Prince’s Purple Rain hit #1 in U.S. for first of 24 weeks

Purple Rain Prince & the Revolution

Released: June 25, 1984 Peak: #124 US, #4 UK, #113 CN, #11 AU, 110 DF Sales (in millions): 14.48 US, 0.6 UK, 26.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: R&B/pop

Tracks: Click on individual song titles for more details, including songwriters, recording and release dates, chart peaks, versions recorded by other artists, and basic information aobout the song. Let’s Go Crazy [4:39] Take Me with U [3:54] The Beautiful Ones [5:13] Computer Blue [3:59] Darling Nikki [4:14] When Doves Cry [5:54] I Would Die 4 U [2:49] Baby I’m a Star [4:24] Purple Rain [8:41] Disc 2: From the Vault (2017 Deluxe Expanded Edition) The Dance Electric [11:29] Love and Sex [5:00] Computer Blue (“Hallway Speech” Version) [12:18] Electric Intercourse (Studio Version) [4:57] Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden [6:25] Possessed [7:56] Wonderful Ass [6:24] Velvet Kitty Cat [2:42] Katrina’s Paper Dolls [3:30] We Can Fuck [10:17] Father’s Song [5:30] Disc 3: Single Edits & B-Sides (2017 Deluxe Expanded Edition) When Doves Cry (7” single edit) [3:49] 17 Days (B-side edit) [3:58] (recorded 1/8/1984 and 3/18/1984, released 5/16/84 as B-side of “When Doves Cry”) B Let’s Go Crazy (7” single edit) [3:49] Let’s Go Crazy (special dance mix) [7:36] Erotic City (7” B-side edit) [3:57] (recorded 3/25/1984 and 4/4/1984, released 7/18/84 as B-side of “ Let’s Go Crazy ”) B Erotic City (“Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive”) [7:25] Purple Rain (7” single edit) [4:08] God (7” B-side edit) [4:04] (recorded 8/19/1984 and 8/20/1984, released 9/26/84 as B-side of “Purple Rain”) B God (Love Them from Purple Rain) (UK 12” B-side edit) [7:57] Another Lonely Christmas (7” B-side edit) [4:56] (recorded 2/18/1984 and 2/19/1984, released 11/28/84 as B-side of “I Would Die 4 U”) B Another Lonely Christmas (extended version) [6:52] I Would Die 4 U (7” single edit) [2:59] I Would Die 4 U (7” single extended version) [10:20] Baby I’m a Star (7” B-side edit) [2:52] (released 1/25/85 as B-side of “Take Me with U”) Take Me with U (7” single edit) [3:43] Other Songs from This Era: The Glamorous Life (Prince) [4:12] (Prince: recorded 12/27/83; Sheila E., 6/2/84, 7 US, 9 CB, 9 RB, 96 UK, 3 CN, 11 AU) O Manic Monday (Prince) [2:51] (Prince: recorded 2/4/84, released 6/23/19; Bangles, 1/25/86, 2 US, 3 CB, 10 AC, 43 AR, 2 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU; Prince, 6/23/19) O Noon Rendezvous (Prince/Sheila E.) [3:00] (Prince: recorded 2/13/84; Sheila E, 1984 album cut) O 100 MPH (Prince) [3:30] (Prince: recorded 6/30/1984; Mazarati, 5/17/86, 19 RB) O Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince) [4:40] (Prince: recorded 7/15/84, released 4/19/18, #62 RB, 1 DF; The Family, 1985 album cut; Sinéad O’Connor: 1/20/90, 1 US, 1 UK, 23 AR, 1 MR, sales: 1 million; Prince, 4/19/18) O O featured on Originals (recorded 1981-91, released 2019) B featured on The B-Sides (recorded: 1981-89, released 1993) Total Running Time: 43:51

Rating: 4.637 out of 5.00 (average of 36 ratings) Quotable: “A landmark that solidified Prince’s standing as the preeminent pop genius of his generation” – Pitchfork’s Carvell Wallace Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

