Top 100 Prince moments

2. "WRECKA STO"

3. guitar solo climaxing "The Holy River"

4. mimicking Mick Jagger doing "Miss You" at a European afterparty w/Ron Wood on guitar

5. Look up in the air, it's your guitar

6. Girl you got an ass like a limousine

OH SHIT I BLEW THE QUOTE, I GOTTA GET SOME SLEEP

6. Girl you got an ass like I never seen
And the ride
I said the ride is so smooth
You must be a limousine

OMG I WAS POSTING THAT

7. We live in a world overrun by tourists
Tourists -- 89 flowers on their back...inventors of the Accu-jack
They look at life through a pocket camera... What? No flash again?
They're all a bunch of double drags who teach their kids that Love is bad
Half of the staff of their brain is on vacation
Mama, are u listening?
We need a new breed -- Leaders, Stand Up, Organize
Don't let your children watch television until they know how to read
Or else all they'll know how to do is cuss, fight and breed
No child is bad from the beginning... they only imitate their atmosphere
If they're in the company of tourists, alcohol and US history
What's to be expected is 3 minus 3... absolutely nothing

8. White Black Puerto Rican Everybody just a-freakin'

9. If U set ur mind free baby maybe ud understand / Starfish and coffee maple syrup and jam

10. UPTOWN

This might be the best song on here. Some chick asks Prince if he's gay and he's all like "Bitch, do I look gay?" But then he thinks for a second and then he's like "Wait, don't answer that question. Just watch me rock out on this guitar here for a sec, then tell me whether or not I look gay. If you're lucky, maybe I'll let you come back stage and fellate me."

-- R.I.M.A. (Barima), Friday, August 6, 2004 6:27 AM (Friday, August 6, 2004 6:27 AM) Bookmark Link

I'm amazed, really. I figured once Matos discovered this thread (immediately, of course) it would run its course in ten minutes or less.

11. the audience-level pan in the Sign 'O' the Times movie during "Housequake" when out of the bottom corner Prince emerges propelling himself across the stage on his back

12. his turning around and doing the splits after propelling himself across the stage on his back in No. 11

13. the entrance of the guitar in the Amsterdam 8.18.88 afterclub version of "Just My Imagination," the greatest piece of music I know that's never been officially released

14. Robert Christgau on Dirty Mind: "Mick Jagger should fold up his penis and go home."

15. the cough at the beginning of the video for "Raspberry Beret"

16. the front photo of Sign 'O' the Times, my favorite album cover of all time

17. Sheila E., "The Belle of St. Mark"

14 OTM

18. D-D-DOGS!!! (this actually startled the fuck out of me the first time I heard it)

(sorry for all these boilerplate Matos-on-Prince-on-ILM answers, btw)

19. accepting a Minnesota Music Award: "When are they going to give one for the best ass?"

20. from "Cindy C": "super-fine heifer!"

21. the synths on Stevie Nicks's "Stand Back"

22. His dance during the guitar solo in the "Little Red Corvette" video, a model of compact perfection. I made my dad come in from the other room to watch this dance and harangued him for ten minutes about how much better Prince was than Michael Jackson as a dancer. To his credit, he listened without screaming GOD DAMN IT YOU ARE A TEENAGE BOY GO GET LAID AND STOP TALKING ABOUT BLACK MEN DANCING ON MTV

23. well HERE we are

24. The thing he's wearing over his face here:

http://www.dtt-lyrics.com/images/prince%20singles/mnip.jpg

25. http://www.stanleylieber.com/images/prince_ass.jpg

26. "Take a bath, hippies!"

hahaha THAT'S what he's saying!

27. Driving a keyboardist out of his band because she refused to sing "Head"

28. the breakdown before the final chorus of "In This Bed Eye Scream"

29. The end of "1999" when it strips down to just the rhythm guitar you never noticed was there all along even though you've heard this damn song 800 thousand times and one and it's all like EPIPHANY!

