Retro Spins: Prince - 1999

Don't worry. I won't hurt you. I only want you to have some fun.

It's the intro I heard on a cassette tape recorded by my sister when she was living in Virginia, with us clear across the country in Oregon. She had called me one day, and asked, "Do you want Prince's 1999?" Having knowledge mainly of his Purple Rain and Batman albums, I was interested but confused when I got the tape. Admittedly, my young mind thought my sister would be sending an original, and not a recording. Regardless, I played that tape a lot. Tucked on the back of it was an added bonus of Ready For The World's Oh Sheila.

I remember when I first played the tape that I wasn't accustomed to varying differences between album versions and radio edits. As such, when 1999, the song, fired up, I was confused by the talking intro. Candidly, it didn't sit well with me either. It also continued on with a bunch of what I considered weirdness towards the tail end, and even worse, it segued into Little Red Corvette, another song I fancied as a standalone. Truthfully, I don't think I liked it at first, but they eventually grew on me to become the definitive renditions I would frequently go to.

Years later, I got my own copy on CD, only to stupidly sell it to my cousin while at my grandfather's house. To this day, I have no clue why I did that. I guess as a kid still, the money was intriguing to me. Fortunately, I'd rectify that in the late 90's, and much later with many different iterations which include (among others) an original pressing on vinyl, and the original "target" pressing CD. Fun fact, the first pressing on CD omits D.S.M.R. for time constraints.

Point being, I've spent a lot of time with Prince's 1999. I know it front, back, sideways, up, down, left, and right. If there was one thing that surprised me about the album, it's that I haven't yet done a Retro Spin on it. File that one under a giant oops. I suppose when I think about it, my reasoning for doing so was probably driven by it being a throw away. Something to fill in a gap when I needed a break. Let's face it, it's not exactly a record I need to listen to in order to write about it. Full disclaimer, I am actually listening to it as I type this.

1999 would become Prince's first major success, reaching 4X platinum to date. It's sold over 5 million copies, with 4 million alone in the USA. It would reach number five on the Billboard Hot 200. It was also ranked number five in the Billboard Year-End Albums of 1983. The title track would peak at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, followed by Little Red Corvette (peaking at number 6), Delirious (peaking at number 8), and Let's Pretend We're Married (peaking at number 52).

Little Red Corvette was also among the first black music videos played in steady rotation on MTV, along with Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. Sadly, this wasn't until CBS threatened to pull all their music from the channel, claiming it discriminated against black artists. However, all turned out for the best, as soon MTV had a vast diversity of artists who deserved to have their videos seen and heard.

The album has since gone on to be frequently ranked as the best from Prince, as well as among many curated lists of top albums. I suppose at the end of the day, it's all in the eye of the beholder. So, tell me. What do you think about Prince's 1999?

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