Controversy 1981

CONTROVERSY is a great pop album! is a thread discussion more focused on the music. This one is more about the era as a whole, pictures, band, behind the scenes, outtakes, the 2nd Coming...









Dr Fink BrownMark Bobby Z Prince Dez Dickerson Lisa Coleman


[Edited 4/29/09 19:51pm]

Controversy review conti RollingStone review 1.21.1982

It should come as little surprise that on his fourth album, Prince has made his inflammatory and explicit sexuality the basis of an amusingly jive but attractive social agenda. Once you've exalted brother-sister incest (Dirty Mind's "Sister"), not to mention nearly every other sexual possibility, how else can you get people's attention?

Prince's first three records were so erotically self-absorbed that they suggested the reveries of a licentious young libertine. On Controversy, that libertine proclaims unfettered sexuality as the fundamental condition of a new, more loving society than the bellicose, overtechnologized America of Ronald Reagan. In taking on social issues, the artist assumes his place in the pantheon of Sly Stone inspired Utopian funksters like Rick James and George Clinton. I think that Prince stands as Stone's most formidable heir, despite his frequent fuzzy-mindedness and eccentricity. A consummate master of pop-funk song forms and a virtuosic multiinstrumentalist, Prince is also an extraordinary singer whose falsetto, at its most tender, recalls Smokey Robinson's sweetness. At its most brittle, Prince's voice sounds like Sylvester at his ironic and challenging best.

Controversy's version of One Nation under the Sheets is hip, funny and, yes, subversive. In the LP's title track–a bubbling, seven minute tour de force of synthesized pop-funk hooks–Prince teasingly pants, "Am I black or white/Am I straight or gay?" This opening salvo in a series of "issue"-oriented questions tacitly implies that since we're all flesh and blood, sexual preference and skin color are only superficial differences, no matter what society says. But Prince eventually brushes such things aside with hippie platitudes. Along the way, "Controversy" flirts with blasphemy by incorporating the Lord's Prayer. The number ends with the star's punk-libertine chant: "People call me rude/I wish we all were nude/I wish there was no black or white/I wish there were no rules." Though hardly inspiring, it's fitting that the Constitution of Prince's polymorphously perverse Utopia should be written in childish cant.

The strutting, popping anthem "Sexuality" elaborates many of the points that "Controversy" raises, as Prince shrewdly lists gadgets (cameras, TV, the Acu-Jac) that cut us off from each other. "Don't let your children watch television until they know how to read," he advises. Who would disagree? "Ronnie, Talk to Russia," a hastily blurted plea to Reagan to seek disarmament, is the album's weakest cut. "Let's Work," a bright and squeaky dance song, and "Private Joy," a bouncy pop-funk bubblegum tune with baby talk in the verses, show off Prince's ingratiating lighter side. "Jack U Off," the cleverest of the shorter compositions, is a synthesized rockabilly number whose whole point is that sex is better with another human being than with a masturbatory device.

Prince's vision isn't as compelling as it might be, however, because of his childlike treatment of evil. "Annie Christian," the one track that tackles the subject, turns evil into a bogeywoman from whom the artist is forever trying to escape in a taxicab. Though the song lists historical events (the killing of black children in Atlanta, Abscam and John Lennon's murder), it has none of the resonance of, say, "Sympathy for the Devil," since Prince, unlike the Rolling Stones, still only dimly perceives the demons within himself.

After "Controversy," the LP's high point is an extended bump-and-grind ballad, "Do Me, Baby," in which the singer simulates an intense sexual encounter, taking it from heavy foreplay to wild, shrieking orgasm. In the postcoital coda, Prince's mood turns uncharacteristically dark. He shivers and pleads, "I'm so cold, just hold me." It's the one moment amid all of Controversy's exhortatory slavering in which Prince glimpses a despair that no orgasm can alleviate.

Despite all the contradictions and hyperbole in Prince's playboy philosophy, I still find his message refreshingly relevant. As Gore Vidal wrote in The Nation recently: "Most men, given the opportunity to have sex with 500 different people, would do so gladly. But most men are not going to be given the opportunity by a society that wants them safely married, so that they will be docile workers and loyal consumers."

Prince, I'm sure, would agree.

BuzzSTEPHEN HOLDEN

(Posted: Jan 21, 1982)
[Edited 6/18/09 8:11am]

Prince is LOVING GORGEOUS AND SEXY ALWAYS i LOVE Prince

uh, 1982?

1981.

Oh this is my thread!!! My favorite album!

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

...and some more

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

and some more...

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

MajesticOne89 said:

...and some more

^^^ nice pics!!! I'm still trying to get that hair down, i think i'm gonna need a straightener

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

This is the album and year that did it for me (made me a fan). Thank you!

Some of my Controversy 12" singles:










Unfortunately, I don't have the 12" single for "Sexuality" or the other "Gotta stop (messin' about)". They are on my want list though.
[Edited 4/29/09 20:58pm]

Exciting era! I remember in the fall of 1981,my sister got the album.We listened to "Private Joy" over and over and over and over (lol).We thought it was the greatest song that had ever been recorded.It remains one of my Top 10 Prince jams.

