Wrldindstries302 ranks and reviews the top 100 Prince songs

[Onslaught_fei]

Harmonix hinted at Prince coming in today's Giantbomb.com podcast.

[AxlVanHagar]

Harmonix hinted at Prince coming in today's Giantbomb.com podcast.

That would be awesome. I love Prince's stuff. Great list and analysis OP. This is a great thread. Nice to see someof the B-sides like the previously mentioned Another Lonely Christmas. I've always loved that along with She's Always In My Hair. I remember having the 45's of those singles.

[wrldindstries302]

I added songs 30-21 to the list.

That's what we get for feeling that the albums are enough. Damn rock stars and their unreleased stuff they stick on greatest hits records.

I had it with the cassingle of purple rain, but I haven't heard it since... well when was the last time you listened to a cassingle?

They really made his greatests hits CDs worthwhile, imo. The first one "The Hits/The B-Sides" has 4 unreleased tracks and 20 previously record-only b-sides, and the most recent one "Ultimate Prince" has a second disc of extended versions of hits.

[Jordashebasics]

I always felt like Alphabet Street could have been a much better song if it was edited a little. Somehow, it feels like it drags.... I'd be happy with the released version if it were a remix of some sort, but it needed to be a little tighter to be.... right.

[wrldindstries302]

Songs 20-11:

20. All The Critics Love U In New York (1999, 1982)

Songs about critics usually bother me, because they usually amount to little more than whining. Maybe this one doesn’t bother me because of how tongue in cheek it sounds—the song is loaded with guitar noodling, and in the middle of a particularly strange sounding one Prince says “Yes, we're certain of it, he’s definitely masturbating”. It’s got a great beat with a very electronic sound accented with a lot of cool guitar solos. The lyrics aren’t anything interesting, but the song sure is.

19. Controversy (Controversy, 1981)

A song about controversy on an album called controversy aimed at causing controversy shouldn’t be good. But here it is, a classic Prince funk song. The beat is great, and the keyboard really adds a lot to a somewhat repetitive song. It has a lot of cool ideas, and though I could do without the reciting of the Lord’s Prayer in the middle, the lyrics aren’t nearly as stupid as they could be, addressing people’s problems with Prince. Overall, a great track.

18. Days Of Wild (Crystal Ball, 1998)

This is Prince’s most successful gangsta rap style song, with great rapping, and pretty good lyrics, which address some of the problems with the genre. The live version on Crystal Ball is vastly superior to the unreleased studio version, which sounded really flat, and had a beat that sounds too much like a “copycat” beat than something original. The released version has much more energy, and a great full band sound. It also has great performance and solos from most of the band. My only complaint with this recording is that you can hardly hear the crowd’s chants.

17. Private Joy (Controversy, 1981)

I’ve always found this song to be incredibly underrated. It’s Prince’s best (and catchiest) early song, with a great bass line and synth riff. I really like the use of the drum machine here, which provides a fast beat that makes me have to tap my feet. I also like the vocal delivery near the middle of the song. It’s pretty much pop perfection, that closes with a cool guitar solo.

16. P. Control (The Gold Experience, 1995)

As I said earlier, I don’t think this songs makes a good opener to The Gold Experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an excellent song on its own. I have trouble deciding if I like the original version or the remix from Crystal Ball better, so I just put the original version. It’s a pretty odd rap-style song that’s about female empowerment, despite what the name might make you think. Prince’s rapping in this song isn’t his best, but the song as a whole is his best rap song. It’s obnoxious in just the right way, especially the wailing in the chorus.

15. Raspberry Beret (Around The World In A Day, 1985)

Another spectacular summery pop song, this one has an excellent… well everything really. The lyrics are some of Prince’s best, and they actually tell a story, which isn’t a very common thing for him. The chorus is one of the most memorable choruses of all time, and the string section is great. Vocally, it isn’t Prince’s strongest performance, but the melody is superb, and it all comes together to make a perfect pop song.

