Hear me out. This song is one of the most un-Princely songs ever released by him. Don't you agree that this song would have fitted perfectly in some teen comedy from the mid eighties or in that slot? It totally sounds so funny and not serious at all, in the production. When watching movies from that period, it's obvious that it mostly contains sappy love ballads OR a funny non-caring pop tune on the soundtrack. And I for one consider Private Joy to be exactly that. I'm picturing a mid movie montage scene with Private Joy playing over. What I'm saying is that this doesn't sound 1981 at all. But it sure as hell sounds like 1985-1987 in my ears.

Controversy is 35 years old, and we're having a great discussion about it over here: http://prince.org/msg/7/433726