OldFriends4Sale said:

Director and producer Chuck Statler—widely considered as the “godfather of the music video”—was tapped by Prince & Co. to helm The Second Coming and execute the twenty-three-year-old’s creative vision. Statler began his career as a visual artist and commercial producer before revolutionizing pre-MTV promotional videos, lensing stylized short films and documentaries for art rockers Devo, the Cars, and Elvis Costello.

Now thirty years after The Second Coming’s planned release, Statler reflects on the making of the film and his collaboration with pop music’s (then) enfant terrible.

How did your relationship with Prince develop?

Chuck Statler: I’m almost positive that I met one of his managers, Steven Fargnoli, at Minneapolis’s First Avenue in late 1981. I think it might even have been a Prince show. Someone introduced us at the bar and said, “Steven, this is Chuck Statler and he does videos for Devo.” He said he loved my work and asked if I would be interested in working with Prince on a video project. I said sure—great. That project was the video for “Cool,” the Time’s first single.

After getting the assignment, I went out to this warehouse in Eden Prairie to meet the band. When I arrived, Prince was there—it was the first time I met him. He was showing Jellybean Johnson some kind of riff on the drums, because Jellybean had a hard time keeping it in the pocket. I think Prince did most of the tracks on The Time album anyway. He definitely had a big influence on that first record.

Did he mention your other music video work?

Not that I recall. Very few words were exchanged with him that day, very few. In fact, we did the “Cool” location shoot at a local public school. It was all done in one long day, something like twelve hours. Prince showed up with his assistant, sat down at the back of the classroom, and didn’t say a word. [laughs] Not one thing!

We finished shooting and began editorial, cutting this thing together. We didn’t even have a rough cut yet, and I got word that Prince wants to see the footage. He comes down to the editing bay to watch everything. Even then, the conversation may have been minimal at most. After he left, I got a call from his assistant Jamie saying that he wanted to change one thing. It was so miniscule that it didn’t make any difference in the video, but he had to be able to have some say in what we were doing. But Prince really liked the final results. I must of passed the test in his eyes and that led to working on the concert film.

What was their impetus for shooting the Controversy tour footage?

The initial objective was to create a film for the same reason music videos were done at that time. As a promotional tool. Prince’s management wanted to document the concert for possible home video or television distribution. Because there was some concern in specific concert markets about audience demographics and all that, they felt that a film was an easier alternative for people to experience the live show.

After about three days of meetings and discussions with Prince and his management, I spent a few days on the road watching and blocking the live show for the film shoot. We shot it at the Met Center [in Bloomington, Minnesota] on March 7, 1982. That was a very cold night towards the end of the tour. I’m pretty sure we covered it with five principal cameras—16mm color—and a possible sixth rolling camera for audience shots.

But after screening the footage from the concert, enthusiasm propelled conversations about adding material and seeking theatrical distribution. Steve Rivkin was working with me as an editor at the time. We were cutting the concert shots when Prince came in and got really excited about what he saw. He says, “Wait a minute—maybe we should really expand this and really try to make it a film. Not just a concert movie.”

So his management came back to me and said, “Here’s this situation. Prince wants to do this interstitial material within the concert footage. And it’ll be somewhat autobiographical.” Management’s thinking was that a theatrically distributed film with a semblance of story line could demographically broaden the audience and in particular, specific metro markets. In time, this mixture of concert and dramatic interludes would morph into The Second Coming project.

so we have the soundboard audio of the 3/7 show ...why not the video?

pt 3

According to the screenshots, this is one of the sequences where Prince emerges from a corridor flanked by two lingerie-clad women. Correct?

Yes. Funny enough, his management wasn’t too happy about the lingerie. They came in and said, “You can’t have them dressed like that—we’ll never get this film to fly!” Which in retrospective sounds absurd, but they at the time thought Prince was pushing the boundaries. Now remember this was back in Prince’s bikini and stockings days, so he wanted the women to be in the scenes in lingerie, which they were.

Anyhow, we finally blew out a transformer on a utility pole and the power company was called to come fix it. We were down for a few hours and trying to kill time. I remember sitting outside on his steps and he came out with an acoustic guitar. He was entertaining one of the lingerie ladies [Susan Moonsie of Vanity 6] and started doing this Elvis Presley imitation that would have blown any impersonator out the water. It was spot on. He can be informed by any musician out there and, I believe, replicate it.

The public rarely sees this playful and relaxed side. There is another remarkable shot of him blowing bubblegum bubbles on the set. Was that intended for the film or just a candid aside?

