Song: Kiss
Artists: Art of Noise (Tom Jones)
Original artists: Prince and the Revolution
Prince was the subject of a special on BBC TV the other night and it reminded me of
this classic hit. He wrote and produced the song in 1986. It was the lead single on
Prince and the Revolution’s eighth studio album, Parade.
Kiss was a Top 10 hit in many countries around the globe and reached No 1 in America.
It was Prince’s third No 1 success there following When Doves Cry and Let’s Go Crazy.
Warner Bros had not wanted to release it as a single though it would go on to earn
Prince a Grammy.
For the video Prince was accompanied by the “Coming to America” actress Monique
Mannen wearing lingerie and sunglasses while Revolution member Wendy Melvoin
plays guitar.
The song ranked No 86 in the 2021 version of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All
Time. NME (New Musical Express) ranked it at No 4 in their list of the 150 Greatest
Singles. The same publication ranked it as the best single of its release year.
Following Prince’s death in 2016 the song re-charted in the US reaching No 23.
Kiss has been covered close to 50 times, but the cover version that sticks out in my
mind is the one Tom Jones performed with the Art of Noise in 1988. Jones had added
the song to his live show in Vegas and Art of Noise contacted him after seeing a
performance on TV.
The Jones/Noise version reached No 5 in the UK which was one place higher than the
Prince original achieved there. Jones changed the original lyric from “women, not girls,
rule my world to “women and girls rule my world”. Sounds more accurate for Tom!
The Art of Noise hit No 1 in New Zealand and Spain, but only made it to No 31 in the
US Billboard Hot 100.
