Prince "Sexy MF" C/D

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I heard this in a bar ( Well walking outside the bar ) Wonder how this vulgar thing got out of the studio and on radio in 1992?

startrekman, Friday, 9 September 2005 01:32 (eighteen years ago) link

This is the last classic thing that Prince did...

Scott Warner (thream), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:29 (eighteen years ago) link

and one of the most classic things.

renegade bus (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Actually, mostly dud. The first thing that Prince did that I considered deeply disappointing because it relied on a derivative horn line and lyrical shock value.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:35 (eighteen years ago) link

oh I think Prince was relying on lyrical shock value WAY before this song. "Head", "Sister", "Darling Nikki", "Erotic City"...

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:49 (eighteen years ago) link

The exception being in every case you've cited that the music didn't suck.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:54 (eighteen years ago) link

I also think that there's a freshness to songs like "Erotic City" and "Head" that just isn't there with "Sexy M.F."

Of course, "Sexy M.F." still blows 99% of today's R&B or hip hop out of the water.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:55 (eighteen years ago) link

OK, how about this:

DUD, when compared to everything else Prince has done.

CLASSIC, when compared to just about everything else.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 02:56 (eighteen years ago) link

The unhinged nastiness is only part of what makes this super-classic, but I don't think it necessarily *relies* on shock value -- "Sexy Motherfucker" is a nicely euphonious phrase, but it's basically an instrumental showcase for the NPG, with Michael Bland working it hard. I treasure every "Motherfucker" now, 'cause your boy is unlikely to get this naughty again.

I don't remember hearing it on the radio, but there was that "Sexy Mother..." edit. I think maybe they did it that way on the Arsenio Hall show.

brianiac (briania), Friday, 9 September 2005 03:01 (eighteen years ago) link

You're right about the unlikelihood of such naughtiness happening again (and that's truly sad) but IMHO that's not really an effective argument for the track's classic-ness. I'm more of a "Lovesexy/Black Album" Prince fan personally. The NPG always struck me as a Madhouse that tried too hard to emphasize it's blackness - kind of like Christopher Tracy in "Under The Cherry Moon" with his "Wrecka Stow" joke. Forced.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 03:12 (eighteen years ago) link

It's not my favorite Prince single from the period; I prefer "Cream" or "The Morning Papers" or "Money Don't Matter 2 Nite." But I won't change it.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 9 September 2005 05:19 (eighteen years ago) link

shakin' that ass, shakin' that ass

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 9 September 2005 05:25 (eighteen years ago) link

Of course, "Sexy M.F." still blows 99% of today's R&B or hip hop out of the water.

hahaha

minna (minna), Friday, 9 September 2005 05:49 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm more for "Sexy Dancer"

Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 9 September 2005 06:04 (eighteen years ago) link

i still like "gett off" the best.

renegade bus (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 9 September 2005 06:59 (eighteen years ago) link

big DUD
no melody, that slurred half rapping thing doesnt suit prince well, and the lyrics are kinda rub
the swearing for the sake of shocking thing hasnt aged well either
plus, its too JB-derivative musically

okok, Friday, 9 September 2005 10:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Yo man
What?
She came
Where?
There!
Oh!
In a word or 2 - it’s u I wanna do
No not cha body, yo mind u fool

Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker

We’re all alone in a villa on the rivera
That’s in france on the south side
In case u cared
Out of all yo friends I wanna be the closest
That’s why I tell u things
So u’ll be the mostest
When it comes 2 life, 2 be this man’s wife
U got 2 be well educated on the subject of fights
I mean prevention of
In other words - it’s r.e.a.l meaning of this thing called love
Are u up on this?
If so, then u can get up off hug and a kiss

Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker

Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker

We need 2 talk about things
Tell me what cha do, tell me what cha eat
I might cook 4 u
See it really don’t matter cuz it’s all about me and u
Ain’t no one else around
I’m even with the blindfold, gagged and bound
I don’t mind
See this ain’t about sex
It’s all about love being in charge of this life
And the next...
Why all the cosmic talk?
I just want u smarter than I’ll ever be
When we take that walk

Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker
Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker

Horns stand please...

