Dance / Music / Sex / Romance
@princesongs.org
Prince's pop life, song by song, in chronological order, by Zachary Hoskins (@dystopiandanceparty.com). https://princesongs.org/
Ended up going way deeper on Sheila E.'s "The Belle of St. Mark" than I expected to (or, frankly, than it probably deserves), including a brief detour into the Venetian Carnival imagery that started popping up in Prince's aesthetic universe circa 1984. princesongs.org/2025/10/14/t...
October 14, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Ended up going way deeper on Sheila E.'s "The Belle of St. Mark" than I expected to (or, frankly, than it probably deserves), including a brief detour into the Venetian Carnival imagery that started popping up in Prince's aesthetic universe circa 1984. princesongs.org/2025/10/14/t...
New post on what may secretly be my favorite song from Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life! princesongs.org/2025/09/09/o...
September 9, 2025 at 2:36 PM
New post on what may secretly be my favorite song from Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life! princesongs.org/2025/09/09/o...
Finished my post on "The Glamorous Life"! I can already tell this album is going to be fun to write about. princesongs.org/2025/08/26/t...
August 26, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Finished my post on "The Glamorous Life"! I can already tell this album is going to be fun to write about. princesongs.org/2025/08/26/t...
My non-religious picture I think of as holy, obv
August 21, 2025 at 11:10 PM
My non-religious picture I think of as holy, obv
Just finished a new post--my 150th!--on "Erotic City": continuing a real hot streak of #Prince B-sides, and setting up a new arc on Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life. princesongs.org/2025/08/04/e...
August 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Just finished a new post--my 150th!--on "Erotic City": continuing a real hot streak of #Prince B-sides, and setting up a new arc on Sheila E.'s The Glamorous Life. princesongs.org/2025/08/04/e...
Probably my favorite story from the sessions that produced "17 Days" (which caused me to go into a rabbit hole about tape speeds that derailed my writing process for a good two weeks).
Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
![Excerpt from my post on "17 Days": "He would pick up the groove again a few months later–either late December or early January, by Tudahl’s reckoning–when he, drummer Bobby Z, Lisa and Wendy, and their respective siblings David Coleman and Jonathan Melvoin, arrived at Sunset Sound to cut the master version. By this point, Prince had been jamming on '17 Days' for so long that he wanted plenty of room to stretch out; so he instructed assistant engineer Bill Jackson to roll the tape at a slower speed (15 ips, or inches per second, rather than the then-industry standard 30), allowing for more recording time at a cost to fidelity. 'I said[,] "That’s not aligned. It’s not going to sound right,”' Jackson remembered, 'but he didn’t care about that and said, "Just do it.”' The ever-mercurial artist then proceeded to launch into the song before Jackson was ready, leaving the soundman scrambling: 'As they were playing I was adding some EQ and making things sound a little better and getting the levels right and they played until the tape ran out for like thirty minutes.'”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:okf7t2zviubiytxg54aqru6p/bafkreifqdrxnsnqv5horryypp4krgf3g4fbvgpaphtilzx4vsgv7uyip7q@jpeg)
July 24, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Probably my favorite story from the sessions that produced "17 Days" (which caused me to go into a rabbit hole about tape speeds that derailed my writing process for a good two weeks).
Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
Next post (on "Erotic City"!) is chugging along, read this one in the meantime: princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
Finally finished writing about what might be my favorite #Prince song of all time (and no, I did not mean to publish it on 7/17, but I'll take it!) ☔🚬🚬💔 #17days princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
July 17, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Finally finished writing about what might be my favorite #Prince song of all time (and no, I did not mean to publish it on 7/17, but I'll take it!) ☔🚬🚬💔 #17days princesongs.org/2025/07/17/1...
This week (God willing) ☔️🚬🚬💔
July 15, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This week (God willing) ☔️🚬🚬💔
Today marks 41 years from the start of "When Doves Cry"'s five-week reign on the Hot 100. I don't usually mark non-milestone anniversaries, but I wanted an excuse to share this monster post I wrote last year. One of these days I'll finish writing about the B-side... princesongs.org/2024/07/29/w...
July 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Today marks 41 years from the start of "When Doves Cry"'s five-week reign on the Hot 100. I don't usually mark non-milestone anniversaries, but I wanted an excuse to share this monster post I wrote last year. One of these days I'll finish writing about the B-side... princesongs.org/2024/07/29/w...
Jumping on this to share my Prince research library/de facto shrine (which has grown to the point that my sister’s Dirty Mind painting is almost fully obscured)
July 2, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Jumping on this to share my Prince research library/de facto shrine (which has grown to the point that my sister’s Dirty Mind painting is almost fully obscured)