"Kiss" is a song by American musicianPrince. Released by thePaisley Park label as the lead single from Prince andthe Revolution's eighth studio album,Parade, on February 5, 1986. It was a No. 1 hit worldwide, holding the top spot of the USBillboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks. The single was certified gold in 1986 for shipments of 1,000,000 copies byRIAA.[6]
The song is ranked No. 85 on theRolling Stone list of the500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021, No. 464 in 2010, and No. 461 in 2004.[7]NME ranked the song at No. 4 in their list of The 150 Greatest Singles of All Time,[8] and voted "Kiss" the best single of 1986.[9]
Following Prince's death in April 2016, the song re-charted on theBillboard Hot 100 at No. 28, and jumped to No. 23 a week later. The song also reached No. 2 on theFrench Singles Chart. As of April 30, 2016, it had sold 1.33 million digital copies in the U.S.[10]
Age of Chance andArt of Noise also released versions of the song that were critical and chart successes.
"Kiss" started as a roughacoustic demo, with a verse and chorus written by Prince. He gave his demo to thefunk bandMazarati (who approached him in the first place for an extra song for their debut album), and they worked on it with producerDavid Z atSunset Sound Studio 2, while Prince was busy working in the studio next to them, Studio 3.[11] Z recalls having one of the band members play a piano part inspired byBo Diddley's song "Say Man".[12][13] In theSound On Sound article for "Kiss", he recalled programming the song's beat on aLinnDrum drum machine, but in theMixonline article he refers to aLinn 9000.[13][12] However, it's unlikely either of them were used as the drums sound more like theLM-1, Prince's usual drum machine.[14] In the end, Prince decided to finish the song, retaining David Z's unique, funky rhythm and background vocal arrangements by Mazarati's Bruce DeShazer and Marvin Gunn (David Z recounts how the band had expected a songwriting credit, and were "pissed" when it did not materialise);[12] he removed the bass line, and added the signature guitar and falsetto vocal. For the distinctive "ah-wah-ah" backing vocals, David Z adapted vocals byBrenda Lee - one of the biggest US chart toppers in the Sixties - from her 1959/1960 hit "Sweet Nothin's", a single from hereponymous album.[12] To make up for the absence of bass, the kick drum was run through an AMS RMX-16 reverb on the non-linear setting.[11] The underlying "keyboard chop" in the background is an acoustic guitar (played by David Z.) run through a Kepex noise gate triggered by the hi-hat track on the multitrack tape - this effect, however, was rather difficult to recreate live on keyboards.[11][13][15] The final, minimalist song was a hard sell to Warner Bros., but upon Prince's insistence, the song was released and added toParade.[16]
The12-inch single of the song is an extension of the album track. The extended section is based on the funky guitar line and contains much fuller instrumentation than the main track, including bass guitar, organ and horns. New lyrics are present from Prince, along withJill Jones, that end with a humorous dialogue between a wife and her husband watching Prince on television. TheB-side of "Kiss" was "♥ or $" ("Love or Money"), sung in a processed, higher-pitched vocal, which Prince would later use for hisCamille material. The song relates to the theme inUnder the Cherry Moon, and a bit of the song was heard in the film, as was a bit of the extended version of "Kiss". The extended "Kiss" was included on 2006'sUltimate; "♥ or $" was re-released as a digital B-side oniTunes.[when?]
Revolution bassistBrownmark claims to have co-written the song with Prince: he most likely wrote the second verse as the first verse was on the demo Prince provided himself andMazarati with to work from. Despite being promised a songwriting credit by Prince, he never got any proper credit and has not received any royalties from it.[18][15]
Robert Hilburn fromLos Angeles Times wrote, "The single combines an ever-so-cool update of a classicJames Brown guitar-accentedfunk riff with witty lyrics that suggest a bit more humility in Prince's sexually aggressive posture.You don't have to be rich to be my girl, he advises.You don't have to be cool to rule my world. Even the put-downs are tinged with humor:Act your age, not your shoe size, he tells one prospective lover."[20]
The accompanyingmusic video for "Kiss" was filmed on February 13, 1986, at Laird International Studios inCulver City, California,[21] and directed by Rebecca Blake. Prince appears in a half shirt and leather jacket and then shirtless and performs dance choreography in a hall. The trousers he wears are strip-off pants. He is accompanied by the veiled dancer Monique Mannen wearing black lingerie and sunglasses while Revolution memberWendy Melvoin sits playing guitar.