That was actually for inclusion in the film. It started as a boom shot on his white boots with the bandana wrapped around his ankle. Then we boomed straight up; Prince had this duster jacket on, flipped it back and revealed his little black bikini. It continued to come up and ended on his face. Right then he blew a pink Hubba Bubba bubble. He starts chewing the gum, takes it out of his mouth, wraps it around his finger and sticks it back in his mouth.

Now this was late in what felt like a three-day drill, but in reality was probably more in the area of twenty-plus hours of production. After about so many takes I say, “Okay, we got it. Let’s go on to the next shot.” Prince looks at me and says, “No—I’ll tell you when we got it.” Now there might have been some minor rubs before that, but it was at that moment…I said, “Okay—if that’s the way you want it.”

We shot roll after roll after roll on that boom shot. The crew was exhausted and started passing out. So I go over to the management to tell them we’re already in platinum time. We already shot a thousand feet for this shot. [laughs] It was insane, but I realized he was making a statement—“We’ll stop when I decide.” That was definitely a moment there. We did a few shots after that, and I was like, “Prince, you tell me when you got it.” The subsequent takes were less strenuous, about a half a dozen or so. It was costly but money was no object for him. I still don’t think it is! But I have to say, I think he’s easier to work with now, but back in the day he certainly had a reputation as being tough and at times difficult.

Susan Moonsie: Then and Now

Moral Majority is an unreleased track recorded on 1 May 1983 at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, USA. The track was recorded for possible use on a sophomore Vanity 6 album.

The track is named after the Moral Majority political organization in the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying. The group was founded in 1979 by evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator Jerry Falwell. The song opposed the movement, which clearly stood against the sexuality displayed by the likes of Prince and Vanity 6.

• Vanity - lead vocals (assumed)
• Jamie Shoop - vocals
• Susan Moonsie - vocals
• Roy Bennett - vocals
• Prince - all instruments (assumed)

(information from PrinceVault)

Vibrator is an unreleased song recorded in Summer 1983 at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. It was intended for Vanity 6's planned second album. When Vanity left the group and decided not to participate in the Purple Rain movie, Prince instead began the group Apollonia 6. The song is not known to have been considered for the Apollonia 6album.

The track is an ode to the battery-operated sex toy. The narrator (Vanity) sings about her vibrator, before the song transforms when the batteries run out in her toy; she goes to a store where she meets a shocked store clerk, played by Jill Jones, who offers to "take it downstairs" to install the new batteries. The narrator leaves, instead taking it to a different store, and meeting a different clerk (played by Prince in his Jamie Starr voice), who gives her the batteries and rushes her out of the store. She then takes her toy home, and the song ends with her moans and her eventual climax.

Prince gave the song to Eric Leeds in July 1989 (along with You're All I Want, My Summertime Thang, Pickle, U Should Be Mine, Wet Dream Cousin, The Max and XYZ) when considering songs for a new Madhouse album (later called 26, which later evolved into Eric Leeds' solo album Times Squared), presumably to be used as an instrumental; it is not believed that Leedsworked on the track, however.

Vanity's moans from the song have been sampled on a few different tracks. They were sampled at the beginning of Seven (as more of a segue between Six and Seven), before then also being sampled on 24 (Orgasm), originally included as part of 21-24 (The Dopamine Rush Suite) before the section it was a part of was edited out for the track's release as The Dopamine Rush. The moans were included also on Orgasm (released in complete form as Poem). (PrinceVault)

Is it my imagination

Or are U with the boys again?

U used 2 take me with U

I used 2 be your best friend

When U finally come home

Your car ain't got no gasoline

That's OK, baby Cuz my new love treats me like a queen

Eat your heart out

(chorus)

Vibrator makes me feel so good

Vibrator

don't U wish U could?

Vibrator

his patience can't be beat

Vibrator

I guess U could say that U're obsolete.... Ha ha ha ha ha ha

It must be my imagination

Cuz I know I didn't hear U laugh

U'd be surprised what I do when U're through

Taking your macho bath

Uncharted waters sailed with ease

Land is always in sight

But with U it's always abandon ship (abandon ship)

And we didn't even get away from the dock 2night

Eat your heart out

(repeat chorus)

(moaning...sound of a vibrator buzzing)

Is it my imagination

Are U with the boys again?

U used 2 take me with U

I used 2 be your best friend

But now I'm just a plaything Your ego-feeding female sex machine

Well U can take a hike, mister

Cuz U're the poorest excuse 4 a man I've ever seen!

