I’ve recently got back into vinyl and one of the first things I did after purchasing my turntable was to pick up copies of the classic run of 80s Prince albums up to Lovesexy (which sounds great on vinyl!). For a while I left it at that, as there are very few albums post-Lovesexy I enjoy listening to all the way through, and I generally experience this music through playlists I’ve made of the songs I like. Vinyl is a format really suited to listening all the way through though, and although I’m really tempted by some of the new vinyl reissues, there are certain songs where I would really be longing for a skip button. In light of this, I decided to revisit some of my least favourite Prince songs, many of which I haven’t listened to in years, to see if my feelings about them have changed and help me to decide whether that tasty-looking vinyl is really worth investing in.

I guess this is gonna be a fairly long post, so thanks to anyone who takes the time to read it, and a quick reminder that it’s just my opinion. If you like a song that I don’t then great, I’m happy someone else enjoys it. So here goes…

Arms of Orion

This song was a watershed moment for me - the first Prince song I ever took a dislike to, on the first Prince album I ever felt disappointed by. Everything released up to that point had been magic for me. It just seemed so horribly cheesy and cliched, it really repelled me and I was really shocked that Prince had recorded a song like this. Listening to it now… I don’t hate it quite as much as I did then, but I don’t think I’m ever gonna be a fan of this song or want to listen to it much. It doesn’t really sound like anything else he’s ever done and I guess I’m glad of that. It’s a shame because side 1 of Batman is pretty good otherwise.

Graffiti Bridge

Utterly detestable. Simply the worst thing he’s ever done. Completely unredeemable and unlistenable. I never want to hear this song again. Seriously, what was he thinking?

Jughead

I guess this isn’t quite as bad as I remember it. Musically it’s ok. But the rapping is really embarrassing and stops me from wanting to hear this again. I don’t really blame Tony M though, he was just doing what he was told.

Push

A bit better than Jughead, but I think that’s the best I can say. The Clare Fischer strings give it a bit more depth. So I guess side 2 of Diamonds and Pearls is gonna be a bit of a difficult listen for me, especially as I’m not really a fan of Live 4 Love either.

P Control

I’ve always found this track to be pretty embarrassing. The lyrics make me cringe so much. A feminist anthem as imagined by a fairly chauvinistic man. It’s about a woman called Pussy. And she’s no prostitute! She’s more interested in making money than having sex. Right on sister! Yeah… no thanks.

We March

I found this song unbearable when it first came out. I don’t have a problem with Prince doing ‘message songs’ - after all Sign o the Times is an absolute classic. I just feel his lyrics are often at their weakest in these kinds of songs - he’s no Bob Dylan. I tried several times to get into this song and I just couldn’t, it felt so cheesy. But revisiting it now, I feel like time has been kind to it. I’m ok listening to this song, and actually find myself quite enjoying parts of it, particularly the Sly & The Family Stone influences. Okay, finally a success! We March is officially off my shit-list!

I Rock Therefore I Am

Musically this is actually pretty good, but the guest-rapping is just shocking. NPG to the maximum!!! However, it’s quite amusing in a way and it’s really growing on me. So the new Chaos & Disorder vinyl is looking like a potential purchase for me!

In addition to the above tracks, there’s a whole bunch of songs on HitnRun Phase 1 and PlectrumElectrum that seem horrible to me, but I think these are still too recent for me to revisit, I’ll check them out some time in the future.

This little experiment has been really interesting for me and if anyone else feels like giving it a go, I’d love to read your posts.

[Edited 9/6/19 12:59pm]

I really like that P Control analysis.

massing said:

I’ve recently got back into vinyl and one of the first things I did after purchasing my turntable was to pick up copies of the classic run of 80s Prince albums up to Lovesexy (which sounds great on vinyl!). For a while I left it at that, as there are very few albums post-Lovesexy I enjoy listening to all the way through, and I generally experience this music through playlists I’ve made of the songs I like. Vinyl is a format really suited to listening all the way through though, and although I’m really tempted by some of the new vinyl reissues, there are certain songs where I would really be longing for a skip button. In light of this, I decided to revisit some of my least favourite Prince songs, many of which I haven’t listened to in years, to see if my feelings about them have changed and help me to decide whether that tasty-looking vinyl is really worth investing in.