30. 2 NIGS UNITED 4 WEST COMPTON

8. White Black Puerto Rican Everybody just a-freakin'

^^^^^ #1

31. "I'll be 117/And you'll be still saying, 'Baby, not tonight'"

32. "He told me in his bedroom voice/'Come on, honey, let's go make some noise'"

33. There was a woman from the ghetto who made funny faces just like Clara Bow; how was I to know that she would wear the same cologne as U?

34. When he MADE IT RAIN at the Superbowl DURING PURPLE RAIN

all part of the same arc:

35a. Getting trash-talked by George Clinton on Urban Dancefloor Guerrilas's "Copycat"
35b. Eventually buying a ton of GC's debt and then signing him to Paisley Park when no one else would touch him
35c. Backing GC on "Paradigm" (from last year's criminally underappreciated P.Funk All-Stars album) with pinpoint minimal guitar and falsetto backing and tossed-off lines like "She wears gorgeous like she had it tailor-made, fine like she's goin' out of style"

36. In "Alphabet Street" when he calls the Thunderbird a 66 and the background vocals contradict him and call it a 67

37. the trembling falsetto of "I Wish U Heaven"

38. The 1985 (I think) interview in "Rolling Stone" where the interviewer asked him why he did something weird on some song and he said "Oh I just put that in to be sick."

39. the 12-inch version of "U Got the Look." (Dave Marsh: "Pink Floyd jammin' on the one")

38 refers to 15, Matt

39. "La, La, La Means Eye Love U"--even that ridiculous muttered coda about his contract

hahahahahahaha Matos nice catch! I think he said that phrase a couple of times in that interview, I tried to make that a meme at college the next fall but it was DENIED

Hey Matos, could you send me the "Just My Imagination" cover you always speak of so fondly? And that bassline house mix I couldn't dl, for that matter?

40. Today when I was going to buy a merino wool sweater and I remembered the anti-wool essay Prince wrote on Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic so instead I bought some cotton dress shirts.

okay that one might not count

41. "this is your conscience, motherfucker!"

42. "Why U screamin'? / U know I'm not a man of war /I've been tryin' 2 make U happy, baby, ever since we were sophomores"

43. Getting Tipper Gore's vagina all sandy

44. footage of cutting the partyman bassline

I bet we can get 1000 if we keep this up all week. Who's up for it? Not me, I gotta get to sleep.

100 is fine.

It goes as long as it needs to.

45. MTV News report on hidden "SORRY ABOUT THE BLACK ALBUM" message found when you freeze-frame the "Alphabet St." video

...the falsetto scream on 'do me baby'

or this gem...

Now move your big ass round this way
So I can work on that zipper, baby
Tonight your a star
And Im the big dipper...

...or who can forget him admitting incest with his sister in an early interview thus liberating his musical libido

46. "Nothing could compare 2 your lovely face" - At 3:14 in "Adore," just when you think the mix cannot accommodate another Prince-voice, not only does he throw this in but it sounds like he's singing it backwards! When I first heard it, my head split open and Athena popped out. I'd call it the greatest ballad of all-time if it didn't make hay of the category "ballad." I mean, who on earth would make out to this stuff? Maybe on Mars.

46b. Whatever he's screaming after "U don't know what U mean 2 me" (I think some form of the word "baby").

47. The brief drum tumble that jump starts "Strange Relationship" - By side three, we are exhausted. esp. after the arid planet of "If I Was Your Girlfriend." So this intro picks us up and pushes us into twenty feet of snow ("I guess you know me well - I don't like winter"). And for four minutes, we trudge through banks of white. But inexorably, never once stopping. That's why the track feels both tired and energized. A very neat, Exile-like trick, perfectly suited to a side three. But we never would have got there in the first place if it weren't for the little inro. Thanks.

intro, that is

48. "What if I say U lie?" - From "Billy Jack Bitch." The lameness and ultimate ineffectuality of this condemnation do not detract one iota from its documentary value, a rare look at what makes megastars angry.

49. "Squirrel Meat!"

