These are the ones I pretty much always skip:

In Love

My Love Is Forever

I'm Yours

Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?

Gotta Stop (Messin' About)

Horny Toad

FunkyDancer said:

These are the ones I pretty much always skip:

In Love

My Love Is Forever

I'm Yours

Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?

Gotta Stop (Messin' About)

Horny Toad

My list would be almost identical

Except i would replace 'In Love' with 'Tamborine'

InMyDark said:

If my math is correct, once Prince released the LP Sign O’ the Times, he had 106 officially released songs in circulation (this would include the instrumental “God” and the first SOTT B-side “La, La, La, He, He, Hee”) meaning that ranking one’s favorite 100 Prince songs would incorporate almost every accessible Prince tune at the time. I’m curious to know, if you were creating your list back in March of 1987, which six songs would not make the cut?

To be fair with all the side projects and songs given away it was more than 106 but anyway...

You know your post makes me remember those days, I mean I wasn't there in 87 but when I began diving into Prince in 1990 his catalogue was still relatively modest by comparison to what it was by the time he died. In 1987 he had only released about 1/4 of what he'd eventually release along his 38 years long career. Diving into his catalogue at this time retroactively seems like exploring such a tiny house by comparison to what it must be to someone who becomes a fan today. I mean back in 90 it already seemed a huge catalogue but it was nothing by comparison to what it is now. I remember once we took a long car trip with my family in the summer in 91 and I managed to listened to every album from For You to GB during that one trip.

In Love (although I really like the song)
Baby
So Blue
Free
Horny Toad
It (relative to the rest of the album it is the weakest)

I rather like the 70s disco-soul sound of his first two albums. My six songs not making the Prince top 100 in 1987:

1. God (Vocal)

2. Temptation

3. Slow Love

4. Forever In My Life

5. Strange Relationship

6. Another Lonely Christmas

Sign O' The Times was never my favorite Prince album.

[Edited 11/7/18 14:34pm]

Partyup

Sexuality

Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad

I Wanna Be Your Lover

Temptation

Sometimes It Snows in April

In 1987 I only knew PR, ATWIAD, Parade & SOTT. But of the first 106 songs, not on my list would be:

I'm Yours

Still Waiting

Ronnie Talk To Russia

Horny Toad

God (instrumental)

Venus De Milo

Wow, so much dislike for Horny Toad. It's not bad if you can find a mix that incorporates it into the end of Delirious- it flows seemlessly.

"So Blue" (I still can't remember how this goes despite having played it probably 100 times. It is remarkably unmemorable)
"Crazy You"
"Baby"
"Still Waiting"
"With You"
"Around the World in a Day"

free

temptation

america

the ladder

jack u off

bambi

i'm not crazy about the 2nd side of around the world in a day.

sexton said:

I rather like the 70s disco-soul sound of his first two albums. My six songs not making the Prince top 100 in 1987:

1. God (Vocal)

2. Temptation

3. Slow Love

4. Forever In My Life

5. Strange Relationship

6. Another Lonely Christmas

Sign O' The Times was never my favorite Prince album.

[Edited 11/7/18 14:34pm]

Oh yeah, i pretty much love the mood of his first two albums. Not necessarily so much for For You(i appreciate it a LOT more now), but the Prince album(and i still think it's his best produced album) changed me forever.

In regard to to Forever In My Life, i love the acoustic guitar part at the ending, but that's about it. I don't hate the song, but i don't think it's one of Prince's greatest songs ever. And as for God, I've never really dug the vocal version, as well.

Something In The Water (Does Not Compute).

Lady Cab Driver

Automatic

All The Critics Love U In New York

Housequake

Life Can Be So Nice

The first 5 were easy for me, the last one was a tougher find as I really like most of the early albums. I'll keep something in the water if losing it means we also lose any live versions as it's one of my favourite live tracks, just hate the album version. If I have to keep SITW then I guess we can lose It from SOTT.

just to be clear

me now screaming.... SOMETHING IN THE WATER?????? ALL THE CRITICS??????? LIFE CAN BE SO NICE?????????.... are you freakin' kidding me?????? etc would be in poor taste and not in the spirit of the thread, yeah?

ps... moonbeam... so blue???? really???

Temptation
Crazy You
Free
God (vocal)
International Lover
Do Me, Baby


But I mean, Temptation is the only song on there that I don't really like and even then i'm entertained by it, but if I had to choose six.

TheEnglishGent said:

Something In The Water (Does Not Compute).