14. U Got The Look (Sign ‘O’ The Times, 1987)

As I’ve said, I really like the Camille voice (even though this one wasn’t actually a “Camille” song). This is a great duet between Prince and Sheena Easton, with some excellent drumming from Sheila E. It’s another pretty weird sounding song but it’s totally catchy. It’s not hard to see why this one was a hit. I really like the mix of the very electronic sounding synth beat with the very crunchy guitar. The squealing guitar solo is awesome because it fits into this song perfectly, but I can’t really see it sounding good in any other context.

13. Le Grind (The Black Album, 1987)

Wow… I guess this is a testament to all the sounds Prince packs into his music—I was just listening to it for the sake of writing this, and I never noticed that there was a deep, quiet spoken word intro to this song. Anyway, this is a pure funk song, with a great bass line. It really makes you want to do what it tells you—party. The horn section is great, and I love the piano in it, though it’s much too quiet.

12. 3 Chains O’ Gold (The Love Symbol Album, 1992)

This song is basically Prince rewriting Bohemian Rhapsody, which I have no complaints about. I’m sure this one wouldn’t be too high on most people’s lists, but for some reason, I can’t get enough of it. It was supposed to be the dramatic climax to some sort of rock opera that eventually became The Love Symbol Album, so lyrically, it really doesn’t make sense, but it’s really epic sound, with great movements, from a soulful ballad portion to an opera sounding part to an evil-sounding rock part, closing with a great guitar solo and a huge ending that would’ve made a great album closer.

11. Purple Rain (Purple Rain, 1984)

First off, no, I did not mix up the numbers 1 and 11. As great of a song as this is, I think it’s also ever so slightly overrated. Now, I could spend this whole time talking about why I feel it shouldn’t be higher; instead, I’ll talk about what makes this song amazing. It certainly is one of Prince’s most emotional songs, and it has excellent instrumentation throughout, with what I think is one of the best “emotional” guitar solos of all time. He certainly makes his guitar cry in this one. It’s one of his best vocal performances, and one of the best rock ballads of all time. The way the song builds up makes it truly epic sounding. However, I don’t like how the song ends with the Asian sounding string coda. I’ve always thought it was boring and softened the effect of the song. Overall, I feel it certainly deserves praise, but it’s not his best song.

CONTINUED IN POST #28

[afterstasis]

my favorite prince song has now been named! no, not "purple rain", but "raspberry beret"...

[Jordashebasics]

.... Still waiting to see Pop Life.

[wrldindstries302]

.... Still waiting to see Pop Life.

It's not on the list. I could never really get into that one...


Songs 10-2:

10. If I Was Your Girlfriend (Sign ‘O’ The Times, 1987)

This song is beautiful. The music is so simple, with only a drum beat and some synth for much of it, but the emotional level it reaches is stunning. The vocals seem to divide people—there are people that feel the high pitched vocal detracts from the emotion of the song. I am not one of those people. I think it adds to the intensity of the song. It boggles my mind to think about what it must’ve taken to sing this song really slow and still get such a great sounding performance.

9. She’s Always In My Hair (Around The World In A Day B-Side, 1985)

It’s ridiculous how good some of Prince’s b-sides are. Again, the vocals in this one are great, and the way the song builds to the screamed portion at the end is excellent. I really like whatever effect is in the background, and the simple synth that repeats throughout the song really complements it well. The guitar solo isn’t technically impressive, but it goes really well with the song, and that’s what’s important. The extended version of this song is necessary, I think, because the way it ends with the screaming and the really fast kick drum is great

8. When Doves Cry (Purple Rain, 1984)

It’s really no surprise that this is here. I really don’t know what to say about it though that hasn’t already been said. Before I was a Prince fan I loved this song, and It’s not hard to see why this is one of Prince’s biggest hits. It’s got a pretty unique arrangement (especially for its time) in that there’s no bass line at all. Both guitar solos are among his best, and the drum beat is one of his most memorable. It’s truly a classic.

7. Housequake (Sign ‘O’ The Times, 1987)

There’s true genius in how stupid this song is. The stomping beat, the synth bass, Prince’s vocals—it’s all pretty dumb sounding, and it should make a terrible song. But it doesn’t. It all comes together to make the perfect party jam. It’s the kind of song that these so-called rappers wish they could make. The lyrics and vocals walk the thin line between obnoxious and awesome (well, really, the whole song does), and it fits so perfectly in this song. I really like the way it builds up from just the drum beat, then adds guitar, layers of synth, and some excellent saxophone.

