It's October 14 in New Zealand and 35 years to the day that Controversy was released! The album which proved that the multitalented Prince was here to stay. Fresh from his successes with his image from Dirty Mind and the release of the first satellite album - The Time, Controversy served as the effective and funky bridge between Dirty Mind and 1999.

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Despite some thinking it is a lesser album than those two, it is still a very important and seminal (sic) release and one of my favourite Prince albums of all time. The first 3 songs summed up his genius, the controversy seeking and myth dispelling opener with its funk backing became his main show opener for the next 34 and a half years (Generations of fans saw a show open to Controversy. Then we have Sexuality which is a moral parable about the dangers of mass consumerism, greed, stupidity and raising your kids with television, its a funk eugenics stomp!

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Then we have Do Me Baby, his first and best ever sex ballad set in a true bedroom. Prince apparently had the studio decked in pink and candles everywhere and was probably naked while recording it. Basically he spends the first half of the song telling her, that she needs to do him and the second half she finally does it to him, but she watches, he won't stop until the war is over and then he is so cold. The falsetto is taken to extremes and your panties need a wash afterwards.

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Private Joy is a great funk stomp, you do not know if its a girl, a toy or his Johnson he is singing about, but erotic mystery is always fun, then Prince puts his clothes back on and buckles his belt for the Ronnie talk to Russia parable, dated, but still good, we could call it Obama/Clinton talk to Putin now, as things are going. Then the clothes fly back for some funky sex pop, with lets Work, rumour has it the song was originally Lets Fuck, but this song has you climbing the wall.

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Next is the weakest two tracks and reasons why it is not as raw as Dirty Mind or as perfect as 1999, we Annie Christian which is alright it speaks on the death of Lennon, murders in Atlanta and the assassination attempt on Reagan, he uses the slang of taxicabs to describe vag and the last song is a playful rockabilly romp about Jacking some one off, although how do you jack off a girl.

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To me its an 85/100 album and probably his 7th or 8th greatest. There was so much new on the album, rather than being Dirty Mind part 2, the music here is fuller and warmer, Prince sings more in his deep voice rather than falsetto all the time(The brother was 23, the balls had to drop soon), the song writing is way better (Controversy and Sexuality especially) and he is using the Linn to great effect here. Quite a few of the songs are a precursor to the sound and feel of the next album.

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Warner's were apparently going to dump him, if the album was not a hit, a poor showing at a meathead Stones concert or 2 did not help, but the album which was not a titanic hit, was successful enough with #21 album placing on the charts and a #70 Pop placing for the lead single Controversy, his biggest hit since IWBYL, The black chart, album and singer were top 3 smashes and his success with the Time going Gold, convinced Warners that Prince was worth holding on to. Whereas DM never went Gold until the Purple Rain era when new fans bought his back catalogue, Contorversy went gold in a few weeks and then platinum. Also the single Controversy was a minor hit in Australia and a few other places, other singles like Do Me Baby and Sexuality were less successful.

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Next some photos, even though there are 7 more albums I love more, I listen to Controversy a lot, it has a good sound and really funky, also as you know it was released at a time where Prince was really on the ascend - Just two sonic steps away from Purple Rain.

[Edited 10/13/16 17:12pm]

A bit of a promotional effort was done at least, the main ad showed Prince in some bizarre drag making him look like a schoolgirl

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

I am sure that is Prince in the outfit, Commandments are on the board and he incoporated the lords prayer into the song Controversy.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The more familiar image we think off, Prince's hair has molded away from the DM look and the moustache rules, the image is so iconic some fans have even used it.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

I have no idea where this magazine is from, but its definitely a Controversy era look.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The first single was Contoroversy with `1979's Sexy Dancer as a b side, an edited mix also removed the Lords Prayer and the wish we all were nude chant. I can not understand why they had such an old Bside on it.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The tour was also quite successful, with the Time and Zapp as openers as various venues around the USA, this is a boot from the last show in March 1982 at the Met Centre, which sold only 5580 tickets out of 13,000. Yet a year later in the same venue with the 1999 Triple Threat Tour it sold out easily.

I've gotta say that I've always preferred this album to Dirty Mind. I've loved all his albums and even the self titled (For You is one of the few I haven't heard yet but I'm sure it'll be great to me as well). Because of this I don't view DM as some turning point really - just another great album.

