It’s the 40th anniversary of “Purple Rain,” the album that cemented Prince’s standing as both a revolutionary icon who defined the cutting edge of mainstream pop in his commercial prime and the funkiest rock star of his generation.
He’d been making brilliant records all along, from “Soft and Wet,” a funk classic released on his 20th birthday, to “1999,” a sprawling masterpiece that sent three singles to the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100.
But “Purple Rain,” the multiplatinum soundtrack to a hit film of the same name starring Prince, is where it all fell into place for Prince, the point past which there could beno denying the role he played in shaping the '80s sound of pop music.
The soundtrack album hit the streets on June 25, 1984; the film premiered two days later.
To honor the 40th anniversary of "Purple Rain," here’s one unabashedly subjective countdown of Prince's best songs, from “Soft and Wet” to the 21st century funk of “Black Sweat" and the pointed social commentary of a track released a year before his death in 2016.
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40. ‘7’ (1992)
This was Prince revisiting the psychedelic sensibilities of 1985's "Around the World in a Day," complete with sitar, madcap laughter, a spaced-out choir of Prince multitracking himself, a funky drumbeat sampled from Lowell Fulson’s 1967 classic “Tramp,” the ring of a cash register and a mystical promise of deliverance from the evil of this world.
“And I saw an angel come down unto me,” he sings. “In her hand, she holds the very key/ Words of compassion, words of peace and in the distance an army's marching feet/ But behold, we will watch them fall,” he sang. Among his highest-charting ‘90s singles, this one peaked at an eerily appropriate No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
39. ‘Cream’ (1991)
This was Prince's final hit to top the Billboard Hot 100. It starts with moans of ecstasy and makes a winking reference to the T. Rex classic “Get It On” with a chorus whose opening line is just the sort of playful sexual innuendo Prince had taught us to expect by then (“Cream, get on top”), his vocal a brilliantly half-whispered act of seduction. It’s only a matter of time before the heavy breathing starts. On the recording.
38. ‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ (1994)
First released as a standalone single for Valentine’s Day and dedicated to his future wife, Mayte Garcia, this may be Prince’s most romantic love song (despite the occasional nods to the coming apocalypse). “Could you be the most beautiful girl in the world?” are the first word’s out of Prince’s mouth, delivered in his silkiest falsetto, followed by, “It's plain to see you're the reason that God made a girl.”
The fact that everything about this lush recording feels like something the Delfonics would’ve ruled the charts with in the golden age of Philly soul just makes it that much more romantic. There's even a monologue. This single peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and became his first and only U.K. chart-topper.
37. ‘Sexy MF’ (1992)
There’s a heavy James Brown sensibility to the hard-grooving funk of this “Love Symbol” highlight, the slinky guitar rhythm riding a skeletal beat with increasingly prominent brass, a stellar Hammond B-3 organ solo courtesy of Tony Barbarella and a profanity-laden chant that all but dares you not to chant along. It also features raps from Prince and Tony M. of NPG, who speaks of a woman “so fine I could drink her bathwater.”
The MF in the title obviously does not stand for Morgan Fairchild and/or Millard Fillmore, the 13th president of the United States, requiring edited versions for radio, MTV and the Parental-Advisory-sticker-dodging version of the U.S. album. That radio edit helped it get to No. 66 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
36. ‘Diamonds and Pearls’ (1991)
The title track to the album that gave the world “Cream” is a sumptuous duet with Rosie Gaines of New Power Generation making the most of her time in the spotlight on a song about a love so pure and powerful that “everything will shine so bright it makes you colorblind.”
It sounds like it was written to be sung at weddings — in a good way, not a corny way, especially that gospel-flavored chorus hook that builds to a romantic vow of “If I could, I would give you the world/But all I can do is just offer you my love.” It’s beautifully produced, from the shimmering synth hook to the psychedelic fanfare on that soulful bridge. It peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
35. 'Baltimore' (2015)
This soulful highlight of the final album Prince released before his death is on the shortlist of his most politically explicit tracks, inspired by the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of Baltimore police. In the opening verse, he asks, “Does anybody hear us pray for Michael Brown or Freddie Gray?” before his first suggestion on this richly orchestrated, guitar-driven anthem that “peace is more than the absence of war.”