50. "My name's Andre Crabtree The 3rd. I got more holes than a golf course."

51. Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream/I was kissing Valentino by a crystal blue Italian stream" 'Valentino' supposedly being Prince's nickname for his "li'l dude"

46. "Nothing could compare 2 your lovely face" - At 3:14 in "Adore," just when you think the mix cannot accommodate another Prince-voice, not only does he throw this in but it sounds like he's singing it backwards! When I first heard it, my head split open and Athena popped out. I'd call it the greatest ballad of all-time if it didn't make hay of the category "ballad." I mean, who on earth would make out to this stuff? Maybe on Mars.

LOL. I've done...erm...more than make out to this song!

52. The slight fatigue in the operator's voice as she says "un instant, je connecte" right before "319" - Because you'll never hear Prince sound like that.

I've done...erm...more than make out to this song!

Well, I can imagine some hard, very sweaty fucking. But nothing quiet stormy in the least.

from "Cindy C": "super-fine heifer!"

Oh god yes! The vocal interplay in that entire verse is astonishing!

The way the guitar rears its head during the lead-in to the chorus in "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" ("I asked her if she wanted to dance...")

#53

the entrance of the guitar in the Amsterdam 8.18.88 afterclub version of "Just My Imagination,"

Is this from (the freakishly overrated) Small Club 2nd Show That Night?

yep

54. The radically tiny production of "Annie Christian"

55. "FUNKY BASS FOR THE 90's!"

Incidentally, "Alphabet Street" is still the best thing he's ever done, IMO.

56. "Sometime I trip on how happy we could be."

57. "Take this beat, I don't mind/Got plenty others, they so fine."

58. [Holds up four fingers on "American Bandstand."]

59. Making the first Time album.

60. On the cover of 1999, where he credits "And the Revolution" for the first time, albeit in mirror image

61. The swelling first 8 bars on "1999" before the drums come in

62. This look:

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/dgoobl/Prince.jpg

63. Well, we could say the entirety of "When Doves Cry", and the fact that he yanked the bassline, but it's the sick fuck lead guitar playing throughout that still stuns me

64. Playing unannounced in MPLS and seeing that line trail around First Avenue.

65. When his guitar squirts white liquid onto the audience during the purple rain tour. (this should really be number one).

66. When he tells boni boyer off for getting the words wrong on still would stand all time on the small club bootleg.

66. saying "eric, shut the fuck up!" to end a sax solo on the parade tour. (BEST WAY TO END A SOLO EVER)

68. Lovesexy as one track on compact disc

69. The Super Bowl

70. "Am I black or white, am I straight or gay? Do I believe in God?"

71. snubbing bob dylan (supposedly).

72. the second half of lady cab driver.

The first line of "Sometimes It Rains In April", which those weird vocal harmonies and all.

(73)

73."oh she's a motherfucker motherfucke can't you understand"

74."the clothes were wet they came off but she did'nt see the movie cos she had'nt read the book first"...

75. The Tarzan-boy screams in the middle of "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)"

76. His dumbfounded "What?" on "Love Song" after Madonna asks him in schoolgirl French, "Vous etes prete?"

i could probably hook up some small club later this week

77. "Wonderful Ass" (my favorite 'unreleased' track of his)

78. "Power Fantastic"

i could probably hook up some small club later this week

Sorry to hijack the thread but I've heard that Prince is one of the world's most diligent collectors of Prince bootlegs. Has he or any of his underlings acknowledged this?

79. "Back off the mics children..." (Sign o' the Times movie)

80. The piano medley from Lovesexy '88 tour (stil un available on dvd)

Did someone already say his guitar solo at the Superbowl?

81. The sustained vocal climax of "The Beautiful Ones", which is so intense that I can't stand to hear it with anyone else in the same room as me.

82. The shimmery brass, strings, and mellotron wrapped around Lisa Coleman's (or is it Wendy?) vocal in "I Wonder U," and the rhythm guitar coda.

Incidentally, "Alphabet Street" is still the best thing he's ever done, IMO.