SoulAlive said:

Prince use to have balls....now he has religion. - Nothinbutjoy

[quote]

rudeboynpg said:

1981.

This is one of my all time favorite Prince albums and to this day Private Joy is my favorite song on there!

[Edited 4/30/09 11:31am]
[Edited 6/18/09 18:14pm]

Love2tha9s said:

Stand up, everybody, this is your life
Let me take U 2 another world, let me take U 2night
U don't need no money, U don't need no clothes
The second coming, anything goes

Sexuality is all U'll ever need
Sexuality - let your body be free

Ow!
Oh baby

Come on, everybody, yeah, this is your life
I'm talkin' 'bout a revolution we gotta organize
We don't need no segregation, we don't need no race
New age revelation, I think we got a case

I'm OK as long as U are here with me
Sexuality is all we ever need

Oh baby!

(The reproduction of the new breed - Leaders, stand up, organize)
{repeat phrase in BG}
Everybody
One time, say...

We live in a world overrun by tourists
Tourists - 89 flowers on their back
Inventors of the Accu-Jack
They look at life through a pocket camera
What? No flash again?
They're all a bunch of double drags
Who teach their kids that love is bad
Half of the staff of their brain is on vacation
Mama, are U listening?
We need a new breed - Leaders, stand up, organize ... yeah!
Don't let your children watch television until they know how 2 read
Or else all they'll know how 2 do is cuss, fight and breed
No child is bad from the beginning
They only imitate their atmosphere
If they're in the company of tourists, alcohol and U.S. history
What's 2 be expected is 3 minus 3, oh
Absolutely nothing

Stand up, organize
(The reproduction of the new breed - Leaders, stand up, organize)
We need the new breed - Leaders, stand up, organize
I wanna be in the new breed - stand up, organize
Sexuality is all I'll ever need
Sexuality - I'm gonna let my body be free
Sexuality is all I'll ever need
Sexuality - I'm gonna let my body be free
Sexuality {repeat 2 fade}

© 1981 Controversy Music - ASCAP

Thanks, Guys, this thread was great. Saw a couple of pics I just adore.

Side one
"Controversy" 7:14
I love the driving beat and grove, the sound has Princes perverse New Wave feel, the Our Father prayer just added a whole level of 'conflict' to the song which I love, More or less the prayer is added as his response to the controversy.

Listen...
People call me rude, I wish we were all nude
I wish there was no black and white, I wish there were no rules

This is the anthem chant of the Controversy album, and I loved hearing this during the Montreux Jazz Festival. Hearing the Our Father prayer would have realliy set it off.

2. "Sexuality" 4:20

The reproduction of the new breed - Leaders, stand up, organize
chanted in the song Rainbow Children.
This is my favorite track on the album actually, it's rebelious and wild and is crazy New Wave, Tick Tick Bang was actually a song to be included on this album and these 2 songs have the same NW feel. I heard/have the 1st Avenue 1982 performance of this and they played it the same with the speed turned up a bit. It really rocked. I love the part where he says "Momma are you listening?" and there is this crisp 1 second guitar scream. My favorite song. And one of those that present a type of Millenium Edenic Utopia...

3. "Do Me, Baby" 7:47
I 1st heard this song on the radio, I never heard the ending, until staying up late one night they played the whole song, I was like wwwhhhhaaatttt! with a smile on my face "I like Prince" He has a way of conveying the feeling of certain actions through the song. Ok we are all adults here. Masturbation is what he is doing at the end of the song. It felt desperate, lonely yet had the 'sex passion' drive. And the "I feel so cold" at the end of the song really completed this song.

I brought this up a little while ago, how in some songs Prince sings from a womans perspective. Do Me Baby is one of those songs in my opinion. The lyrics, the request is something a woman would say, it's the 'ravish' me expression of a woman. Men would say I wan't to do you, I want to give it to you etc etc (I'm not saying this is a negative way)

Side two
"Private Joy" 4:25 A song about his (ex)girlfriend Susan Moonie
This song was written about Susan from Vanity 6, Princes high school/after school girlfiend, He was really into her, yet Susan wasn't manipulated by Princes affairs, and did her thing. The song suggests a man in love with a woman he wants all to himself almost possessive yet she is non-chalont about it all and sees other men (this is how Prince is as well)

2."Ronnie, Talk to Russia" 1:48
A 50's sounding rock n roll sound about political and social issues of the early 80's surround the cold war between Russia & the USA, with the ever present threat we faced of Nuclear War. It was a scary thing back then. Remember the movie "The Day After"? That was a scary time.

3. "Let's Work" 3:57
FUNK, pure Minneapolis funk, that sensual bass playing set the tone, I don't know how to describe the sound of the bass almost moaning. A song either about working the dance floor or working the bedroom. The dancefloor tends to proceed the bedroom.

