Released by the Paisley Park label as the lead single from Prince and the Revolution's eighth studio album, Parade (1986), on February 5, 1986, it was a No.

As of April 30, 2016, it had sold 1.33 million digital copies in the U.S.[9] Age of Chance and Art of Noise also released versions of the song that were critical and chart successes.

[10] Z recalls having one of the band members play a piano part inspired by Bo Diddley's song "Say Man".

[13] In the end, Prince decided to finish the song, retaining David Z's unique, funky rhythm and background vocal arrangements by Mazarati's Bruce DeShazer and Marvin Gunn (David Z recounts how the band had expected a songwriting credit, and were "pissed" when it did not materialise);[11] he removed the bass line, and added the signature guitar and falsetto vocal.

run through a Kepex noise gate triggered by the hi-hat track on the multitrack tape - this effect, however, was rather difficult to recreate live on keyboards.

[15] Despite Warner Bros. not wanting to release it as a single, "Kiss" became Prince's third number-one US hit, following 1984's highly successful "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy".

The B-side of "Kiss" was "♥ or $" ("Love or Money"), sung in a processed, higher-pitched vocal, which Prince would later use for his Camille material.

[18] Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times wrote, "The single combines an ever-so-cool update of a classic James Brown guitar-accented funk riff with witty lyrics that suggest a bit more humility in Prince's sexually aggressive posture.

"[19] The accompanying music video for "Kiss" was filmed on February 13, 1986 at Laird International Studios in Culver City, California,[20] and directed by Rebecca Blake.

In the plot of the video, Prince appears in a half shirt and leather jacket and then shirtless and performs dance choreography in a hall.

He is accompanied by the veiled dancer Monique Mannen wearing black lingerie and sunglasses while Revolution member Wendy Melvoin sits playing guitar.

"[68] The band worked out the music from hearing it in clubs and consulted Smash Hits for the lyrics,[69] although they changed them substantially.

They were inspired by The Fire Engines having covered Heaven 17's "(We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang" for their first Peel session while that song was still in the charts.

In 1988, British synth-pop group the Art of Noise released a cover of the song, featuring Welsh singer Tom Jones on vocals.

Jones had added the song to his Vegas live show and the Art of Noise contacted him after seeing him perform it on TV.

The song alternates between two distinct rhythms: a fast-paced 44 rock beat, panned entirely to the left channel; and a half-speed quiet storm-inspired percussion section.

The guitar and horns break in the middle of the track musically references the themes to Dragnet and Peter Gunn (two songs the Art of Noise covered with much commercial success) as well as their own breakthrough hit, "Close (to the Edit)" and "Paranoimia", their 1986 collaboration with Max Headroom.

This version was later included as part of an episode of the series Listed on MuchMoreMusic, which was on the Top 20 cover songs.

It can also be heard during the main title sequence of the movie My Stepmother Is an Alien as well as a scene in Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy.

The song had 46 covers ranging from pop (Anna Kidd, Mikayla Ayres) to soul (Jeff Michel) and jazz (Aleksandra Crossan).