Prince never really made any good videos, mostly performance run of the mill clips. This is ironic because he was one of the few musicians to make a successful movie. I think the problem may be Prince never wanted to hire a top notch video director, he tried to do it all himself.

I think if he could have made some cutting edge videos like MJ, Madonna, Puffy or something like what Outkast is doing, it would have helped his career and legacy.
[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 4:49:43 PST 2003 by DMSR]

I dunno. The music will certainly survive him. I think that's good enough.

"First of all,let me just say that I am a huge fan of Prince and his music.But his videos look stupid and cheap"---Madonna,1991

Batdance, Partyman,Glam Slam, Raspberry Beret, when doves...not lame but I know what u mean.

Music videos are pointless.
They help sell a record - that's it.
I mean don't get me wrong I enjoy Prince's music videos, but they're not particularly important, IMO.


Oh and he has made a few decent video's:
Partyman
When Doves Cry
Raspberry Beret...etc.

I once heard a rumor that the early Prince videos (pre-Purple Rain) were intentionally simple and basic because Prince was "saving himself" for motion pictures.He wanted to save money for movies,where he could then branch out and do the things he couldn't do in a four-minute music video.


But,I think a number of his videos are outstanding...

"When Doves Cry"
"Raspberry Beret"
"Kiss" (very simple but very effective)
"I Wish U Heaven"
"Batdance"
"Cream"
"7"

DavidEye said:

Okay. First off, IN MY OPINION, no, not outstanding.

They were all filmed at Paisley Park, and they ALL have a 1959 Broadway Musical stage design look to them, because he was too cheap to go out and film a video ANYWHERE other than his soundstage.

Second. He rarely used FILM. Half those vids were made using videotape - I Wish U Heaven comes to mind immediately, so that the video, while choreographed and performed well, STILL looked cheap and amateurish.

I would LOVE to see Prince let somebody else make a video for him, but this is just another area where he can't let go, can't let somebody else handle it for him.

--

And don't get me wrong. The 1959 broadway musical look - it would be cool on one or two songs, but, honestly, the style is DATED. It was used extensively in the 80's, to the point that ANY video now made on a set looks faked, unless you bring in the CGI shit, a-la Missy.

Look at outkast, for example. Bombs Over Bagdad, it's done outdoors, with Dre running - it has a VERY energetic feel, with all them kids running, etc. So, to go from THAT, into the set of "Hey Ya" is cool, it's refreshing, not stale and predictable. Ditto with Big Boi's "I Like the way you move".

I would say, in my opinion, Prince's vids are his weakest link. SOMEBODY should have showed him a MJ video, or JANET video, and said "look at what is being done."

otan said:

No they weren't.

Construction of Paisley Park began in February, 1986.

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[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 6:36:43 PST 2003 by langebleu]

For those who say that I wish u Heaven looks amateurish...uhmm Jean-Baptiste Mondino is the Director of that clip. LOL. One of the best video clips director ever !!!
[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 6:36:11 PST 2003 by VINCENT]

otan said:

Prince has let others make videos for him. Greatest Romance, LRC, WDC, Dinner With Delores, Money Don't Matter 2 Night, I Wish U Heaven, Kiss...

Still, overall, his videos don't do the music justice.

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[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 6:35:19 PST 2003 by langebleu]

otan said:

Again Jean-Baptiste Mondino directed I wish u Heaven along with Alphabet Street. He is a fabulous Director.

otan said:

I agree with everything you just said (although I haven't seen any of Outkast's videos.

VINCENT said:

He didn't do alphabet st.

I dunno. I happen to love Prince videos, especially the long versions of Thieves In The Temple and Partyman.

DMSR said:

Silly question.

A musician's musical legacy supercedes and outlives any video nonsense.

Supernova said:

that's just what i was gonna say!

Mondino didn't do Alphabet St., and for heaven's sake, that may be THE cheapest looking Prince video of all time...you can see the edge of the backdrop and the lighting equipment in several shots of that video! I love this clip, but it's el schlocko!

