Heading into his fifth studio album in five years, Prince was already flexing his prolific powers—not just as a solo artist, but also as the mastermind behind several other Minneapolis groups, all of which allowed the Purple One to express his seemingly boundless creativity: In 1982 alone, Prince oversaw the release of Vanity 6’s self-titled debut album, played extensively on The Time’s sophomore hit What Time Is It? and released the double-disc classic 1999—a visionary statement that, in many ways, was truly 17 years ahead of its time. Building on the mix of foreboding funk and blunt social statements he employed on 1980’s Dirty Mind and 1981’s Controversy, the future-shocked 1999 took Prince’s music—and message—to the masses, becoming his first album to land in the Top 10 of the Billboard Album charts. And this party manifesto spawned the singer’s biggest hits to date, including the apocalyptic title tune, the euphoric “Little Red Corvette” and the giddy, bopping, synth-driven “Delirious”. The success of those three tracks—in particular “Little Red Corvette” and “Delirious”—would eventually land Prince his Purple Rain movie deal. Yet they’re just the opening tracks on this lengthy classic, which finds Prince’s genius in full flight. 1999 features the anthemic mantra of “D.M.S.R.”, the conscious soul of “Free”, the jazzy funk of “Lady Cab Driver” and the libidinous lift-off of “International Lover”. But the album also found Prince evolving beyond his one-man-band beginnings, setting the stage for the Revolution era to come on Purple Rain, with Prince getting musical input from such skillful musicians as Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin, Dez Dickerson and Bobby Z. By the end of the millennium, “1999” would be played nonstop—and while it may have seemed in that moment the world had finally caught up to Prince, in truth, he was always a few years ahead of us.