The Early Years: Prince Rogers Nelson was born in 1958 in Minneapolis. Music was part of his life from the onset. His parents were in a jazz combo and although his father left when he was seven, Prince would take up piano and later teach himself how to play multiple instruments. At 19, the “teenage funk prodigy” BR signed a three-album deal with Warner Bros. “with near complete creative control.” BR Although he “spent his first few albums…searching for an identity of his own,” CS he became known as “a multi-instrumentalist and prodigious musical upstart” PF who “famously stonewalled music press royalty…You were not to know who he was or where he was from. You were not to fully comprehend his race nor his gender.” PF His second album produced the #11 disco hit “I Wanna Be Your Lover” but it wasn’t until his fifth album, 1999, that “the Minneapolis dynamo demonstrated that he could write for the pop charts and not only his multicultural cult of funkateers.” TL The 1982 release went multi-platinum and reached #7, thanks to the top-ten hits “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious,” not to mention the classic title cut. His next project, the film Purple Rain, was “essentially Prince’s version of his own myth.” SS The accompanying soundtrack generated four top-ten hits, spent 24 weeks atop the Billboard album chart, and sold 26 million copies worldwide. Prince became the first artist since Elvis Presley to simultaneously have the #1 song, album, and movie. SS The Movie: For his next move, Prince decided to co-write and star in a film that was “a highly dramatized account of his rise to stardom.” CS It “cracks open the shell of his reclusive sex alien persona to tell something of an origin story.” PF It was a “schmaltzy tale with Prince taking the role of The Kid, beset by parental woes and the inevitable girl trouble.” SM Despite “cringeworthy acting” BBC and “a laughable script,” TL the movie served as “a big-screen showcase” AZ for some “riveting performance footage” TL of some of the soundtrack’s songs “in tear-the-roof-off ‘live’ versions set in a Minneapolis club.” AZ “The moment Prince sang ‘Baby I’m a Star,'’ he was one.” EW’12 The movie was an unexpected hit at the box office; it cost only $7 million and made over $68 million. NME It ranks in the top ten of the Dave’s Music Database list of the Top 50 Music Movies. “The film turned this diminutive Midwestern oddball into a pop-culture giant on par with Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson.” BB The Soundtrack: AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it was designed “as the project that would make him a superstar, and, surprisingly, that is exactly what happened.” AM Purple Rain would “catapult him to megastardom.” TL “By streamlining his songs and moving his guitar-hero wizardry up front” TL Prince created an album that was “more focused and ambitious than any of his previous records.” AM Prince demonstrates his “ability to fashion the most avant garde pop imaginable while still making you want to shake your booty.” BBC The album “manages to deftly thread the needle between a dazzling array of genres: disaffected synth pop, tongue-wagging hair metal, dark R&B, and pleading soul.” PF Prince “plays rock better than rock musicians, composes better than jazz guys, and performs better than everyone, all without ever abandoning his roots as a funk man.” PF The soundtrack spawned four top-ten hits and spent a whopping 6 months atop the album chart. It was big right out of the gate, debuting at #11 with sales of a million and a half. It hit #1 four weeks later, WK knocking Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. from the summit. Suddenly “the fact that Prince was the most gifted musician in modern times – well, at least since Stevie Wonder – wasn’t in question.” TL “If Prince had quit music after Purple Rain “he would still be on the Mount Rushmore of American music.” PM The Songs: Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Let’s Go Crazy Prince & the Revolution

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: 8/7/1983 at the Warehouse in St. Louis Park, MN Released: 7/18/1984 as a single, Purple Rain (1984), The Hits 1 (1993), ), The Very Best of (2001), special dance mix: Ultimate (2006), 4Ever (2016), Live in Utrecht (2020) B-Side: “Erotic City” Charted: 12 BB, 12 CB, 12 GR, 14 RR, 11 RB, 19 AR, 7 UK, 2 CN, 10 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.96 US, 0.2 UK, 2.16 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 41.23 video, 143.06 streaming About the Song: “In arguably the best intro in pop history, Prince spends the first 40 seconds of this smash single playing gospel preacher, telling us to forget about the afterworld and start enjoying this one.” BB This song “thematically picks up where the titular title track from 1999 leaves off, namely: ‘We’re all going to die one way or another, so let’s rock while we’re here.’” PF “It was obvious that Prince was attempting to find the perfect pop paradise for his crossover dreams. And, as he would discover, when it rains it pours.” VB On the “major metallic-funk hit” GS Prince “goes for a monstrous synth-and-guitar sonic attack turning the song into a hair-metal and synth-pop classic at once.” GS Prince rips “the kind of ostentatiously speedy Van Halen-esque guitar work that would become the audio version of the generation’s early MTV aesthetic.” PF

