one point?

lonelyalien said:

On the subject of his music videos which is the one filmed near or inside a zoo at one point?

i think it was the glam slam one where he was doing pushups and wearing the leather mantard

thanks.

PeteSilas said:

lonelyalien said:

On the subject of his music videos which is the one filmed near or inside a zoo at one point?

i think it was the glam slam one where he was doing pushups and wearing the leather mantard

The SOTT video is a paradox, it could either be viewed as a really groundbreaking artistic video, which I researched it was one of the first full lyric videos for a music video... Or it could be looked at as a comissioned WB video for the first single because Prince didn't want to release a video

[Edited 4/9/18 13:33pm]

1980 to 1995, these Prince-musicvideos are amazing TO ME

From Controversy to Gold



Shut up to the haters..

the Sign O The Times video, this was after a "Prince backlash"

The We Are The World incident, had made P into a freak in the US,

Prince (I assume/ I guess).. wanted the lyrics of the genius song to be highlighted, therefor his "persona" was toned down, also the same for the missing video to IIWYG:

Prince wanted his music to be the important

thedance said:

feeluupp said:

The SOTT video is a paradox, it could either be viewed as a really groundbreaking artistic video, which I researched it was one of the first full lyric videos for a music video... Or it could be looked at as a comissioned WB video for the first single because Prince didn't want to release a video

In 1987,I remember reading an entertainment news blurb in People Magazine.It said that Prince was mad at MTV because they were refusing to air Jill Jone's "Mia Bocca" video.As punishment,he gave them a "cheap",sinple video for his own new single,"Sign O' The Times" I don't know if this is true or just gossip,who knows?

SoulAlive said:

feeluupp said:

The SOTT video is a paradox, it could either be viewed as a really groundbreaking artistic video, which I researched it was one of the first full lyric videos for a music video... Or it could be looked at as a comissioned WB video for the first single because Prince didn't want to release a video

In 1987,I remember reading an entertainment news blurb in People Magazine.It said that Prince was mad at MTV because they were refusing to air Jill Jone's "Mia Bocca" video.As punishment,he gave them a "cheap",sinple video for his own new single,"Sign O' The Times" I don't know if this is true or just gossip,who knows?

Knew it wasn't as artistic as people thought it was...

Thinking Prince came up with that idea for the video... Naw, he was too busy recording songs for The Black Album at that time

SoulAlive said:

feeluupp said:

The SOTT video is a paradox, it could either be viewed as a really groundbreaking artistic video, which I researched it was one of the first full lyric videos for a music video... Or it could be looked at as a comissioned WB video for the first single because Prince didn't want to release a video

In 1987,I remember reading an entertainment news blurb in People Magazine.It said that Prince was mad at MTV because they were refusing to air Jill Jone's "Mia Bocca" video.As punishment,he gave them a "cheap",sinple video for his own new single,"Sign O' The Times" I don't know if this is true or just gossip,who knows?

Probably gossip. SOTT single was released in Feb 1987, before the Mia Bocca video was recorded. Mia Bocca had a limited Dutch release in March, but a US release in May. The video actually got quite a bit of MTV play.

Some more time and money could have been put into them I guess, but Prince also made Purple Rain, which deserves a lot of credit. That album didn't even really need videos. The performance clips are nice for the 1999 songs.

Personally I always thought Mountains is much better in black and white as credits to UTCM than it's music video version.

My little sister (16 years old) mentioned Prince's videos not being that impressive, but she really dug My Name Is Prince of all videos

I think Raspberry Beret is his best overall

SquirrelMeat said:

SoulAlive said:

In 1987,I remember reading an entertainment news blurb in People Magazine.It said that Prince was mad at MTV because they were refusing to air Jill Jone's "Mia Bocca" video.As punishment,he gave them a "cheap",sinple video for his own new single,"Sign O' The Times" I don't know if this is true or just gossip,who knows?

Probably gossip. SOTT single was released in Feb 1987, before the Mia Bocca video was recorded. Mia Bocca had a limited Dutch release in March, but a US release in May. The video actually got quite a bit of MTV play.

also, from what i know of prince, he never was too into making another star entity after the time broke up. His attempts seemed halfhearted and it's been said by several of the women who worked with him (Rosie,Ingrid) that he held them back whenever he could.