There’s even a spirited chant of “If there ain’t no justice then there ain’t no peace” that feels like it was built for Black Lives Matter marches but only after he proposes a solution to another bloody day: “Let’s take all the guns.”
34. 'Head' (1980)
The song leaves less to the imagination than the title does, which someone unfamiliar with this very funky highlight of an album aptly title “Dirty Mind” may have trouble believing.
But Prince was out to push the envelope on “Dirty Mind” and that’s exactly what he did here. Songs this sexually explicit weren’t as common in 1980 as they are today, and "Dirty Mind” positioned Prince as one of funk’s most controversial figures.
On “Head,” he sets the scene with “I remember when I met you, baby, you were on your way to be wed.” And to be clear, she does not make it to the church on time. For what it's worth, the groove is every bit as filthy as the lyrics, with Wendy Coleman of Wendy & Lisa fame seductively whispering the role of the runaway bride on a track whose synthesizer solo is an otherworldly delight.
33. 'The Cross' (1987)
Prince was also deeply spiritual, which only made him that much more of an enigma. You could sing this song in church without changing a word. “Don't cry, He is coming,” he sings in the opening verse. “Don't die without knowing the cross.”
It’s a slow-burning ballad that eases you in with Prince gently singing along to a single guitar, adding minimal drums and a second guitar along the way to an electrifying climax with throat-shredding vocals, distorted guitars, an electric sitar riff and a massive wall of harmonies singing the title line of a song that promises salvation and delivers.
32. 'When You Were Mine' (1980)
This may well be the catchiest, most upbeat-sounding New Wave record ever written from the point of view of someone pining for a former lover who “didn't have the decency to change the sheets” after having her way with his friends. No wonder it’s so jittery.
They’re broken up now, but he’d gladly take her back, reminiscing about the life they shared in vivid detail while making the most of Prince’s deeply twisted sense of humor. “I didn’t care, I never was the kind to make a fuss,” he recalls in a bittersweet falsetto, “when he was there, sleeping in between the two of us.”
31. 'Sometimes It Snows in April' (1986)
You can really feel the pathos in his trembling vocal as he sets the scene for this suitably haunted elegy with “Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war/Just after I'd wiped away his last tear.” Tracy isChristopher Tracy, the character Prince played in“Under the Cherry Moon,” his big-screen follow-up to “Purple Rain.” It’s even sadder now, of course, to hear him sing “Sometimes I wish that life was never-ending/ But all good things, they say, never last.”
The vulnerability of Prince’s vocal is beautifully served by the understated arrangement — piano, acoustic guitar and those bittersweet backing vocals by Wendy and Lisa of the Revolution. That’s all it needs to break your heart.
30. 'Bambi' (1979)
Prince goes full Hendrix on “Bambi,” an electrifying funk-rock song that finds him pleading with his lover to give up her girlfriend, wailing “Bambi! Can’t you understand?! Bambi! It’s better with a man!” It's not be his most enlightened lyric, but he’s willing to admit he could be wrong. “Or maybe I’m just too naïve,” he sings. “Who’s to say? Maybe you’re really having fun.”
Two things make “Bambi” an essential Prince song. One is the call-and-response between the full-throated wail of Prince's vocal on the chorus and the squealing lead guitar that answers every line. The other is those squealing high notes of that awe-inspiring second solo.
29. 'Delirious' (1982)
The most relentlessly contagious of the three hit singles that made “1999” his take-no-prisoners mainstream breakthrough, it almost feels like he’s channeling Elvis (if Elvis had fronted a quirky New Wave band) on a track that’s as delirious as promised. You can practically picture his upper lip curling as he sings “It comes to making a pass, pretty mama, I just can’t win a race.”
