One pivotal addition to that list is Prince, a one-stop creative powerhouse whose phenomenal talent spanned songwriting, composing, production, filmmaking and the ability to play pretty much any instrument under the sun.<\/p>\n
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He also had a ferocious work ethic and a fearless artistic vision, as was demonstrated in February 1987, when he released Sign O\u2019 The Times, the title track from his sprawlingly ambitious double album of the same name.<\/p>\n
This song was a sparse, heavily stripped-back amalgam of electro-funk, soul, psych-pop, blues and rock, with lyrics that were aimed squarely at socio-political issues of the day \u2013 AIDS, gang violence, poverty, the crack epidemic and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.<\/p>\n
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Sign O\u2019 The Times was the sound of \u201980s optimism unravelling. It was also a song that, in the context of 1987 chart land, sounded quite unlike anything else around.<\/p>\n
By the time Prince began work on the song and the album from which it came, he had fired his backing band, The Revolution, with whom he recorded the landmark albums Purple Rain (1984), Around The World In A Day (1985) and Parade (1986).<\/p>\n
It has been suggested that Prince fired the band due to the potential awkwardness following the ending of his engagement to fianc\u00e9e Susannah Melvoin, sister of The Revolution\u2019s bassist, Wendy.<\/p>\n
Prince was certainly wounded by the end of the relationship with Susannah and, from that point on, he worked largely in isolation, playing every instrument himself and heavily utilising a Fairlight CMI<\/a> synthesiser\/sampler and a Linn LM-1<\/a> drum machine<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Sign O\u2019 The Times album emerged out of the wreckage of three abandoned projects \u2013 Dream Factory, Camille and the triple album Crystal Ball. A compromise was subsequently reached with Prince\u2019s label, Warner Bros Records, that he would record a double album.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Prince withdrew into his studio and his ferocious work ethic fuelled his creative output. His major musical collaborator by this point was his engineer Susan Rogers, who recorded him at various studios in Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Paris.<\/p>\n Rogers was Prince\u2019s in-house sound engineer from 1983 to 1988 and was one of only a handful of people allowed to sit in on sessions.<\/p>\n \u201cHe had to have his privacy,\u201d Rogers told Red Bull Music Academy<\/a> in 2016. \u201cHe had to be completely alone. We did not have visitors in the studio. He needed his people around him, the people that he knew well and that he could feel comfortable with \u2013 during that time I was one of them.<\/p>\n \u201cI knew how he liked to work, I could be quiet, I was his facilitator of recording, and I made that happen. He [required] everything there and set up ahead of time because he wanted to be able to move from instrument to instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign O\u2019 The Times was a song written and recorded over a feverishly productive weekend in 1986.<\/p>\n The track\u2019s sombre tone reflects a period of deep introspection, with Prince reflecting on world events such as the AIDS epidemic, gang warfare and endemic poverty within the US.<\/p>\n The socio-political slant of the lyrics on Sign O\u2019 The Times directly reflected the lyrical content of rap music. Prince was acutely aware of the emergence of hip-hop and anticipated its eventual crossover into the mainstream marketplace.<\/p>\n The gritty, half-spoken lyrics in the song and the minimalist Run-DMC-style production are all evidence that Prince had his ear to the street. Sign O\u2019 The Times finds Prince as an apocalyptic commentator, taking these hip-hop elements and repurposing them in a whole new lyrical and instrumental context.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was definitely growing and trying new things lyrically,\u201d Rogers told the Red Bull Music Academy. \u201cHe had some new textures and new sounds there as well, but definitely the single Sign O\u2019 The Times was a serious attempt at social commentary. It was timely, so he was expressing, \u2018Here\u2019s where I\u2019m going, everybody\u2019. That song came about halfway through the making of the album and was a pivotal moment in shaping the record.