Prince - Controversy At The Capitol (2024)

In 1979, Prince created a band with André Cymone on bass, Dez Dickerson on guitar, Gayle Chapman and Doctor Fink on keyboards, and Bobby Z. on drums. Their first show was at the Capri Theater on January 5, 1979. Warner Bros. executives attended the show but decided that Prince and the band needed more time to develop his music. In October 1979, Prince released the album Prince, which was No. 4 on the Billboard Top R&B/Black Albums charts and No. 22 on the Billboard 200, and went platinum. It contained two R&B hits: ‘Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad?’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’, which sold over a million copies, and reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 1 for two weeks on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince performed both these songs on January 26, 1980, on American Bandstand. On this album, Prince used Ecnirp Music – BMI. In 1980, Prince released the album Dirty Mind, which contained sexually explicit material, including the title song, ‘Head’, and the song ‘Sister’, and was described by Stephen Thomas Erlewine as a "stunning, audacious amalgam of funk, new wave, R&B, and pop, fuelled by grinningly salacious sex and the desire to shock”. Recorded in Prince's own studio, this album was certified gold, and the single ‘Uptown’ reached No. 5 on the Billboard Dance chart and No. 5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. Prince was also the opening act for Rick James' 1980 Fire It Up tour. In February 1981, Prince made his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing ‘Partyup’. In October 1981, Prince released the album Controversy. He played several dates in support of it, as the first of three opening acts for the Rolling Stones, on their US tour. In Los Angeles, Prince, who appeared in a trench coat and black bikini briefs, was forced off the stage after just three songs by audience members throwing trash at him. He began 1982 with a small tour of college towns where he was the headlining act. Among the best shows he played during this jaunt took place at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey on 30th January ’82, when Prince and his band performed a storming set that many fans still rank highly today. Previously unreleased, this remarkable gig is now available on this new CD in its entirety, allowing all fans to hear what this mercurial talent sounded like during the early years of his stunning career.