The most contagious thing about it is that goofy synth hook on the chorus. It also feel a little like a trial balloon for “Let’s Go Crazy,” where the delirious synth is replaced by a raunchy electric guitar. "Delirious" hit No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
28. 'Black Sweat' (2006)
Prince re-explored the minimalist funk of such earlier triumphs as “Sign O’ the Times” and “Kiss" on “Black Sweat,” a hard-grooving highlight of 2006’s “3121,” with digital handclaps on the two and four and a haunting synth hook topped by his ageless falsetto. “I got a brand new dance,” he promises at one point. “And it’s called… uh!”
He also runs his vocal through a vocoder on the breakdown, robotically rapping “You can act hard if you want to. This groove will make you sweet. You be screaming like a white lady when I count to three.” And then, of course, he counts to three.
Prince did a lot of great work in the 21st century. This is one of the funkier moments of that era. It should’ve been the comeback hit he needed at the time. Instead, it stalled at No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100.
27. 'Girls & Boys' (1986)
Aa Bowie-esque swagger underpins the robotic funk of “Girls & Boys,” a playfully erotic sex romp that features Prince singing in French on the chorus after telling you everything you need to know about this particular girl and boy in the opening verse: “She had the cutest ass he'd ever seen,” he sings. “He did, too. They were meant to be.” It doesn’t get more Prince than that.
That playful energy extends to the production, from a central riff played on a synth that must have had a duck-call setting to the French seduction poem recited by Marie France. It also features one of Prince’s better moments as a rapper. “Girls & Boys” was the B-side of “Anotherloverholenyohead” and still feels like it would’ve been a bigger hit than that if Prince’s label had released it as a single.
26. 'Dirty Mind' (1980)
A throbbing electronic bass groove sets the tone for “Dirty Mind,” in which the singer tells his baby, “I just wanna lay you down/ In my daddy’s car/It’s you I really wanna drive/ But you never go too far.”It can’t be helped. As Prince explains, “Whenever I'm around you, baby, I get a dirty mind.”
To be clear, there are plenty of songs on “Dirty Mind,” his third release, that speak more to the contents of his dirty mind. But this one feels more like a mission statement. And the music is great, from Prince’s vocal to the keyboard-driven blend of future-funk and synth-pop with a subtle hint of old T. Rex in the guitar riff, arriving at a sound that was distinctly Prince’s own. This single peaked at No. 5 on Billboard’s dance chart.
25. 'Take Me With U' (1984)
The psychedelic string arrangement points the way to Prince’s next adventure on “Around the World in a Day” while channeling the ’67 Beatles. But “Take Me With U” flirted with the psychedelic makeover to come while also sounding right at home on “Purple Rain” as the album’s fourth and final single, sung as duet with Apollonia, whose vocal oozes passion as his love interest.
It also features some of the more unabashedly romantic lyrics Prince had managed by the time he got to “Purple Rain,” with a starry-eyed chorus of “I don’t care where we go/ I don’t care what we do/ I don’t care, pretty baby/ Just take me with you.”
24. 'Soft and Wet' (1978)
The playful sexuality of “Soft and Wet,” a funky highlight of Prince’s first album, “For You,” is an early glimpse inside a dirty mind explored more fully on the second album highlight “Bambi” and third album “Dirty Mind.” But there’s no mistaking what he’s after here, from the use of sugarcane as an erotic metaphor in the scene-setting opening verse to the heavy-breathing punctuation of the title line.
The groove is even steamier, minimalist synth-funk with hints of jazz underscoring a stellar falsetto from the artist as a young man on a mission. There’s also a dizzying synthesizer solo, played by Prince.This is Prince’s first single, released on his 20th birthday — June 7, 1978. It peaked at No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart.
23. 'Money Don’t Matter 2 Night' (1991)
This soulful ballad from “Diamonds and Pearls” puts a spiritual spin on an anti-materialistic message with a chorus hook that warns you’ll “find out that you’re better off making sure your soul’s alright” when your money up and flies away. “’Cause money didn’t matter yesterday,” Prince sings. “And it sure don’t matter tonight.”