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Controversy favorite tracks: Title track, Private Joy, Annie Christian, Let's Work!!!

Images are not mine, and I thank all the people who made and owned them.

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I just love Controversy era images, it was his last underground era, before the 1999 juggernaut mainstreamed him and thus it is hard to tell if these photos are Controversy era or could be earlier Dirty Mind era, as this extended far into 1981, or very early 1999 era from late 1982 onwards.

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The band at this time was incredible, nearly the fully formed Classic revolution it was

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

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Prince - Guitars, vocals and whatever else

Lisa - Piano, Keys and Vocals

Dez - Guitars and Vox

Matt - Keys and synths

Bobby Z - Drums

Brown Mark - Bass and Vocals (Replaced Andre Cymone in Oct 1981 for the Stones and Minneapolis Sams gig, then became the new bassist with the Controversy tour)

Jill Jones - joined some stage on tour as vocalist (Possibly from Teena Marie's group)

Susan Moonsie - Prince's girlfriend and also on stage at some performances, singing or being the Damaris?

Others....

Members of the Time may have added bits and pieces to Prince's set

Vanity - Prince met her at some stage on the Controversy tour.

Big Chick - Apparently joined the entourage sometime in early 1982

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The only change would be Dez being replaced by Wendy in Aug 1983 well after this period.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

All these shots are from earlier threads on the org and were pinched by me sorry. I just wanted to do a homage to this great album, which is a bit overlooked - to be a fly on the wall and go back to this era.

My final intro post, before you all show the love for it.

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[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

Just love this shot

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Apparently Prince recorded it in his home studio in the summer of 1981 and it was remixed at Sunset sound, he wrote all the songs, although Andre Cymone may be the writer of Do Me Baby back in 1979. Prince nearly made a movie for it called the Second Coming.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

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[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

He was really rocking that petulant kid in fancy dress look and had developed a taste for Kohl eyeliner.

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[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

It is hard to date this image, as it shows Dezor Mark, but the mostly black audience and quite small theatre suggest its not on the 1999 Triple threat tour as the venue would be larger and a few more pale faces would be in the audience. The sad thing was at this time in the Pre 1999 era, Prince was still mostly a black act only with a few crossover fans and critics going gaga.

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What a difference a year would make, now lets see some love for this epic and very important album!

LOVE IT

zenarose said:

LOVE IT

Adore! Great post, photos, and history lesson. Love Controversy!

Controversy is a transitional album, yet it's also a powerhouse of a new sound. If he had done a proper recording on Dirty Mind, it'd have been a closer sister album to Controversy. I guess in some ways Dirty Mind was transitional as well, as far as Prince hopping out of the yacht rock/soul sound and into something more aggressive and sexual.

However, Controversy saw him using the Linn-1 for the first time, sketching the blueprint for his signature ballads, more politics (and more pointed in name calling), the dirty, the quirky, and the danceable fun. He put his religion, his love of Joni, and his dick on full display. If Dirty Mind was a blowjob in a back alley, Controversy was full on fucking in the middle of rush hour.

1. "Controversy" is really the first time he blended religion in such a pointed way in his lyrics. He addressed the rumors about him (and how many could there be at that point, at the end of the 70s with only 3 albums under your belt?), the media, and sent up a prayer to wrap it up. He even started waving the flag of equality for everyone, and the "strip down" nakedness of your true self at the end.
2. "Sexuality" brought the weirdness to the forefront. It's crass, the volume is probably turned up a bit too much on a few things, but the song is in your face anyway lyrically. It's also the first real time we heard Prince talking through a song. Not rapping, but really doing a rhythmic sing-talk.
3. "Do Me, Baby" is the ballad that all future ballads would be compared to. It was a watershed moment, taking up half the space on the first side of the vinyl. It was also the first gear in his wheelhouse of power ballads to come.
4. "Private Joy" is pure fun, although it actually comes off a little possessive with the ownership dog tag around her neck, and the reference to a woman as a toy. It's a continuation of Prince's primal sexual urges.
5. "Ronnie Talk 2 Russia" was the forerunner (and brother to "Partyup") for songs like "Money Don't Matter 2 Nite", "Dear Mr. Man", "Family Name", "Live 4 Love", "Paisley Park", "Sign O The Times", and "Baltimore" to name a few of the socially and politically charged songs he dared to release.
6. "Let's Work" really answers "Ronnie..", and reflects his sentiments in "1999". Both being that even while things are messed up, and it takes a village etc etc., there is always time to party all night long.
7. "Annie Christian" is another step into society's woes and missteps in history. It sisters up with "Ronnie", "Partyup", etc.
8. "Jack U Off" is his first foray into rockabilly, and is just as nasty and aggressive as "Sister" or "Head". We'd hear the sound again in "Delirious", "Horny Toad", "No Call U", and "Turn It Up".