Meanwhile, I always thought the SOTT and "When 2 R In Love" videos were the biggest rip-offs. I know people defend the SOTT video to this day but dang, if I wanted a screensaver I'd buy an After Dark disc, sheesh...

As aforementioned, Prince's music is legendary and of such high quality that video's are made largely irrelevant. In addition, Prince's incredible live performances and his reputation as a live performer have eclipsed any promo's he has ever released. Also Prince is not a pop star employing gimicks to sell a record, but a musician and his videos have nearly always portrayed this simply but effectively.

However, 1999's video for 'The Greatest Romance Ever Sold' was very atmospheric and classy and captured the atmosphere of the song perfectly. In addition, both 'The One'('98), 'Betcha-by Golly-Wow!'('96) and 'The Holy River'('97) all had some nice touches of FX and included story-line elements that went beyond mere 'performance' video's.
[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 8:03:52 PST 2003 by Mr7]

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Mr7 said:

Hey, Mr7!!!

"I like his Diamonds And Pearls album but I don't like his videos. I think they're stupid, cheap and beneath his ability" - Madonna, 1991.

.

Affected his career? Yes. Both adversely and positively, and perhaps in equal measures, so no great loss there.

Affected his "legendary status"? Not likely. I mean, what kind of meaningful "legendary status" needs the video medium to consolidate or validate it at the end of the day?

.

I love prince's videos for partyman, batdance,I wish you heaven, all of the diamond and pearls era videos, moutains,sexy mf, the one and the greatest romance.

Yes, Prince's videos were, on average, very subpar and uninspiring. He never went the route of someone like Madonna to hire top notch directors to film his videos. But I think the early performance clips showed one of his strengths...his stage charisma.

The later clips like Cream, D&P, etc were just lame. I just don't think cared much about them and never put too much work or thought into them.

Madonna felt like her videos were little works of art, when I seriously doubt Prince felt this way. He just knew he had to make a video and probably let Warner Bros. do all the work as far as the director, etc.

I'm sure the videos didn't hurt his career much, but they didn't help much either. Although I think the vids for LRC and 1999 did help launch him becuase they showed what a great charismatic stage performer he was. And of course they got the killer songs out there to hear which is the main point of a video anyway.


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[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 9:51:42 PST 2003 by TonyC]
[This message was edited Fri Dec 5 9:54:41 PST 2003 by TonyC]

DavidEye said:

why does everyone like I Wish U Heaven? thats so tacky lookin etc imo

rdhull said:

Tacky looking maybe but Jean Baptiste Mondino directed it.

As a photographer and scenographer of note he has gravitas and I suppose people just latch on to that fact.

After all, how many well-known directors you can name-drop have been responsible for Prince's videos? Not many.

.

giotto said:

I know who Jean is...it still looks tacky though..he did not do well on that video imho...How he went from Heaven to Justify My Love in such a short time makes me think Prince didnt pay him much lol

rdhull said:

Worse still, Prince probably forced him to follow his own conceptual "drawings", lol!

Mr7 said:

Okay, to take that approach (one's music supercedes their videos, and therefore, their popularity is based MOSTLY on the music, NOT on the vids), how can you explain Madonna's popularity beyond "Like a Virgin"? The songs were good, but the VIDEOS were THA BOMB. Vogue, hell - JUSTIFY MY LOVE broke records all over the place.

In this day and age, you CAN look back and say Vids DO have a direct impact on the success of an artist. I'm not saying the videos make the songs good or bad, I'm saying, the vids MAKE or BREAK them into mainstream. And Alphabet Street WAS the cheapest video I've ever seen. It was a great song, and the video DID make me not like the song - when I hear the song now, I can't help but see the screensaver alphabet letters floating around, and so I rarely listen to the song - BUT WHEN I DO hear it all the way thru, I DO think, "damn, that'a a great song". But, like I said, it's rare, cuz I'll usually skip it.