''1999'' is the fifth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American singer-songwriter and musician

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

, released on October 27, 1982, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It became his first album to be recorded with his band the Revolution. ''1999'' critical and commercial success propelled Prince to a place in the public psyche and marked the beginning of two years of heightened fame via his following releases. ''1999'' was Prince's first top 10 album on the '' Billboard'' 200, charting at number nine upon release, and was fifth in the '' Billboard'' Year-End Albums of 1983. "

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

", a protest against nuclear proliferation, was a ''Billboard'' Hot 100 top 20 hit, peaking at number 12. It has since become one of Prince's most recognizable compositions. " Delirious" reached number eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while " Little Red Corvette" peaked at number six, becoming Prince's highest charting US single at the time. " International Lover" was also nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the

26th Grammy Awards The 26th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983. Michael Jackson, who had been recov ...

, which was Prince's first

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nomination. ''1999'' received widespread acclaim from critics, and was seen as Prince's breakthrough album. On March 24, 1999, ''1999'' was certified

quadruple platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). Following Prince's death in 2016, the album re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 and peaked at number seven, besting its original performance on the chart thirty-three years earlier. A re-release and remaster of the album, including 35 previously unreleased recordings, was released in November 2019. ''1999'' has been ranked as one of the greatest albums of all time by several publications and organizations. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

s for both "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" received heavy rotation on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

, making Prince one of the first black artists to be prominently featured on the television channel. According to the '' Rolling Stone Album Guide'' (2004), "''1999'' may be Prince's most influential album: Its synth-and-drum machine-heavy arrangements codified the

Minneapolis sound The Minneapolis sound is a subgenre of funk rock that incorporates elements of New wave music, new wave and synth-pop. Started at Sound 80 with tracks like “Funkytown” by Lipps, Inc and pioneered by Minneapolis-based musician Prince (musicia ...

that loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

." It is also included on

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...

. In 2008, the album was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

Composition

The album's opening title track, "

", was also its first single and initially peaked at 44 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was subsequently re-released following the huge success of its follow-up single and ''1999''s second track, " Little Red Corvette", which peaked at 6 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Lisa Coleman - who sang on the album - recalled how Prince came up with "Little Red Corvette" after sleeping in her pink Mercury Montclair Maurauder. Shortly after being reissued, "1999" hit 12, and subsequently became one of Prince's most recognizable compositions. Its composition, and inclusion in the album, may have been originally prompted by a suggestion from the record company. The

s for both "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" were significant as two of the first videos by a black artist to receive heavy rotation on the newly launched music video channel,

, after heated controversy over its failure to promote black performers. The two tracks were later combined as a double A-side single in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 2. A subsequent single from the album and its third chronological track, the

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre, it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western musi ...

-influenced " Delirious", still managed top ten status in the United States at 8, but a fourth, the double-sided single " Let's Pretend We're Married"/"Irresistible Bitch", got no further than 52. While "Little Red Corvette" helped Prince cross over to the wider rock audience, the rest of ''1999'' retains the

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

elements featured in previous albums and is dominated by the use of

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s and

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s. The album is, however, notable within Prince's catalogue for its wide variety of themes in addition to the sexual imagery which had already become something of a trademark on his previous work. "Automatic", extending to almost ten minutes, starts side three of the album with a prominent synthesizer melody and bondage-inspired lyrical imagery which, transplanted to the music video for the track (with a scene that depicted Prince being tied up and whipped by band-members Lisa Coleman and Jill Jones), had been deemed too sexual for

in 1983. "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)", an ode to a harsh lover, is the centerpiece of a preoccupation with Computer Age themes that would continue into future albums. This is also reflected in various aspects of the album's instrumentation, with Prince fully embracing the gadgetry and sounds of emergent electro-funk and 1980s sequencing technology on tracks like "Let's Pretend We're Married" and "All the Critics Love U in New York", songs that widen his use of synthesizers and prominently feature the use of a Linn LM-1 drum machine. ''1999'' also contains two

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s in "Free", a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

piece encouraging people to count their blessings and be thankful for what they have, and " International Lover", a slow-paced love song for which Prince received his first

nomination in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

under the category of Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Artwork

The album's cover features elements from the front cover of Prince's previous album, ''

Controversy Controversy (, ) is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin '' controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an op ...

