- "I know, I know, that you're going with another guy
Don't care, don't care, 'cause I love you baby that's no lie
I love you even more than I did when you were mine"
Dirty Mind, released in 1980, is the third album by American musician Prince. Shifting away from the straightforward funk and disco sounds of his first two records, this album marks a shift to a funk-driven New Wave Music sound that would serve as the basis for his proceeding output throughout the remainder of the decade. The album also sees the first vestiges of his later backing band the Revolution form, with Dez Dickerson, Andre Cymone, Bobby Z, Gayle Chapman, and Matt Fink serving as backing musicians on this album; while Chapman and Cymone would leave shortly after this album, the remaining musicians would end up becoming principal members of the Revolution throughout its brief lifetime and constantly rotating lineup. Most significantly, the album marks Prince's first dive into the raunchy, sexually-driven lyricism that would become a hallmark of his work, covering taboo topics such as oral sex, group sex, ejaculation, and Brother–Sister Incest. This shift would wind up setting a precedent that would result in sexually explicit lyrics becoming more mainstream in popular music, though at the cost of generating enough controversy to generate a Congressional hearing about the subject, spurned on by Prince's own "Darling Nikki" in 1984.
The resulting album was released to widespread critical acclaim, with reviewers praising the album's "liberating lewdness" and adeptness at shifting Prince's sound into a more palatable and aggressive form in the wake of disco's high-profile and violent decline from popularity. Retrospective analysts credit it as a major influence on urban black music, with Prince's androgynous voice and image also helping bring the concept of the "gaydar"
to public prominence. Pitchfork ranked Dirty Mind as the 87th best album of the 1980's, Slant at No. 53 in the same category, and Rolling Stone at No. 10. The latter would also place the album at No. 204 on their 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, with the 2012 revision shifting it to No. 206; NME would also place the album at No. 393 on their own list in the same category. As of 2018, the album also sits at No. 458 on Acclaimed Music's dynamic list of the 3000 most acclaimed albums of all time. The album's commercial performance was much more modest, peaking at only No. 56 on the Billboard 200, though it would eventually be certified gold in the US.
Dirty Mind was supported by three singles: "Uptown", "Dirty Mind", and "Do It All Night".
Tracklist:
Side One- "Dirty Mind" (4:14)
- "When You Were Mine" (3:47)
- "Do It All Night" (3:42)
- "Gotta Broken Heart Again" (2:16)
Side Two
- "Uptown" (5:32)
- "Head" (4:44)
- "Sister" (1:31)
- "Partyup" (4:24)
"I trope you even more than I did when you were mine"
- Brother–Sister Incest: "Sister", which is, mercifully, the shortest song on the album.
- Contemptible Cover: Prince wearing a trenchcoat and a thong.
- Intercourse with You: Pretty much the whole album.
- Minimalistic Cover Art/Face on the Cover: As seen above.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Sister" clocks in at only a minute and a half.
- New Sound Album: Mixes up Funk and New Wave.
- A Threesome Is Hot: "When You Were Mine""I never was the kind to make a fuss
When he was there
Lying between the two of us" - Unusual Euphemism: "Party in Uptown"
