Description
Side 1
- “1999”
- “Little Red Corvette”
- “Delirious”
Side 2
- “Let’s Pretend We’re Married”
- “D.M.S.R.”
Side 3
- “Automatic”
- “Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)”
- “Free”
Side 4
- “Lady Cab Driver”
- “All the Critics Love U in New York”
- “International Lover”
1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, released on October 27, 1982. It was his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States (peaking at number 9) and became the fifth best-selling album of 1983. 1999 was Prince’s breakthrough album, but his next album Purple Rain would become his most successful. The title track was a protest against nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit in countries outside the U.S.
The album’s critical and commercial success secured Prince a place in the public psyche, and marked the beginning of two years of intense activity which, via massively successful tours, hit singles and a Hollywood movie, would make Prince arguably the biggest male musical star on the planet next to Michael Jackson. In 2003, the album was ranked number 163 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
According to the Rolling Stone Album Guide, “1999 may be Prince’s most influential album: Its synth-and-drum machine-heavy arrangements codified the Minneapolis sound that loomed over mid-’80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades’ worth of electro, house, and techno.