Prince's Best #2 U.S. and UK Single

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https://i.imgur.com/1gLKKZ2.jpeg

These songs peaked at #2 in the US and UK.

Poll Results

OptionVotes
Little Red Corvette 20
Raspberry Beret 17
1999 14
U Got the Look 11
Purple Rain 9
Batdance 4


hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 13:36 (three months ago)

Oooh, I'll take part in this 'un. Prince novice. I've heard Sign o' the Times once and that's all she wrote.

TheNuNuNu, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 13:44 (three months ago)

Batdance was a U.S. #1 wasn't it? Not that I'd vote for it in this company.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 13:44 (three months ago)

"Batdance" sounds fabulous these days. He took this collage of samples, shred guitar loops, and movie quotes to #1?!

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 13:52 (three months ago)

I'd rank em:

Little Red Corvette
Raspberry Beret
U Got the Look
1999
Purple Rain
Batdance

The Batman album has richer material than "Batdance."

cryptosicko, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 14:23 (three months ago)

I never wanna hear "1999" again tbh

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 14:28 (three months ago)

I never need to hear the single version again. The album version is still exhilarating.

cryptosicko, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 14:34 (three months ago)

The 12" mix of 'Batdance' just seemed like the greatest thing ever to me in Summer '89

Little Red Corvette
Purple Rain
Raspberry Beret

would-be impossible choice but the enormity of Purple Rain just clinches it

nashwan, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 15:38 (three months ago)

don't want to overthink: it's little red corvette

gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 15:40 (three months ago)

Due to being wrong I have likely listened to Batdance more times than the other five put together - did Prince ever say himself that it was a homage to Todd Terry, as I have seen written in passing before?

you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 20:01 (three months ago)

UK record it reminds me most of is Meat Beat Manifesto's "Cutman" - dunno if this was my own observation or if I've knicked it off someone else (if so sorry). It's the way it keeps restarting with new tempos and beats.

you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 20:03 (three months ago)

Raspberry Beret barely over Little Red Corvette. The way his singing casually weaves on and off the beat is one of my favorite things in all of music.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 20:14 (three months ago)

Are there modern-day Prince fans that disdain "Raspberry Beret" as a compromise with rockism (or Wendy/Lisa) or is it just seen as another twist in an unpredictable career?

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 20:17 (three months ago)

Wow this is impossible? Leaning toward "U Got the Look."

Indexed, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 21:04 (three months ago)

raspberry beret 12" mix vs 1999 album version is a real fight:

raspberry beret 12" mix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vXJcdTX_CA

fpsa, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 21:40 (three months ago)

Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret and U Got The Look definitely didn’t hit #2 on release in the UK

Raspberry Beret only peaked at #25

Master of Treacle, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 21:56 (three months ago)

Are there modern-day Prince fans that disdain "Raspberry Beret" as a compromise with rockism (or Wendy/Lisa) or is it just seen as another twist in an unpredictable career?

― Halfway there but for you

What on earth

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 22:28 (three months ago)

Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret and U Got The Look definitely didn’t hit #2 on release in the UK

Raspberry Beret only peaked at #25

― Master of Treacle,

Did you see the thread title?

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 August 2025 22:29 (three months ago)

What on earth

Is it unlikely that some fans (though they might have accepted Prince's moves into power pop and hard rock) could have considered "Raspberry Beret" a step too far towards 60s rock, Rolling Stone appeal and rockist standards?

Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 22:43 (three months ago)

It was Prince's turn to record his Beatles album.

cryptosicko, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 23:25 (three months ago)

the Beatles thing is a redass herring, raspberry beret does not really sound that different from like 1999. wouldn’t these theoretical ppl have been more disturbed by the heavy rock of lets go crazy the album before??

brimstead, Wednesday, 20 August 2025 23:47 (three months ago)

huh Batdance sounds a million times better to me now than it did in 1989 or whenever

Cognosc in Tyrol (emsworth), Thursday, 21 August 2025 00:04 (three months ago)

the Beatles thing is a redass herring

Interesting that I don't think I've ever seen Around the World in a Day mentioned in the context of Forever Changes.

wouldn’t these theoretical ppl have been more disturbed by the heavy rock of lets go crazy the album before??

