Top 10 Alert!
Rated 10 Alert!
Song#: 1358 Date: 02/26/1983
Debut: 66
Peak: 6
Weeks: 22
Genre: R&B
Pop Bits: Prince's album "1999" got off to a good, but slow start with its first single, the title-track, making it to #4 at R&B and (initially) #44 at pop. The album would then really take off thanks to this more rock-oriented second single. Both the song and the video, which made it into heavy rotation on MTV, gained Prince a lot of new fans who in turn gave him his first pop Top 10. The hit also sent the album into the Top 10 (#9) becoming his first to do so as well. This single also marked the first time that a Prince song did better at pop than R&B. While the song hit #6 at pop, at R&B the song only managed to reach #15.
ReduxReview: Oh yeah! Prince revved into high gear with this sexy tune. The release of this song was timed perfectly. It came at a time when both he and Michael Jackson were finally breaking down the color/R&B barriers at MTV and hitting the mainstream. Prince should have been a bigger star by this point, but the mainstream wasn't accepting him yet. They had to after this. The song was just undeniable. Not only is this an 80s classic, but a rock era classic as well.
ReduxRating: 10/10
Trivia: It was around the time of "1999" that Prince formed his band The Revolution. Although the album is just credited to Prince, The Revolution name does appear on the cover of the album. The phrase "and the Revolution" is written backwards inside the "1" of the 1999. For this album, The Revolution included guitarist Dez Dickerson. He supplied the guitar solo for this song. Famed magazine "Guitar World" lists Dickerson's solo at #64 of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.
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