The Many Facets of Roger, Mothership Connection, Word Up, There's A Riot Goin' On, Fire, The Heat Is On. What does these albums have in common? They are all considered to be some of the greatest funk albums of all time. And Dirty Mind is definitely part of that group. Dirty Mind is hardcore edge funk that wasn't heard before then and hasn't since. This album broke all the rules for Prince and music in general. A true classic! That's why Rolling Stone named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. I considered this the pre ATWIAD era when Prince started evolving into a great artist and composer and changing his format. Not that he's had bad albums since then, I'm not saying that, in fact some of his best work came after this period like SOTT, Lovesexy, D&P, Gold, and TRC. But that is a grown up Prince who's musical taste evolved into something greater. I'm talking about that young raw talent that was starting to get that itch when his funk was raw and new. For You, Prince, Dirty Mind, Controversy, and 1999 are all part of this raw infusion of funk and is the best of this time period. DM being the best in my opinion. If I was stranded on a desert island (Survivor) for 30 days and they said I can only take 5 funk albums with me to listen to (keep my insanity) I will bring with me:
1. Mothership Connection-Parliament
2. The Heat Is On-Isley Bros.
3. The Many Facets of Roger-Roger
4. Dirty Mind-Prince
5. Cameosis-Cameo
For those who don't agree that DM is one of the greatest funk albums of all time state your mind. For those who agree speak as well. Holla!

'Dirty Mind is one of the greatest funk albums of all time


I know my Funk

Parliament
Bootsy Collins
Eddie Hazel
Bernie Worrell
The Isley Bros
Cameo

They are all had Funky albums....but prince's DM.... De-void-of-Funk

it has its funk moments, but i don't think of this as funk album. closer to punk/new wave filtered through rnb/funk.

Head is about the only thing close..to being called funk

I don't know where Prince - or anyone else, for that matter - gets the idea that anything on Dirty Mind was remotely like Punk music. It's R&B, pop, and a little bit of rock and roll. Not Punk.

Spinlight said:

I think if you really wanted to, you could argue that the
sound of it is a little "punk". You know, because it's so sparse and unfinished somehow.

skywalker said:

Always remember Prince brought balance to the Funk.

I dont see it as a funk album also.

I mean there are some funky tracks on it (Head and Party Up come to mind), but theres also pop, R&B and rock on it.

While i agree its not 'Punk' stylewise, it shows a punky attitude in the way the sound is so sparse. In fact these are unpolished demo's and his managers convinced him to release them this way. If they hadn't done that maybe Dirty Mind had ultimately sounded more as the Prince album.

Its also a bit 'punk' in the way that Prince is using new wave influences in his music for the first time. I tend to think that it was Dez Dickerson who did point Prince at this type of music. When you were mine reminds me of Elvis Costello and the attractions, while the title track and Uptown also show elements of new wave pop/rock.

In a way these two decisions: releasing demo's instead of polished endmaterial, mixing elements of new wave pop/rock influenced his whole career from then on. It made Prince from a remarkeble new artist into a groundbreaking one, and it also formed the foundation for the "Minneapolis sound".

Punk more than Funk .....

Etorres said:

the dirty mind track is not PUNK is more soul/funk.
WHEN you were mine is not punk or funk...
gotta A broken heart is not punk
head is not punk
punk is sister , party up , and maybe uptown...uptown is a mix of all shit.
yes is an PRINCE ALBUM .. You have pop, rock. funk. soul.. in the ESSENTIAL DIRTY MIND LP/CD

An awesome 30 minutes and 10 seconds of tunes, but funk? There's some funk in there, but as a whole I wouldn't consider it a funk album. More new-wave than anything else. I don't even think at that point in his career Prince himself would have used "funk" to attempt to define his "sound."

When I listen to "Head" I hear funk.

When I listen to "When You Were Mine" I hear rock/pop.

With every song it's different (which makes it great), but it's so stripped down and homegrown that I couldn't classify it as a funk album.

I agree

I love this album myself! I gotta listen 2 it...NOW!!

I'd have to stick with P-funk for pure funkiness, but I gotta give credit to Prince for making funk a bit more digestible for the masses: punk-funk, funk-pop, funk-rock, etc.

calldapplwondery83 said:

I think Dirty Mind is very much punk influenced, but not so much in its sound as in its attitude.

And isn't punk (at its core) an expression of an attitude? I mean, music can have a punk sound, but if ain't got the attitude, it ain't really punk, now is it?

Dirty Mind was Prince's "I'm gonna use the F word; I'm gonna sing about blow jobs and cumming on wedding gowns; I'm gonna walk around in a g-string and raincoat and not give a shit what y'all think" attitude come to life.

And the "fight your own damn war" chant at the end of "Partyup" is very Punk as well, I think.
[Edited 7/6/07 17:20pm]