High,

Eye especially loved the poster! That ruled my bedroom wall 4 years!!! Eye just wish he would have been totally nude...

....except 4 that skankalicious shower poster. it scares me.

Controversy was probably the most important album Prince ever made. Here's why. Prior to Controversy, all of Prince's other three albums at the time (For You, Prince, and Dirty Mind) were all essentially music for the masses - all different forms of pop music, designed mostly to sell records.

The "Our Father's Prayer" right smack in the middle of a funky jam?

To a certain extent, I agree with you. The Rude Boy persona did emerge with Dirty Mind. But a lot of that had to do with his stage presence. But as far as the music is concerned, some if not most of the songs on that album were actually written BEFORE the Prince album. A lot of Dirty Mind was in fact "demos" that he had worked on in years prior that he just polished off. So I don't think it's totally accurate to say that's where he discovered his distinctive voice. But I do think Dirty Mind is where Prince decided to share more of what he was capable of doing with the world. I vaguely recall him saying something in an interview around that time that he really didn't like the Prince album, because he knew that most of the songs were designed/created just to be a hit (so in that regard, I agree with you). But strictly from the standpoint of just music, Dirty Mind sounds a lot like a kid just having fun. The Dirty Mind album may not have sold a lot of records, but at the time it was mostly considered a Pop/Rock album and because music was so segregated at the time, that meant it had an audience in the White community (which I think was less familiar with Prince than the Black community at the time) But in the R&B/Black community (with the exception of Uptown) most of that album went completely unnoticed. Commercially, it may not have sold a lot because no one quite knew how to make "Prince" fit into their radio formats (i.e a black man singing mostly rock/punk sounds). But artistically, there really wasn't any kind of bold artistic statements being made - aside from the Rude Boy stage presence.

By contrast though, Controversy was all over the map. And it probably sold more records at the time because it had more sounds on it that could fit into the R&B format, and since the R&B/Black community was already very familiar with Prince, he was a welcomed return. But I don't get the impression that Prince's sole intent with that album was to sell records, it just so happened that what he was doing caught on at the time. But the whole Controversy album was about making a statement, not just having fun, and that is what sets it apart from any of his previous albums, including Dirty Mind, and that is why I believe it is where we first start to see that Prince is really someone special.





That's The Lord's Prayer.

Umm. No. Dirty Mind was everything BUT music for the masses. Dirty Mind was the first Prince album where he put a distinctive, cohesive, explicit spin on what he had been doing before. It sounded nothing like the first two albums (or anything else), and brought his philosphy of the Rude Boy persona, explicit sexuality, funk/rock/punk/new wave and a devil-may-care attitude to the forefront. There is nothing that accessible in terms of radio-friendly music on it, and it was basically raw demo work. This is where Prince first found his own distinctive voice and seperated himself from everyone else. It set the tone for his entire career, because he always went back to those themes in some way or another. It changed the rules.

To a certain extent, I agree with you. The Rude Boy persona did emerge with Dirty Mind. But a lot of that had to do with his stage presence. But as far as the music is concerned, some if not most of the songs on that album were actually written BEFORE the Prince album. A lot of Dirty Mind was in fact "demos" that he had worked on in years prior that he just polished off. So I don't think it's totally accurate to say that's where he discovered his distinctive voice.

But artistically, there really wasn't any kind of bold artistic statements being made - aside from the Rude Boy stage presence.

The "Our Father's Prayer" right smack in the middle of a funky jam?

That's The Lord's Prayer.

Thanks for the correction. But I think you knew what I meant.