TS: Prince 1980-1984 vs. Prince 1985-1989

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Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, and Purple Rain vs. Around the World in a Day, Parade, Sign O' the Times, and Lovesexy (and Batman, I suppose). I think most of his fans probably would take the first period, but here it seems like there's more love for the late 80's stuff.

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Monday, 13 June 2005 02:54 (twenty years ago)

You're comparing four solid albums vs. four spotty ones surrounding one unfuckwithable one.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 13 June 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

About this 'spotty' claim...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 13 June 2005 03:01 (twenty years ago)

Are you going to look me in the internet-eye and tell me Lovesexy is not spotty?

Cat! We need you to rap!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Monday, 13 June 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

Whiney's observation is spoton!
I've altered my top 20 list from the other thread. 1st column is 80-84, 2nd column is 85-89. Even without Cyndi and Apollonia 6, 80-84 is clearly ahead.

1. Take Me With You/3. Kiss
2. When You Were Mine/5. U Got the Look
4. When Doves Cry/6. Raspberry Beret
7. When You Were Mine (Cyndi Lauper)/11. Tambourine
8. Lady Cabdriver/12. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
9. Something In the Water/15. Adore
10. Blue Limousine (Apollonia 6)/17. Forever In My Life
13. Controversy/18. The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
14. Little Red Corvette/19. Housequake
16. I Would Die 4U
20. Sister

― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Monday, 13 June 2005 03:07 (twenty years ago)

Vanity 6 >> Apollonia 6

Regardless, Prince 80-84 wins handily.

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Monday, 13 June 2005 03:10 (twenty years ago)

Me say otherwise.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 13 June 2005 03:45 (twenty years ago)

overall, i go for 1980-1984 for sheer consistency. on the other hand, while 1985-1989 is bell-curve-shaped (weak on the edges and strong in the center) its high points ("parade" and "sign o' the times") are even better than 1980-1984.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 13 June 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

I'll take the high points of 1985-1989 ("U Got the Look," "Pop Life," "Paisley Park," "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man," "Batdance") over the consistency of 1980-1984.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 13 June 2005 05:04 (twenty years ago)

85-89 easy. no contest at all.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 13 June 2005 06:39 (twenty years ago)

I'd say 84-88 (i.e. PRain-LSexy).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 13 June 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

yeah, I'd go for that too.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Monday, 13 June 2005 07:14 (twenty years ago)

singles 80-84,albums 85-89
80 84 learning his craft ,85-89 perfecting it .

why would he sign all his royalties away to warner or did they just own the songs.

― computer blue, Monday, 13 June 2005 07:22 (twenty years ago)

can i say 83 -86?

― computer blue, Monday, 13 June 2005 07:23 (twenty years ago)

no one wants the stuff after?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 13 June 2005 07:23 (twenty years ago)

The strange thing about the Purple one's purple patch is that, while I played Parade, Sign "O" The Times etc. about a million times per day at the time they came out, I don't think I've consciously sat down and listened to any of his stuff for over a decade. I never quite feel the need to take his albums down from the shelves.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 13 June 2005 07:27 (twenty years ago)

1984-88, so long as you chuck in The Black Album to counterbalance Lovesexy.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:19 (twenty years ago)

you don't like lovesexy mike?

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:22 (twenty years ago)

As Al Jardine once asked Brian Wilson...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:25 (twenty years ago)

I like Lovesexy better as a companion piece to The Black Album, if that makes any sense at all. Camille vs Spooky Electric, ying vs yang, ego vs id... something like that, anyway.

― mike t-diva (mike t-diva), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:30 (twenty years ago)

Obviously Prince 1982-1987 is the golden era. The 1980-84 era started spotty while the 1985-89 one ended spotty. However, all in all, I choose the early one, because that's where his definite masterpiece, "Purple Rain" is. And "1999" was great as well, even though it might have been even better as a single album.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:42 (twenty years ago)

purple rain is teh suck

― mullygrubbr (bulbs), Monday, 13 June 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

no. purple rain is divine. as i'm confirming tonite returning from experiencing an AMAZING falsetto karaoke-rendition of "the beautiful ones" by a beanie-and-beard clad valley boy

― Vichitravirya XI, Monday, 13 June 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

Out of the 5 great albums of the two periods, 3 (DM, 1999, PR) occur in the first whie SoTT and P are in the second. However, my order (SoTT, DM, P, 1999, PR) starts to suggest a tie, especially since PR squeaks in on the strength of 4 great songs and 4 decent ones (and is some distance behind next last). But one of those great ones is the best single of the last 30 years, and the fucking b sides of that era others would have killed for (Erotic City!!!). But ATWIAD has some great eccentricities no matter how bad it gets on "America" and "The ladder". And many of the b sides of the latter period (La La La He He He, Scarlet Pussy) are pretty great too.