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Take Me with U Prince & the Revolution with Apollonia

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: January 27-31, 1984 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: 1/25/1985 as a single, Purple Rain (1984), 4Ever (2016) B-Side: “Baby I’m a Star” Charted: 25 BB, 27 CB, 16 GR, 17 RR, 40 RB, 7 UK, 10 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.38 video, 23.25 streaming About the Song: This is the closest thing the album has to a dud, PF but Prince’s work, like Stevie Wonder, “brims with so many compelling musical ideas that they can be found hidden in even the weakest of tracks.” PF “After some frenzied drum rolls and a paranoid keyboard riff, Prince u-turns into a sweet psych-rock duet with Apollonia, his costar in the film. It’s a song about love conquering all, and the frilly orchestral synth sounds add to the neo-‘60s vibe.” BB This song was originally intended for the Apollonia 6 album. Reportedly, Prince played all the instruments on the song except for the string overdubs. WK

The Beautiful Ones Prince & the Revolution

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: 9/20/1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: Purple Rain (1984) About the Song: While most of the Purple Rain album was recorded as a band, this song, “Darling Nikki,” and “When Doves Cry” are solo Prince recordings. WK This song presents “Prince the serpentine…at his most coiled, his falsetto vocals syrupy and tightly wound until they explode into a wounded animal scream.” PF “Despite those heavy synths and hollow Linn drums—go-to electronic effects on early Prince albums – ‘The Beautiful Ones’ doesn’t play like some bad ‘80s New Wave song. This lush ballad begins with Prince asking, ‘Is it him, or is it me?’ and over the next five minutes, he gives his would-be lover an increasingly intense sales pitch. By the end, he’s down on his knees, shredding that guitar of his. Let’s see the other guy beat that.” BB

Computer Blue Prince & the Revolution

Writer(s): Prince, John L. Nelson, Wendy & Lisa, Dr. Fink Recorded: 8/8/1983 at the Warehouse in St. Louis Park, MN; August 15-17, 1983, 19-20, 8/29/1983 and 8/31/1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: Purple Rain (1984) About the Song: Originally written as a 14 minute opus, this song had to be edited down to make room for “Take Me with U.” WK The opening dialogue between Revolution band members Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman “may either be about an impending sex act or an impending cup of tea.” PF “The ensuing song is a club jam about the common ’80s theme of existential technological alienation.” PF It incorporates “the unlisted ‘Father’s Song’ that showcases Prince’s talent for crafting a surprisingly emotional narrative out of a chord progression and a guitar solo (foreshadowing, perhaps?) before devolving into feedback, wordless screaming, and the intro to the crowning achievement of the first half.” PF

Darling Nikki Prince

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: July 1983 at Kiowa Trail Home Studio in Chanhassen, MN; August 18-19, 1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: Purple Rain (1984) Covered by: Foo Fighters (released 9/22/2003, #15 AR, on album Medium Rare (4/16/2011) About the Song: “The only thing rawer than the guitars are the lyrics, all about a porn-loving gal not shy about pleasuring herself in hotel lobbies.” BB This is “a thumping, loping, grinding fuck song about getting dirty with and getting played by the timeless femme fatale.” PF “Almost any other male artist from that period would have turned Darling Nikki into a misogynistic nightmare. But Prince frames it as finally meeting his sexual superior, and instead of grossing us out, the song leaves listeners in the same position as the protagonist: shattered and begging for more.” CQ The lyrics made it a target of the Parents Music Resource Center, spearheaded by Tipper Gore. “The watchdog group was literally formed in response to this paisley-funk heavy breather, which builds to one awesome climax after another.” EW’12 “The group pushed for parental advisory labels on albums with what they deemed questionable content. WK “Salaciousness aside, ‘Darling Nikki’ is a stunning piece of music.” BB The “quivering undulating coda, impossibly finds the musical link between burlesque backing bands and thrash metal double bass pedal rumbles.” PF The distorted vocals at the end of the song are the result of recording an extra verse during a rain storm and then playing them backwards. NME