All in all, Controversy is a diverse album that searches for a spot to sit in the record store. Is it punk? Rock? Soul? Dance? Neo-country? It's all that, and more. It's Prince finding new sounds and somehow making all that noise into a cohesive and brilliantly bright sounding record. There's not a bad song on it.

Good points - Trivial Pursuit, I see you are the one who got the head start on Dirty Mind's anniversary and hoping you would have done Controversy as well had I not. I always group the two together even though I shouldn't, there's a lot of falsetto, squeaky organs and sex on both. But I also group 1999 with themm as the 3 are from Prince's lust phase, where most of the music is about graphic sex in more detail and allure than ever. Starting with Purple Rain, he is still nasty but seems to have found love, theres almost no love in these 3 (Okay when u were mine is about love, but I think he is missing her sex and nastiness rather than her heart).

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You mention that DM is a blowie in a backalley and this is sex in rush hour (Perhaps he is in a Taxicab ), then 1999 is a giant public orgy on the Golden Gate bridge on the back of a flatbed truck.

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Yes the innovations are there, the Linn in Private Joy and I suspect Lets Work as well and Jack u off is the natural predecessor to Delirious and Do Me Baby sounds like International Lover's predecessor (I love both of those songs). Also it is the first time he is spelling tracks with Princebonics.

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Listening to it now, Controversy is even better in surround sound, there is more harmony vocals than usual, you can hear Lisa and Fink in that chant. Prince's screaming is really coming along too. I also love his first real use of bizarre lyrics in a song "Tourists with 89 flowers on their back, inventors of the accujack, WHAT! no flash again, you're just a bunch of double drags, who teach their kids, that love is bad, having a blast while your brain is on vacation". Yet listen deeper and the answer becomes apparent - Have a lot of sex, stop doing stupid shit like being a tourist (Loud Hawaiian shirts with screen printed flowers were their calling card) and putting your brain on vacation, have lots of sex and produce a race of superbeings who do not watch television, but stand up and ORGANIZE and then they will greet the 2nd coming. Yes strange things were arriving on Planet Prince, preaching mixed with pornography, our Prince the schizophrenic genius, one hand on the pen, the other on his penis.

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No child is bad from the beginning, they only imitate their atmosphere, I was 5 when this came out, Prince was unknown in New Zealand beyond a few music journos and the few people who may have remembered that IWBYL was a #3 hit some 18 months earlier, but NZ charts in 1979 - 1982 were full of flash in the pan disco acts that had big hits and faded into obscurity, Ottawan were to start their 7 week reign at #1. Little did they know by 1983, Prince was inescapable and had arrived on the charts. I had never even heard of Prince until Little Red Corvette and only showed real interest at the the time of Alphabet Street.

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My journey with this wondrous album started in 1993, 2 years after I drank the purple kool aid with Cream and the Diamonds and Pearls era. Limited money and mobility put me off until I got the Hits 1 and 2 in late 1993 and heard pre Purple Rain music for the first time. I found even the short version of Controversy a revelation along with Dirty Mind. It was not until early 1995 I finally had a CD copy of Controversy in my sweaty hands, same with Dirty Mind. Loving Controversy and Do Me Baby as a short version on the Hits 2, imagine what the long versions of them did to me, I nearly fell off my bed when Prince screamed his head off on Do Me Baby, even 13½ years after the album came out, it was like the newest of the new music to me, I was blown away and singing Do Me Baby underneath my breath the rest of the year. I still listen to this album a lot now, it catches Prince at a time when he was a true sexual libertine and so hungry for the success that was eluding him and he knew things were about to give with 1999. It is the reason why Do Me Baby is my favourite track off the album and in my Top 10 favourite Prince songs of all time.