I like it, I like it

U seem perplexed I haven’t taken u yet
Can’t u see I’m harder than a man can get
I got wet dreams comin’ out of my ears
I get hard if the wind blows your cologne near me
But I can take it, cuz I want the whole nine
This ain’t about the body, it’s about the mind

Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker
Come here baby, yeah
U sexy motherfucker

Tommy barbarella in the house
Scrub the dishes

Come here tommy, yeah

Sexy, sexy, sexy, sexy

Levi, levi, fly

[ooh man, let’s give ’em some more good shit]

I like it, I like it

Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass
Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass

Guard your folks and get your daughter
(sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass)
The sexy motherfucker’s so fine I could drink her bathwater
A long, leggy 5’8
(sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass)
Packing an ass as tight as a grape
I want to spit some game but I said to myself
Hmmm...just conversate (yeah!)
(sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass)
Cuz I’m usually quite the calm one (come on!)
You never found me out prowling boy
I’m just havin’ fun
(sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass)
But I’m happy 2 change my state of mind for this behind
I bet that if you threw that ass into the air it would turn into sunshine

Sexy motherfucker
That would make shakin’ that ass
4 one sexy motherfucker shakin’ this place shakin’ that ass
Shakin’ that ass
Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass
Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass
Sexy motherfucker shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass, shakin’ that ass

U sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker

U sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker
Sexy motherfucker

The Ghost of UNHINGED NASTINESS, OH NOES (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 10:56 (eighteen years ago) link

"Scrub the dishes"

filth!

N_RQ, Friday, 9 September 2005 10:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Isn't a long leggy 5'8" a little bit... oh it's too easy.

maria b (maria b), Friday, 9 September 2005 11:59 (eighteen years ago) link

I like this song a lot, mostly because of the big-band vocal harmonies at the end. They put the "rude" in Rudy Vallee!

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:16 (eighteen years ago) link

The song is great and, given a large segment of Prince's catalogue (off the top of my head: "Soft and Wet", "Head", "Lady Cab Driver", "International Lover", "Do Me, Baby", "Jack U Off", "Tamborine", "Darling Nikki", "Erotic City", "Gett Off", "If I Was Your Girlfriend", "Sexuality", "Little Red Corvette", "Raspberry Beret", "Delerious"), I think the only reason why it gets singled out for crassness is because it repeats the word "motherfucker" a lot. Hating on Prince for doing a JB pastiche misses the point of approximately 90% of his career and appeal.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:30 (eighteen years ago) link

the verses are so retarded-brilliant, and then the "shakin that ass" part pushes the song into just brilliant. CLASSIC.

this entire album is entirely unlistenable by all objective aesthetic criteria i can imagine, but theres something great about it. "3 chains o'gold?" how could i love that? i mean, i do.

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:38 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha yeah, that album is like a gigantic shambling mess that falls together in an unsteady heap that by some quirk of chaos theory winds up being absolutely BRILLIANT.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:41 (eighteen years ago) link

I was 14 when I first heard this song, it was actually one of the first Prince songs I heard beyond the Big Radio Hits ("...Doves Cry", "Little Red Corvette", etc). At the time I couldn't believe someone could actually record songs like this, I was floored. CLASSIC.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:45 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost - the only other blatant JB pastiche prince has done is 'the work' from the rainbow children. everyone always talks about the infleunce of jb on prince, and while its obviously there in the choppy rhythm guitar parts, the tightness of band, the showmanship, its often overstated. jb never wore assless trousers, or talked about other men having an ass like his, or wrote songs about incest.

the symbol album is a complete mess. the rapping alone all over it makes it a bit embarassing

okoko, Friday, 9 September 2005 12:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Have you ever seen Prince in concert? The man's entire stage show is an homage to James Brown.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:48 (eighteen years ago) link

Plus his entire conception of groove-working and band control can be traced directly back to the school of musicianship that spawned James Brown. The fact that the subject matter isn't identical has absolutely no bearing on JB's influence on Prince's music.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:53 (eighteen years ago) link

okoko, just listen to "3 chains o'gold", and tell me your life isnt enriched.

