Maps of Music

1999 (1982)

Where the lyrics of 1999 take you, and where it was really made.

Prince's 1982 double album returned to the Billboard 200 after his death in 2016 and peaked higher than it had during its original run.

Key places

Kiowa Trail Home Studio (1982)

Recording site Kiowa Trail home studio — The recording location listed for this album is Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The point marks the studio area only, not a confirmed building address. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Sunset Sound Recorders (1982)

Recording site Sunset Sound — Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California is listed as a recording location for this album. The point marks the studio area only, not a confirmed building address. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• 1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, the American singer-songwriter and musician
• Released on October 27, 1982 by Warner Bros. Records
• Issued as a double album, and the first Prince album recorded with his band the Revolution
• Its critical and commercial success pushed Prince into wider public view
• It opened two years of heightened fame through his following releases

Background

• Seen as Prince's breakthrough album
• Lisa Coleman sang on the album
• The title track 1999 was a protest against nuclear proliferation
• Little Red Corvette helped Prince cross over to the wider rock audience

Recording

• The recording location is listed as Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota
• The recording location is also listed as Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California
• The music is dominated by synthesizers and drum machines, while funk elements from earlier albums remain

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Prince Rogers Nelson, born June 7, 1958 in Minneapolis, Minnesota; died April 21, 2016 at Paisley Park in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
• Signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1977 at age 18; first album For You released April 7, 1978.
• Career spanned funk, rock, R&B and pop, with estimated sales over 100 million records.

Career

• Breakthrough with Dirty Mind (1980), Controversy (1981) and 1999 (1982).
• Purple Rain (1984) made him the first singer to hold the number-one film, album and single in the US at the same time.
• Sign o' the Times (1987) is widely considered his greatest work.
• Changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, becoming known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince; reverted to Prince in 2000.
• Won seven Grammy Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album received widespread acclaim from critics and was seen as Prince's breakthrough
• Rolling Stone (Michael Hill, December 1982): praised Prince as a colorblind technician whose inventive shocks and surprises keep the songs constantly kinetic
• The Village Voice (Robert Christgau): more reserved, conceding that the album offered deeply useful dance tracks
• Christgau doubted the messages behind the sex and apocalyptic songs, and believed race remained the musician's only reliable subject

Reappraisal

• Retrospective appraisals have been even more favorable
• The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004): may be Prince's most influential album, codifying the Minneapolis sound
• Pitchfork (Paul A. Thompson): a rare record that came to define its era while also existing outside it
• Pitchfork (Maura Johnston, 2016): still sounds like a landmark release
• Slant Magazine (Eric Henderson): a massive, sexy, rump-shaking, and sometimes disturbing masterpiece that represented a quantum leap in sophistication and scope

Records

• Billboard 200: number nine on release, Prince's first top ten album on that chart
• Billboard Year-End Albums of 1983: fifth
• New Zealand Albums Chart: number six in 1982
• Certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA on March 24, 1999
• After Prince's death in 2016, re-entered the Billboard 200 and peaked at number seven
• Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: number 163 in 2003, kept in the 2012 revised list, re-ranked number 130 in 2020
• Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Pushed Prince into wider public view, and the album's two Top 10 chart runs in the US and UK kept him in the spotlight for two years
• The music videos for 1999 and Little Red Corvette were among the first videos by a Black artist to receive heavy rotation on MTV, which had faced criticism over the failure to promote Black performers
• The Automatic video, with a scene of Prince being tied up and whipped by band members, had been deemed too sexual for MTV in 1983
• Lisa Coleman recalled how Prince came up with Little Red Corvette after sleeping in her pink Mercury Montclair Maurauder
• Originally released as a double LP, 1999 was cut to a single vinyl edition in some countries, omitting several tracks

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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