So Prince is one of the most controversial artists of all time. What are the songs that best represent this?

1. Controversy

2. Darling Nikki

3. F.U.N.K.

Definitely Darling Nikki. I would add Jack U Off.

"Sister", definitely. I'm pretty sure it's one of the only major artist songs about incest.

Avalanche and Family Name

billymeade said:

"Sister", definitely. I'm pretty sure it's one of the only major artist songs about incest.

I think Sister is inherently and potentially the most controversial song Prince has ever recorded. However, when I think about the song that actually WAS the most controversial, I'd have to go with Controversy. Prince was still largely under the radar during Dirty Mind. Additionally, Sister got NO airplay (go figure). It was relatively out of sight to many people, and thus, out of mind.

Controversy was appropriately controversial during a time before the brashness of hip-hop, that is to say that no other major artists were as blatant as Prince. He was bringing punk to radio disguised as a funk/rock hybrid. He had been setting the stage for Controversy with Prince and Dirty Mind, tossing ideas about his sexual orientation around in songs like he was flipping a coin. I Wanna Be Your Lover, Bambi, Sexy Dancer, Sister, Gotta Broken Heart Again, Head and Dirty Mind were through his music, the only clues we got about who he was (or not) because HE WASN'T TALKING AT ALL. Singing falsetto, being coy, grinding male and female bandmembers, not to mention his attire (or lack thereof) only enhanced the tease.

The social context of a point in history has as much (sometime more) to do with public reaction as the song itself. So when Controversy dropped, it was at a time when Prince was perceived more as a major voice in music, a time when the country had shifted back toward social conservatism, and a time when the kinds of statements and questions Prince was offering up weren't so freely discussed in interpersonal conversation, much less in heavy rotation on FM radio. "Am I straight or gay?" "Do you get high?" "Do I believe in God?" Then, dude goes and drops the Lord's Prayer right in the midst of all that!! What? It was considered blasphemy in most Christian minds. So many stations were pressured into not playing the song, or fading it prior to the prayer. Then, as if that weren't enough, P comes tight out of the prayer with a chant saying, "I wish we all were nude." This was beyond blasphemy to so many people.

And that was just about the single, Controversy. The entire Controversy LP was a wake-up call, from Ronnie Talk to Russia, the political warning with the haunting explosion ending the song, Private Joy and Let's Work - the most metaphoric tracks of the set, Do Me, Baby - which began a "live from the bedroom" phenomenon in R&B ballads that continues to this day, and Annie Christian and Jack U Off - two songs whose mere titles pissed off and scared off so many people. Then, as if to say, "I ain't through fuckin' with u," Prince includes The Poster, complete with bikini pouch drawers and crucifix. All this to say that the song Controversy brought a posse to back it up, reinforcing the idea.

Granted, by today's standards, which Prince certainly helped shape (as he alluded in his BET Lifetime Achievement Award acceptance speech), Controversy wouldn't be nearly as offensive, but in 1981, it was definitely the album most likely to be between your mattress and box spring.

We can't fault the man for lying. If a song and album were ever named appropriately, Controversy was.

(image coutesy of OldFriends4Sale)

chopingard said:

Avalanche and Family Name

yup. those are the two that have caused the most controversy among the fanbase anyway. honorable mention to the Moors in Spain as well, even though no one's heard it.

errant said:

chopingard said:

Avalanche and Family Name

yup. those are the two that have caused the most controversy among the fanbase anyway. honorable mention to the Moors in Spain as well, even though no one's heard it.

Moors in Spain ??

Do you have the lyrics of this track, please ?

yankem said:

errant said:

yup. those are the two that have caused the most controversy among the fanbase anyway. honorable mention to the Moors in Spain as well, even though no one's heard it.

Moors in Spain ??

Do you have the lyrics of this track, please ?

not personally, but a search in the upper right corner might do it.

chopingard said:

Avalanche and Family Name

bingo

errant said:

honorable mention to the Moors in Spain as well, even though no one's heard it.

bingo again

xlr8r said:

errant said:

honorable mention to the Moors in Spain as well, even though no one's heard it.

bingo again

shall we sit at the piano and croak out a few verses of "Those Were The Days"

eh, Edith?

errant said:

xlr8r said:

bingo again

shall we sit at the piano and croak out a few verses of "Those Were The Days"

eh, Edith?

"prince.org was filmed in front of a live televison audience"

sexy mf was released as a single in the uk

errant said:

yankem said:

Moors in Spain ??

Do you have the lyrics of this track, please ?

not personally, but a search in the upper right corner might do it.

Thanks for the advice ! (well KevinLucyMe send them to me and that is nice, nicer than a cold search bar !!!)

Thanks KevinLucyMe !!

i memba when Sexy Mutha Fucker was released, it seemed pretty controversal back then (maybe cause i was 10), but it made prince "cool" again, in my eyes (i had grown outtta prince and MJ by the early 90's i dicovered eastcoast hip hop)

but i would say Sister, it still sounds conroversial today

BruthaMoorice said:

i memba when Sexy Mutha Fucker was released, it seemed pretty controversal back then (maybe cause i was 10), but it made prince "cool" again, in my eyes (i had grown outtta prince and MJ by the early 90's i dicovered eastcoast hip hop)

but i would say Sister, it still sounds conroversial today

Sexy MF would've been somewhere on my list; it was Prince's first "rap" track and a new direction for his music. And ditto, incest will proably remain taboo in music (let's hope so) across a time spectrum.

Hello was also a song that came to mind, due to it being his response to broad public opinion that thought Prince should have participated in the "We Are the World" project.

I suppose I see some of the songs mentioned -- Avalanche, Moors in Spain, Family Name, and I'd throw in When Will We B Paid (and others) -- more as social statement songs that Prince uses to shed some light on particular cultural/historical topics. Enlightening? Intriguing? IMO, Avalanche wasn't controversial at all -- Prince just set some lesser known history to music. What's the controversy? Abe Lincoln was a racist; there's plenty of historical evidence to support that. Same with the Moors; its just not a topic that the mainstream has a great deal of knowledge about. Same with Family Name and When Will We Be Paid, addressing reparations, a controversial topic in and of itself.

It seems the definition of "controversial" is a relative concept,