''; namely the eyes and the "Rude Boy" pin in the "1999", the jacket studs in the "R" and the smile in the "P". The "I" in "Prince" contains the words "and the Revolution" written backwards (as "dna eht noituloveR"), both acknowledging his backing band and foreshadowing the next four years of his career.

Release

''1999'' was released on October 27, 1982, by

. It was the fifth album released by Prince. ''1999'' was Prince's first top ten album on the ''Billboard'' 200, peaking at number nine. It was fifth in the ''Billboard'' Year-End Albums of 1983. Following Prince's death in 2016, the album re-entered the ''Billboard'' 200 and peaked at number seven, besting its original performance on the chart thirty-three years earlier. It also peaked in the top 10 in New Zealand, reaching number six on the New Zealand Albums Chart in 1982.

Remastered, Deluxe and Super Deluxe re-issues

The album was released as a ''Remastered'', ''Deluxe'' and ''Super Deluxe'' edition on November 29, 2019. The most elaborate re-issue contains five CDs featuring previously unreleased tracks, and a live DVD, with a total running time of 5 hours & 53 minutes. It reached the top 20 of the charts in Belgium, the Netherlands and Hungary.

Critical reception and legacy

''1999'' was well received by contemporary critics. Reviewing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' in December 1982, Michael Hill praised Prince for "working like a colorblind technician who's studied both

Devo Devo is an American new wave band from Akron, Ohio, formed in 1973. Their classic line-up consisted of two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs ( Mark and Bob) and the Casales (Gerald and Bob), along with Alan Myers. The band had a No. 14 ...

and

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is a retired American DJ, rapper, and record producer. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of ...

and the Soulsonic Force, keeping the '1999''ssongs constantly kinetic with an inventive series of shocks and surprises." ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' reviewer

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

was more reserved in his praise. While conceding that, "like every black pop auteur, Prince commands his own personal groove ... stretching his flat funk forcebeat onto two discs worth of deeply useful dance tracks", he also believed that the musician's only reliable subject remains race, leaving the critic with doubts about the messages behind the sex and apocalyptic songs. Retrospective appraisals have been even more favorable. According to ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004), "''1999'' may be Prince's most influential album: Its synth-and-drum machine-heavy arrangements codified the

that loomed over mid-'80s R&B and pop, not to mention the next two decades' worth of electro, house, and techno." Paul A. Thompson of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' noted the way Prince "marshal edthe Reagan years and the LM-1 for his own purposes" has rarely been replicated and called ''1999'' a "rare record that has come to define its era while also existing outside of it, a masterpiece that immediately precedes the albums Prince fashioned, conspicuously, as masterpieces." Thompson also described the album as a "computer breathing." Also writing for ''Pitchfork'', Maura Johnston wrote in 2016 that through the "balancing synth-funk explorations...taut pop construction, genre-bending, and the proto-nuclear fallout of lust, ''1999'' still sounds like a landmark release in 2016". Johnston further praised Prince's "singular vision and willingness to indulge his curiosities" for creating an "apocalypse-anticipating album that, perhaps paradoxically, was built to last for decades and even centuries to come." Writing for ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'', Eric Henderson called ''1999'' a "massive, sexy, rump-shaking, and sometimes even disturbing masterpiece" and stated that even though it may not be better than '' Dirty Mind'', '' Purple Rain'', and '' Sign o' the Times'', the album represented a "quantum leap in sophistication and scope." Henderson also claimed that ''1999'' raised the bar for '80s funk. ''1999'' has appeared on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 1989, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked ''1999'' 16th on its list of the 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s. In 2003,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

placed ''1999'' number 48 in its list of the 100 Greatest Albums. The album was also part of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

''s list The 50 Most Essential Pop Albums and the magazine listed the album at number 8 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 163 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of

The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" is a recurring opinion survey and music ranking of the finest albums in history, compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and indu ...

. It maintained the rating in a 2012 revised list, and was re-ranked number 130 in 2020. The album was also included in the book '' 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''. The album was inducted into the

in 2008.

Track listing

Original album

Alternate formats * Originally released on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

as a double LP (the first of a number of double sets from Prince), ''1999'' was cut to a single vinyl edition in some countries, omitting "D.M.S.R.", "Automatic", "All the Critics Love U in New York" and "International Lover"; this single LP was reissued as part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is a semi-annual event established in 2008 to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". Held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November, the day brings together f ...

