Prince - 1999

Prince - 1999

Growing up, way back in 1982, our house had one radio. It wasn't like today where everyone has their own media device and can listen to whatever they want whenever they want. We had ONE radio. My parents kept the radio on Adult contemporary stations, oldies, sports games, stuff like that. We also listened to a lit of albums (yes, the actual vinyl), 45's, 8-track tapes, and cassette tapes. There was a lot of Beatles, Elvis, Wings, and Barry Mannilow playing on our radio. And I enjoyed it all. Then, for Christmas in 1982, my parents got me my own alarm clock/radio. YES! I was 14-years old at the time, just a lil kid. That night I went into my bedroom, and plugged in that clock/radio, made sure to set the time (this was een back before the digital numbers, it had those flip-numbers that flipped from one number to the next like a rolodex). After getting the time set, I turned on the radio, and I went straight for the old WLOL pop station we had in Minneapolis at the time. I was SUCH a rebel. Pop music. There was a commercial, or the DJ was talking, I can't be sure of that anymore. The one thing I CAN be sure of is the very first song that played after I turned that radio on was Prince's song 1999. I had never heard the song before. I had never even heard of Prince before (I had heard his "I Wanna Be Your Lover" song, but didn't know it was him back at that time). Oh. My. God. My jaw dropped open. I was beside myself. The synths. The guitar. That fucking amazing drum track. That song changed my world. By the time Prince's next album, Purple Rain, came out, I had already purchased all of his previous albums. I had already worn out one 1999 cassette from playing it too much. I was addicted to Prince. That one song, that first listen to 1999 did it for me. Thirty years later, I still am.