6. Kiss (Parade, 1986)

There’s really not much to say about this one… everybody knows it, everybody knows it’s amazing. This has the best falsetto performance ever, and it’s such a fun song to sing along to. Again Prince shows that you don’t need complex arrangements to make a great track—there is little more than a drum beat and some funky acoustic guitar for much of it, with some xylophone (I think) added near the end to keep it interesting. This is actually a song where I think the extended version detracts from it. It’s not that the song is too long, it’s just that the extended version turns the second half into a full band composition that really takes away from the minimalism of the main song.

5. Little Red Corvette (1999, 1982)

It’s hard to write about some of these songs, because they’re so well known to everybody that everything is sort of redundant. This was Prince’s first huge mainstream hit, and it is certainly well-earned. I like this song’s use of guitar. For being considered a pop-rock song, it doesn’t have much of it, only featuring it in the chorus—well, except for the solo, which is one of the best guitar solos in a Prince song, despite not even being played by him. It’s got a great melody, and an excellent vocal performance. What more can I say, really? You know it, you love it.

4. Computer Blue (Purple Rain, 1984)

The very first time I listened to Purple Rain (the album) I wasn’t very impressed with it. This was one of the tracks that stood out to me as being great, and it was one of the tracks that made me check out other Prince stuff. Anyway, I’ve always thought this was an amazing song. The synth and vocal based first half makes a good intro to the song, but my favorite part of the track is the middle part when the synth swells and there’s the evil-sounding guitar solo. Now, I know it really isn’t fair on a list where I’m counting only studio releases, but this song made it this high on the list because of the amazing unreleased 12 minute version. My only problem with the album version was always that it sounding like only a segment of a song, and, well, that’s because it is. The long version has great extended solos (the guitar solo is definitely one of his best), and some of the best lyrics he’s ever written. Simply put, it’s a masterpiece, and it’s definitely worth searching for.

3. Erotic City (Purple Rain B-Side 1984)

Come on, you knew this one was coming. This song starts off with what is quite possibly the most recognizable single guitar note of all time. And not only does it have one of the most memorable intros, the keyboard riff is also instantly recognizable. It’s so simple, and so catchy. The beat in it is just insane… I mean, just try listening to this song and not moving something. Prince’s vocals are great also, with him singing as several different people with varying levels of voice manipulation. The lyrics… well, they’re not the best, but they’re certainly fun to sing along to. I’m amazed that they managed to get this song played on the radio in 84. To me, it’s pretty clear that he uses the word **** over and over again. But really, how can you pass on this jam? The people who would normally care about that stuff were probably too busy dancing.

2. Let’s Go Crazy (Purple Rain, 1984)

Sorry Beat It, this is hands down the best dance rock song of all time. It makes a great opener to Purple Rain, with its memorable intro and its awesome riff. It’s a great combination of hard rock and catchy synth. Undoubtedly the best part of this song is Prince’s guitar playing. It starts out with a simple riff, as “just one of the components of the song”, by which I mean that it’s sort of buried under everything else. But then it starts building up to the first guitar solo (an excellent one at that) and after that it’s much more prominent, building up again to the excellent second guitar solo, possibly the best in Prince’s catalogue. I love the way all the music stops and it’s just Prince’s guitar, wailing like there’s no tomorrow. Then everything else slowly comes back in for a huge ending.
Of course, if the guitar part was the only thing great about this song, it wouldn’t be this high on the list. The drums (I think it’s a drum machine; I could be wrong though) is great too. The main drum beat is simple, but keeps the tempo quite well, but what I really like about it is the way the drums kind of “click” every few measures. The synth part adds a lot to the main riff and makes it excellent. And the lyrics… well again, lyrics were never Prince’s strong point, but these are pretty good, even though they are kind of silly (with phrases like “de-elevator” and “Let's look for the purple banana till they put us in the truck”) but it’s a great song to sing along to, and the intro vocals are pretty cool. It’s simply an amazing song that’s great for a party.

[Rockbandfan23467]

Don't leave us now! Tell us Number One!

[zeldazeppelin]

As a prince fan I approve of this thread and your lists