Dirty Mind

Lore & Background

The album is notable for Prince's increasing use of rock music elements, high register vocals, sexually explicit lyrical themes and an androgynous image. Critics have hailed its fusion of genres for influencing urban black music of the early 1980s, and its lyrics for influencing more sexually explicit music. The first single from Dirty Mind, 'Uptown', reached number five on both the Billboard Hot Soul Singles and the Billboard National Disco Action Top 30 charts. Although the album only reached number 45 on the Billboard 200, it was met with widespread critical acclaim. The album has retrospectively been ranked by Pitchfork and Slant as one of the greatest of the 1980s, and by Rolling Stone and NME as one of the greatest albums of all time.

In Their Own Story

The fluorescent lights of the record store hummed at 7 a.m. on a grey Minneapolis morning. Prince walked in wearing a leather jacket over a sequined shirt, his hair a wild halo of black and purple. He set a stack of freshly pressed vinyl on the counter, still warm from the pressing plant, and told the bewildered clerk: "This goes on the shelf today. Tell the other stores. Tell the radio. Tell everybody."

By noon, the crates were full. By evening, the first copies were spinning in living rooms from Minneapolis to Memphis, the drum machine thudding through cheap speakers, the vocal cutting through the static like a blade. The clerk later told friends he hadn't even asked for a receipt. He just remembered the weight of the double sleeve in his hands and the way Prince's eyes said, *this is already finished, and you are hearing it first.*

Reader's Guide

A fusion of funk, new wave, R&B and dance, Dirty Mind also contains more rock-oriented beats than Prince's previous albums, as well as elements of punk rock on the track 'Sister'. Half of the songs were composed by Prince on tour, when he and his band had a slot opening for Rick James. The album was recorded in a makeshift 16-track studio in the basement of Prince's home on Lake Minnetonka, with Prince engineering the album himself, credited under the pseudonym Jamie Starr. Sessions occurred in May and June 1980, with Prince playing nearly all of the instruments himself, and several of the songs were recorded in one night. The album contrasted with Prince's previous ones in its raw and unpolished production style, with several of the tracks being essentially demos. It is the only Prince album to not feature a 'slow jam'.

Did You Know?

• The album was recorded in a makeshift 16-track studio in the basement of Prince's home on Lake Minnetonka.
• Prince engineered the album himself under the pseudonym Jamie Starr.
• Several of the songs were recorded in one night.
• It is the only Prince album to not feature a slow jam.
• The music for 'Partyup' was originally penned by Morris Day.