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sign O\u2019 The Times song was recorded at the legendary Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood on 15 July 1986. Rogers was the only other person in the studio with Prince, although he reportedly insisted that he was the only person present when he recorded his vocals on the track. He allegedly wrote the lyrics while sitting in his Rolls Royce convertible.<\/p>\n This car would play a major role in the recording of the Sign O\u2019 The Times album. Susan Rogers made cassette dubs or remixes of the songs as Prince reportedly liked to test his mixes while blasting them out on the car\u2019s stereo as he drove around Hollywood.<\/p>\n Susan Rogers once recalled that she and Prince were listening to a fresh cassette mix when Prince stopped at a 7-Eleven store where, to his amusement, he was told by a man in the queue that he looked very much like Prince \u2013 \u201conly shorter\u201d.<\/p>\n The Fairlight CMI synth\/sampler was fundamental to the creation of the Sign O\u2019 The Times song. The Fairlight provides the primary keyboard riff, the sampled electronic bass and several percussion elements heard on the track. All of the Fairlight sounds used are reportedly factory presets, including the \u201corchestra hit\u201d towards the end of the song.<\/p>\n The LinnDrum LM-1 was reportedly used more sparingly on the title track, most likely for tambourine and cabasa sounds.<\/p>\n 40 years on from Prince writing and recording this song, Sign O\u2019 The Times still sounds fresh and intoxicating.<\/p>\n In the big, gated reverb-obsessed \u201980s, Sign O\u2019 The Times instantly stands out as different, thanks mainly to its bare bones minimalism. Space abounds in the mix and drum sounds are kept raw and open without heavy compression.<\/p>\n A hypnotic synth motif intros the track before a snare crack enters eight seconds in, followed by a reverb-soaked \u201cOh yeah\u201d from Prince. It\u2019s a skeletal instrumental framework, anchored by a pulsing, funk-blues synth bass.<\/p>\n 30 seconds in, the first verse begins: \u201cIn France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name\/By chance his girlfriend came across a needle and soon she did the same.\u201d<\/p>\n The lyrics go on to reference gang violence, a devastating natural disaster and a spiral into addiction.<\/p>\n The emotive power of the lyrics on the first verse is heightened by the vast emptiness of the mix, with only the percussive elements being present to underpin Prince\u2019s intimate vocal delivery.<\/p>\n By the middle of the second verse, subtle elements enter the mix, such as a smattering of choppy funk guitar. By 1:30, the mix becomes fuller as synth bass, rhythmic guitar and percussion become more prevalent.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a compelling funk groove, in C minor 7 on the verses. Then at 1:47, the whole thing lifts to an F minor 7 with an added 11th. \u201cIt’s silly no? When the rocket ship explodes\/And everybody still wants to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n Lyrically, Prince had always flaunted sex in his lyrics but here it is melded with spirituality and a social conscience. As Nelson George put it in a retrospective review of the Sign O\u2019 The Times album in Pitchfork<\/a> in 2016: \u201cPrince wasn\u2019t just wrestling with fresh energy from the streets on Sign O\u2019 The Times, but with the twin pillars of carnality and spirituality that had defined his career and that of black popular music for decades. For this Minneapolis native, it wasn\u2019t so much a battle between sin and salvation, as it was how the warring desires could become one, synthesised through innovative arrangements, seductive yet fraught lyrics, and that remarkable voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign O\u2019 The Times was released as the lead single from the album on 18 February 1987 and was widely acclaimed as a gargantuan creative achievement.<\/p>\n The song reached No 3 in the US Billboard Hot 100, No 10 in the UK and went top 10 in nine other countries.<\/p>\n Prince – Sign O’ The Times [Live \/ Sign Of The Times] – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s the creative breadth and boldness of Prince\u2019s vision on Sign O\u2019 The Times that is so impressive, his ability to perceive and realise such a brilliantly stark composition.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly not the most popular of songs from within Prince\u2019s stunning back catalogue. That accolade goes to the likes of When Doves Cry<\/a> , Purple Rain, 1999 and Kiss, which frequently feature high up in polls of Prince\u2019s greatest songs.<\/p>\n
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