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

When Doves Cry Prince

Writer(s): Prince (see lyrics here) Recorded: March 1-5, 1984 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: May 16, 1984 as a single, Purple Rain (1984), The Hits 1 (1993), ), The Very Best of (2001), Ultimate (2006), 4Ever (2016), Live in Utrecht (2020) B-Side: “17 Days” First Charted: June 2, 1984 Peak: 15 BB, 14 CB, 14 GR, 14 RR, 18 RB, 31 AR, 28 CO, 4 UK, 13 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.75 US, 0.6 UK, 4.35 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 155.96 video, 301.14 streaming Covered by: Barenaked Ladies on Hello City! Live in Toronto (6/15/1991); Ginuwine on The Bachelor (10/8/1996), released 7/25/1997 as a single (#10 UK), Patti Smith on Land (1975-2002) (3/19/2002) About the Song: “The album reaches a frenzied zenith with When Doves Cry.” CQ “Nowhere are Prince’s talents – as composer, producer, guitarist, vocalist, visionary – on better display than” PM on “the grinding, angular” TL masterpiece “that would turn the Purple One into a global superstar.” PM It was the top-selling single of 1984 BB and the biggest song of Prince’s career. The single preceded the album by a month and caught everyone off-guard with its unusual bass-free sound. Critic Dave Marsh called it “the most influential single record of the eighties.” MA The song is featured in the book The Top 100 Songs of the Rock Era, 1954-1999. The confessional song features Prince’s “most pointedly personal lyrics yet” PF as he “fears he’s becoming like his emotionally unavailable parents:” BB “Maybe I’m just like my father / Too bold / Maybe you’re just like my mother / She’s never satisfied.” It was a last-minute addition to the soundtrack at the behest of director Albert Magnoli. He said the film needed “something that would directly touch on the film’s themes, something that could play in the background during a montage where Prince rode a motorcycle around while looking pensive.” BR The “steadily unfolding melodic progressions…expertly capture the helpless confessional pleading of a man trying to figure out who he is and why it hurts so damn much.” PF It “explores the tension between real life and dreams, truth and fancy, future sex and current not-sex, in a way that would make Hamlet proud.” CQ The The song opens “with one of the greatest guitar flourishes ever put to tape.” CQ It was celebrated as “simple and natural and utterly (invisibly) unorthodox.” PW After recording it, Prince erased the bass, RS500 “bring[ing] the piece down to its emotional essence.” SS It was an unheard of move, especially in the R&B genre. TC Along with its “keening melody and one of the strangest choruses in pop,” MC the resulting song is eccentric, even by Prince standards. RS500 Warner Bros. wasn’t sure what to make of the song. As engineer David Z. said, “They were a little afraid...they didn’t know what to do with it because it was drastically different.” TC

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

I Would Die 4 U Prince

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: 8/3/1983 at Record Plant Remote (“Black Truck”) at First Avenue in Minneapolis; August 31 to September 3, 1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: 11/28/1984 as a single, Purple Rain (1984), The Hits 2 (1993), ), The Very Best of (2001), Ultimate (2006), 4Ever (2016) B-Side: “Another Lonely Christmas” Charted: 8 BB, 10 CB, 5 GR, 7 RR, 11 RB, 58 UK, 12 CN, 96 AU, 7 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 11.77 video, 95.23 streaming Covered by: Sinéad O’Connor on Purple Reggae compilation (6/27/2014) About the Song: Next up is “the pop perfection of I Would Die 4 U,” PM which “hits the ear like a cool breeze over sweaty skin.” CQ It is “a celebratory, if lyrically morose, jam distinguished by a vast swaths of new wave synth, deep bounce and an insistent high hat.” PF Lyrically, there is debate as to “whether this dance floor favorite is about the connection between god and man, as many fans suggest, or simply the spirit of devotion between two lovers.” BB This song, “Baby I’m a Star,” and “Purple Rain” were recorded live at the First Avenue Club in Minneapolis on August 3, 1983. Overdubs and edits were added later. The show was a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theater and marked the first appearance of Wendy Melvoin as a guitarist in Prince’s band. WK