Before he’s through, he’s taken aim at Operation Desert Storm with “Hey now, maybe we can find a good reason to send a child off to war/ So what if we're controlling all the oil? Is it worth a child dying for?” It may not be as pointedly political as "Baltimore,” but it stands as a worthy successor to the socially conscious soul of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” This song peaked at No. 23 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
22. 'Pop Life' (1985)
“Pop Life” isn’t nearly as intent on channeling the psychedelic pop of 1967 as “Raspberry Beret,” the other Top 10 single from “Around the World in Day.” Oh, there are psychedelic touches, to be sure. It does fade in. And the prevailing vibe is clearly flower powerful.
But the psychedelic elements are filtered through a more contemporary looking glass with finger-popping funk bass, the insistent thwacking of an electronic drum and darker synth tones as Prince expresses his dissatisfaction with the pop life he’s beginning to experience, where “everybody needs a thrill” and “we all got a space to fill.” “Pop Life” peaked at No. 7 on the Hot 100.
21. 'Nothing Compares 2 U' (2018)
The definitive version of this song will always be the one Sinead O’Connor took to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100. You don’t even have to see her cry that single tear to know how much she’s feeling every word of Prince’s lyrics. Having said that, Prince’s version is a revelation, taking a more gospel-flavored path to making sure we all experience the raw emotion he invested in the lyrics of this deeply moving breakup song.
His recording dates to 1984, the year he was putting the finishing touches on "Purple Rain" while getting into a more psychedelic brand of paisley pop on "Around the World in a Day."A demo of a song he’d written for his side project, the Family, it didn’t see the light of day until 2018, two years after Prince’s death.But it’s a fully realized demo, with a suitably wounded lead vocal from Prince and a saxophone solo that adds to the heartache.
20. 'Alphabet St.' (1988)
The groove alone would be enough to earn this joyous masterstroke a spot on any countdown of Prince's finest hours. But there’s more, from an ever-evolving arrangement that introduces psychedelic horns and samples on the way to an erotic recitation of the alphabet to the slinky guitar riff that ushers you into the opening verse as he promises “I’m gonna talk so sexy, she’ll want me from my head to my feet.”
That sexy talk goes heavy on the innuendo. “I’m gonna put her in the back seat and drive her,” he vows, the music stopping on a dime before he adds “… to Tennessee.” There’s an equally playful rap from Cat Glover, who brings her section to a close with "Now run and tell your mama ‘bout that,” to which Prince responds, “And while you’re at it, tell your papa ‘bout this.” It peaked at No. 8 on Billboard’s Hot 100 but it should’ve gone higher.
19. 'Erotic City' (1984)
“Erotic City” effortlessly lives up to the promise of its title on the overheated chorus hook, easing into the sex talk on a bed of kinky robo-funk with Sheila E. suggesting “If we cannot make babies, maybe we can make some time.” At that point, it still has a shot at being suitable for work. Then Prince responds and there’s no turning back. Unless they’re saying “funk.”
Years later, Prince said he'd written this song after witnessing Parliament-Funkadelic tear the roof off the sucker in Los Angeles. And you can definitely hear this a natural response to seeing P-Funk in their very funky element. It’s a more experimental trip than much of what you’ll find on “Purple Rain,” especially the pitched-up, pitched-down, electronically manipulated vocal tracks.
18. 'How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore?' (1982)
This deeply wounded, gospel-flavored ballad somehow wound up on the flip side of a song that couldn’t feel more different, the apocalyptic party funk of “1999.” It’s one of his sparser arrangements, Prince accompanying himself on piano, his voice slipping into falsetto to brilliant effect, with backing vocals adding to the church vibe as he pleads, “What I wanna know, baby, if what we had was good, how come u don't call me anymore?”
This song has inspired some really nice covers, from Joshua Redman to Alicia Keys, but the original remains the one I reach for when I really want to wallow in the sadness he was trying to convey. As Keys told Billboard with regard to Prince’s version of the song, “It is so raw and so truthful.”
17. 'U Got the Look' (1987)
A contagious celebration of unbridled physical attraction with Scottish pop sensation Sheena Easton picking up where she and Prince left off on “Sugar Walls,” “U Got the Look” became the highest-charting single from “Sign O’ the Times” when it hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100. And it’s easy to hear how that happened.
