19801984In 1980, Prince released Dirty Mind, a solo effort released using the original demos. On stage, Lisa Coleman replaced Chapman in the band, who felt the sexually explicit lyrics and stage antics of Prince's concerts conflicted with her religious beliefs. Dirty Mind was particularly notable for its sexually explicit material.
Prince opened for Rick James in a 1980 tour with the label punk funk being applied to both artists, although it reportedly didn't sit comfortably with Prince. He recorded the album Controversy, released in 1981, with the single of the same name making international charts for the first time. In February of 1981, Prince performed Partyup on the now-infamous season six episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Charlene Tilton that brought Jean Doumanian's lackluster tenure as executive producer down when cast member Charles Rocket uttered the word, fuck at the end of the program. Starting with the album Controversy, Prince used Controversy Music - ASCAP for publishing his songs, which he would use for his following sixteen records until Emancipation came out in 1996.
In 1981, Prince formed a side project band called The Time. Prince was able to do this due to a clause in his contract with Warner Bros. The Time created four albums between 1981 and 1990 where Prince wrote and performed all instruments and backing vocals throughout. The band's vocals were led by Morris Day.
In the coming decade, Prince would also collaborate with Vanity (of Vanity 6), Apollonia (of Apollonia 6) and Sheila E. He also composed material, using former band-mates as another outlet for his prolific output. He also wrote hits for artists such as Sheena Easton, Celine Dion (As she talked about in an interview with Arsenio Hall in 1993) and The Bangles and his songs would be covered in hit versions by artists as diverse as Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, Art of Noise with Tom Jones, and Sin?ad O'Connor. O'Connor's cover of a song Prince initially wrote for The Family, Nothing Compares 2 U, was a huge commercial success in 1990.
Prince's Yellow Cloud Guitar at the Smithsonian CastleIn 1982, Prince released the 1999 double-album which proved to be a breakthrough album both in the U.S. and internationally, selling over three million copies. The title track was a protest about nuclear proliferation and became his first top ten hit internationally. With Little Red Corvette he joined Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie as part of the first wave of African American artists on MTV and Delirious also went top ten on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was placed at number six in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Stevie Nicks related a story in a television interview that she had come up with her 1983 song Stand Back after being inspired by the synthesizer part in Little Red Corvette. When it was time to record the song, it happened that Prince was in Los Angeles near her recording studio. She called his people and soon afterwards Prince came by the studio, sat down at the synthesizer, and played the song-opening riff.
Around this time, Prince started crediting his backup band as The Revolution, which then consisted of Dez Dickerson on guitar, Lisa Coleman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, Bobby Z. on drums and Brown Mark on bass. The band's name was printed in reverse on the cover of 1999, as Prince held back on using the name The Revolution until Dez left the band for personal reasons; he was replaced by Wendy Melvoin, childhood friend of Lisa. While its members were solid musicians and a strong live act, their talents would be used sparsely in the studio, though their presence would increase over the next few years.
During this period, Prince brought to life the idea of b-sides, songs that were not previously released on the b-side of a single that were at times considered throwaway songs, becoming popular songs in their own right. Some greats and fan favorites include How Come You Don't Call Me Anymore, b-side for 1999, Erotic City, b-side for Let's Go Crazy, and 17 Days, b-side for When Doves Cry. Several of these b-sides were covered by mainstream artists, including Alicia Keys and Living Colour. Many of Prince's notable b-sides appeared on the 3rd disc of the compilation The Hits/The B-Sides.
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