Baby I’m a Star Prince & the Revolution

Writer(s): Prince Recorded: 8/3/1983 at Record Plant Remote (“Black Truck”) at First Avenue in Minneapolis; 8/18/1983, September 1-7 and 9-12, 1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: 1/25/1985 as the B-side of “Take Me with U,” Purple Rain (1984) About the Song: “As he wrote the Purple Rain album, Prince was already thinking about the movie, and he knew damn well he was about to break big. Baby, I’m a Star is his early victory lap,” BB “serving notice that he’s greater than we could have ever imagined (turned out he was right) and that we need either get on board or get left.” PF “‘You might not know it now, but I are – I’m a star,’ Prince tells a global audience about to be rocked in ways it can’t begin to understand.” BB

Purple Rain Prince & the Revolution

Writer(s): Prince (see lyrics here) Recorded: 8/3/1983 at Record Plant Remote (“Black Truck”) at First Avenue in Minneapolis; overdubs on 8/15/1983, 8/18/1983, and September 13-15, 1983 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles Released: 9/26/1984 as a single, Purple Rain (1984), The Hits 2 (1993), ), The Very Best of (2001), Ultimate (2006), 4Ever (2016), Live in Utrecht (2020) B-Side: “God” First Charted: September 21, 1984 Charted: 2 BB, 12 DG, 12 CB, 2 GR, 12 RR, 4 RB, 18 AR, 6 UK, 3 CN, 41 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.72 US, 1.2 UK, 4.23 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 283.30 video, 562.39 streaming Covered by: Bruce Springsteen, who performed it live on 4/23/2016 as a tribute to Prince in the wake of his death About the Song: The Purple Rain soundtrack wrapped up with “the gut-wrenching title ballad,” PM an “epic and uncharacteristic arena jam” PF which Rolling Stone magazine said recalls Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel.” “From the angelic choirs singing the hook through the apocalyptic final guitar solo and the long, gentle denouement” CQ Prince is “taking on the world of stadium rock and beating it at its own game.” SM It was released as the album’s third single, following two #1 songs – “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy.” It peaked at #2, but after Prince’s death in 2016, it re-charted, hitting #4. In the UK, the revived song hit #6, two spots above its original peak, and in France it went to #1 after the original stalled at #12. WK Prince originally reached out to Stevie Nicks to write lyrics for what was then a country-tinged 10-minute song. She said, “I listened to it and I just got scared…I called him back and said, ‘I can’t do it. I wish I could. It’s too much for me.’” NME She’s also said she suspected he wanted a relationship with her. SF He eventually wrote three verses – one about his parents, one about Apollonia (his girlfriend at the time and co-star in the movie), and his band mates. NME In the movie, Prince’s band mates Wendy Melvoin & Lisa Coleman complain that he never uses any of their material. The movie ends with him taking the stage and introducing the song as being written by them. SF Coleman said the song symbolized “a new beginning. Purple, the sky at dawn; rain, the cleansing factor.” NME Prince explained it by saying, “When there’s blood in the sky – red and blue = purple…purple rain pertains to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/god guide you through the purple rain.” NME The idea echoed a theme from his “1999” song two years earlier in which he sang “…could have sworn it was Judgment Day, the sky was all purple…” WK However, the phrase was first used in America’s 1972 hit “Ventura Highway” and the line “Sorry boy, but I’ve been hit by purple rain.” SF Prince also reached out to Journey’s Jonathan Cain because he was worried the song sounded too much like the band’s “Faithfully” ballad. Cain was okay with it, noting that songs only shared a few chords. NME He told Prince, “I’m just super-flattered that you even called. It shows you’re that classy of a guy. Good luck with the song. I know it’s gonna be a hit.” SF The song was recorded live at a benefit concert for the Minnesota Dance Theatre on August 3, 1983 at the First Avenue nightclub in Minneapolis. NME The songs “I Would Die 4 U” and “Baby I’m a Star” were also recorded at the performance and used on the Purple Rain soundtrack. WK The song was also memorably featured in his Super Bowl halftime show in 2007 – while it was raining. The song was originally an 11-minute opus that was whittled down to the eight-minute version on the album and then edited further for the single version. A verse and chorus were cut because their focus on money didn’t fit. NME The song “is a baptism, a washing clean of sins and a chance at redemption, even if the words don’t make any sense, (and to most people they don’t) the vastness of the arrangement, the grandiosity of the soloing, the pleading of the vocals reaches you, makes you cry, makes you feel free.” PF It is “one of the most affecting blues soul laments ever recorded” BBC and a fitting “tour de force” BBC to cap off a “rare critical and commercial success that justifies every scrap of hyperbolic praise.” BB