My Name is Prince, the video is amazing I love it. What is there NOT to love, the symbol gloves, chainhat, dancing in water, and fire torches... great stuff, if u ask me.. (seriously and not joking)

I wonder what kind of Prince fans are NOT liking the Prince music videoes.

I would love to have the official Blu-Ray including all musicvideos.. what a treat that would be.

But..

I mean, how strange to love an artist and not like his visual promotion for the singles / albums.

Back in the day every time a new video came out (to the leading single especially)

Then I was electric

Like I said the early videos 1979-1980 are not that good, performance videoes.

But the videos (some still performance videos) improoved over the years.

My fave ones are the ones from Lovesexy and Batman, just excellent,

Maybe not so "cinematic" and advanced like seen today.

Then -- it was pure magic....

Please stop these complaints.... are u girls & boys really fans???

Sometimes, opinions -even they are valid- can be hard to digest.. sometimes the most criticals are the fans in here, don't have more positive things to do, I wonder..

A paradox or what, to be fans - still, all these complaints..?

[Edited 4/11/18 23:22pm]

thedance said:

My Name is Prince, the video is amazing I love it. What is there NOT to love, the symbol gloves, chainhat, dancing in water, and fire torches... great stuff, if u ask me.. (seriously and not joking)

And one of the 2 or 3 videos with the cloud bass!

even when i was young, i was smart enough to know that videos weren't necessary, made us lazier. but then, i did have a smart english teacher in h.s. who used to tell us how much more fun it was to listen to the radio as kids than it is to watch television, same idea, the imagination gets to go it's own direction and that is truly the storytellers gift to us because it lets us have a part of the imagery. however, business being what it is, even artists who didn't like vids and many of the artists of that time weren't fans of them to start with, springsteen didn't even appear in his first vid, phil collins has said negative things about them and prince seemed to know they really weren't that important.

thedance said:

My Name is Prince, the video is amazing I love it. What is there NOT to love, the symbol gloves, chainhat, dancing in water, and fire torches... great stuff, if u ask me.. (seriously and not joking)

I wonder what kind of Prince fans are NOT liking the Prince music videoes.

I would love to have the official Blu-Ray including all musicvideos.. what a treat that would be.

But..

I mean, how strange to love an artist and not like his visual promotion for the singles / albums.

Back in the day every time a new video came out (to the leading single especially)

Then I was electric

Like I said the early videos 1979-1980 are not that good, performance videoes.

But the videos (some still performance videos) improoved over the years.

My fave ones are the ones from Lovesexy and Batman, just excellent,

Maybe not so "cinematic" and advanced like seen today.

Then -- it was pure magic....

Please stop these complaints.... are u girls & boys really fans???

Sometimes, opinions -even they are valid- can be hard to digest.. sometimes the most criticals are the fans in here, don't have more positive things to do, I wonder..

A paradox or what, to be fans - still, all these complaints..?

[Edited 4/11/18 23:22pm]

a lot of artists need decent videos to make their songs seem even half decent. The quality of Prince's videos didn't match his music but that's because the music is sensational!

thedance said:

My Name is Prince, the video is amazing I love it. What is there NOT to love, the symbol gloves, chainhat, dancing in water, and fire torches... great stuff, if u ask me.. (seriously and not joking)

I wonder what kind of Prince fans are NOT liking the Prince music videoes.

I would love to have the official Blu-Ray including all musicvideos.. what a treat that would be.

But..

I mean, how strange to love an artist and not like his visual promotion for the singles / albums.

Back in the day every time a new video came out (to the leading single especially)

Then I was electric

Like I said the early videos 1979-1980 are not that good, performance videoes.

But the videos (some still performance videos) improoved over the years.

My fave ones are the ones from Lovesexy and Batman, just excellent,

Maybe not so "cinematic" and advanced like seen today.

Then -- it was pure magic....

Please stop these complaints.... are u girls & boys really fans???

Sometimes, opinions -even they are valid- can be hard to digest.. sometimes the most criticals are the fans in here, don't have more positive things to do, I wonder..

A paradox or what, to be fans - still, all these complaints..?

[Edited 4/11/18 23:22pm]