Lady Cab Driver

Automatic

All The Critics Love U In New York

Housequake

Life Can Be So Nice

The first 5 were easy for me, the last one was a tougher find as I really like most of the early albums. I'll keep something in the water if losing it means we also lose any live versions as it's one of my favourite live tracks, just hate the album version. If I have to keep SITW then I guess we can lose It from SOTT.

This actually hurt me to read. Those first four are among his greatest songs ever, IMO. "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" might just be his best song.

MoBettaBliss said:

ps... moonbeam... so blue???? really???

Yes! If you can remember it, you're a better person than me. It wafts out of my memory almost instantaneously after I hear it.

the guitar work on temptation is other-worldly

TheEnglishGent said:

MoBettaBliss said:

paulludvig said:

TheEnglishGent said:

Something In The Water (Does Not Compute).

Lady Cab Driver

Automatic

All The Critics Love U In New York

Housequake

Life Can Be So Nice

The first 5 were easy for me, the last one was a tougher find as I really like most of the early albums. I'll keep something in the water if losing it means we also lose any live versions as it's one of my favourite live tracks, just hate the album version. If I have to keep SITW then I guess we can lose It from SOTT.

What songs DO you like?

The rest.

My choices would be (in no particular order):

.

1. Horny Toad

2. Gotta Stop

3. You Got The Look

4. Ronnie Talk To Russia

5. I'm Yours

6. Temptation

.

I have to admit, there were some really surprising inclusions above. But I guess some could be saying the same about mine. One thing I had to remember was that these are LEAST favorite, not necessarily songs that people don't like. Because for me, Little Red Corvette and Purple Rain are not too far off this list.

JoeyC said:

sexton said:

I rather like the 70s disco-soul sound of his first two albums. My six songs not making the Prince top 100 in 1987:

1. God (Vocal)

2. Temptation

3. Slow Love

4. Forever In My Life

5. Strange Relationship

6. Another Lonely Christmas

Sign O' The Times was never my favorite Prince album.

[Edited 11/7/18 14:34pm]

Oh yeah, i pretty much love the mood of his first two albums. Not necessarily so much for For You(i appreciate it a LOT more now), but the Prince album(and i still think it's his best produced album) changed me forever.

In regard to to Forever In My Life, i love the acoustic guitar part at the ending, but that's about it. I don't hate the song, but i don't think it's one of Prince's greatest songs ever. And as for God, I've never really dug the vocal version, as well.

i really like the first two albums too. i agree with some of the comments here that so blue & a few other track are pretty forgettable, and if i was doing a full ranking quite a few songs from those albums would be in the bottom 20 of these 106 tracks. but i still like them, and when i went back & played both records for the album poll recently, i was pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed listening to each record all the way through.

but i will fight for forever in my life. i think it's one of his greatest moments, simple but completely perfect, even hypnotic. it's near the top of my favourite prince tracks, top 10 i'd say.

[Edited 11/8/18 8:31am]

sexton said:

I rather like the 70s disco-soul sound of his first two albums. My six songs not making the Prince top 100 in 1987:

1. God (Vocal)

2. Temptation

3. Slow Love

4. Forever In My Life

5. Strange Relationship

6. Another Lonely Christmas

Sign O' The Times was never my favorite Prince album.

[Edited 11/7/18 14:34pm]

Clearly . . .

But I do think his 70's albums get short shrift sometimes. So much so that I'd be willing to cut a song from SOTT, which is my favorite album, to keep songs like "Still Waiting," "Just As Long As We're Together," "My Love Is Forever," etc. in my 100.

Moonbeam said:

MoBettaBliss said:

ps... moonbeam... so blue???? really???

Yes! If you can remember it, you're a better person than me. It wafts out of my memory almost instantaneously after I hear it.

Not even that incredible intro could keep "So Blue" in my 100 either. I'm with Moonbeam on this one.

joyinrepetition said:

MoBettaBliss said:

the guitar work on temptation is other-worldly

The guitar work on I'm Yours is also out of this world!

Indeed. It's one of the best closing tracks in his discography.

joyinrepetition said:

MoBettaBliss said:

the guitar work on temptation is other-worldly

The guitar work on I'm Yours is also out of this world!

agree with both of you

peer1973 said:

FunkyDancer said:

These are the ones I pretty much always skip:

In Love

My Love Is Forever

I'm Yours

Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?

Gotta Stop (Messin' About)

Horny Toad

My list would be almost identical

Except i would replace 'In Love' with 'Tamborine'

No! Tamborine is amazing!