Prince Delivered One of His Best Songs With an Antidote for the Apocalypse

When Prince released “1999”, the end of the 20^th century was still nearly two decades away. But even in 1982, many panicked about the year 2000, a strange number with three zeros that gives anxious sci-fi vibes to those susceptible to such things.

The world has always felt chaotic, but technology helps fear spread wide and fast. (Just wait until those early 80s nervous Nellies get social media.)

But the title track of Prince’s fifth studio LP offsets the doom and gloom with a funky optimism. “1999” became a Top 10 hit, and it foreshadowed a masterpiece by the artist born Prince Rogers Nelson.

Two years before Purple Rain, Prince shows us a storm raging in the sky. Then he teaches us what to do about it.

Judgement Day

Revolution bandmates Lisa Coleman and Dez Dickerson join Prince in a warning about a looming apocalypse.

I was dreaming when I wrote this,
Forgive me if it goes astray.
But when I woke up this morning,
Could’ve sworn it was Judgment Day.

A surreal scene of blue and red, perhaps the right conditions for both a sorrowful and cleansing purple rain.

The sky was all purple,
There were people running everywhere.
Trying to run from my destruction,
You know I didn’t even care.

Party Over, Oops, Out of Time

With ever-present war and bombs, and especially proliferating nukes, one doesn’t need Y2K paranoia to feel scared. “Put on your red shoes and dance the blues,” as David Bowie once put it.

Everybody’s got a bomb,
We could all die any day, oh.
But before I’ll let that happen,
I’ll dance my life away, oh.

Doomsayers (they) say we are running out of time. If that’s really the case, Prince offers this antidote for the apocalypse: Let’s go crazy.

They say, two thousand, zero, zero,
Party over, oops, out of time.
So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.

Speaking of “Let’s Go Crazy”, Prince opens the Purple Rain track with a eulogy. Then, once again, he offers a way out of the despair.

Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down?
Oh no, let’s go.

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images