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:54 (eighteen years ago) link

(I'm waiting for mark s to show up and pounce all over my invocation of the word "influence".)

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 9 September 2005 12:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha yeah, that album is like a gigantic shambling mess that falls together in an unsteady heap that by some quirk of chaos theory winds up being absolutely BRILLIANT.

-- The Ghost of Black Elegance (djperr...), September 9th, 2005.

Dan is deliciously OTM. It's still his best album of the '90s.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 9 September 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

Prince's best album, that is. I have no idea what Dan's album might sound like.

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 9 September 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

dude, dont discount the gold experience. laugh all you want, but "p control", "endorphinmachine", "billy jack bitch", "319", "gold", and shy are pretty great. i even have a soft spot for "dolphin" and "now" and "most beautiful girl...", but im not sure im prepared to fight hard for those.

the gold exp is a totally important album in my life.

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:07 (eighteen years ago) link

prince didnt really start homaging JB til the purple rain tour in baby im a star (all that 'hit me 345 times' stuff), and even then, the parade tour was when he really started drawing explicitly from JB's appoach to putting on a show. prince shares that idea of stripping arangements down, and not cluttering a record, allowing for space and separation in the mix with JB. this idea that he can be traced back to the school of musicianship that bore JB is true, but there were other musicians that prince borrows from just as much who came after JB. sly stone for one. and theres a million artists who 'can be traced directly back to the school of musicianship that spawned James Brown' who also influenced prince. JB was much more conservative in every way than the funk artists that came after him, and those are the guys that i think influenced prince more. rock crits like to overstate Jb's influence on prince, i find, simply cos they dont know or care much about what happened and JB is just that much more famous.

okokok, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:20 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost, i think dan's symbol album was his best album of the 90s and trumped princes symbol album in the 90s. LOL@pussy control - one of princes all time worst!

okokok, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:28 (eighteen years ago) link

JB was much more conservative in every way than the funk artists that came after him

this is a good argument until one actually thinks about it, at which point it falls apart like well-cooked flesh. james brown upended the american notion of popular song and made rhythm more important than melody! who did anything more radical than that?

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:35 (eighteen years ago) link

thats absolutely right, but compared to the funk artists that came after him, with their musicanly indulgence and emphasis on stretching out a la rock but in a funk context, JB looked pretty outmoded in the early-mid 70s.

kokoko, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:38 (eighteen years ago) link

not to george clinton or sly stone themselves! they always admitted that they were riffing on the JB paradigm. and if 'the payback' and 'hell' are outmoded, then outmoded is the new kick-ass.

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:40 (eighteen years ago) link

well maybe not 'hell,' that's got a pretty hilarious side 3

The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:41 (eighteen years ago) link

the payback saved JB, but after that, it was back to being outmoded and looking a little old fashioned. JB didnt like the people that came after him in any case. he hated earth wind and fire (this might just be cos he felt threatened of course).

sly and george built on the JB paradigm but they took it somewhere else entirely, where JB himself did NOT want to go. JB wasnt into sounding spacey, drugged out, or freaky on record, much less looking that way, he was of the previous generation.

okokok, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:43 (eighteen years ago) link

ok, have you ever heard "get up, get into it, and get involved?" also, "pussy control" is CLASSIC.

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:45 (eighteen years ago) link

("GUGIIAGI" is by JB)

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:46 (eighteen years ago) link

yes i know who taht song is by. of course i have heard it! get up get into it is one of the hardest, funkiest, most stomping, hardcore funk tracks ever! one of JB's all time best.

ookokok, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:47 (eighteen years ago) link

So how do you pronounce Gugiiagi anyway?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:48 (eighteen years ago) link

its like that film gigli

okok, Friday, 9 September 2005 14:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Gobble gobble.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:50 (eighteen years ago) link

if youve heard that, then how could you say "JB looked pretty outmoded in the early-mid 70s?"