Everything about this track is funky pop perfection, from the sound of that guitar lead to a chorus hook that manages to rhyme “your face is jammin'” with “your body’s heck-a-slammin’” and “if love is good, let’s get to rammin’.” It’s a great-sounding record, from the cavernous thwacking of that Linn LM-1 Drum Computer to the psychedelic flourishes throughout, including freaky digital manipulations of the vocals.
16. 'If I Was Your Girlfriend' (1987)
This is such a total Prince move, wishing he could be your girlfriend to experience a side of you he thinks he’s missing out on as your man, which because this is Prince includes a fair amount of kink.
“Is it really necessary for me to go out of the room just because you wanna undress?” he asks. “ If I was your girlfriend, would you let me see you naked, then? Would you let me give you a bath? Would you let me tickle you so hard, you’d laugh and laugh.”
Before he starts to fixate on the inner workings of his dirty mind, though, it's a touching if decidedly eccentric premise with some really funny moments. This was written for a project called“Camille,” in which he planned to take on the persona of a woman, speeding up his vocal track to sound more like a woman. Perhaps because the world wasn’t ready for that kind of thing in 1987, the single stalled at No. 67 on the Hot 100.
15. 'Controversy' (1981)
The title track to “Controversy”lays the sonic blueprint for the heavy-grooving robo-funk of “1999” while setting the lyrical tone with “I just can't believe all the things people say — controversy/ Am I black or white? Am I straight or gay?” The chorus features one of Prince’s most infectious pop hooks as he rhymes “Do I believe in God? Do I believe in me?” with “Some people wanna die so they can be free.”
And by the time he’s pushed the James Brown-worthy groove beyond the seven-minute mark, he’s advanced a decidedly Prince-like Utopian vision, chanting “People call me rude/ I wish we all were nude/ I wish there were no black and white/ I wish there were no rules.” But only after reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Because of course he does. He’s Prince. This was his first of seven songs to top the dance charts. And it did so for obvious reasons.
13. 'I Would Die 4 U' (1984)
The incessant throbbing of an electronic hi-hat runs the length of this entire track as Prince delivers lyrics clearly based on scripture sung in character as “your messiah.” In the opening verse, he sings, “I’m not a woman, I’m not a man/ I am something that you’ll never understand/ I ‘ll never beat you/ I’ll never lie/ And if you’re evil, I’ll forgive you by and by.”
Because it’s Prince, whose lyrics often blur the lines between his spiritual concerns and pressing matters of the flesh, this song could just as easily be heard as a poetic pledge of eternal devotion to a lover. The fourth and final hit from “Purple Rain” to hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, this one peaked at No. 8.
14. 'Mountains' (1986)
There’s a psychedelic majesty to the second single from “Parade” that would’ve sounded right at home on the album that preceded it, “Around the World in a Day,” from the off-kilter drums that punctuate the horn break as the song is winding down to the trippy harmonies throughout.
And the lyrics follow suit as Prince disputes the devil claiming that another mountain would appear every time somebody broke his lover’s heart and the sea would one day overflow with all her tears. “But I say it’s only mountains and the sea,” he reassures her. “Love will conquer all if you just believe/ It’s only mountains and the sea/ There’s nothing greater than you and me.” “Mountains” peaked at No. 23 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
12. 'I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man' (1987)
“I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man” is a rousing reminder that Prince was as comfortable writing a rock song as a funk or R&B song, with double handclaps on the backbeat and just enough flash in the guitar department. It’s also one of Prince’s strongest story songs, a dance-floor pickup gone awry when he inadvertently hits on a woman whose last guy left her with a baby and another on the way.
“I asked if she wanted to dance and she said all she wanted was a good man and wanted to know if I thought I was qualified,” he sings. That sets the wheels in motion for the effervescent chorus hook, where Prince admits he’s just not cut out for that line of work. "I may be qualified," he tells her, "for a one-night stand, but I could never take the place of your man.’” This one peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
11. 'Darling Nikki' (1984)
A song so kinky Jimmy Swaggart called it p*rnographic, “Darling Nikki” is the straw that broke the camel’s back for Second Lady Tipper Gore, who formed the Parents Music Resource Center after buying “Purple Rain” for her 11-year-old daughter. That’s the committee that gave us Parental Advisory stickers. This song topped the PMRC's “Filthy Fifteen” checklist, with Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls,” also written by Prince, at No. 2.