Tis a mug's game

― plebian plebs (plebian), Monday, 13 June 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

lovesexy has some great songs but its pretty patchy and a bit rushed plus some of it sounds quite dated. fans just love it cos its seen as some spiritual rebirth of princes. the tour was fantastic though.

graffiti bridge is actually the last really good prince album, simply cos its made up of rerrecorded songs from 86. if the other artists' songs were omitted, it would be a great prince album.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Monday, 13 June 2005 10:03 (twenty years ago)

1985-89 easily, thanks to the amazing run of singles, B-sides culminating in SOTT.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 13 June 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

i thought these were brilliant songs from patchy albums - gold,dolphin,email,2 nigs 4 west hampton,cindy c , i hate you.

― computer blue, Monday, 13 June 2005 12:13 (twenty years ago)

I'd go for the latter period, it's more haphazard going for sure, but its highs are more satisfying than the consistency of the former period.

― Viz (Viz), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

With nothing against any other era of his music, I'd say it's less 1985-1989 than 18 months or so starting in early ’87 and going through ’88.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:09 (twenty years ago)

80-84

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 13 June 2005 15:18 (twenty years ago)

Granted "Kiss", possibley the second greatest Prince single behind "When Doves Cry", and nevertheless my favorite Prince song ever, is in the latter section, there' no way you can say that you'll pass up Dirty Mind AND Purple Rain for any other two albums, made by Prince or not (alright thats stretchin a little but still). Let's not forget that Let's Work, 17 Days, and as someone already mentioned Erotic City are from this period also. As far as spotty albums are concerned, Lovesexy doesn't have shit on Controversy.

― tonyD (noiseyrock), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 00:32 (twenty years ago)

Everything leading up to Purple Rain is so much better than anything after.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

Lovesexy is abysmal, and impulsively I would have nodded towards the period that gave us Purple Rain and 1999. But you can't deny the Black Album and several hundred songs that Prince recorded during the latter half of the 80s (unreleased) that simply blow away the period leading to 1999. The 8 disc "The Work" bootleg pretty much confirms all this (Volume 1 is 1978-1984 and Volume 2 is 85-89, actually.) Not to mention that his live shows in the late 80s were pretty killer (and documented after shows even better) compared to the early 80s stuff. The b-sides also reveal strong work in the latter period, something I'd forgotten until I started burning all those 12" for ILM.

That said, the flurry of recording in 82-83 is awfully strong, especially if you only count proper albums. I don't think he's ever had a better one-two punch than "1999" and "Purple Rain."

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 01:17 (twenty years ago)

80-84

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 01:18 (twenty years ago)

Try '90 to '94: Grafitti Bridge, Diamonds and Pearls, Symbol, Come and... THE B SIDES.

Seriously, if we allow the B-sides as an album, those five make a case for a seriously excellent bronze age and a legit contender for best of the prince eras.

Worst Prince period? '97 to '01: Crystal Ball, Kamasutra, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and Rainbow Children... only the Truth disc on Crystal Ball as a saving point.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 03:33 (twenty years ago)

Incidentally, I'm of the opinion that Come may be Prince's most overlooked album (Graffiti Bridge coming right behind).

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 03:36 (twenty years ago)

Sign O' the Times + whatever > anything else

tards

― jhoshea (scoopsnoodle), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 04:41 (twenty years ago)

"chaos and disorder "is good
"i hate u " is brilliant.

http://www.salon.com/weekly/music2960722.html

― darling nikki, Tuesday, 14 June 2005 07:43 (twenty years ago)

Are you going to look me in the internet-eye and tell me Lovesexy is not spotty?
Cat! We need you to rap!

-- Whiney G. Weingarten (cweingarte...), June 13th, 2005.