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 14:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Maria is OTM.. one of Prince's more disappointing singles up until then compared to his own previous work, but compared to everyone else probably classic.

If you could edit out Tony M that would be his best post 80s album, a lot of bangers on there.. Morning Papers, God Created Woman, 7, Love to the 9s (minus woeful rap interlude)

Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Friday, 9 September 2005 15:13 (eighteen years ago) link

Who cares if JB sounded "outmoded"? That's not his fault.

Actually, I think I'll add to "Pussy Control" and "Endorphinmachine" to my list of 90's Prince songs I prefer to "Sexy MF."

Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Friday, 9 September 2005 15:18 (eighteen years ago) link

7 is pretty good, but those others are terrible, jay! 3 chains o' gold!!!

petesmith (plsmith), Friday, 9 September 2005 15:18 (eighteen years ago) link

People actually like "7"? Wow.

The best of all of Prince's JB rips, of course, is "Housequake."

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Friday, 9 September 2005 15:20 (eighteen years ago) link

well he does look out of place, mainly because he looks like such a nob, trying to showboat and show off like HEs the star. he looks quite out of it actually. MJ played it cool, prince was either so nervous he acted like an arse or he was simply so arrogant he didnt care either way. still, the guitar line he came up with was really funky. i was half expecting him to charge into a wanky solo but somehow he kept himself totally in the pocket. not for as long as i would have liked though.

okok, Friday, 9 September 2005 18:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah he looks out of place for sure, seemed like he felt shy about being up there and compensated by getting weird.. it's a trip to see him looking like an awkward, bashful kid on stage, after so many years of seeing grown man prince in concert..

Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Friday, 9 September 2005 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link

these days, he kinda overdoes the 'im a grown man' angle. give me snotty juvenille prince any day!

okok, Friday, 9 September 2005 18:16 (eighteen years ago) link

thinking about it more, okok is probably right in terms of overt JB homagery. I was thinking about his stagecraft, but early on it's a lot more P-Funk than JB.

Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 9 September 2005 19:37 (eighteen years ago) link

MJ Prince and James Brown?!? wtf I have never heard of this. where is this footage.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 September 2005 22:11 (eighteen years ago) link

You should be able to find it on most p2ps - and I'd say it's fairly embarrasing -when he leans down towards the crowd you can clearly see some kind of mental breakdown/panic attack. And that's not including his embarraing arrival (like a little girl being carried by her father), and departure (it's the way JB just makes a quick check before getting back to the show). Hopefully that doesn't give too much away - it's definetly worth tracking down.

Jedmond (Jedmond), Friday, 9 September 2005 22:21 (eighteen years ago) link

so this was at some James Brown concert...? what were the circumstances, etc. I mean, it seems unusual that all three would be in the same place at the same time, something I would normally only expect to see at an awards show or something. this was early 80s, I'm guessin...?

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 September 2005 22:22 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm not sure, but guessing by appearance I would say 82-3. James Brown has heard MJ is in the crowd, and calls out to him. MJ appears, does a couple of tricks and whispers to JB and then retreats off the stage. JB then steps forward and tells the crowd that MJ has just informed him that Prince is in the house - he and the crowd start chanting for Prince - who after a while appears in some sort of gladitorial gear - stripped down to the waist except for some shoulder protection. - and seriously just look for it, when I first heard of it, I just typed the words "jackson" and "prince" into Kazaa (it was a while ago) and it came up almost instantly.

Jedmond (Jedmond), Friday, 9 September 2005 23:18 (eighteen years ago) link

oh damn i forgot his piggyback entrance.. nevermind i guess it was pretty embarrassing, ha.

I can put it up in yousendit or something, if it's not around in Soulseek et al

Jay Smooth (jsmooth995), Friday, 9 September 2005 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link

I love how this incident is viewed (by some Prince fams) not only as the incident which spurred him on to outdoing JB (and MJ), but also the reason for his puritanical views on drinking and drugs (due to the belief he had to utterly drug addled for that incident to occur).

