Track 9: Nasty Girl
Vanity 6, Vanity 6
Prince continued his crusade unabated. Hunkering down in his basement studio, he cloistered himself in his music with Calvinist dedication. In his sleepless recording frenzies, the workaholic often outlasted three shifts of engineers. He started appearing less in public and stopped talking to the press. The media silence made his mystery to the public all the more magnetic. At the same time, he built a structure around him that would support his sacred mission. He hired a bodyguard and personal servant, a huge man named “Big Chick” Huntsberry. At 6’6” and 320 lbs., with balding, long white hair and lots of tattoos, Big Chick looked like he’d stepped out of a WWF championship ring. Beside his diminutive …show more content…
The LP was loaded with hit material, and it secured the group’s enduring popularity. Three of the album’s six songs scored well on the Black chart (including the #1 hit “777-9311”), and their success delivered a high-voltage charge to Prince’s swelling career. As with his first Time project, this latest material was almost entirely Prince. From opening drumbeat to closing synth chord, Prince was the singular artistic force driving all aspects of the Time’s new LP. This time around, however, Prince played his puppetry as more of a joke. On both What Time Is It? and Vanity 6, he played cat and mouse with a series of crediting deceptions, peppering the liner notes with bogus songwriting notations. (Another secret hit around this time was the 1983 Stevie Nicks single “Stand Back.” Although he was concealed in the credits, he dropped the synth riff that helped a decent song climb to the top of the …show more content…
Not only were the notes all his, he also directed the outfits, the dance steps, the hairdos, and even the way his protégés walked and talked. The impresario controlled every movement. The vision that seized the punk Napoleon was so self-perceived that it left little room for outside perspectives. Preparing for the Time’s first public appearances, he ran the group through long hours of performance drills, staging the choreography and arranging their instrumentals. The general let no detail fall outside his grasp, and he demanded every ounce of excellence that his subjects could muster. At times, his firm grip got painful. On the road, the Time served as Prince’s warm-up act, but when their hilariously entertaining show threatened to eclipse the boss’ own messianic spectacle, the little demagogue sometimes booted them from the billing. Strings of tension began to wind
Vanity 6, Vanity 6
Prince continued his crusade unabated. Hunkering down in his basement studio, he cloistered himself in his music with Calvinist dedication. In his sleepless recording frenzies, the workaholic often outlasted three shifts of engineers. He started appearing less in public and stopped talking to the press. The media silence made his mystery to the public all the more magnetic. At the same time, he built a structure around him that would support his sacred mission. He hired a bodyguard and personal servant, a huge man named “Big Chick” Huntsberry. At 6’6” and 320 lbs., with balding, long white hair and lots of tattoos, Big Chick looked like he’d stepped out of a WWF championship ring. Beside his diminutive …show more content…
The LP was loaded with hit material, and it secured the group’s enduring popularity. Three of the album’s six songs scored well on the Black chart (including the #1 hit “777-9311”), and their success delivered a high-voltage charge to Prince’s swelling career. As with his first Time project, this latest material was almost entirely Prince. From opening drumbeat to closing synth chord, Prince was the singular artistic force driving all aspects of the Time’s new LP. This time around, however, Prince played his puppetry as more of a joke. On both What Time Is It? and Vanity 6, he played cat and mouse with a series of crediting deceptions, peppering the liner notes with bogus songwriting notations. (Another secret hit around this time was the 1983 Stevie Nicks single “Stand Back.” Although he was concealed in the credits, he dropped the synth riff that helped a decent song climb to the top of the …show more content…
Not only were the notes all his, he also directed the outfits, the dance steps, the hairdos, and even the way his protégés walked and talked. The impresario controlled every movement. The vision that seized the punk Napoleon was so self-perceived that it left little room for outside perspectives. Preparing for the Time’s first public appearances, he ran the group through long hours of performance drills, staging the choreography and arranging their instrumentals. The general let no detail fall outside his grasp, and he demanded every ounce of excellence that his subjects could muster. At times, his firm grip got painful. On the road, the Time served as Prince’s warm-up act, but when their hilariously entertaining show threatened to eclipse the boss’ own messianic spectacle, the little demagogue sometimes booted them from the billing. Strings of tension began to wind