Eat your heart out, sucker!

(repeat chorus)

(spoken) Uh oh, oh no! Please don't die on me no (Vibrator) {repeat in BG} May I help U? Yes, I was wondering if U had batteries 4 my bo...

Oh my God! Look at the size of that thing! Where did U get this? Look, U got batteries or not? Oh sure, we have batteries They're in the storage room Tell U what I'll just take this downstairs and put them in myself

No, I'll tell U what, U and your rubber glove can go downstairs And I'll take my business elsewheres Now gimme this! Jeez! Well, what do U want? Goodness! Goodness, nothing! Baby, I'm busy What do U want?!! Do have any batteries that will fit my body massager? Body massager? Please! Right, U see my back's been acting up lately and... Yeah, my back's been acting up 2 In fact, it acts up every time my boyfriend leaves No, really, my back... Save it honey, put it in the bank

I know what's happening Here, these oughta work Yeah, yeah, that'll work Thank U! Yeah, yeah, go on, get outta here! Thank U so much, thank U! Yeah, so get. Body mas. please! (Vibrator) {repeats in BG} G-spot, g-spot, where, oh where. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ready or not, here I come Oh yeah Oh, here I come Oh yeah Here I. here I. here I come! Now

OldFriends4Sale said:

iZsaZsa said:

OldFriends4Sale said: Loreen

Thank U

In order to recruit his stable of Hookers, Prince stayed even closer to home than he had for the Time. He drafted his personal assistant, Jamie Shoop, who then-engineer Don Batts described as “a good-looking blonde… kind of a ballsy woman in a man’s world” (Nilsen 1999 63). The other two spots were filled by his girlfriend at the time, Susan Moonsie, and her sister Loreen.

In this early version of the group,I wonder who the lead singer was gonna be

SoulAlive said:

Vibrator is an unreleased song recorded in Summer 1983 at Prince's Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. It was intended for Vanity 6's planned second album. When Vanity left the group and decided not to participate in the Purple Rain movie, Prince instead began the group Apollonia 6. The song is not known to have been considered for the Apollonia 6album.

The track is an ode to the battery-operated sex toy. The narrator (Vanity) sings about her vibrator, before the song transforms when the batteries run out in her toy; she goes to a store where she meets a shocked store clerk, played by Jill Jones, who offers to "take it downstairs" to install the new batteries. The narrator leaves, instead taking it to a different store, and meeting a different clerk (played by Prince in his Jamie Starr voice), who gives her the batteries and rushes her out of the store. She then takes her toy home, and the song ends with her moans and her eventual climax.

Prince gave the song to Eric Leeds in July 1989 (along with You're All I Want, My Summertime Thang, Pickle, U Should Be Mine, Wet Dream Cousin, The Max and XYZ) when considering songs for a new Madhouse album (later called 26, which later evolved into Eric Leeds' solo album Times Squared), presumably to be used as an instrumental; it is not believed that Leedsworked on the track, however.

Vanity's moans from the song have been sampled on a few different tracks. They were sampled at the beginning of Seven (as more of a segue between Six and Seven), before then also being sampled on 24 (Orgasm), originally included as part of 21-24 (The Dopamine Rush Suite) before the section it was a part of was edited out for the track's release as The Dopamine Rush. The moans were included also on Orgasm (released in complete form as Poem). (PrinceVault)

Is it my imagination

Or are U with the boys again?

U used 2 take me with U

I used 2 be your best friend

When U finally come home

Your car ain't got no gasoline

That's OK, baby Cuz my new love treats me like a queen

Eat your heart out

(chorus)

Vibrator makes me feel so good

Vibrator

don't U wish U could?

Vibrator

his patience can't be beat

Vibrator

I guess U could say that U're obsolete.... Ha ha ha ha ha ha

It must be my imagination

Cuz I know I didn't hear U laugh

U'd be surprised what I do when U're through

Taking your macho bath

Uncharted waters sailed with ease

Land is always in sight

But with U it's always abandon ship (abandon ship)

And we didn't even get away from the dock 2night

Eat your heart out

(repeat chorus)

(moaning...sound of a vibrator buzzing)

Is it my imagination

Are U with the boys again?

U used 2 take me with U

I used 2 be your best friend

But now I'm just a plaything Your ego-feeding female sex machine

Well U can take a hike, mister

Cuz U're the poorest excuse 4 a man I've ever seen!

Eat your heart out, sucker!

(repeat chorus)

(spoken) Uh oh, oh no! Please don't die on me no (Vibrator) {repeat in BG} May I help U? Yes, I was wondering if U had batteries 4 my bo...

