Songoftheday 4/29/18 - Maybe we can find a good reason to send a child off to war, so what if we're controllin' all the oil is it worth a child dying for?
from the album Diamonds & Pearls (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #23 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7
Today's song of the day comes from Prince, whose Diamonds & Pearls album had already spun off three big hits with "Gett Off", "Diamonds & Pearls", and what would be his final #1 pop hit "Cream". The fifth (counting R&B hit "Insatiable") and final American single would be the midtempo moody jam "Money Don't Matter 2 Night". Featuring his New Power Generation band, the song was co-written by his back-up singer Rosie Gaines. Originally it sported a video from Spike Lee, that was pretty dark, featuring an African-American family struggling with poverty and loss of jobs in the city. It had emotionally touching images, and an ominous forecast of a particular person as well. It had lyrics on the caliber of his heralded Sign O The Times album decrying the state of America looking very much like what could be back really soon...
"Money Don't Matter 2 Night" became the fourth and final top-40 pop hit from Diamonds & Pearls in May of 1992. The single also climbed to #14 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in the Netherlands (#9) and Ireland (#10), and made the top-40 in Australia (#18), the UK (#19), New Zealand (#20), Austria (#23), Switzerland (#23), France (#26), Belgium (#27), and Sweden (#34). Another track from the Diamonds & Pearls album, the uptempo pump of "Thunder", was only released in the British Isles, and went to #3 in Ireland and #28 in the UK...
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As I mentioned, a more filtered version of the video replacing much of the poor family with Prince and the New Generation was rushed over to MTV...
Up tomorrow: A rock band goes to a dark place and reaches the heights of the pop chart.
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