Prince

Released in 1983, 1999 was the album that catapulted Prince to international superstardom -- and guaranteed him a place at every millennial New Year's party. Rife with nasty funk, screaming rock guitar and exuberant party jams, the uniformly strong release spawned three hit singles: "1999," "Delirious," and the deliciously slinky "Little Red Corvette." A classic.

After the critical success of his Dirty Mind LP in 1980 and the subsequent notoriety of last
year's Controversy, Prince, at the tender age of twenty-two, has become the inspiration
for a growing renegade school of Sex & Funk & Rock & Roll that includes his fellow Minneapolis
hipsters Andre Cymone, the Time and Vanity 6. Yet regardless of the jive that he hath
wrought, Prince himself does more than merely get down and talk dirty. Beneat... More >

Like every black pop auteur, Prince commands his own personal groove, and by stretching his flat funk forcebeat onto two discs worth of deeply useful dance tracks he makes his most convincing political statement to date--about race, the one subject where his instincts always serve him reliably. I mean, you don't hang on his every word in re sex or the end of the world, now do you? (Grade - A-)