Oh my God! Look at the size of that thing! Where did U get this? Look, U got batteries or not? Oh sure, we have batteries They're in the storage room Tell U what I'll just take this downstairs and put them in myself

No, I'll tell U what, U and your rubber glove can go downstairs And I'll take my business elsewheres Now gimme this! Jeez! Well, what do U want? Goodness! Goodness, nothing! Baby, I'm busy What do U want?!! Do have any batteries that will fit my body massager? Body massager? Please! Right, U see my back's been acting up lately and... Yeah, my back's been acting up 2 In fact, it acts up every time my boyfriend leaves No, really, my back... Save it honey, put it in the bank

I know what's happening Here, these oughta work Yeah, yeah, that'll work Thank U! Yeah, yeah, go on, get outta here! Thank U so much, thank U! Yeah, so get. Body mas. please! (Vibrator) {repeats in BG} G-spot, g-spot, where, oh where. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Ready or not, here I come Oh yeah Oh, here I come Oh yeah Here I. here I. here I come! Now

So much great history of this time period here!!! Great looking a the pics and reading about the development and morphing of the Hookers/Vanity 6. Amazing how polished the look became. Vanity definitely gave it the polish and spark that it needed, and Brenda provided that "tough" look plus her great voice to the songs.

*

One thing is clear about the music at that time....Prince had sex on his mind. Lots of sex!!!!!!!! Which I guess is true for most 21-22 year old guys

SoulAlive said:

Susan Moonsie: Then and Now

Wow, Susan aged VERY well. SHe looks great! Always thought she was adorable, and by all accounts, was a sweet, level-headed girl. Love that she and Brenda have remained close friends, and that they both spent time with Prince not long before he passed.

SoulAlive said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Thank U

In order to recruit his stable of Hookers, Prince stayed even closer to home than he had for the Time. He drafted his personal assistant, Jamie Shoop, who then-engineer Don Batts described as “a good-looking blonde… kind of a ballsy woman in a man’s world” (Nilsen 1999 63). The other two spots were filled by his girlfriend at the time, Susan Moonsie, and her sister Loreen.

In this early version of the group,I wonder who the lead singer was gonna be

I read that Prince originally wanted Susan to be the lead, but she did not want to be the lead singer. I think Jamie was going to take the lead spot until he met Vanity. Then when he heard Brenda casually singing one nigt he realized she had a strong voice, and brought her in to the group to replace Jamie.

*

On another note, I wonder if this picture was taken in Prince's home?? Looks like someone's bedroom, and with the one of the pics on the wall being a poster of Marilyn Monroe, my guess is that it was Prince's bedroom

OldFriends4Sale said:

Who are the guys in this picture?

violetcrush said:

Krystalkisses said:

violetcrush said:

I read that Prince originally wanted Susan to be the lead, but she did not want to be the lead singer. I think Jamie was going to take the lead spot until he met Vanity. Then when he heard Brenda casually singing one nigt he realized she had a strong voice, and brought her in to the group to replace Jamie.

*

On another note, I wonder if this picture was taken in Prince's home?? Looks like someone's bedroom, and with the one of the pics on the wall being a poster of Marilyn Monroe, my guess is that it was Prince's bedroom

Probably! I read Prince always had a crush on Marilyn ever since he saw her naked in Playboy as a boy. [Edited 9/29/18 9:14am]

Oh, I'm sure! Most boys of his generation probably had a crush on her. Also telling that he morphed Jill into the Marilyn look in 1983. I thought he did quite well with that. He had an eye for those things - his "female" side coming out, I guess

*

Also great how he clearly depicted Susan as the "virgin", Brenda as the "tough girl", and Vanity as the "sexual diva" for Vanity 6. He covered all of the male fantasy scenarios

Krystalkisses said:

I actually think Prince was hugely influenced by porn. Actually growing up I thought Prince WAS porn .

No doubt he was fascinated by the porno mags, but most teenage boys are that way. My Brother had a subsription to Playboy when he was 17-18 yrs old, but I'm sure was finding the mags at a much younger age. It is very common for boys to watch porn and look at porn mags. Also, it has been written that Andre and Prince engaged in various "intimate" gatherings with girls when Prince lived with him and they used the basement. The time period played a part too - kids were much more likely to be unsupervised for longer periods of time. It has been written that Prince was very young - 8-10 yrs old when he would sneak into his Father's shows when he performed at the strip clubs. All of these things contributed to his fascination/interest in sex and women.

violetcrush said:

Their first single, "He's So Dull" didn't make any impact on the charts, but appeared in the movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation."