Maybe they were! But heavier rock had been one of Prince's tools ever since "Bambi". Supposedly his record sales dropped 50% from Prince to Dirty Mind, so there was a precedent of losing some of his audience through stylistic left turns.

Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 21 August 2025 00:12 (three months ago)

RB now and forever

assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 21 August 2025 01:35 (three months ago)

Yah good point xp

brimstead, Thursday, 21 August 2025 01:59 (three months ago)

Guess I'm surprised "U Got the Look" had that much airplay. But also surprised "Sign o the Times" peaked at #3 when it felt at the time like the album just disappeared. Only went platinum, but then same for Parade (according to wikipedia...is that right?).

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Thursday, 21 August 2025 02:32 (three months ago)

Did “I would die 4 u” reach #1?

calstars, Thursday, 21 August 2025 02:35 (three months ago)

Is it unlikely that some fans (though they might have accepted Prince's moves into power pop and hard rock) could have considered "Raspberry Beret" a step too far towards 60s rock, Rolling Stone appeal and rockist standards?

i wasn't there but i think it's incredibly unlikely that anyone rejected around the world in the day because they found its fairly vague psych-pop influence to be 'rockist' and a concerted attempt to appeal to rolling stone (who had already been reviewing prince albums favourably)

ufo, Thursday, 21 August 2025 02:59 (three months ago)

At first Prince wanted no single, but he bowed to record label panic and released "Raspberry Beret" a couple months after the album's release.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 21 August 2025 09:14 (three months ago)

for me it's u got the look > purple rain > batdance

dyl, Thursday, 21 August 2025 23:50 (three months ago)

I love all of these but I voted "Raspberry Beret" because I don't hear it as much in the wild as "1999," "Little Red Corvette" or "Purple Rain," and it always makes me happy when I do.

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Friday, 22 August 2025 00:45 (three months ago)

Interesting! I hear "Raspberry Beret" in the wild several times a month. It's "U Got the Look" I never hear.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 August 2025 00:47 (three months ago)

Yeah I don't hear that as much either, but I also rank it a bit below Raspberry Beret. (And I never hear Batdance anywhere lol, that song has been totally memory-holed.)

paper plans (tipsy mothra), Friday, 22 August 2025 00:51 (three months ago)

Did you see the thread title?

Honestly I must be missing something, still don’t get it

Master of Treacle, Friday, 22 August 2025 02:30 (three months ago)

Crazy how ridiculous “Batmania” was in 1989. The DVD dedicates a whole bonus feature to it, where everyone is buying any random crap with Batman stamped on it. Prince’s “Batdance” record is kind of an artifact in that way.

birdistheword, Friday, 22 August 2025 02:33 (three months ago)

I hear Raspberry Beret as much as Purple Rain.

Josh in Chicago, Friday, 22 August 2025 02:41 (three months ago)

Honestly I must be missing something, still don’t get it

― Master of Treacle

These singles peaked at #2 and #3 in the U.S. and UK.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 August 2025 02:50 (three months ago)

rolling stone (who had already been reviewing prince albums favourably)

In fact, the more ambitious he got, the more disappointed they were:

Prince appeared to be poised on the verge of some Great Statement -- some grand new synthesis of black and white musical forms, of sexual redefinition and spiritual devotion. He seemed, in short, to be about to put it all together. But in the wake of Purple Rain, he has drifted...Now comes Sign o' the Times, and the Great Statement remains unmade.

Halfway there but for you, Friday, 22 August 2025 02:54 (three months ago)

what a load of bullshit, as if he owed them anything

assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 22 August 2025 04:48 (three months ago)

I saw this awesome purple and black Jeep going south down I-75 today. Windows were tinted and the cover on the usual exterior mounted spare tire had a cover with a silhouette rainbow picture of Prince in shadow.

The license said REIGN23.

If I recall, Michigan plates.

Cool vehicle.

earlnash, Friday, 22 August 2025 05:09 (three months ago)

Crazy how ridiculous “Batmania” was in 1989.

"Batdance" is the only record by Prince that I've physically owned -- bought as a teenager excited for the movie.