“Darling Nikki” is certainly filthy enough to wear that honor like a latex bondage mask, setting the scene in vivid detail with “I knew a girl named Nikki, I guess you could say she was a sex fiend/ I met her in a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine.” But the filthiest thing about it is the way the music underscores the lyrics, as lascivious a bump and grind as Nikki could’ve hoped to find, complete with overheated shrieks and wails from Prince giving way to some suitably excitable guitar leads.
10. 'I Wanna Be Your Lover' (1979)
Prince’s breakthrough spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart in the final hours of the '70s, effectivelypaving the way for the decade of Prince. And it certainly sounds like a chart-topping hit of the time, Prince’s silky falsetto cooing “I ain’t got no money/I ain’t like those other guys you hang around” while the slinky guitar riff dares you not to hit the dance floor, blurring the lines between disco and funk like the best of Chic.
The hook is undeniable, but the youthful exuberance of Prince’s vocal is what ultimately seals the deal here. And that little pause he tosses in before the final word when he sings, “I wanna be the only one that makes you come running” may be the birth of a signature move.
9 'The Beautiful Ones' (1984)
This is one of Prince’s most exhilarating vocals, easing you in with a silky falsetto on the gospel-flavored verses and pleading his case in a throat-shredding wail, shouting “Do you want him?! Or do you want me?! ‘Cause I want you!” as the ballad builds to an impassioned climax, hitting all the highest notes at full intensity until your spine is tingling right along. That “baby baby baby” gets me every time. You know the one.
If you can’t feel this vocal, you may need to get your feelings checked. There’s also a dramatic spoken monologue to break things up before it hits that part. This song is put to brilliant use in “Purple Rain,” where Prince, as the Kid, shares his feelings directly from the stage to Apollonia as she sits there with his rival,Morris Day. She leaves the club in tears. Of course. If this had been a single? “Purple Rain” would be an ever bigger deal.
8. 'Let’s Go Crazy' (1984)
“Dearly beloved,” Prince begins, as the church organ signals the start of a truly religious experience, “we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life.” It’s one of music’s most iconic intros, as Prince makes his way from the meaning of life to life everlasting and what you should do “when you call up that shrink in Beverly Hills, you know the one ....”
That's when “Let’s Go Crazy” turns into ajoyous celebration of this thing called life, complete with some of Prince’s most exiting lead guitar work. That electrifying explosion of notes on the outro? I’d go with that over “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in a heartbeat if the goal was to convince some fool of Prince’s genius on guitar. The second song released from “Purple Rain,” it spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
7. 'Little Red Corvette' (1982)
This post-disco triumph blends vulnerability, humor and sexual tension as he paints a kinky portrait of a one-night-stand with a lover he calls Little Red Corvette because “baby, you’re much too fast.” In the opening verse, he sings, “I guess I must be dumb/ She had a pocket full of horses/ Trojans and some of ‘em used/ But it was Saturday night/ I guess that makes it all right/ And you say, ‘What have I got to lose?”
There’s some really nice guitar along the way, especially the high notes on that second solo by Dez Dickerson, although the most exciting pyrotechnics are supplied by Prince’s upper register. By the end, he’s beginning to wonder if he picked the right metaphor, singing “I saythe ride is so smooth, you must be a limousine.” Despite the talk of condoms, this was Prince’s first release to crack the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, hitting No. 6.
6. 'Sign O’ the Times' (1987)
The hypnotic title track to “Sign O’ The Times” is, as promised a state-of-the-world address. It touches on everything from AIDS (“In France, a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name") to the Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed Star Wars), the crack epidemic, kids in gangs, the threat of nuclear annihilation and the Challenger exploding over a minimalist funk groove that couldn’t feel more ominous.
Songs this topical don’t always age well, but this one has. Prince constructed the track using factory presets on a Fairlight sampling synthesizer, punctuated the lyrics with gritty guitar licks. This one topped the R&B charts and peaked at No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100, going on top the year-end critics’ poll in Village Voice.
