Video: Money Don’t Matter 2 Night

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1991: Willing And Able Music Videos
(Prince)
Music Videos
(Related Artists)
1992: Call The Law
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night

Money Don’t Matter 2 Night music video selected snapshots

Music Video details


First aired: 14 April 1992 (both versions)
Producer(s): Robert Borm
Director: Spike Lee (Video 1) / Sotera Tschetter (Video 2)
Related home video/DVD: Diamonds And Pearls Video Collection
First (Commercially) Released: 6 October 1992

Awards


Date Institution, Country Award
This music video has not received any awards in the USA

Two videos were made for Money Don’t Matter 2 Night, the first being directed by Spike Lee, which has footage, shot in black and white, of a family trying to make ends meet. The idea of collaborating on a video with Spike Lee first took root when the director visited the set of Graffiti Bridge. A year later, Prince played him the Diamonds And Pearls album he was working on and asked Lee to pick the song he wanted to direct. The choice fell on Money Don’t Matter 2 Night. He began working on the video just before embarking on the filming of Malcolm X. Prince did not want to appear in the video. Of note, George T. Odom, who plays the main role in Money Don’t Matter 2 Night, also makes an appearance in Malcolm X.

Spike Lee’s storyline of a struggling family in Brooklyn, New York, is interspersed with images of the great depression in the 30s as well as poverty and unemployment in the 80s and 90s. Footage of President George Bush, National Security Advisor Colin Powell, general Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. and (by then) businessman Donald Trump, are also in the footage, as well as images of wealth (a casino, a ball), and shanty-town Soweto, the 1990 war in Iraq and refugees. While in Soweto, South Africa, in late January 1992 for the filming of Malcolm X (which Prince helped finance along with other African-American celebrities), Spike Lee took the opportunity to shoot additional footage for the video. The editing took three weeks, as Spike Lee needed Prince’s approval at every stage. Prince requested that the director alter the ending he had proposed in one of the early cuts, ensuring the video would close on an uplifting note, filled with smiles and positive energy.

Anticipating the intensity of Spike Lee’s vision and wanting to ensure the video could reach prime-time audiences and receive heavy rotation, Warner Bros. requested that an alternative version be created: "That’s one point of view about what the song is about; we wanted to do something that was like a Prince video," said a Warner creative. The second video was directed by Sotera Tschetter and shows Prince and The NPG performing the song in the studio. This video was shot in mid-January 1992, together with footage for the Willing And Able, Call The Law and Daddy Pop videos.

A third video combined the Spike Lee 'political' version with the Sotera Tschetter live band version. This combined version of Money Don’t Matter 2 Night, as well as the Spike Lee version premiered on the same day, 14 April 1992. The Sotera Tschetter performance only video was never released on its own, while both other versions were made available in 2017.


Shooting Information
Shooting Sessions
Date Location Additional info
Summer 1991 Various locations in Brooklyn,
New York, NY, USA
Family storyline (shot by Spike Lee)
Mid-January 1992 Paisley Park Studios - Studio C,
Chanhassen, MN, USA
Live-in-the-studio performance (shot by Sotera Tschetter)
Late January 1992 Unknown location,
Soweto, South Africa
Additional footage (shot by Spike Lee)
Mid-to-late February 1992 Unidentified studio, USA Editing by Spike Lee
Cast

Video 1:

  • Black American family (George T. Odom and unidentified actors), Donald Trump (stock footage), George Bush (stock footage), Colin Powell (stock footage), Norman Schwarzkopf (stock footage), et cetera

Video 2:

Crew

Video 1:

  • Spike Lee - director and editor
  • Ernest Dickerson - director of photography
  • More information needed

Video 2:


Versions
Released Versions
Title Length Released Version Additional info
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night (Version 1) 5:13 Prince streaming video platforms (2017)

Released for sale as separate track on iTunes (2017)

Spike Lee version
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night (Version 2) 4:53 Diamonds And Pearls Video Collection (1992)

Prince streaming video platforms (2017)
Released for sale as separate track on iTunes (2017)

Combined Spike Lee / Sotera Tschetter video


Unreleased Versions
Title Length Released Version Additional info
Money Don’t Matter 2 Night (Version 3) unreleased Performance video Sotera Tschetter version without Spike Lee footage
 
Additional Information

See Also Quotation & triva


References
1991
Willing And Able
Music Videos (Prince) Music Videos (Related Artists) 1992
Call The Law