I guess this is gonna be a fairly long post, so thanks to anyone who takes the time to read it, and a quick reminder that it’s just my opinion. If you like a song that I don’t then great, I’m happy someone else enjoys it. So here goes…

Arms of Orion

This song was a watershed moment for me - the first Prince song I ever took a dislike to, on the first Prince album I ever felt disappointed by. Everything released up to that point had been magic for me. It just seemed so horribly cheesy and cliched, it really repelled me and I was really shocked that Prince had recorded a song like this. Listening to it now… I don’t hate it quite as much as I did then, but I don’t think I’m ever gonna be a fan of this song or want to listen to it much. It doesn’t really sound like anything else he’s ever done and I guess I’m glad of that. It’s a shame because side 1 of Batman is pretty good otherwise.

Graffiti Bridge

Utterly detestable. Simply the worst thing he’s ever done. Completely unredeemable and unlistenable. I never want to hear this song again. Seriously, what was he thinking?

Jughead

I guess this isn’t quite as bad as I remember it. Musically it’s ok. But the rapping is really embarrassing and stops me from wanting to hear this again. I don’t really blame Tony M though, he was just doing what he was told.

Push

A bit better than Jughead, but I think that’s the best I can say. The Clare Fischer strings give it a bit more depth. So I guess side 2 of Diamonds and Pearls is gonna be a bit of a difficult listen for me, especially as I’m not really a fan of Live 4 Love either.

P Control

I’ve always found this track to be pretty embarrassing. The lyrics make me cringe so much. A feminist anthem as imagined by a fairly chauvinistic man. It’s about a woman called Pussy. And she’s no prostitute! She’s more interested in making money than having sex. Right on sister! Yeah… no thanks.

We March

I found this song unbearable when it first came out. I don’t have a problem with Prince doing ‘message songs’ - after all Sign o the Times is an absolute classic. I just feel his lyrics are often at their weakest in these kinds of songs - he’s no Bob Dylan. I tried several times to get into this song and I just couldn’t, it felt so cheesy. But revisiting it now, I feel like time has been kind to it. I’m ok listening to this song, and actually find myself quite enjoying parts of it, particularly the Sly & The Family Stone influences. Okay, finally a success! We March is officially off my shit-list!

I Rock Therefore I Am

Musically this is actually pretty good, but the guest-rapping is just shocking. NPG to the maximum!!! However, it’s quite amusing in a way and it’s really growing on me. So the new Chaos & Disorder vinyl is looking like a potential purchase for me!

In addition to the above tracks, there’s a whole bunch of songs on HitnRun Phase 1 and PlectrumElectrum that seem horrible to me, but I think these are still too recent for me to revisit, I’ll check them out some time in the future.

This little experiment has been really interesting for me and if anyone else feels like giving it a go, I’d love to read your posts.

[Edited 9/6/19 12:59pm]

Like you, I can listen to every song on every album straight through Lovesexy. Like you, Batman was the first time I was disappointed. Most of the songs I simply thought were lackluster, but like you, I was repelled by the Arms of Orion. Super cheesy. Maybe I'll listen to it again to see if I can better tolerate it.

With that said, I confess to liking Grafitti Bridge, We March, and I Rock Therefore I Am.

massing said:

Graffiti Bridge

Utterly detestable. Simply the worst thing he’s ever done. Completely unredeemable and unlistenable. I never want to hear this song again. Seriously, what was he thinking?

I'll see your Graffiti Bridge and raise you Purple and Gold!

Seriously though, I have no quarrel with GB (and I love that delicious 'Glam Slam' guitar tone). But then again I worked in musical theatre for years, so I've got a pretty high tolerance for this type of shit. :p

eyewishuheaven said:

massing said:

Graffiti Bridge

Utterly detestable. Simply the worst thing he’s ever done. Completely unredeemable and unlistenable. I never want to hear this song again. Seriously, what was he thinking?

I'll see your Graffiti Bridge and raise you Purple and Gold!

Seriously though, I have no quarrel with GB (and I love that delicious 'Glam Slam' guitar tone). But then again I worked in musical theatre for years, so I've got a pretty high tolerance for this type of shit. :p

Ha ha yeah I think I've only ever heard Purple and Gold once and I don't have a copy of it so I haven't ever gone back to it. Luckily it's not on an album so it never really has to disturb anyone!

P Control has always been my favourite track from Gold. Whatever your opinions on Prince's gender politics, it's arresting from the intro to those overlapping synth hooks in the finale. It's divisive as Prince always is at his best. Funny, I've read so many reviews on the org and elsewhere that trash this song because it doesn't conform to some narrow set of expectations for feminist discourse, and meanwhile the mainstream media and fans talk about Beyonce like she's the queen of feminists everywhere and P Control is basically the lyrical template for her whole career (along with how many other women hip-hop/R&B artists of her generation who probably all listened to Prince).