as his best of all time? one of his very best but nowhere near his best? as a top10-some classic songs but overall a bit lightweight? less than that?

discuss

10/10 album but makes more sense as the start of a journey rather than an end point. It's definitely in my top 5 but I wouldn't use it as definitive proof of Prince's talent to a non-fan.

I know this is a dick move. But most of the time at the gym, to get freaking pumped, I start "Uptown" on my mp3 and fast forward so it's roughly about ten seconds left on the song and wait for the "distortion" sound to kick in and then...HEAD! Gets me everytime. Love that bridge between those songs.

[Edited 12/17/14 9:11am]

I think it's impact is dulled due to it's own impact over the last 30 years. Younger fans might not understand how much of a left turn this was, and how explicit it was for the times.

billymeade said:

I think it's impact is dulled due to it's own impact over the last 30 years. Younger fans might not understand how much of a left turn this was, and how explicit it was for the times.

I've been listening to quite some provocative underground hip hop in my youth that could almost get me arrested for listening to, yet the first time I heard Dirty Mind, it really shocked me in a positive way. His combination of being vulnurable, dirty, cocky and sweet sensual at the same time makes it alot more shocking than almost anything we hear. The reason is he is channeling emotions that most people avoid showing.

Good, but overrated. I think it has some classics; Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine and Head, some good; Uptown and Sister, and some average; Do it all night, Gotta Broken Heart and Partyup.

I know it was released in 'demo' form, but the production doesn't help.

Ballads aside, I think it took until Controversy onwards, before Prince found his sound, with the introduction of the linn and standard vocal (as opposed to the falsetto) in for the first time.

I don't judge the album based on as a whole because to be honest there are many albums far superior to Dirty Mind... But the reason it holds it's weight and regarded as one of Prince's top was because this was the true debut album of PRINCE. I believe this album was a pivotal landmark taking Prince's evolution of his own interpretation of his music to another level from the times of For You and Prince. As many stated the most radical transformation of any modern musician from going from his first 2 "experimental" sounding debut albums, with Dirty Mind he found his trademark style.

I believe Dirty Mind is one of the 4 albums classified by most music journalists as one of his best besides 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O The Times is because this was the true DEBUT from Prince.

SquirrelMeat said:

Good, but overrated. I think it has some classics; Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine and Head, some good; Uptown and Sister, and some average; Do it all night, Gotta Broken Heart and Partyup.

I know it was released in 'demo' form, but the production doesn't help.

Ballads aside, I think it took until Controversy onwards, before Prince found his sound, with the introduction of the linn and standard vocal (as opposed to the falsetto) in for the first time.

I kinda agree that Prince hadn't found his sound yet on it. However he had definitely found a sound that I dig! Personally I love the (lack of) production.

feeluupp said:

I don't judge the album based on as a whole because to be honest there are many albums far superior to Dirty Mind... But the reason it holds it's weight and regarded as one of Prince's top was because this was the true debut album of PRINCE. I believe this album was a pivotal landmark taking Prince's evolution of his own interpretation of his music to another level from the times of For You and Prince. As many stated the most radical transformation of any modern musician from going from his first 2 "experimental" sounding debut albums, with Dirty Mind he found his trademark style.

I believe Dirty Mind is one of the 4 albums classified by most music journalists as one of his best besides 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O The Times is because this was the true DEBUT from Prince.

yeah, I agree, but in my opinion the "debut" of Prince were four songs of the '79 album: I Wanna Be Your Lover / Why U Wanna Treat So Bad? / I Feel 4 U / It's Gonna Be Lonely

The true beginning of something wonderful that is still going strong today. I prefer the songs of some of his other early albums but Dirty Mind as a whole is... a whole. It's a complete Prince experience, with a beginning and an end, and no skippers. Do It All Night and Party Up are weaker than the other songs, but I like them all the same just like I'm not a huge fan of the Gold Standard chorus but find AOA to be a cohesive experience as well.

