Sometime during the half-year stretch when 1984’s Purple Rain was the most popular album in America, Tipper Gore, wife of then-senator Al Gore, walked in on their 11-year-old daughter listening to the song “Darling Nikki.” She was shocked. The lyrics—with their references to pornography, masturbation, sex toys, and sex itself—seemed inappropriate for a child. Within a year or so, she’d formed a committee called Parents Music Resource Center, designed to raise awareness about the moral evils of pop music—a campaign that went so far as to put stickers on the albums themselves: “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content.” Of course, to hear “Darling Nikki” as a song only about sex is to miss the point, and to reduce “sex” in the world of Prince to the physical act is to miss it further. The brilliance of Purple Rain is how it stirs seemingly contradictory moods—lust, devotion, intimacy, alienation—into a brew where nothing can be separated from anything else. He makes trauma sound erotic (“When Doves Cry”) and salvation sound reckless (“Let’s Go Crazy”). His sexual escapades are spiritual, disorienting, and almost psychedelic (“Darling Nikki,” “Computer Blue”), while his spiritual journeys are grounded in the mechanics of a guitar solo (“Purple Rain”). In putting together Prince’s wardrobe for the movie that the album soundtracked, costume designer Marie France noticed the way he was drawn to contrasts: a silk trench coat with punky silver studs; clean, masculine lines with feminine fabrics like lace and chiffon; the edgy and the romantic. He often drew comparisons to Jimi Hendrix for the way he mixed music that felt Black and white, sacred and profane (even though, as he pointed out, his playing was more like Santana’s). The reality is that he had no precedent then and no comparison now. Tipper Gore may have been right in her panic over “Darling Nikki,” but not for the reasons she thought: The song’s power isn’t just that it’s explicit, but that it manages to be mysterious at the same time.June 25, 1984 35 Songs, 3 hours, 18 minutes ℗ 2017 NPG Records, Inc. under exclusive license to Warner Records Inc.
- Let’s Go Crazy (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- Let’s Go Crazy (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- Take Me With U (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- Take Me With U (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- The Beautiful Ones (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- The Beautiful Ones (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- Computer Blue (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- Computer Blue (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- Darling Nikki (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- Darling Nikki (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- When Doves Cry (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- When Doves Cry (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- I Would Die 4 U (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- I Would Die 4 U (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- Baby I’m a Star (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).lrc
- Baby I’m a Star (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- Purple Rain (2015 Paisley Park Remaster).m4a
- The Dance Electric.lrc
- The Dance Electric.m4a
- Love and Sex.lrc
- Love and Sex.m4a
- Computer Blue (Hallway Speech Version).lrc
- Computer Blue (Hallway Speech Version).m4a
- Electric Intercourse (Studio Version).lrc
- Electric Intercourse (Studio Version).m4a
- Our Destiny _ Roadhouse Garden.lrc
- Our Destiny _ Roadhouse Garden.m4a
- Possessed.lrc
- Possessed.m4a
- Wonderful Ass.m4a
- Velvet Kitty Cat.lrc
- Velvet Kitty Cat.m4a
- Katrina’s Paper Dolls.lrc
- Katrina’s Paper Dolls.m4a
- We Can Fuck.m4a
- Father’s Song.m4a
- When Doves Cry (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- When Doves Cry (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- 17 Days (7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- 17 Days (7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- Let’s Go Crazy (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- Let’s Go Crazy (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- Let’s Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- Let’s Go Crazy (Special Dance Mix) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- Erotic City (Let’s Go Crazy 7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- Erotic City (Let’s Go Crazy 7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- Erotic City (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive) [Extended Version] [2017 Remaster].lrc
26EROT~1.M4A - Purple Rain (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- Purple Rain (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- God (Purple Rain 7_ B-Side) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- God (Purple Rain 7_ B-Side) [2017 Remaster].m4a
29GOD(~1.M4A - Another Lonely Christmas (I Would Die 4 U 7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
30ANOT~1.M4A - Another Lonely Christmas (Extended Version) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- I Would Die 4 U (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- I Would Die 4 U (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a
- Baby I’m a Star (Take Me With U 7_ B-Side Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
34BABY~1.M4A - Take Me With U (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].lrc
- Take Me With U (7_ Single Edit) [2017 Remaster].m4a