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So what did you guys think when you first heard these songs at their natural length the first time, whether in1981 when it wa snew or whenever after you got in to Prince at some point like me and got the time and energy to buy his back catalogue?

Adorecream said:

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Next is the weakest two tracks and reasons why it is not as raw as Dirty Mind or as perfect as 1999, we Annie Christian which is alright it speaks on the death of Lennon, murders in Atlanta and the assassination attempt on Reagan, he uses the slang of taxicabs to describe vag and the last song is a playful rockabilly romp about Jacking some one off, although how do you jack off a girl.

Well your 'weakest tracks' are my two favourites off the album!

But I agree, Controversy is a wonderful album. It's grown in my appreaciation over time. I used to consider it a bridge between Dirty Mind and 1999, but Controversy really is its own album and stands on its own merits. Like Dirty Mind and like 1999, nothing else in Prince's discography sounds like it.

Adorecream said:

You mention that DM is a blowie in a backalley and this is sex in rush hour (Perhaps he is in a Taxicab ), then 1999 is a giant public orgy on the Golden Gate bridge on the back of a flatbed truck.

I also love his first real use of bizarre lyrics in a song "Tourists with 89 flowers on their back, inventors of the accujack, WHAT! no flash again, you're just a bunch of double drags, who teach their kids, that love is bad, having a blast while your brain is on vacation". Yet listen deeper and the answer becomes apparent - Have a lot of sex, stop doing stupid shit like being a tourist (Loud Hawaiian shirts with screen printed flowers were their calling card) and putting your brain on vacation, have lots of sex and produce a race of superbeings who do not watch television, but stand up and ORGANIZE and then they will greet the 2nd coming. Yes strange thing

First, the reference to 1999 being a public orgy is hysterical, but spot on. Between "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "Automatic" alone, there's enough DNA swappin' to last a few weekends on Fire Island.

I never could figure out the "Sexuality" lyrics you posted. But the Hawaiian shirt reference kind of fits the bill. When I was younger, I thought Prince said, "What? No flash again? You're all a bunch of double drags, teachin' their kids that lovin' fags, capital-stab, well their brain is on vacation". Of course it didn't make sense, but I couldn't figure it out otherwise. The sarcasm in his voice on "they only imitate their atmosphere" almost seems like him mocking soccer moms who come up with such cliche bullshit when they can't control their own children.

I really wish Prince had taken a nod from people like Nine Inch Nails and others who, at one particular concert wherever, played an album from front to back, then whatever else after. NIN did that with The Downward Spiral and people lost their minds. I watched the fan-made audience video of that show, and to hear people's reactions at the beginning of every song, realizing every 5 minutes what was happening was amazing. Prince could have done that with Controversy or ATWIAD or Lovesexy, I think. Anyhoo - capital-stab.

To me Controversy was the game changer, the one where Prince decided how he wanted to be projected to the world.

The first two albums were polished and commercially aimed. Dirty Mind was almost an accident. A sound and style pumped straight from a demo that didn't have time to find a direction other than shock factor.

Controversy saw the arrival of all the key components that would form the quintessential Prince 80's brand; the mix of religion, sex and politics, the creation of a movement, purple, Linn drum, the power ballad, the chicken scratch guitar and the journey away from falsetto.

It will always be in the shadow of the superior 1999, but Controversy is the daddy.

Ok, lock down my thread if you wan't to.

To me "Private Joy" was 4-5 years ahead of it's time.

[Edited 10/14/16 13:06pm]

SquirrelMeat said:

To me Controversy was the game changer, the one where Prince decided how he wanted to be projected to the world.

The first two albums were polished and commercially aimed. Dirty Mind was almost an accident. A sound and style pumped straight from a demo that didn't have time to find a direction other than shock factor.

Controversy saw the arrival of all the key components that would form the quintessential Prince 80's brand; the mix of religion, sex and politics, the creation of a movement, purple, Linn drum, the power ballad, the chicken scratch guitar and the journey away from falsetto.

It will always be in the shadow of the superior 1999, but Controversy is the daddy.

Yes indeed. This was the album where MJ and Rick James were told to sit down and watch how it's done for me.