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Notes: A 2017 reissue of the album included a remastered version of the original album, a disc of previously unreleased material from the era, a disc of singles and B-sides (see track listing at top of page), and a DVD of a live 1985 performance. It should also be noted that the Purple Rain soundtrack only includes the songs featured in the movie that are performed by Prince, and even then a few are excluded. While a full-fledged soundtack has never been released, here’s what it would look like according to IMDB.com if every song in the movie were featured on the soundtrack: Prince “Let’s Go Crazy” The Time “Jungle Love” * Prince & Apollonia “Take Me with U” Dez Dickerson “Modernaire” * Prince “The Beautiful Ones” Prince “God (Love Theme from Purple Rain)” * Prince “When Doves Cry” Prince “Father’s Song” * Prince “Computer Blue” Prince “Darling Nikki” Apollonia 6 and Prince “Sex Shooter” * The Time “The Bird” * Prince “Purple Rain” Prince “I Would Die 4 U” Prince “Baby I’m a Star” * not on officially released soundtrack Spotify Playlist Check out the full soundtrack as I’ve assembled it for this Spotify playlist. Reviews/Resources: AM AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine AZ Amazon.com review by Jim Emerson BBC BBC review (2008) by Chris Jones BB Billboard (6/24/2014). “Prince's 'Purple Rain' at 30: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review” by Kenneth Partridge BR Tom Breihan (2022). The Number Ones. Hachete Books: New York, NY. Pages 159-73. BC Benoit Clerc (2022). Prince: All the Songs – The Story Behind Every Track. Octopus Publishing Group Ltd.: Great Britain CQ Consequence.net (9/12/2022). “The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time” RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Page 256. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 471. EW’12 Entertainment Weekly (9/27/2012). “Top 100 Albums” IM IMDB.com: “ Purple Rain Soundtracks” DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 210. SM Stuat Maconie’s Critical List on BBC Radio 2 DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 58. NME New Musical Express (12/10/2012). “20 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Purple Rain’” by Lucy Jones PM PasteMagazine.com (6/3/2024). “The 300 Greatest Albums of All Time” PF Pitchfork album review (4/29/2016) by Carvell Wallace RS RollingStone.com (originally in print issue 426/427; writer not identified) RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” CS Chris Smith (2009). 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music. Oxford University Press. Pages 174-5. SF Songfacts page for “Purple Rain” GS George Starostin SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 138-9. MC Neil McCormack (3/13/09). Telegraph.co.uk “100 Greatest Songs of All Time” TL Time Magazine (11/13/2006). “All-TIME 100 Albums” by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light VB Vibe (Dec. 1999). “100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century,” pages 154-164. WK Wikipedia page for Purple Rain soundtrack WK Wikipedia page for “Purple Rain” song PW Paul Williams (1993). Rock and Roll: The Best 100 Singles. Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.: New York, NY Pages 216-7. Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/23/2008; last updated 7/27/2025.