Here we are again, my first podcast in more than a year, and I couldn’t have asked for better guests than Harold Pride and De Angela Duff to discuss Prince’s fourth and quite possibly most underrated album, 1981’s Controversy. If you’ve been listening to these deep-dive album retrospectives, Harold needs no introduction; and, since the Prince scholarly community is a pretty small one, De Angela may not need one either. Suffice to say that she’s the biggest advocate of Controversy I know, and she makes a convincing case that it’s not only a great album in its own right, but also the linchpin of Prince’s entire career.

One quick note: you will likely notice that there was a significant drop in audio quality this episode; this was due to a perfect storm of technical issues that, unfortunately, left the low-quality Skype call recording as the only usable audio source from our conversation. I think you’ll get used to it, but my apologies anyway!

00:03:18 “The Second Coming” (“Live” at the Met Center, 1982)

00:07:20 De Angela on Prince’s Friend

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

00:19:58 Daphne A. Brooks’ review of Controversy in Pitchfork

00:21:08 Allen Beaulieu’s iconic cover art for Controversy

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure>

00:22:05 Allen Beaulieu’s iconic cover art for Dirty Mind

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full is-resized"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure>

00:25:30 Controversy round table from the #1plus1plus1is3 symposium with Joan Morgan, Jason Orr, Tonya Pendleton, Scott Woods, and Arthur Turnbull

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

00:32:11 “Sexuality” (Live at the Warner Theatre, 1981)

00:32:51 Zach’s presentation from the #SexyMF30 symposium

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

00:33:20 Inklings of Prince as world builder: the back cover of Prince (1979)

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Photo by Chris Callis, © Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure>

00:42:36 “Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?” (Live at the Warner Theatre, 1981)

00:46:57 Learn to play the “Let’s Work” bassline from Brown Mark himself!

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

00:54:25 “Controversy” (from Controversy, 1981)

01:03:40 Zach’s three-part post on “Controversy” (Parts 1, 2, and 3)

01:06:45 Morris Day’s 2019 memoir

01:10:50 Harold and KaNisa’s recent Twitter thread on Prince and electronic music/Detroit techno

01:11:34 Our podcast on The Time with more discussion on the Detroit/Minneapolis connection

01:15:25 Techno Rebels by Dan Sicko

01:23:28 Zach’s #1plus1plus1is3 presentation on the Controversy shower poster

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

01:30:00 Bruce Gowers’ “Controversy” music video

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure>

01:36:55 KaNisa’s #1plus1plus1is3 presentation made connections between the Prince of Controversy and the Prince of The Rainbow Children

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"></figure>

01:37:17 “Sexuality” (from Controversy)

01:45:25 Bruce Gowers’ “Sexuality” music video

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Warner Bros.</figcaption></figure>

01:46:11 The very similar lighting in Michael Jackson’s “Rock with You” video (not incidentally, also directed by Gowers)

<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">© Epic Records</figcaption></figure>

01:53:25 “The Rainbow Children” (from The Rainbow Children, <a href="https://princesongs.org/tag/2001/" rel="nore