Happy 25th Anniversary, Purple Rain!

”Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today 2 get through this thing called life …”

Those are the first words of Purple Rain’s opening song Let’s Go Crazy.

Twenty-five years ago, eccentric superstar Prince created what many consider to be the greatest pop film soundtrack of all time. Purple Rain is an album that was as commercially successful as it was artistically innovative. It combined funk, R&B, heavy rock, and pop. It produced five hit singles, and there are only nine songs on the album!

Purple Rain influenced not only music, but fashion and censorship. Purple Rain’s “Darling Nikki” topped the Parental Music Resource Center list as the most offensive song that year. It was Prince who “inspired” the Parental Advisory stickers on albums.

Purple Rain was released on June 25, 1984 and by August, it was Number 1 on the album chart, the singles chart, and in movie theaters. The movie – conceived by, staring, and revolving around Prince, was a multi-tiered effort to make himself a star. And as the closing song in the film proclaims “Baby I’m A Star,” it worked!

Here are the songs, in order, on Purple Rain:

Let’s Go Crazy

Take Me With U

The Beautiful Ones

Computer Blue

Darling Nikki

When Doves Cry

I Would Die 4 U

Baby I’m A Star

Purple Rain

More on Prince and Purple Rain:

Happy Birthday, Prince

Entertainment Weekly, The New Classics: Music

June 5, 2009, WNYC Soundcheck: “Songs Fit For A Prince”