Jedmond (Jedmond), Saturday, 10 September 2005 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link

YSI!

kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 10 September 2005 00:54 (eighteen years ago) link

jedmond, please dont EVER call prince fans FAMS. please, dont do it.

xpost - HAHA, i forgot the piggyback entrance!

okok, Saturday, 10 September 2005 08:17 (eighteen years ago) link

I love that vid clip! It makes Chick Corea look like a total bitch for one, which is funnier after you consider the badass-levels he displays in Purple Rain.

Drowning Man (Barima), Saturday, 10 September 2005 17:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Song is OK, but the longform video for this is silly fun. Prince in his wannabe-gangsta phase with a dorky entourage. Then there's the poolside video of Prince in his Speedo with said dorky cronies roller skating around him!

I love "The Morning Papers" on that Symbol album.

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Saturday, 10 September 2005 18:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Trust me I think it's fairly safe to refer to the Prince fans (who were discussing the video's implications) as fams - if only because they themselves are sad enough to refer to themselves as fams. + If I can imagine you buying an official NPG t-shirt, then I reserve the right to refer to you as a fam.

Jedmond (Jedmond), Sunday, 11 September 2005 01:47 (eighteen years ago) link

I think "Sexy MF" is a pretty good song, but I woulda liked it more if it were a bit shorter. To me, those JB-style dropouts (or whatever you call em) begin to lose their impact when they're repeated a dozen-or-so times in a song. Singles-wise, I prefer "Gett Off" - in fact, Diamonds & Pearls may be my favourite Prince LP of the era. Tho I'm admittedly only a moderate fan - of his '90s output, I've only heard 6 and currently own just 4. (Or 7 and 5 respectively, counting the black album.)

Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 11 September 2005 06:15 (eighteen years ago) link

"they themselves are sad enough to refer to themselves as fams"

i see your point.

xxpost - prince's bodyguard isnt the jazz musician chick corea, its chick er, huntsbury?

okok, Sunday, 11 September 2005 08:54 (eighteen years ago) link

ten years pass...

Classic! Granted, it's not the most accomplished thing Prince ever did, but total fun.

WHERE'S JIM!? (Turrican), Saturday, 23 April 2016 19:54 (eight years ago) link

fun but a dud really.
also i hate that prince is so famous for this song.
its prince reduced to a silly punchline.
also the beginning of his increasingly worse JB pastiches.

StillAdvance, Sunday, 24 April 2016 19:10 (eight years ago) link

ayo turrican not that I'm mad but are you going to answer every prince thread on ilm

HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Sunday, 24 April 2016 19:36 (eight years ago) link

SCRUB THE DISHES!

WHERE'S JIM!? (Turrican), Sunday, 24 April 2016 19:46 (eight years ago) link

Eye seem 2 remember there was a censored version 'o' this which replaced the expletives in the song with a sample 'o' Prince doing a high-pitched "aaaaawwwaa!" or something. Eye remember it sounding quite comical.

2rrican (Turrican), Thursday, 28 April 2016 00:16 (seven years ago) link

This tune bangs in the club.

Tim F, Thursday, 28 April 2016 01:29 (seven years ago) link

this is played in clubs?

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 April 2016 01:44 (seven years ago) link

I've heard it several times. The drum line (which feels like it's constantly running slightly ahead of itself) always sounds amazing in that context.

Tim F, Thursday, 28 April 2016 02:11 (seven years ago) link

yeah i think someone was dissing the npg drummer in one of the other threads and I immediately thought "but the drums in sexy mf are tight as hell"

HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Thursday, 28 April 2016 02:16 (seven years ago) link

most striking element no question

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 28 April 2016 02:20 (seven years ago) link

this is maybe my favourite Prince song.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Thursday, 28 April 2016 08:48 (seven years ago) link

Eye seem 2 remember there was a censored version 'o' this which replaced the expletives in the song with a sample 'o' Prince doing a high-pitched "aaaaawwwaa!" or something. Eye remember it sounding quite comical.

I have this on single with the "clean" radio edit, and Prince's "you sexy motherwowwaa!" does indeed sound pretty funny. IIRC this was also the version MTV played? I remember laughing to it with my friends back in 1992...

