Prince and the Revolution – Kiss

The Song He Gave Away Then Took Back At The Last Second

Released on February 5, 1986, “Kiss” by Prince and the Revolution became his third number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, spending two weeks at the top in April. The minimalist funk masterpiece also topped the R&B chart, reached number six in the UK, earned Prince a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and sold over 1.33 million digital copies. But the song almost belonged to someone else entirely. Prince had written it for Mazarati, a funk band signed to his Paisley Park label, and only took it back after hearing what they’d done with his acoustic demo.

The chart performance that spring was extraordinary beyond the song itself. On April 19, 1986, Prince held both the number one and number two spots on the Hot 100 simultaneously when “Manic Monday,” which he’d written for the Bangles under the pseudonym Christopher, peaked at number two while “Kiss” sat at number one. This marked one of the few times an artist dominated the top two positions with songs credited to different acts. Warner Brothers had begged Prince not to release “Kiss” as a single, calling it unfinished and too sparse, but Prince fought them and won decisively.

The song started as a minute-long bluesy acoustic sketch Prince recorded on a mini cassette recorder. Revolution bassist Brownmark had formed Mazarati as a side project and asked Prince if he had any spare songs. Prince gave them two tracks, including this short demo that sounded vaguely like Stephen Stills according to producer David Z. Mazarati took the song to Sunset Sound Studio and transformed it completely. David Z programmed a LinnDrum beat, ran a hi-hat through a delay unit switching between input and output, gated an acoustic guitar to the hi-hat trigger, and created what he called an unbelievably funky rhythm that was impossible to actually play. He adapted the backing vocals from Brenda Lee’s “Sweet Nothings.”

Recording became contentious almost immediately. When David Z called Prince to come hear what Mazarati had done, Prince recognized a hit and made his decision instantly. He told the band he was taking the song back, recorded it himself in the studio next door at Sunset Sound, stripped away the bass and more prominent hi-hat, added the guitar riff lifted directly from James Brown’s “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag,” sang it in his signature falsetto instead of Mazarati singer Tony Christian’s flat delivery, and called it finished. The entire mix took about five minutes according to David Z. Prince kept Mazarati’s backing vocals intact and credited David Z as arranger, but Brownmark claims he co-wrote the second verse and never received credit or royalties.

The song appeared on Parade, released in March 1986 as the soundtrack to Prince’s film Under the Cherry Moon. The movie won Worst Picture at the Golden Raspberry Awards, but the album went platinum and became a critical favorite despite its baroque pop departure from Purple Rain‘s stadium rock. “Kiss” saved the commercial prospects of an album that otherwise leaned heavily into psychedelic experimentation. Prince added it at the last minute, squeezing it onto the tracklist after realizing what he had.

The music video, directed by Rebecca Blake and filmed on February 13, 1986, at Laird International Studios in Culver City, became instantly iconic. Prince appeared shirtless in a cropped jacket and tearaway pants, dancing with veiled performer Monique Mannen wearing black lingerie and sunglasses while Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin sat playing guitar. Choreographer Louis Falco designed the moves. The stripped-down aesthetic matched the song’s minimalism perfectly. Tom Jones later covered “Kiss” with Art of Noise in 1988, reaching number five in the UK and outperforming Prince’s original on British charts. Age of Chance released an industrial version in 1986 that John Peel championed relentlessly.

More than three decades later, “Kiss” remains proof that sometimes artists hear hits in demos that nobody else recognizes, and sometimes taking back a song you gave away is the smartest business decision you’ll ever make. Mazarati’s only hit was “100 MPH,” which Prince wrote and co-produced and which peaked at number nineteen. David Z never cornered that A&R guy who’d dismissed “Kiss” as unfinished. The proof was in the pudding, and the pudding spent two weeks at number one while redefining what minimalist funk could sound like in 1986.