There is a period in your life when you're so captured in the musical moment that before you know it you've learned all the lyrics, all the guitar riffs, all the harmonies and all the choreography to every video clip during that place and time.
For me, that place and time was 1991.
13 years old and all I was consumed with was music. I had this overwhelming fascination with music that I could sing to, dance to, and lose myself in. It was about the trashy Stock Aitken & Waterman pop music. It was about the repetitive late 80's / early 90's club beats. It was about the power rock ballads still trickling into the new decade. It was totally, utterly and whole-heartedly about the music.
During that period I found Martika telling me that Love... Thy Will Be Done. Right Said Fred said I'm Too Sexy. Melissa told me to Read My Lips. Kylie Minogue was Shocked. Michael Jackson was Black (or White). And The KLF were on their Last Train to Trancentral.
But Prince & the New Power Generation. They my dear friend, were doing nothing but introducing me to Diamonds and Pearls.
I couldn't get enough of Diamonds and Pearls. Even still to this day, in my opinion, it remains one of the greatest albums of all time. Big call I know, but hey, it's my blog.
Diamonds and Pearls spent a whopping 41 weeks in the official ARIA top 50 charts in Australia, working it's way to #1 in late 1991 - Prince's first ever album to hit the top spot in Australia.
First Prince and the crew tease us with Gett Off. The video which oozes sex (obviously), introduces us to Prince's new beauties, Diamond and Pearl. The chorus kicking off with "Gett off, 23 positions in a one-night stand... gett off, I'll only call you after if you say I can..." really needs to be a line we use more often in social occurrences, don't you think?
Cream - ah, cream. "Prince...? Who's this Prince?" The almost-2-minute introduction on the video clip is hysterical. Our new friends Diamond and Pearl (and a whole lotta ladies) tell us all about how much they want more cream. Hmmm. None the less, brilliant track and definitely deserved the global success it received.
Next: Diamonds and Pearls. Bang - let's drop the power ballad now. "If I could I would give you the wooooorld." Oh, how I heart this song. He really is one of the greatest musicians of our time isn't he?
D to the I to the A to the M... O to the N to the D to the PEARLS of LOVE.
And how could I forget Money Don't Matter 2 Night? Money is one of my favourite tracks off the album, with some people comparing Prince's vocal delivery similar to that in When Doves Cry. A little bit of trivia for you - the video was directed by Spike Lee.
Although the tracks Thunder and Insatiable were also released as singles whilst the Diamonds and Pearls album was reigning the charts, they failed to make a significant impact like the above songs. If you ask me however, the whole album is simply one of the best, and will never, ever be forgotten.
Do yourself a favour - grab your hairspray, tease your fringe, grab hold of that air guitar, and belt it out like you mean it. Gett off!
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