Adorecream said:

A bit of a promotional effort was done at least, the main ad showed Prince in some bizarre drag making him look like a schoolgirl

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

I am sure that is Prince in the outfit, Commandments are on the board and he incoporated the lords prayer into the song Controversy.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The more familiar image we think off, Prince's hair has molded away from the DM look and the moustache rules, the image is so iconic some fans have even used it.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

I have no idea where this magazine is from, but its definitely a Controversy era look.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The first single was Contoroversy with `1979's Sexy Dancer as a b side, an edited mix also removed the Lords Prayer and the wish we all were nude chant. I can not understand why they had such an old Bside on it.

[img:$uid]http://i1081.ph.../img:$uid]

The tour was also quite successful, with the Time and Zapp as openers as various venues around the USA, this is a boot from the last show in March 1982 at the Met Centre, which sold only 5580 tickets out of 13,000. Yet a year later in the same venue with the 1999 Triple Threat Tour it sold out easily.

That top photo is a girl in a dress. Not Prince. No biggie, just had to be said.

Adorecream said:

Some more info on the release statistics.

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https://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=Album:_Controversy

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Good old Prince vault, also I think it has the notorious shower photo.

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I am sure that shot is Prince in the dress, you can see a heavily made up through the wig and their appears to be no cleavage, also the mysterious girl it thing holding the album has a similar skin tone to Prince and the uniform is ill fitting and poor put on, like with his Controversy fancy dress tuxedo. This was deliberate I think, as Prince was still aiming at his punk sensibilities.

Great album,specially the title track which is amazing and a classic now, it really feels as the evolution of Dirty Mind.

Adorecream said:

laurarichardson said:

Adorecream said:

Some more info on the release statistics.

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https://www.princevault.com/index.php?title=Album:_Controversy

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Good old Prince vault, also I think it has the notorious shower photo.

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I am sure that shot is Prince in the dress, you can see a heavily made up through the wig and their appears to be no cleavage, also the mysterious girl it thing holding the album has a similar skin tone to Prince and the uniform is ill fitting and poor put on, like with his Controversy fancy dress tuxedo. This was deliberate I think, as Prince was still aiming at his punk sensibilities.

-- That is a white girl.

Adorecream said:

SquirrelMeat said:

SquirrelMeat said:

Adorecream said:

Good points - Trivial Pursuit, I see you are the one who got the head start on Dirty Mind's anniversary and hoping you would have done Controversy as well had I not. I always group the two together even though I shouldn't, there's a lot of falsetto, squeaky organs and sex on both. But I also group 1999 with themm as the 3 are from Prince's lust phase, where most of the music is about graphic sex in more detail and allure than ever. Starting with Purple Rain, he is still nasty but seems to have found love, theres almost no love in these 3 (Okay when u were mine is about love, but I think he is missing her sex and nastiness rather than her heart).

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You mention that DM is a blowie in a backalley and this is sex in rush hour (Perhaps he is in a Taxicab ), then 1999 is a giant public orgy on the Golden Gate bridge on the back of a flatbed truck.

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Yes the innovations are there, the Linn in Private Joy and I suspect Lets Work as well and Jack u off is the natural predecessor to Delirious and Do Me Baby sounds like International Lover's predecessor (I love both of those songs). Also it is the first time he is spelling tracks with Princebonics.

.

Listening to it now, Controversy is even better in surround sound, there is more harmony vocals than usual, you can hear Lisa and Fink in that chant. Prince's screaming is really coming along too. I also love his first real use of bizarre lyrics in a song "Tourists with 89 flowers on their back, inventors of the accujack, WHAT! no flash again, you're just a bunch of double drags, who teach their kids, that love is bad, having a blast while your brain is on vacation". Yet listen deeper and the answer becomes apparent - Have a lot of sex, stop doing stupid shit like being a tourist (Loud Hawaiian shirts with screen printed flowers were their calling card) and putting your brain on vacation, have lots of sex and produce a race of superbeings who do not watch television, but stand up and ORGANIZE and then they will greet the 2nd coming. Yes strange things were arriving on Planet Prince, preaching mixed with pornography, our Prince the schizophrenic genius, one hand on the pen, the other on his penis.

.