Aerogram said:

The true beginning of something wonderful that is still going strong today. I prefer the songs of some of his other early albums but Dirty Mind as a whole is... a whole. It's a complete Prince experience, with a beginning and an end, and no skippers. Do It All Night and Party Up are weaker than the other songs, but I like them all the same just like I'm not a huge fan of the Gold Standard chorus but find AOA to be a cohesive experience as well.

Nicely put!

Personally Dirty Mind used to be my absolute favourite of his. It's definitely not as deep or challenging as some of his later records in the 80s. However as a whole it sounds so good from start to finish, and it felt fresh even when I heard it in the 00s for the first time on vinyl. It's a damn catchy record, but you'll have to love his sometimes over the top squeaky and intense falsetto.

JoeTyler said:

feeluupp said:

I don't judge the album based on as a whole because to be honest there are many albums far superior to Dirty Mind... But the reason it holds it's weight and regarded as one of Prince's top was because this was the true debut album of PRINCE. I believe this album was a pivotal landmark taking Prince's evolution of his own interpretation of his music to another level from the times of For You and Prince. As many stated the most radical transformation of any modern musician from going from his first 2 "experimental" sounding debut albums, with Dirty Mind he found his trademark style.

I believe Dirty Mind is one of the 4 albums classified by most music journalists as one of his best besides 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O The Times is because this was the true DEBUT from Prince.

yeah, I agree, but in my opinion the "debut" of Prince were four songs of the '79 album: I Wanna Be Your Lover / Why U Wanna Treat So Bad? / I Feel 4 U / It's Gonna Be Lonely

See, while I love all of those songs, and I Wanna Be Your Lover is one of my favourite Prince songs ever, to me they sound like the work of a supremely talented RnB/disco artist, great stuff but not necessarily hugely removed from the existing musical climate of the period. Dirty Mind on the other hand feels like it could have only come from the mind of the fucked up weirdo sex alien genius that we all know and love. Thus to me Dirty Mind is the start of the "real" Prince as although it doesn't have the characteristic Minneapolis sound (that appears in Controversy) it's the first real appearance of Prince's visionary blend of styles and his attitude.

As for my thoughts on the album, I'm somewhat biased, as it's the album that really got me into Prince, so of course I love it, but I would still rank it as one of if not the best album of his. I think that it has gone down slightly in my estimations as I've learnt to appreciate production more, and sometimes its rawness and sparseness feels a tad simplistic, but it's still awesome.

Head is the best song here, followed closely by the title track, I think we can all agree on that...

JoeTyler said:

perfect in its sparseness and simplicity. I remeber peeps getting excited back when Kiss was released that Parade was a return to the striped down approach but alas no (dont get me wrong Parade is classic on its own).

Would love to hear a Dirty Mind 2.0 with an old Prince doing everything and working analog with only 8-16 tracks tops. Maybe the "Truth" came close but still would be cool.

The start of a golden period, but the best was yet to come.

My second favorite album right behind "1999". "Controversy" is my third favorite.

JoeTyler said:

Head is the best song here, followed closely by the title track, I think we can all agree on that...

"Head" is the song that made me buy my first Prince album rather than just a 45 like I had done previously with "I Wanna Be Your Lover". After hearing "head" on the radio, I went to the store looking for a 45 of it, (hell, kids thought everythiing was available on a 45 until they learned the process of releasing "singles"), the 45 didn't exist, so I bought the album.

Replica said:

JoeTyler said:

Head is the best song here, followed closely by the title track, I think we can all agree on that...

Head was the song that made me instantly addicted to the album. I used it as a basic structure for my own funky songs for a long time. However I think When You Were Mine is a perfect singer songwriter type of song no matter how naive the lyrics may sound to people. It reflects that naive and blind love. One of my favorites. Already on this album his style was so different from song to song that it was impossible to agree what the best songs were. Some people will say that uptown is the best song. A great party track for sure, but not my favourite.