-- Alex in NYC, Monday, 26 November 2007 12:01 (3 hours ago) Link

It would be top 5 easy if it ended where the video ended.

83. OH MOTHERFUCKER SHE'S A MOTHERFUCKER CAN'T U UNDERSTAND

84. that solo during the while my guitar gently weeps beatles tribute when tom petty and those guys looked upset while prince killed it.

83 is hereby DENIED because it has already been mentioned. Whiney, take another shot.

It would be top 5 easy if it ended where the video ended.

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 26 November 2007 16:01 (5 hours ago) Link

You are not sane! The coda is 87 types of excellent.

83. When "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" finished and my mom, with her jaw on the floor asked, "Who is SHE? THAT was AMAZING!"

85. Me and Lucy opened it when Cynthia wasn't around/ Lucy cried, I almost died/ You know what we found

83. When "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" finished and my mom, with her jaw on the floor asked, "Who is SHE? THAT was AMAZING!"

The winner!

86. "If he poured his heart into a glass/And offered it like wineShe could drink and be back in time for the morning papers" -- cf "The Morning Papers." I don't know why the hell this song doesn't get much love.

87. "The reason Michael Jackson called his album BAD, is because PITIFUL wouldn't fit on the record sleeve."

88. "God".... IT'S FUCKING AMBIENT, you know.

89. - "That's not Lake Minnetonka"

90. That scream at the end of "Endorphin Machine."

91. The slow buildup of layers at the beginning of "Erotic City"
92. "Erotic City" getting played on the radio with the word "fuck" intact (I know, I know. Bullshit.)

93. "Love...Thy Will Be Done", specifically the part between 2:45 and 3:08

It would be top 5 easy if it ended where the video ended.

-- Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, 26 November 2007 16:01 (5 hours ago) Link

You are not sane! The coda is 87 types of excellent.

-- The Reverend, Monday, November 26, 2007 9:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

And 400 types of "CAT! WE NEED U 2 RAP!"

But we did need Cat to rap!

lady...cab driver.....forgive me if I go too fast

Dan OTM

I love this thread and I love every comment on it.

94. The voice he says "Dad, Dad!" in before the dad slaps the shit out of Prince in Purple Rain

95. This thread.

96. From "We Can Funk":

U got electric ass baby
U got electric thighs baby
I can't wait no longer child
It's getting stronger, babe
open up your eyes

97. Getting that girl to strip naked and get in the lake, then riding off with her clothes. That should really be #1 on this list.

Oh I see #89 kinda beat me to it. Good call.

98. Firing Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis from the time because they got stuck in a blizzard.

99. Bullshit!

100. the song about incest

101. the fact that "Sister" has at least three slots on this list

102. Forced WB to convert "Under the Cherry Moon" from color to b/w which cost mad $$$ and leaves hilarious things like "should I wear the red suit, or the blue?"

103. Same movie catchphrase: "Party poop!" Could. not. believe.

104. And this is 4 whoever taught U how 2 kiss in designer jeans
That 1's 4-- That 1's 4-- 4 U have 2 live

105. The whole 'eye,' U, 4, 2 thing

106. Fucking GUITAR in America & the lyrics too, "Now Jimmy lives on a mushroom cloud!"

107. His dialogue w/God @ the end of temptation

108. Synths & flutes in "Soft & Wet," esp in the break

annie christian (which I'm sure is already on here)

109. "Is the water ready?" "Yes Lisa."

110. Another from Under the Cherry Moon: Prince ruins posh party by dancing on table!

111. "Girl what do you say? Well is it meeeeee of Morris Day?"

of OR

112. When Prince releases an album as magnificent as Diamond Dogs, I'll consider it, but until then, Prince isn't worthy to scrape the dung off of Bowie's shoes.

-- Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, January 12, 2005 5:58 AM (Wednesday, January 12, 2005 5:58 AM) Bookmark Link

Upon review, my answer reeks of self-parody.

-- Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6:14 AM (Wednesday, January 12, 2005 6:14 AM) Bookmark Link

(Ah, scratch that. That's a great Alex in NYC moment, not a great Prince moment.)

112. IIIiii...think I wanna dance

Pussy control

113. "Animals strike curious poses/they feel the heat/the heat between me and U" (wtf? In fact most of the lyrics to When Doves Cry are majorly WTF)

114. [boxing-match bell rings] ["Pop Life" resumes]

"Lolita" at american idol

99. "Bullshit!"

-- The Reverend, Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:27 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

O(+>TM

116. The way the 12-inch of "Thieves in the Temple" goes from heartbreak to this insistent chant of "Who got the party who got the party whooo?"

117. Doing that whole "Sorry about the Black Album, my evil alter-ego Spooky Electric took me over" thing - to the extent that his "true" followers were boasting in fanmags about destroying their bootleg copies in solidarity with his plight - and then, ah f**k it what the hell, performing "Bob George" every night of the 1988 Lovesexy tour.

118. Doing an entire live interview on British TV with a veil over his face, communicating solely by whispering his answers into Mayte's ear.

119. That little "Don't thank me, thank Him" sequence which he used to deflect applause:

1. Points at self.
2. Shakes head, makes rubbing out motions with hands.
3. Points heavenwards, nods head.

The guitar/strings dialogue that dominates the last two minutes of "Pink Cashmere".

(120.)

121. The purely inhuman shriek at the beginning "Gett Off" (club mix!!)

116. The way the 12-inch of "Thieves in the Temple" goes from heartbreak to this insistent chant of "Who got the party who got the party whooo?"

-- If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Tuesday, 27 November 2007 07:12 (5 hours ago)

This never fails to crack me up. I play this remix just to get to that chant.

122. Boo!

123. "I'm so cold..." in "Do Me, Baby"

ahem
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6pqd6t

beautiful piano version of the Computer Blue guitar solo in Purple Rain

"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World"

124. His parts in Vanity 6's "If A Girl Answers"

125. 23 positions in a one night stand

125b. only call ya after if you say i can

126. When the drums kick in on "The Cross"

127. "a love bizarre"

128. hearing the 12 inch of "america" at a notorious underground location on a freezing cold night in chicago and watching the place go completely crazy.

btw that link i posted is for just my imagination

Jordan thanks for the link

129.Those water drums on "Crazy You"

"Hello, Mr. George? This is your conscience, motherfucker."

130.Like every album track,b side and bootleg between 1978-1989

*HCKKH* Yes, we're certain of it. *HCKKH* He's definitely masturbatin.

-ing

132. There's joy in repetition... joy in repetition... joy in repetition... joy in repetition...

84. that solo during the while my guitar gently weeps beatles tribute when tom petty and those guys looked upset while prince killed it.

133. Subsequently claiming he'd never heard "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" before.

The glorious Beatlesque chorus of "Paisley Park Is In Your" proving he could do psychedelic pop as great as any white Englishman did almost 20 years earlier.

(134 that is)

Replacement 134: The way "Play In the Sunshine" just keeps on stubbornly morphing into something else

135. Charlie Murphy and the Prince basketball/pancakes story:

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OK, that didn't work. Linked version:

135. Charlie Murphy and the Prince basketball/pancakes story

It's not it in the clip, but, if I recall correctly, Prince proceeded to cook pancakes for everybody after the game.

136. That's when I saw her/ ooooooooOOH, I saw her/ She walked in through the 'out' door

137. The way "Joy in Repetition" moves from irresolution, stasis, to RESOLUTION (care of that guitar solo).

138. Pre-"Under The Cherry Moon" promo interview on MTV. Dressed in gold, sitting in an armchair surrounded by silent teens. Choice quote (from memory): "I'm just like everyone. I need water. (PAUSE) And love." I miss the weird, mysterious Prince.

the muttered "and u think u got it bad" reality check before the final chorus of "Money Don't Matter 2Night."