No child is bad from the beginning, they only imitate their atmosphere, I was 5 when this came out, Prince was unknown in New Zealand beyond a few music journos and the few people who may have remembered that IWBYL was a #3 hit some 18 months earlier, but NZ charts in 1979 - 1982 were full of flash in the pan disco acts that had big hits and faded into obscurity, Ottawan were to start their 7 week reign at #1. Little did they know by 1983, Prince was inescapable and had arrived on the charts. I had never even heard of Prince until Little Red Corvette and only showed real interest at the the time of Alphabet Street.

.

My journey with this wondrous album started in 1993, 2 years after I drank the purple kool aid with Cream and the Diamonds and Pearls era. Limited money and mobility put me off until I got the Hits 1 and 2 in late 1993 and heard pre Purple Rain music for the first time. I found even the short version of Controversy a revelation along with Dirty Mind. It was not until early 1995 I finally had a CD copy of Controversy in my sweaty hands, same with Dirty Mind. Loving Controversy and Do Me Baby as a short version on the Hits 2, imagine what the long versions of them did to me, I nearly fell off my bed when Prince screamed his head off on Do Me Baby, even 13½ years after the album came out, it was like the newest of the new music to me, I was blown away and singing Do Me Baby underneath my breath the rest of the year. I still listen to this album a lot now, it catches Prince at a time when he was a true sexual libertine and so hungry for the success that was eluding him and he knew things were about to give with 1999. It is the reason why Do Me Baby is my favourite track off the album and in my Top 10 favourite Prince songs of all time.

.

So what did you guys think when you first heard these songs at their natural length the first time, whether in1981 when it wa snew or whenever after you got in to Prince at some point like me and got the time and energy to buy his back catalogue?

We are never going to agree over that cover, but looking at the other photos, Price may identify as black, but it is obvious his family were very mixed and he is clearly a lot paler than all the other African American band members like Dez and Mark. Morris is similar, plaer with freckles, yet at the time Prince had big lips and quite bold eyes, clearly black features, yet my guess is he was only about 30 - 50% African descent (Most African Americans are around 75% African descent with a range between 7% and 90% in some areas of the deep south like the Sea Islands) according to the National Geographic.

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Now back to the music, again just very memoriable, Controversy sounds better the louder you play it. It is feel good funk and has so many layers. Private Joy is very upbeat yet the theme is complete possessive ness, to me its a predecessor to Big Tall Wall and Strange Relationships - songs with a happy upbeat feel, but the lyrics are quite dark. I love the story to that it was originally called Uncle George (Just bizarre) - from peach and Blacks 30th anniversary podcast.

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And then the tone changes after 4 songs of non stop sex (Okay Sexuality only had a bit, but the title of the song and lines like "We don't need no clothes" suggest there is a snake called SEX lurking beneath the grass here) we move into Ronnie talk to Russia, where Prince is worried about the sex ending unless we sort this nuclear crap and the Cold war out. The same shit appeals today with Trump and Putin. Screaming guitars add tothe guitar heavy feel of this blue funk.

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Back to do me Baby, the screams in this song - oh my God, it is ecstacy all the way, I have never heard anything like it, even after hearing it 1000 times, it feels like dejavu.

[Edited 10/15/16 1:38am]

Wolfie87 said:

214 said:

It still holds up today. Great album

BlackCandle said:

214 said:

Great album,specially the title track which is amazing and a classic now, it really feels as the evolution of Dirty Mind.

I always felt this album was closer to Purple Rain in it's mix of synth & guitar tracks. 1999 is predominantly synth-based and sounds more like the natural evolution of Dirty-Mind. I think if he had released 1999 before Controversy the evolution of his discography would make more sense. Except, of course, that 1999 includes those 2 huge singles... [Edited 10/15/16 12:59pm]

Really? i find Controversy as though it were a Pokemon, so DM evolved to Controversy.

SquirrelMeat said:

To me Controversy was the game changer, the one where Prince decided how he wanted to be projected to the world.

The first two albums were polished and commercially aimed. Dirty Mind was almost an accident. A sound and style pumped straight from a demo that didn't have time to find a direction other than shock factor.

Controversy saw the arrival of all the key components that would form the quintessential Prince 80's brand; the mix of religion, sex and politics, the creation of a movement, purple, Linn drum, the power ballad, the chicken scratch guitar and the journey away from falsetto.

It will always be in the shadow of the superior 1999, but Controversy is the daddy.

very well said