2018. Some countries in 1983, such as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, opted to issue the release as two separate vinyl albums, ''1999 I'' and ''1999 II''. * The original

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

version of the album was also cut, omitting "D.M.S.R." There is a notice on the back cover of the original compact disc pressing that reads "To enable the release of ''1999'' as a single compact disc, the song 'D.M.S.R.' has been omitted from the original LP edition." Later compact disc pressings (from a 1990 reissue onward) included the track. * On the cassette release, "Free" was placed after "D.M.S.R." to end the first side, balancing out the lengths of both sides of the cassette.

Remastered, deluxe and super deluxe editions

The ''Remastered'' edition contains a remaster of the original album. The ''Deluxe'' edition contains the remaster and a bonus disc with all the single, maxi-single and promo mixes as well as the B-sides. The ''Super Deluxe'' edition contains four more discs: Two of them contain 24 previously unissued studio tracks, the third contains a complete live audio performance of the ''1999 Tour'' recorded at the late show (the second of two that day) in Detroit, Michigan, on November 30, 1982, and a DVD with another complete, previously unreleased concert from the ''1999 Tour'', recorded in multi-cam live at the Houston Summit on December 29, 1982. The albums were also issued on vinyl in a 2 LP, 4 LP and 10 LP + DVD set. The ''Super Deluxe'' edition and the ''Deluxe'' edition are both completely out of print physically.

Personnel

Adapted from Jack Brown, Benoît Clerc,

Reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

, and the Super Deluxe booklet

Musicians

– lead and backing vocals ,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, Steinway

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, ARP Omni , Oberheim OB-SX ,

Oberheim OB-X The Oberheim OB-X was the first of Oberheim Electronics, Oberheim's OB-series polyphony (instrument), polyphonic Analog synthesizer, analog Subtractive synthesis, subtractive synthesizers. First commercially available in June 1979, the OB-X was ...

, Oberheim OB-Xa , Oberheim OB-8 ,

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, claps , Pearl SY-1 Syncussion , finger snaps * Lisa Coleman – co-lead vocals , backing vocals , claps *

Dez Dickerson Desmond D'andrea Dickerson (born August 7, 1955) is an American guitarist and singer who was a member of Prince's band, the Revolution. Life and career Dickerson was born in 1955 as Desmond D'andrea Dickerson, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A v ...

– co-lead vocals , backing vocals , electric guitar

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

, claps * Jesse Johnson – backing vocals * Jill Jones – co-lead vocals , backing vocals , moans , claps * Bobby Z. – electronic percussion ,

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

* Brownmark, The Count, Peggy McCreary, Carol McGovney, Poochie, Jamie Shoop – backing vocals , claps * Wendy Melvoin,

Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness compared to others. Prior to the 14th century, it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant ''futility''. The related term vainglory is now often seen as ...

– backing vocals * Morris Day – drums

Production

* Prince – producer * Don Batts –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* David Leonard, Peggy McCreary – mixing, engineers *

Bernie Grundman Bernie Grundman (born 16 December 1943, Minneapolis) is an American audio engineer. He is most known for his mastering work and his studio, Bernie Grundman Mastering, which he opened in 1984 in Hollywood. The studio, which includes engineers Chr ...

– mastering (A&M Records) While not performance credited for the studio recordings, band members Doctor Fink (keyboards), Bobby Z. (drums) and Brown Mark (bass) do appear in the music videos.

Singles

* "

" ( 12 US, 4 US R&B, 25 UK) # "1999" # " How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore?" * " Little Red Corvette" ( 6 US, 15 US R&B, 54 UK) # "Little Red Corvette" # "All the Critics Love U in New York" * " Delirious" ( 8 US, 18 US R&B) # "Delirious" # "Horny Toad" * "Automatic" (AUS) # "Automatic" # "Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)" * " Let's Pretend We're Married" ( 52 US, 55 US R&B) # "Let's Pretend We're Married" # "Irresistible Bitch"

Charts

Weekly charts

Original version

2019 reissue

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Sources: *

External links

* *
1999
' at Prince Vault
Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 (Prince Album) 1982 albums Prince (musician) albums Albums produced by Prince (musician) Warner Records albums Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Albums recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Albums recorded in a home studio Funk albums by American artists Art pop albums Dance music albums by American artists New wave albums by American artists