Kim Kimberly, Friday, 22 August 2025 05:21 (three months ago)

The film of the decade! and rightly so!

you have to be avant-garde and stupid at the same (flamboyant goon tie included), Friday, 22 August 2025 05:32 (three months ago)

boy, we've got a live one here!

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 August 2025 09:17 (three months ago)

That whole bit that ends with "did i say an hour? my face is red. I stand corrected" is truly top tier pop lyric writing. Straight up magic.
U Got the Look (Long Look) on repeat.

mr.raffles, Friday, 22 August 2025 12:44 (three months ago)


Crazy how ridiculous “Batmania” was in 1989. The DVD dedicates a whole bonus feature to it, where everyone is buying any random crap with Batman stamped on it. Prince’s “Batdance” record is kind of an artifact in that way.

― birdistheword, Thursday, August 21, 2025 10:33 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I did not buy the Batman soundtrack, because I did not like Prince at the time. But I coveted the edition that came in a little metal can with the Batman logo on it, because it looked so cool. Just checked on Discogs and there are plenty for sale at reasonable prices!

peace, man, Friday, 22 August 2025 12:56 (three months ago)

Purple Rain - the song no one can cover

Minty Gum (Latham Green), Friday, 22 August 2025 13:02 (three months ago)

I did not buy the Batman soundtrack, because I did not like Prince at the time. But I coveted the edition that came in a little metal can with the Batman logo on it, because it looked so cool. Just checked on Discogs and there are plenty for sale at reasonable prices!

I suggest you either avoid an "unsealed" copy or, if you have a sealed one and it looks fine, open it asap. Someone left me an unsealed copy but over time I noticed the plastic eventually adhered to the can even though it had become dry and brittle. I couldn't remove it completely, just tear off plastic flakes, and even when I twisted the can open to get to the CD, the plastic merely broke off around the edge of the rim and otherwise stayed adhered to the can. Anyway, looks kind of gross which defeated the appeal of having a sleek-looking "Batcan."

birdistheword, Friday, 22 August 2025 22:11 (three months ago)

The Batman soundtrack is a terrifically weird collection of his murmuring "Dorothy Parker"-sequel tracks and nig things like "Electric Chair." He never did anything like opener "The Future." Recommended.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 22 August 2025 23:46 (three months ago)

"Electric Chair" is never outside of my Top 5 Prince tracks.

cryptosicko, Saturday, 23 August 2025 00:50 (three months ago)

I do like "Electric Chair" and maybe some of the pop fizz of "Trust", but I just dug out the soundtrack album and, sheesh. It's how I remembered, a bunch of offcuts and scraps with taped-on dialog, and a few limp sex jams with no heat or energy. "Batdance" might have made a good B-side in the Sign era ... actually I was going to compare it to "Shockadelica" but that song is head and shoulders better.
I'm glad P got paid, and it was a fun tie-in with the movie mania, but this isn't even in the second tier of Prince releases.

assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 23 August 2025 01:29 (three months ago)

This is Little Red Corvette but voted Purple Rain because the former will win!?!

Bee OK, Saturday, 23 August 2025 01:36 (three months ago)

The Batman soundtrack is a terrifically weird collection of his murmuring "Dorothy Parker"-sequel tracks and nig things like "Electric Chair." He never did anything like opener "The Future." Recommended.

Well that is an unfortunate typo

my favorite herbs are fennel and Drake (DJP), Saturday, 23 August 2025 03:36 (three months ago)

Wisely rejected 1988 Duran Duran LP title

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 23 August 2025 12:49 (three months ago)

That whole bit that ends with "did i say an hour? my face is red. I stand corrected" is truly top tier pop lyric writing. Straight up magic.

otm

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 23 August 2025 13:03 (three months ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Monday, 25 August 2025 00:01 (three months ago)

Crazy that next Spring will be 10 years since he passed. I'm flipping a coin between the two 1999 singles, which has been my favorite PRINCE album for a while now.

nicky lo-fi, Monday, 25 August 2025 16:24 (three months ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Tuesday, 26 August 2025 00:01 (three months ago)

Not a bad point spread.

hungover beet poo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 August 2025 00:01 (three months ago)


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