When I first heard this song and saw the video I was immediately hooked.

It remains my favorite Prince song to this day.

And 17 Days is a great b-side.

KoolEaze said:

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When I first heard this song I didn't like it. It was too strange for me. But after listening to it repeated, I finally understood the genuis. Not it's by far my favorite of his popular hits.

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A lot Prince's masterpieces are like this. On first listen they are very strange, but after repeated listens you eventually get it.

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David Z made this point in an interview. The hooks for some of Prince's songs are buried. You don't hear them at first, but eventually you do. And when you do you're blown away.

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KoolEaze said:

love2thenines2003 said:

Confirmed during a chat interview with the Revolution back in 2017...there are an instrumental unreleased version of WDC and a longer with vocals alternative one in the Vault! ( different from the bass version) [Edited 5/17/19 0:06am]

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Is the bass version floating around as a bootleg, or has no one outside of Prince's inner circle every heard it?

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I had been a Prince fan for years already and was still blasting 1999 daily when I first heard "When Doves Cry" on the radio. I don't even have the words to describe how exciting and different it was than everything on the radio at the time. EVERYBODY was talking about it when that track dropped! It was like aliens had landed in your radio!

[Edited 5/17/19 10:05am]

Had already been a fan since the release of Controversy and then onto the exquisite 1999 album (and the wonderful B-sides related to it) when the single for WDC was played on the radio for the first time. I can't find the words to express how I felt back then other than to say that I was floored by what I heard. I had chills and the hair on my arms stood up. The song was so very different from what was being played on the radio and even from what Prince had done before. There was no comparison out there anywhere. I, too, still have the original purple vinyl 45 in my collection.

rusty1 said:

The first time i heard this classic song i became a Prince fan right away. It sounded so different than any other song i'd ever heard. There was never any other song before it or after that would blow me away ever again. The song hooked me in immediately from the opening of the Linn-Drum combined with that guitar into. Prince had the guts to remove that bass at the last minute. On top of all of it, Prince wrote that song in March of 84, after the director of PR asked him to write another song. Thank God it happened. As a song it was a complete masterpiece [Edited 5/16/19 12:13pm] [Edited 5/16/19 12:13pm]

His best single ever!

Similar situation here. I was already familiar with the song 1999 and liked it, but didn't know it was made by a guy named Prince (and his band The Revolution). But when I heard WDC on the radio the first time I was immediately sold. I got out and bought the single, became a massive Prince fan and never looked back!