"Kiss" is widely considered one of Prince's finest songs. In 2016,Paste ranked the song number two on their list of the 50 greatest Prince songs,[22] and in 2022,American Songwriter ranked the song number three on their list of the 10 greatest Prince songs.[23]
In 2022, it was included in the list "The story ofNME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs", at number 28:Mark Beaumont wrote that with this song, "Prince took his crown while the Hip-Hop Wars raged".[24]
Anindustrial[82] cover of the song was released in November 1986[83] byAge of Chance. Bass player Geoff Taylor described it as: "We basically removed the sex and replaced it with lump hammers."[84]
The band worked out the music from hearing it in clubs and consultedSmash Hits for the lyrics,[85] although they changed them substantially.[86]
The band first recorded the track for aPeel session in June 1986, when the Prince version was still in the UK charts. They were inspired bythe Fire Engines having coveredHeaven 17's "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" for their first Peel session while that song was still in the charts.John Peel got many listener requests to play Age of Chance's version of "Kiss" again,[87] and it made No. 2 in Peel'sFestive Fifty for 1986.[88]
The single version was recorded atChakk's Fon Studios in Sheffield and released on the Fon label in the UK in November 1986. Its success led to a contract withVirgin Records, who released the single in the rest of the world.[89]
The single was accompanied by a video which received some airplay onMTV in the United States.
The sleeve was one of the first major productions by The Designers Republic, helping make their reputation. It was available in white, pink, orange or green.[84]
The band recorded a remix called "Kisspower" withAlan Smyth of Fon Studios in November 1986, using Fon'sAkai S900sampler. It included samples from the Prince original,Bruce Springsteen,Run–D.M.C. and other artists. Virgin wanted to release it but it was vetoed by Simon Draper of Virgin America over copyright concerns.[87] It was eventually released as a run of 500white label promotional copies.[84] If released, it would have been one of the first mainstream sample-based singles, six months before "Pump Up the Volume" and "Say Kids What Time Is It?".[89] "Kisspower" was acclaimed as a "landmark" and a "cut'n'paste trailblazer" by musician's magazineElectronic Sound.[87]
On release, the single achieved Single Of The Week inSounds November 15, 1986, which described it as "The first white band on an independent label to deliver a record that successfully crosses the alertness of hip hop and electro" and emphasised the quality of the artwork.[83]
The single reached No. 1 on theUK Indie Chart in late 1986.[82] It spent 11 weeks on the mainstream pop charts in the United Kingdom, starting on December 6, 1986, and peaking at No. 50 in early 1987.[96]
In New Zealand it charted for four weeks, peaking at No. 21.[97]
In the United States, it spent six weeks on theBillboard Dance Club Play chart, peaking at No. 35 on May 23, 1987.[98]
In 1988, Britishsynth-pop group theArt of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Welsh singerTom Jones on vocals. Jones had added the song to his Vegas live show and the Art of Noise contacted him after seeing him perform it on TV.[100]
The song became the band's biggest hit to that point, reaching No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart (higher than the original in that country), the top 10 in several other countries and No. 18 on the US Dance chart.[101] It was also No. 1 in New Zealand and Spain.
The song alternates between two distinct rhythms: a fast-paced4 4 rock beat, panned entirely to the left channel; and a half-speedquiet storm-inspired percussion section. The guitar and horns break in the middle of the track musically references the themes toDragnet andPeter Gunn (two songs the Art of Noise covered with much commercial success) as well as their own breakthrough hit, "Close (to the Edit)" and "Paranoimia", their 1986 collaboration withMax Headroom. Jones changes the lyric line of "Women, Not Girls rule my world" to "Women and Girls, rule my world."
The song has been covered by more than 60 artists ranging from pop (Anna Kidd, Mikayla Ayres) to soul (Jeff Michel) and jazz (Aleksandra Crossan).[127]
Wood, Mikael (April 21, 2021)."All 85 Prince singles, ranked 4 u from worst 2 best".Los Angeles Times. RetrievedJune 12, 2025.Prince famously took back this minimalist-funk masterpiece for himself after writing it for Mazarati, a band formed by the Revolution's keyboardist, BrownMark.
^Wood, Mikael (April 21, 2021)."All 85 Prince singles, ranked 4 u from worst 2 best".Los Angeles Times. RetrievedJune 12, 2025.Prince famously took back this minimalist-funk masterpiece for himself after writing it for Mazarati, a band formed by the Revolution's keyboardist, BrownMark.
