5 Lessons I Learned From Prince

This was hard to narrow down once I reached my top 8. Prince has so much range it's almost necessary to make a separate list for every single purple personality. Also, I realized that Prince is a serious ripper. Dude can play a guitar. Why none of his songs are on Guitar Hero or Rock Band is beyond me. Seriously, I am not even kind of kidding about this.

Check the catalog.


(I can't help myself. Though not officially in my five, I have to extend an honorable mention to "Kiss" and "Let's Go Crazy". Those songs were my introduction to Prince Rogers Nelson and should by all rights be on this list but, for personal reasons, didn't make the cut.)

5-I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
4-When You Were Mine
3-Raspberry Beret
2-The Beautiful Ones
1-When Doves Cry

The Purple One Still Reigns Supreme

Prince Rogers Nelson. Never has anyone else made purple and platforms seem so manly.

He is most certainly the most prolific songwriter of our generation. So much so that his output fueled his own endeavors as well as The Time (with lead singer Morris Day), Sinead O'Connor, Sheena Easton and Celine Dion (we'll forgive him for that. The release of "Darling Nikki" also lead to the creation of the Parents Music Resource Center by Tipper Gore, after witnessed then 12 year old daughter Karenna listening to said song.

He's also been involved in fueds with his record company leading to "the symbol" and most recently with the Foo Fighters which lead to an amazing cover of "The Best of You" during the Super Bowl half time show.

So here it is, Prince's best:

5. Get Off

4. Let's Go Crazy

3. Controversy

2. I Would Die 4 U

1. When Doves Cry

The Don Comes Around

Donald Hugh "The Don" Henley hid behind the drums for most of the seventies (and who could blame him?). But the eighties brought on the solo synth-infused fury that is the Don we know and cherish today. His brief love connection with Stevie Nicks even produced a catchy jam that locked number two on my countdown. There are other choice Henley jams out there, but for my money these five little doozies make up a fine portrait of our formerly feathered friend.

5.Desperado
4.Heart of the Matter
3.End of the Innocence
2.Leather and Lace*
1.Boys of Summer

*Not technically a Don song, but c'mon, it's a classic and the man totally holds up his end.

Don's Best

Our first list is the best of Don Henley.

1. Boys of Summer
2. Leather and Lace- duet with Stevie Nicks
3. The Heart of the Matter
4. Dirty Laundry
5. End of the Innocence

Your Personal Parameters

Blogs. Can't live with 'em, can't live without... eh, that's probably not true. But everyone's doing it so why not test the waters? This little addition to the blogosphere might just stay the private bulletin board of a few people, or it could become a forum for a variety of voices with short opinionated bursts of brilliance. So, without further ado, just a few rules and then on to the fun:

Top 5

The list is the list; 1-5 untainted.

A short introduction is allowed.
If explanation is needed, it is done with an asterisk and a footnote.