The All-TIME 100 Albums: Purple Rain by Prince

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The All-TIME 100 Albums

42 of 101

By Alan Light Published: November 13, 2006

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ALBUM: Purple Rain

YEAR RELEASED: 1984 LABEL: Warner Brothers ARTIST: Prince

TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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The fact that Prince was the most gifted musician in modern times — well, at least since Stevie Wonder — wasn't in question. And with 1999, his previous release, the Minneapolis dynamo demonstrated that he could write for the pop charts and not only his multicultural cult of funkateers. But by streamlining his songs and moving his guitar-hero wizardry up front, Prince made the decision that Purple Rain — the movie and its soundtrack — would be the project to catapult him to megastardom. The quasi-biopic featured a laughable script but riveting performance footage, and the grinding, angular "When Doves Cry" (with the bass line removed from the track for extra weirdness) is one of the greatest singles of all time. For all his erratic genius in the years that followed, Purple Rain guaranteed that Prince's music would 4ever live 2 see the dawn.