139. MARCH 20--Claiming that his $70,000-a-month tenant Prince undertook an extremely tacky makeover of his Los Angeles mansion, an NBA star recently sued the mercurial singer over the purple-hued alterations. In a January complaint, Carlos Boozer, a forward with the Utah Jazz, sued Prince/MPG Music over unauthorized work done on the 10-bedroom, 11-bath West Hollywood property, which is owned by the C Booz Multifamily I LLC. According to the lawsuit, Prince/MPG Music violated its eight-month lease by "painting the exterior of the [house] with purple striping, 'prince' symbol, and numbers 3121." Prince's new album, "3121," is scheduled for release tomorrow. Inside the home, among other renovations, a purple monogrammed carpet was installed in the master bedroom and plumbing and piping was added in the downstairs bedroom "for water transfer for beauty salon chairs." As part of a promotion, Prince is expected to hold a private concert at the Hollywood property--which recently was listed for sale at $11.9 million--for album purchasers who find a Wonkaesque "purple ticket" inside their CD cases. The Boozer corporation filed its lawsuit two months after hand-delivering a "three-day notice to cure or quit" to the Sierra Alta Way property (which can be seen in the aerial photo above). Responding to the lawsuit, Prince's counsel denied the owner's allegations, adding that rent was accepted for December and January "without objection." In mid-February, a month after the complaint was filed, an attorney for the Boozer company sought the suit's dismissal, a request the court approved. Since the dismissal was granted "without prejudice," the landlord has the ability to file another suit on the same claims. The Prince/MPG Music lease, which ends May 31, stipulates that all parties involved in the rental agree to sign a confidentiality agreement about the deal. It also states that the tenant may cancel the lease with 45 days notice "should the weather conditions of the Los Angeles rainy season...prohibit enjoyment of the property." (6 pages)

140. "we'll imagine what silence..........looks like"

141.
Silly, no? When a rocketship explodes
And everybody still wants 2 fly
Some say a man ain't happy, truly
Until a man truly dies
Oh why, oh why?
Sign of the times.

142. The Lord-praising message sung in reverse at the end of Darling Nikki

143. Keyboard riff on "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man"

144. '...then left him for a REAL prince, from Arabia'

155. playing "1999" at midnite on newyears eve 98, 99 0r any fucking year ever

84. that solo during the while my guitar gently weeps beatles tribute when tom petty and those guys looked upset while prince killed it.

133. Subsequently claiming he'd never heard "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" before.

haha, that's great.

156. Spending the first three minutes of that performance all low-key doing nothing, like that white-suited yakuza in the fight with the mob in the simpsons episode, then, after spending the next three killing it, he takes his guitar off, throws up it in the air and walks off, and the guitar doesn't appear to come down.

158. "Yo, while me and Q-tip were performing 'Vivrant Thing' in Vegas last night...this n--a Prince walked out on the stage, took the guitar from our guitar player and just started rocking! None of us knew he was there until he popped up on the stage...then the n--a vanished like Batman, LOL!" - DJ Scratch to MissInfo last November.

Complex arithmetic fail, that's 157.

158. Getting his online fans all riled up due to ridiculous copyright claims, then releasing a free download single ("PFUnk") as a response to their complaints.

1. I'm not saying this just 2 B nasty, but I sincerely want 2 fuck the taste out of your mouth. Can U relate?

― The Reverend, Sunday, November 25, 2007 10:01 PM Bookmark

whatever happened to subroc? he was a good poster

159. The clothes he's wearing in the "Mountains" video; only Prince can look cool in that outfit.

160. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHaFj7gOWh4

i'd say right about 4:10 is the peak

161. "The reason that you're cool is that you're from the old school, and they know it."

162. that Prince is his actual birth name (Prince Rogers Nelson)

163. never seen a pretty girl look so tough

164. "When you were mine" keyboard solo

Surely there must be more than 164? :P

165. 'Gustav Mahler #3 jammin on the box'

164. "When you were mine" keyboard solo

166. Tamboura drones on 'strange relationship'