4. "Annie Christian" 4:21
A spooky song about a woman of Soviet Union. Anne Christian represents the social/religious/political atmosphere of Communism. New Wave sound and like Samantha said, sounds like dark empty room or hallway.

5. "Jack U Off" 3:12
Another song from the same album about masturbation, and another sung is a 'passive' or womans expression. Men can't jack a woman off. Dez tried to explain to Prince that the term was not said to another man unless of course... And it's a masculine expression but is usually said "Jack Me/It Off" more like a command, and very dominate. When they opened for the Stone and did this song Dez expected the kind of reaction the strong male crowd gave them as Prince in his bekini breifs sing "I'll jack u off"

Also I believe this is the album with the 1st use of U in replace of You.

Prince - vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums
Bobby Z - drums on "Jack U Off"
Lisa Coleman - backing vocals, keyboards on "Jack U Off"
Dr. Fink - keyboards on "Jack U Off"

song/playing credits are always weird because they probably played on more or less songs than indicated.
[Edited 6/18/09 8:07am]

chapt 3 RUDE:1981 PRIVATE JOY

A pastiche of new influences emerged in Prince's songwriting as he prepared his fourth album, to be titled Controversy. Cold, electronic textures - a staple of New Wave bands like Kraftwerk and Devo - made their way into music that, more than ever, evoked a multiplicity of genres. "Controversy" combined a scratchy, James Brown-style guitar riff with a rock-like synth line and a multi-voice harmony that included Prince's lower register, part of his singing repertoire rarely displayed on his previous three albums. The funk outing "Sexuality" used the same approach, again showcasing his ability to coax a wide variety of sounds from his vocal chords.

Among Prince's management team and at Warner Bros., there was an almost unanimous consensus that this new material could establish Prince as an underground phenomenon with crossover potential. "I thought it was a brilliant album," said Marylou Badeaux, who felt the simmering anger of Prince's sound and lyrics dovetailed perfectly with the growing commercial prominence of New Wave.

While much of the new album was completed in his Edina home, Prince also worked at two Los Angeles studios, Hollywood Sound and Sunset Sound. At the latter facility he cut a song, "Private Joy," that proved a turning point in his approach to rhythm tracks. Rather than live drums, Prince used the Linn LM-I, the first drum machine on the market to incorporate sounds sampled from real drums. Whereas earlier models had had a plastic, disposable feel, the Linn sounded much more like a true instrument.

Prince loved the Linn and realized that it would allow him to work with even less assistance from other musicians and technicians. Creating full-band recordings in hotel rooms suddenly became possible. "When I heard Private Joy for the first time, that was the moment I knew things were going to change," remarked Bobby (Z) Rivkin. "Recording drums is an expensive and slow process; it takes a long time to get a good sound. The Linn gave him an instant good sound."

The lyrics to Private Joy were directed at Susan Moonsie, a longtime friend whom he began dating after the Dirty Mind tour. Prince had met her in high school and even spent some nights on her family's couch before the Anderson family took him in. When she emerged as his principal romantic interest in late 1980, his associates found her to be an intelligent, grounded, unmanipulative person-perhaps the perfect complement to a mercurial, egocentric artist. "She was more of a girlfriend than any girlfriend he had ever had," observed Rivkin. Added Alan Leeds, who also got to know her well in coming years: "Like many a young lady, she was attracted to the fun of hte rock n roll lifestyle, but she could never be confused for a groupie. She saw Prince as a hugely creative, but lonely, young fellow who needed tons of support, tender loving care, and encouragement. This was all at a crucial time in his development."

Moonsie struggled, however, with a basic problem in the relationship: Prince's resistance to monogamy. As his notoriety grew, so did opportunities for casual sex. Moreover, the Dirty Mind tour introduced him to another young woman who became a significant love interest: Jill Jones, a backup vocalist for Teena Marie. Prince began dating Jones and promised to record an album of music for her to sing. With all of this going on, Moonsie was caught between her affection for Prince and her unwillingness to facilitate his unfaithfulness. "Unlike the majority of his subsequent girlfriends, Moonsie's boundaries were not negotiable," observed Leeds. "She wouldn't jump up and down or holler and scream, but Prince knew she would never tolerate any behavior that even bordered on disrespect." When Prince became flagrant about his affairs, Moonsie would temporarily withdraw, leaving him wounded and angry. But while Prince expected Moonsie to tolerate his dalliances, he was possessive of her, as the lyrics of Private Joy indicated. "He didn't want her as his exclusive girlfriend, but he wanted her around," said one source. "Other guys know not to mess with her."

Possessed: the Rise & Fall of Prince




[Edited 6/18/09 8:18am]

my favorite prince album of the 80's

genius

I've probably spun 'Controversy' more than any other Prince album. '1999' came close.

That's a great album. It's fun from start to finish. The only song that I don't care for is Ronnie, Talk 2 Russia but everything else is just great.

Prince.org is a cemetery where folks mourn Prince instead of celebrate him and his music. Last time I checked, Prince isn't dead yet.

OldFriends4Sale said:

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OldFriends4Sale said:

[Edited 4/30/09 11:31am]