Tuomas, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:00 (seven years ago) link

It's kind of an 'ew!' thing. It's the first version I heard because that's what they played on UK radio when it came out.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:09 (seven years ago) link

FWIW I played this out on Friday night and it did indeed bang.

TARANTINO! (dog latin), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:10 (seven years ago) link

Also, you can add my voice to praises for Michael Bland, NPG's drummer. Those two albums have the funkiest drums of any Prince albums, if we're talking about traditional drumming skills. I still prefer the 80s drum machines, though. (And Sheila E. is obviously good too, but in a more idiosyncratic way than Bland.)

Tuomas, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:17 (seven years ago) link

And I love the fact that the also-supremely-funky organ on this tune is plaid by a guy who, at the time, looked like this:

http://members.toast.net/talien/gallery/reign/tommyb.gif

Tuomas, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:21 (seven years ago) link

Tony Barbarella in the house.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:25 (seven years ago) link

Who's that

Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:26 (seven years ago) link

That's the Trent Reznor "before" yearbook picture.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 13:36 (seven years ago) link

I never set eyes on Prince but the closest I came was seeing Michael Bland working the fuck out of a drum kit in a music store in Minneapolis before he started working with Prince.

scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 14:34 (seven years ago) link

bland's work on "love 2 the 9's" is exquisite

HYPERLINK TO RAP GENIUS (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 14:48 (seven years ago) link

Food for thought: both Bland and Bowie's longstanding drummer Sterling Campbell served time in Soul Asylum.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 14:54 (seven years ago) link

The times I saw Michael Bland play for Soul Asylum, they were so great - throw Tommy up there on bass and it was like a whole new band.

BlackIronPrison, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 14:56 (seven years ago) link

Michael Bland apparently a big XTC fan, too — he lobbied to play on "Apple Venus."

goodoldneon, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:27 (seven years ago) link

Really? I didn't know that!

Turrican, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:42 (seven years ago) link

Uh I was asking tuomas actually

Daithi Bowsie (darraghmac), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:52 (seven years ago) link

Bland joining Prince is possibly the exact moment his output started to suffer imo. surprised at the love here.

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:56 (seven years ago) link

Not blands fault in any way

scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:56 (seven years ago) link

yeah, probably not to any significant degree. but as noted on some other Prince thread, 1990 feels like the first time Prince is backed up by, like, a normal, modern R&B band and some of his production idiosyncrasies/techniques start to suffer, and Bland's heavy-footedness is part of that sort of conventional sound creeping in.

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 17:58 (seven years ago) link

Bland is an excellent drummer and the best NPG member. Shakey's right about Prince's gradual decline, but Bland anchored the best of it.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 18:02 (seven years ago) link

best NPG member.

is faint praise

Οὖτις, Tuesday, 3 May 2016 18:08 (seven years ago) link

he'd have been a good drummer in any band.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 3 May 2016 18:11 (seven years ago) link

I find the whole NPG era (or what I think of as the NPG era...those first few records in the 90s) to be kind of fascinating in that while they def. lose some (even a lot) of the edge that made Prince unique, they so clearly are what he imagined would appeal to a black audience at the time – featuring Bland and Seacer's heavily syncopated grooves, Gaines' Aretha-esque wailing vocals, Barbarella's super funky organ parts, and, of course, Tony M rapping (and the dancers). It was like he was trying to put together his own Muscle Shoals All Stars in some 90s context. As a whole, it doesn't really work but in the instances when it does—mostly singles like "Get Off," "D&P," "7," this song—the results tended to be as weird and outrageous as anything in the guy's catalogue.

On another note, I played this song for my 8 year old the other day. I'm probably a horrible parent for doing it but I really wanted her to understand why her mom and I loved this Prince guy so much (it also provided a nice opportunity to let her know that some people use words to get a rise out of folks). Interestingly, her semi-embarrassed giggle was pretty much identical to the reaction everyone I knew had when it came out during college. I'm probably going to Hell.

Naive Teen Idol, Wednesday, 4 May 2016 04:09 (seven years ago) link


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