"Uptown" is the best song there.

It's one of his best. In my album rankings, it is usually comfortably in 4th or 5th place. For the time it came out though it was the very best thing he had done to date. I love the sparse punk sound, the sexy dirty feel of it and the very ctachy riffs, lyrics and Prince's falsetto. The guitars and keys are all awesome as well.

.

Dirty Mind was a great opener, When u were mine is a very high quality ballad. Do It All night is a fine sexy party rock song. Uptown is a super funky manifesto, Head is pure comedy, Sister disgusting but hilarious and Partyup a true bop against the bomb. Only Gotta a broken heart seems like "Just a song", and even it is a good track.

.

Not only is it well written and well constructed, the music fits together and the set works together as a whole. It's Prince's bedroom fantasies along with a political and social manifesto set to music.

.

I only rank SOTT, Parade and 1999 higher (On a bad day I may put Purple Rain higher - but to me its on a level of Purple Rain qualitywise). But I also consider it unfair to compare Dirty Mind, with these later albums, where he sounds more mature, accomplished and using better and more Prince sounding technology (There is no darn darn guitars or Linn Drum machines on Dirty Mind), plus it is before Princbonics and the "Aowwooowwoohhh" sounds. All of these things are introduced on Controversy and as good an album it is, it is not on the level of Dirty Mind, sounding more like it's sequel with a few later Prince touches thrown in.

.

Whereas Dirty Mind is the perfect marriage of Punk, Funk, Rock and Pop on a record. I also place it above other classics like Lovesexy, Controversy, The Gold Experience, ATWIAD and Art Official Age, giving you some idea of how high I rate this album.

[Edited 12/23/14 2:11am]

Adorecream said:

It's one of his best. In my album rankings, it is usually comfortably in 4th or 5th place. For the time it came out though it was the very best thing he had done to date. I love the sparse punk sound, the sexy dirty feel of it and the very ctachy riffs, lyrics and Prince's falsetto. The guitars and keys are all awesome as well.

.

Dirty Mind was a great opnere, When u were mine is a very high quality ballad. Do Ita All night is a fine sexy party rock song. Uptown is a super funky manifesto, Head is pure comedy, Sister disgusting but hilarious and Partyup a true bop against the bomb. Only Gotta a broken heart seems like "Just a song", and even it is a good track.

.

Not only is it well written and well constrcuted, the music fits together and the set works together as a whole. It's Prince's bedroom fantasies along with a political and social manifesto set to music.

.

I only rank SOTT, Parade and 1999 higher (On a bad day I may put Purple Rain higher - but to me its on a level of Purple Rain qualitywise). But I also consider it unfair to compare Dirty Mind, with these later albums, where he sounds more mature, accomplished and using better and more Prince soundig technology (There is no darn darn guitars or Linn Drum machines on Dirty Mind), plus it is before Princbonics and the "Aowwooowwoohhh" sounds. All of these things are introduced on Controversy and as good an album it is, it is not on the level of Dirty Mind, sounding more like it's sequel with a few later Prince touches thrown in.

.

Whereas Dirty Mind is the perfect marriage of Punk, Funk, Rock and Pop on a record. I also place it above other classics like Lovesexy, Controversy, The Gold Experience, ATWIAD and Art Official Age, giving you some idea of how high I rate this album.

I think we view Dirty Mind pretty much the same. I sometimes rank it as his best only because of how it affected my life. It made me alot more sexually confident, and more in contact with both my masculinity and femininity. I consider myself a manly man with alot of feminine and vulnurable sides that I love. And Dirty Mind is just perfect for how I felt and still feel sometimes. It's also nostalgia. From an objective view I'd put 1999, Purple Rain, SOTT and Parade over it. But as you said, it's kinda unfair. And why must someting that sounds big and "mature" automatically be better than something that sounds raw, naive and uncut? If the bigger the sound, the better, then of course every famous classical piece is better than all modern pop music. I'm glad I don't see it that way though. Purple Rain is stadium rock compared to the "Indie punkfunk" of Dirty Mind.