Krystalkisses said:

violetcrush said:

No doubt he was fascinated by the porno mags, but most teenage boys are that way. My Brother had a subsription to Playboy when he was 17-18 yrs old, but I'm sure was finding the mags at a much younger age. It is very common for boys to watch porn and look at porn mags. Also, it has been written that Andre and Prince engaged in various "intimate" gatherings with girls when Prince lived with him and they used the basement. The time period played a part too - kids were much more likely to be unsupervised for longer periods of time. It has been written that Prince was very young - 8-10 yrs old when he would sneak into his Father's shows when he performed at the strip clubs. All of these things contributed to his fascination/interest in sex and women.

Yes it wasn't a judgement on him. Believe me, I'm not naive in how men of all walks of life enjoy porn, I was just commenting on how evident the influence was on his work. I do have to say good for him though in the 2000s on Prince speaking out on artists relying too heavily on the sexy to sell their music. He said the stuff coming out was "Straight up pornography" which would be one thing if the music was good but most of it isn't. Videos like "Pop That" and stuff just belong on the Playboy channel...and I used to be an exotic dancer in my young and sexy days but now that I have two boys it really irritates me that we are bombarded with stuff like that all the time. So good for Prince.

I think Prince was also just a brilliant marketer, and understood from a young age what would be interesting and enticing to the public. Guys like Chris Moon helped him in that area too. Moon said most of the songs Prince was wriiting early on were about a girl gettnig pregnant - I guess becuase it was something they were taught to worry about back then. Moon told him those lyrics would not appeal to teenage girls, and he should focus more on love and sex Then Moon wrote Soft & Wet, and the rest is history!

*

The whole Dirty Mind period was Prince making a conscious effort to creat shcok value in his songs. He purposely wrote about the lascivious aspects of the mind. The Time was the "pimp" aspect, and Vanity 6 was the "loose girl" aspect. He was very smart to create all of these facets of music which appealed to different people., and he knew the raunchy/sexy innuendo in the music would sell.

SoulAlive said:

Their first single, "He's So Dull" didn't make any impact on the charts, but appeared in the movie, "National Lampoon's Vacation."

Nasty Girl was featured in the movie Private School A classic 80's raunchy comedy with all of the "horny boys and naked babes " stuff going on.

*

DMSR was featured in Risky Business during the prostitute party scene. Love it!!!

Vanity 6 Nasty Girl - featured in the film Private School - 1983

Here's the link to the song with scenes from the film:

*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKw3_OUVzIA

*

One thing that is clear is that Prince was incredibly skilled at writing songs to be sung from the female perspective. He was great at it!

^^ I rememeber that movie the 80s was such a fun decade....so many of those naughty teen films,lol

SoulAlive said:

^^ I rememeber that movie the 80s was such a fun decade....so many of those naughty teen films,lol

LOL!! The reason I remembered the movie/song connection is because I have Direct TV and the movie happened to be showing when I was channel surfing. It had just started so I watched it for nostalgia, and also there was nothing else on worth watching. The song Nasty Girl was played during the scene where the boys dress up like girls and sneak into the girl's dorm to try to watch them undressing. Too funny! I was like, oh wow, Nasty Giirl!!!

violetcrush said:

SoulAlive said:

Susan Moonsie: Then and Now

Wow, Susan aged VERY well. SHe looks great! Always thought she was adorable, and by all accounts, was a sweet, level-headed girl. Love that she and Brenda have remained close friends, and that they both spent time with Prince not long before he passed.

yeah,Susan is a beautiful woman.She's such a mystery.We never hear from her.I'd love to see a new interview with all of her thoughts.

the artwork from Brenda Bennett's unreleased late-80s solo album

This was an album cover I designed for Brenda Bennett at her request when she was to do a solo album in the late 80's...she went to London, but the project was scrapped at some point. My friend George was a close friend of Brenda's before her career with Prince.

Brenda Bennett is a singer from Boston, Massachusetts, USA that married Prince set designer Roy Bennett, and became Prince's wardrobe mistress. Prince gave her a "tough-girl, cigarette smoking" persona and Brenda became a member of Vanity 6 in 1982, then Apollonia 6 in 1984. She also had a part in the film Purple Rain......Cynthia-Blair (artist)

Susan Moonsie,Brenda Bennett and Apollonia Kotero at Vanity's (Deniece Matthews) funeral in 2016