This song is my ALL TIME Favorite Prince song, EVER! I thought I'd get that out of the way right now. "When Doves Cry" is a hella close second. To this day, whenever I listen to this song, it just makes my head do the "funk nod". It's such an "odd" groove but it works somehow. The main riff of the song isn't your typical funk line at all. It lends itself closer to new wave if anything. But it's still funky. But the section that truly does for me is the pre-chorus. P's chord changes are brilliant and somehow it evokes a cathedral vibe mixed with Curtis Mayfield. The whole tone of the song changes in this section which shows how talented P is as a songwriter. Even his lyrics in that section take on a more serious overtone;

"Do I believe in God? Do I believe in me?
Some people want to die, so they can be free
Let me tell ya, Life is just a game. We're all just the same"

I just dig this song. I think the song itself is underrated among Prince fans. When it first hit the radio as a single, NOTHING on the black stations sounded anything remotely close to it. And it was quite different from anything P himself had released up to that point. Anyway, who else out there digs this song?

Controversy is great-so is Prince!

I feel you 110%.

I can't listen to this album without playing Controversy at least twice. Every time I hear it I can't wrap my head around how fuckin' cool of a song it is.

Man, one of my all time favorites, hands down.

I downloaded the live version played in Hawaii from the Club and listening to it, with Maceo on the hornz and sorts, I was just thinking how far this song has come and still remains fresh and incredible to this day.

I must be the only guy who finds it to be the weakest track on "Controversy"...I think the chorus is just bland and even the synth work isn't anything exciting...at least compared to the rest of the stuff Prince has done...

FrancerulzV99 said:

The weakest song on the album?! Damn..but that's cool though, cuz everybody is entitled to their thought. I can dig it.

I have to disagree with you (Blackguitarist Z) on saying that the song is underated my Prince fans. I was 10 years old when the song came out, and I remember loving this song (my first Prince song), as did everyone else in school, which was 95% Black. When he played this during the Musicology Tour, the crowd went nuts in LA.
[Edited 7/13/06 16:37pm]
[Edited 7/13/06 16:38pm]

Great song, one of my favorites

If "Uptown" was the hint, "Controversy" was the confirmation: Prince is a genius. Top 10 Prince songs for me.

people call me rude
i wish we all were nude
i wish there was no black or white
i wish there were no rules

On a scale of 1 to 10, how sad is it that this is where I learned the Lord's Prayer from?

FruitToAttractBears said:

eleventy-twelve!

As always BG brings it. Controversy is a great song, actually one of the best Prince has ever recorded. His rhythm guitar work on the track is mindblowing and the beat coupled with the synths..good lawd. It's such a culmination of so many things, so forward thinking. And like many others have said, It's SOOOO Prince.

My favorite "funk guitar" song of all time - LOVE the breakdown after the Lord's Prayer where P's funkin' it up on the Hohner. The video is one of my faves, as well, P looks like a baptist preacher up in there.

Next church gig I play, I might add some guitar funk to the Lord's Prayer

My favorite "funk guitar" song of all time - LOVE the breakdown after the Lord's Prayer where P's funkin' it up on the Hohner. The video is one of my faves, as well, P looks like a baptist preacher up in there.

Well, a baptist preacher with no pants...

Next church gig I play, I might add some guitar funk to the Lord's Prayer

URTHE1 said:

I was there at Staples myself and true, they did go nuts on the night that I went. What I was refering to were the folks on this site. Definately when the song was first released, it was a hit for P in the black market. Black stations played it to death.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Thanx DP.

Blasting the Ultimate version now! Indeed an absolute Prince classic. I LOVE those dreamy background vocals during the bridge/chorus.

The 2003/2004 live version was absolutely killer, too. The Fillmore 2004 version... Loved the 86 performance of it as well, but the synth wasn't prominent enough.

JesseDezz said:

What it is, J.D.?! Player, please don't get me started on the video! It's my fave video from him, hands down. THIS is the Prince that I'm always talking about. I knew this thread wasn't going to get many posts, cuz I don't think many folks on here was/is into this Prince era. I think he was waaay to wild for people to truly get with. But that was such a big element of what P was about then. In the video, he ooozed, "I so don't give a fuck." Everyone in the band looked hard, including 18 year old Mark. Dez and P were definately on it, visually. When P runs over to Dez on the pre-chorus, that's one of the best shots ever in a Prince video. The stage in a mock up church with the stained glass windows is perfect. The smoke machines and the two angels on each side of the stage. P's hair is so fucked up that it STILL looks cool. That's cuz of his overall attitude. He had been seriously trying to distance himself from the DeBarge looking muthafuckers in the band Switch since 79 and around the time of this song, he was scaring the shit out of a lot of black girls. They were always saying that P looked weird and evil. Yeah, he did.

DorothyParkerWasCool said:

Man D.P., I remember seeing P on the 1999 tour and he would open with this song. It was the hardest, coolest looking shit. P would be up on on the catwalk in the shadows struting back and forth with smoke pouring out everywhere. Looked like some shit that would be in hell.

FruitToAttractBears said:

I didn't want 2 admit it,but so did I!!!!

So true! I remember the song dropped in the late summer/early fall before my nineth grade year right slap in the middle of Rick James' "Street Songs" tour which was huge that year. All throughout the school year people were taking sides...."Hey bitches, Prince sucks!"...."Hey super freaks, Rick James sucks!".

This song was one of the anthems to the people around me.We were mostly "black",even though,some of us didn't quite look like we belonged to any particular race.It was a statement of freedom.Even in the keyboard riffs I hear that freedom.This is one of a few funk songs that has a rock attitude and made me think something big was coming .I had to sneak and listen to this album because my dad didn't understand.The song is a movement ,as is "sexuality".I could go on and on about the impact of this song.

rockwilder said:

rockwilder said:

Wow, very well said. And when u get a nod from D.P., then that's really saying something.

Controversy is the cut! From the time it jumps off to the very end. A funky masterpiece!

Great pick Brutha B. I remember (as a kid) the 1st time I saw the video on "America's Top 10" (w Kasey Kasem) and it blew my mind. The 1981 P was sooo different from the
1979 "I Wanna Be Your Lover" P..but it was still cool. P hit a lot of topics in that jam that were kind of "taboo" then. Dez looks cool as hell with his headband, leather jacket and beat up sunburst Strat. He looked like a punked out Jimi Hendrix. The groove is still tight and the rhythm guitar is one of P's best moments. I saw the video the other night on VH-1 Soul and it took me right back to that Saturday afternoon in 1981. A kiler song, LP, and video.

blackguitaristz said:

And when you get acknowledged by well versed cats like BG, you've been paying attention.

SPYZFAN1 said:

Dez DEFINATELY looked like a punked out version of Hendrix. Dez was on Hendrix visually waaaay before P was. That's what I was trying to tell these little kids on here earlier on another topic but of course, they don't want to to hear it.