5. 'Raspberry Beret' (1985)
Prince hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 with this effervescent highlight of “Around the World in a Day,” inspired by Paisley Underground, a short-lived psych-revival that also inspired him to write the Bangles classic “Manic Monday.”
It’s a perfect pop confection topped by a joyously playful delivery as he sings of the eye-catching girl who walked in through the out door at the five-and-dime in a raspberry beret (“and if it was warm she wouldn't wear much more”). He gets the girl, of course, making love in a thunderstorm where "The rain sounds so cool when it hits the barn roof and the horses wonder who you are" as "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees and you feel like a movie star.”
4. '1999' (1982)
“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you. I only want you to have some fun.” With those words, spoken slowly through a vocoder, Prince sets the tone for a post-disco classic that shrugs off the coming apocalypse (“Two thousand zero zero/Party over/Oops, out of time”) with a suggestion that tonight, we’re gonna party like it’s 1999. After all, he muses, “Life is just a party and parties weren’t meant to last.”
As a statement of purpose? It’s brilliant. As a dance song? It’s better, surrounding its ominous synth riff with slinky funk guitar as Prince makes his way from the pleading falsetto of “I was dreaming when I wrote this/Forgive me if it goes astray” to children wondering, “Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?” Released as the Cold War was making the threat of mutually assured destruction feel like something of a given, this one peaked at No. 12 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
3. 'Kiss' (1986)
The groove is shoulder-shaking robo-funk with occasional bits of slinky Chic guitar. But it’s the vocal that defines it — a playful falsetto that lapses into high-pitched wailing for one last reminder that “there ain’t no particular sign I’m more compatible with.” Those kissing noises on the chorus? That’s a brilliant touch. You can hear how much fun he had putting this record together and it’s contagious.
“You don’t have to watch ‘Dynasty’ to have an attitude"? That’s gotta be one of the sillier lines he ever wrote and there’s no reason to believe he didn’t know that. You can almost see him smiling as he sings it. This is Prince at his funkiest, despite the absence of a bassline (a trick he'd mastered on “When Doves Cry”). Warner Bros. didn’t hear a hit, but it became his third chart-topping entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent two weeks at No. 1.
2. 'When Doves Cry' (1984)
The opening salvo that ushers you into Prince's biggest hit could be his most inspired moment as a lead guitarist, with apologies to “Let’s Go Crazy” and the actual solo he unleashes later in this same track.
But the song itself is driven more by drums and keyboards, eschewing a bassline altogether to arrive at a suitably ominous backdrop to the lyrics, a haunting mix of sexual tension and the sense that what they have could all go south at any minute.
There had been a bassline. Prince got rid of it because he felt it sounded too conventional. And if there’s one thing you could never say about this track, it’s that it sounds conventional. It also features one of Prince's most compelling vocals. The way he sings, "Touch if you will my stomach. Feel how it trembles inside," is all you'd need to teach a master class in sexy. And Prince could definitely teach a master class in sexy.
The biggest song of 1984, it spent five weeks at No.1.
1. 'Purple Rain' (1984)
It breaks my heart to think that “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” is the only thing that kept this awe-inspiring masterstroke from topping Billboard’s Hot 100.
If Prince has a signature song, it’s “Purple Rain.” A deeply soulful meditation on a failed relationship, it somehow manages to transcend all the sadness and regret of the opening verse with its trembling delivery of “I never meant to cause you any sorrow/ I never meant to cause you any pain” as it builds to an emotional crescendo.
By the time he follows one last tortured exhortation of “I only wanna see you, only wanna see you in the purple rain” with the opening notes of an epic guitar jam, this soulful triumph has embraced it truest calling as an unapologetic power ballad steeped in gospel, soul and rock ‘n’ roll as Jimi Hendrix would’ve played it.
That makes “Purple Rain” the perfect ending to a perfect album, the majestic finish it deserves, complete with strings and a wordless falsetto refrain that may just have you reaching for a lighter by the time you realize you’re already waving it.