Replica said:

I think we view Dirty Mind pretty much the same. I sometimes rank it as his best only because of how it affected my life. It made me alot more sexually confident, and more in contact with both my masculinity and femininity. I consider myself a manly man with alot of feminine and vulnurable sides that I love. And Dirty Mind is just perfect for how I felt and still feel sometimes. It's also nostalgia. From an objective view I'd put 1999, Purple Rain, SOTT and Parade over it. But as you said, it's kinda unfair. And why must someting that sounds big and "mature" automatically be better than something that sounds raw, naive and uncut? If the bigger the sound, the better, then of course every famous classical piece is better than all modern pop music. I'm glad I don't see it that way though. Purple Rain is stadium rock compared to the "Indie punkfunk" of Dirty Mind.

Good points, I actually don't rank PR over it, because it does sound good, but the ideas in the songs are not as full as Dirty Mind. Its still great, but I like 1999 more as it has everything and a more dancable sound, that I have always preferred, plus it is catchy as hell and sounds like a more developed, full and funkier mix of Dirty Mind, whereas Controversy sounds a bit like their mutant offspring.

.

I like SOTT more as the songs on it are pure genius and it hangs together well, even better than DM, even if DM dated from 1986 and had a Parade sound, I would still like SOTT more. There's no Adore or Housequake on DM sorry. I just love Parade because of the catchy music and the happy positive sounds of the lyrics, the party feel and two seriously high quality ballads, amongst a pair of perfect pop songs called Mountains and Kiss.

.

I know so many fans put Purple Rain on the Apex, but I don't, I mean apart from Beautiful Ones and When Doves Cry, the rest is great rather than classic, Purple Rain is too long and Take me with u is very average. I feel the quality on Purple Rain is not consitstent and could easily skip the last 5 minutes of Purple Rain, and feel the album would have been enhanced with Electric Intercourse in the place of Take me with u, as it is the encountering the girl for the first time song.

,

This contrasts with Dirty Mind where I don't skip anything at all.

.

Marks on my 100 point scale

SOTT 98.5 (Disc 1 - 97, Disc 2 100 - its flawless)

1999 - 95/100

Parade - 93/100

Dirty Mind 91/100 (73/80 = 91.125%)

Purple Rain 91/100 (82/90 = 91.1111%)

Lovesexy 88/100

Art Official Age 87/100 (This may be inflated, as I did not mark the Affirmations, with them, the mark would into the 70s)

The Gold Experience 86/100

ATWAID 84/100

Controversy 82.5/100 (66/80)

[Edited 12/18/14 14:54pm]

For the majority of music critics and musicologists this is usually the rank of the top Prince albums...

1. Purple Rain

2. Sign O' The Times

3. 1999

4. Dirty Mind

------------------------

jaawwnn said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Good, but overrated. I think it has some classics; Dirty Mind, When You Were Mine and Head, some good; Uptown and Sister, and some average; Do it all night, Gotta Broken Heart and Partyup.

I know it was released in 'demo' form, but the production doesn't help.

Ballads aside, I think it took until Controversy onwards, before Prince found his sound, with the introduction of the linn and standard vocal (as opposed to the falsetto) in for the first time.

I kinda agree that Prince hadn't found his sound yet on it. However he had definitely found a sound that I dig! Personally I love the (lack of) production.

This!

.

It's what makes it ever Dirtier!

Promising, wonderful, an absolutely great record but AFAIC P only truly reached his potential with 1999.

Great album! The beginning of music P as we know it today, it's the chrysalis in which the butterfly is cocooned. I like first two albums too but in DM there's all the P introspection looking for his sound, the music he really wants, and, finally, he find it. It's a coherent album that I listen quite often with a lot of pleasure.