For Thanksgiving, I dressed the fixings in purple for this week’s music video. I am referring to the great purple one himself, Prince, who in 1984 released arguably the biggest hit of his career with When Doves Cry. The spare, base-less song with the funky beat is a perfect distillation of Prince’s innovative sound and just the beginning of the influence he would wield for much of the 1980s.
When Doves Cry was the lead single from Prince’s sixth studio album Purple Rain, which also was the soundtrack to the 1984 feature film of the same name. Starring Prince, the semi-autobiographical tale interspersed with concert-style sections of his band “The Revolution” became a solid summer hit. But the success of the film’s soundtrack would overshadow the movie itself, spawning five successful singles.
The music video was directed by the purple one himself, exercising that strict artist control that would be a hallmark of his career. The video is primarily promotional, with clips from the feature film mixed with bizarre and sexy imagery that caused controversy. Particularly with Prince rising out of a bathtub, wearing only a gold cross and nothing else. The last section of the slick production is Prince and the Revolution jamming and dancing with a kaleidoscope of split mirror imagery that’s slightly LSD-inducing.
Despite the explicit nature, MTV put the video into heavy rotation. Much like Madonna and Michael Jackson, the style-conscious Prince was a natural fit for the music video format, and he would go on to create many groundbreaking clips. And he managed to create a multi-media eco-system all his own, mentoring and showcasing rising artists like Sheila E, Vanity, and even his Purple Rain co-star Apollonia Kotero. Prince also became a prolific songwriter, penning hit tunes for The Bangles (Manic Monday), Sinead O Connor (Nothing Compares to U), and Paula Abdul (U) up until his tragic death in 2016.
Check out the video below and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Prince certainly was a disrupter in the music industry. Gone way too early, he was absolutely one of the most prolific musicians I can remember. It seemed like the guy had an album out every year, always had at least one song in heavy rotation, and his popular videos were as edgy as his lyrics. And as you noted, he still had time to write hits for other artists. As much as I’ve seen it, I still get chills when I watch him perform Purple Rain live. One of the greatest performers ever.
It’s funny; while I liked many of Prince’s songs, I wasn’t a big fan. It wasn’t until after his death that I started to appreciate his musical genius and prolific output. Looking back, he created a sound and style that was uniquely his own.