Song of the Day #6,223: ‘Raspberry Beret’ – Prince

Duran Duran held on to the top spot of the Hot 100 the week of July 20, 1985, with ‘A View to a Kill,’ but hot on their heels was Prince with ‘Raspberry Beret.’ The song peaked there, one of three Prince songs to stall out one slot short of #1 (‘Purple Rain’ and ‘U Got the Look’ are the other two).

This is one of 18 top ten songs for Prince, and one of 13 in his signature decade. The 80s also accounted for four of his five #1 hits.

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Song of the Day #5,631: ‘Paisley Park’ – Prince

In 1985, Prince was faced with following up the previous year’s Purple Rain, a massive success that made him one of the biggest stars in the world and an album that is still hailed as one of the greatest ever.

His response was to record a weird little psychedelic pop album that seemed to deliberately avoid comparisons with its storied predecessor. Around the World in a Day is Purple Rain‘s quirky cousin, popping in from out of town to make everybody a little uncomfortable.

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