Video: Alphabet St.

1987: I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man ◄

Music Videos (Prince)

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► 1988: Glam Slam

Alphabet St.

Music Video details First aired: April 1988 (?) Producer(s): Prince, Michael Barnard Director: Patrick Epstein Related home video/DVD: The Hits Video Collection First (Commercially) Released: 14 September 1993 Awards Date Institution, Country Award 7th Annual Minnesota Black Musicians & Artists Awards, USA 1 Oct. 1988 Best Video

Alphabet St. is the twenty-eighth Prince video to have been released for broadcast. It is a very basic video which has Prince performing the song against a computer generated background of messages and letters floating around. The white Ford Thunderbird mentioned in the song (unlike the lyrics suggest actually a 1964 Thunderbird, previously owned by Prince's dad) is also featured. Of note it is the first video to show the white custom Auerswald Model C guitar. Alphabet St. is also famous for its hidden “Don’t buy The Black Album, I’m sorry” message. The decision to make a video was a spur of the moment thing, after Prince had a change of mind about not wanting do a video for the song. It was a snowy Sunday afternoon, when Prince called Alan Leeds that he wanted to do the video. Leeds searched all day and finally found local video producer Michael Barnard prepared to come and do the shoot. Sheila E. And Cat were also commissioned. Equipment was rented from a local cable tv company. The video shoot commenced at 7:00 p.m. and was shot using four cameras with 2/3" tubes, shooting on 3/4" U-matic cassettes. Shooting Information Shooting Sessions Date Location Additional info 20 March 1988 Paisley Park Studios, Chanhassen, MN, USA 21 March 1988 ?, Los Angeles, CA, USA Editing (assumed) Cast Prince Cat Sheila E. Crew Michael Barnard (production) Patrick Epstein (director, camera) Versions Released Versions Title Length Released Version Additional info Alphabet St. 2:29 The Hits Video Collection (1993) Official YouTube/Prince channel (2017) Released for sale as separate track on iTunes (2017)

Additional Information See Also Quotation & triva Alphabet St. Alphabet St. (Single) Apart from the 'Don’t buy the Black Album, I’m sorry' message the video contains several other messages, amongst them ecstasy, H is 4 punks, heaven is beautiful, God I love U, and Dance 4 the light, most of them referring to the scrapped release of the Black Album. According to Michael Barnard, Warner Bros. was not impressed with the video and dispatched Tim Clawson from Propaganda Films to come to Minneapolis to shoot additional 35mm film footage of Cat doing her rap to add to the video. Clawson and Barnard went location scouting in Minneapolis for the projected additional 35mm film shoot. But it was decided that it would not be practical to add a 35mm film section to the already shot video, and as Prince didn't really want the addition anyway, the plan was scrapped. References The Vault: The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince (2004) GIVIN it UP for ALPHABET STREET! (the video) Thread #326027 Reply #77 by Michael R. Barnard (Prince.org: 17 Dec. 2009)

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1987 I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man

Music Videos (Prince)

Music Videos (Related Artists)

1988 Glam Slam

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