That would be a great argument if you hadn't picked the best moment on Lovesexy...

― jim (jim5et), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

wow, Chaos and Disorder is BAD.
excepting Dig U Better Dead, I don't think I like a single track on there.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 14 June 2005 11:23 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

Temporarily resurrected because I got drunk last weekend and bought $50 worth of used Prince vinyl.

I just listened to "Controversy", for I think the second time in my life (first time I was maybe eight years old.) Having listened to it basically once I'm ready to pronounce it hugely unjustly neglected.

So having grown up in Minnesota, there's a certain sterile magic I associate with certain parts of the place - something to do with shopping malls in the middle of winter. And Prince catches this vibe and turns it into something perfect and awesome. Hell the one time I visited Paisley Park I was struck by how effing CLEAN it was, it fit into the rest of the suburbs perfectly.

I'm now listening to "Around the World in a Day" for the first time ever. So far so awesome. "Paisley Park" is probably the beginning of the end, though, you can tell things are getting a bit over-ripe. Still awesome.

― Lukas (lukas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:27 (twenty years ago)

And in conclusion, 80-84.

― Lukas (lukas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

ATWIAD will sound momentarily awesome, but this euphoria will fade.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:34 (twenty years ago)

..out, yet fade back in again. ATWIAD is an album of "ehs" and "aaaahs".

― donut ferry (donut), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

But you're right about Controversy: it's a quite good minor album.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 01:45 (twenty years ago)

Lukas yr analysis of MN in winter is so spot on I am having fits of jealousy over here.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:04 (twenty years ago)

"sterile magic"--dude this SO FUCKING NAILS IT. I bow!

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:06 (twenty years ago)

80-84.

after some soul-searching, i have to be honest. dirty mind has supplanted sign 'o' the times as number 1. maybe someday, the purple tides will turn again.

― petesmith (plsmith), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

Matos you just made my week, thanks.

― Lukas (lukas), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 02:10 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

Tough but i think I have to go with 1980-84. Since Dirty Mind and Controversy are my 2 favourites.

― Last Of The Famous International Pfunkboys (Kerr), Monday, 31 October 2005 04:58 (twenty years ago)

I gotta wonder about Lukas spending $50 on Prince vinyl, though. Even $5 a pop seems overpriced. What store you going to, my man?

― dr. phil (josh langhoff), Monday, 31 October 2005 05:06 (twenty years ago)

Some days I think I'm jaded, and then I stumble across something so holy-shit-how-why-no-way that I start foaming at the mouth:

purple rain is teh suck

-- mullygrubbr (fan...), June 13th, 2005 4:45 AM. (bulbs) (link)

Someone caught the mad cow. Fucking christ, get out of my sight.

Meanwhile I'm gonna have to go for 80-84, mostly because the non-SotT albums from 85-89 are singles-and-filler and for some reason I'm of the opinion that SooT itself is a great work of genius that I don't frequently feel compelled to listen to (with the exception of "Housequake" and "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" and "U Got the Look" and "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" and "Strange Relationship" and "Forever In Your Life" and if I keep going with the other four or five songs I love it'll kind of negate my point maybe).

― disco violence (disco violence), Monday, 31 October 2005 05:09 (twenty years ago)

x-post: dr phil your suspicions are justified. i was at an overpriced silverlake hipster funk/soul/hip-hop record store. they had a party, got me drunk and had their way with me.

― Lukas (lukas), Monday, 31 October 2005 08:23 (twenty years ago)

everything between 88-92

― retroboy, Monday, 31 October 2005 09:25 (twenty years ago)

twenty years pass...

This newly surfaced live rehearsal from 87 is great! "Crystal Ball" and "Rebirth Of The Flesh" get worked out, the band and Prince having fun, some congas come in and the whole thing sounds like none of his other shows from the era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl4fJDUF2ko

― completely suited to the horny decadence (Capitaine Jay Vee), Tuesday, 16 December 2025 21:42 (five months ago)

Would of like'd to have seen 75-79 have a chance too

― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Wednesday, 17 December 2025 13:51 (five months ago)

Man, is there a guitar song as beautiful and fully realized as Princes' "The Cross"? No bass! That kick drum. That sitar.

― The Luda of Suburbia (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 17 December 2025 14:25 (five months ago)

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