Keith Doughty discusses songs, albums and artists that are unappreciated, unknown, and/or unfairly-maligned by the general public. This is Hidden Tracks.

Vanity 6 – "Nasty Girl"

Uh, It's time to jam,
Nasty girls, dance, dance, dance

1982 was a big year for Prince. He released “1999”, his most popular album to date and a precursor to the style of music he would explore more fully on the “Purple Rain” album. That same year Prince’s protégé band, The Time, released their second album, “What Time is it?”, with Prince handling the production, much of the instrumentation and, legend has it, the songwriting.  Although not nearly as successful as “1999”, The Time would go on to play Prince’s rival group in the Purple Rain film two years later and score a couple minor hits.

Finally, 1982 saw the release of the only album by Prince’s other protégé band, Vanity 6. Unlike The Time, Vanity 6 was unquestionably under the complete control of Prince, who wrote, produced and played the instruments on all their songs. Vanity 6 front woman Vanity (real name Denise Matthews, Prince enjoyed giving female artists new names in the 80s) was Prince’s girlfriend at the time and she was expected to play the role of his love interest in Purple Rain.

Alas, Prince and Vanity had a falling out and she was replaced by a woman Prince dubbed Apollonia. The other two members of Vanity 6 still appear in the Purple Rain film along with Apollonia under the name Apollonia 6.

"Nasty Girl" was the single from the Vanity 6 album and it was actually a minor hit at the time. It also appeared in the movies Beverly Hills Cop and Girl 6. I get the feeling that people view it as both a one-hit wonder (which it is) and a sort of novelty song due to its highly sexual lyrics. Certainly the lyrics are both highly sexual and bizarre. During the course of the song, Vanity expresses a desire to “do it. . .  on the limousine floor”, opines on the love-making prowess of sailors who “got water on the brain”, requests a new groove, “(she) can croon to”, and states that she requires, “seven inches or more”. Clearly the song is meant to be sexy but it comes off as strange and unintentionally funny to me. 

But the music! Oh man, it’s vintage Prince. The song starts with a simple beat that includes electronic drums with a melodic component to them. Then a simple synthesizer line comes in to add more melodic texture until finally, 25 seconds in, guitar and several synthesizers start up and fill things out. Throughout much of his 1980s career, Prince was very creative with his arrangements and this song is no exception. The different instruments on "Nasty Girl" play varying parts that mesh together to create a singular groove which churns along for most of the song. Other than during an instrumental break (which comes after Vanity requests a new groove) the chord progression doesn’t change throughout the entire five minute song. Instead, Prince keeps the beat from the beginning of the song as a constant and weaves the guitar and main synthesizers in and out, delimiting the verses and chorus. The result is a song that epitomizes some of Prince’s best 1980s work by combining funk (the beat and song structure) and new wave (the synthesizers) with lyrics that should probably be politely ignored.

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Keith Doughty is a non-profit finance professional who in his spare time dabbles in music, politics, and interesting food. He lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

Contact him at neuroticmonkey.