Prince's 1999 wasn't released in 1999, obviously. It was released in 1982.
In fact, in 1999 Prince wasn't called Prince, he was
Case in point: in this interview he muses with Jay Leno on Mariah Carey's whopping $100 million deal with a record label at the time.
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(Watch from 5:45)
As well as being industry savvy, Prince was also renowned for partying. He reportedly he threw a rager just a couple of days before he passed.
To the point in hand: what was Prince actually partying like in 1999?
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Hmm, well after a lengthy Google search specifically between the parameters between 01/01/1999 and 31/12/1999, this is what I could dig up.
Prince's 1999 wasn't about partying for the most part, that's not surprising. As well as being one of the most gifted musicians we are ever likely to see he was an astute businessman, and a man who could put out material at a cataclysmic rate.
During the year he released two full length efforts: The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.
Back to record labels, in an interview with Paper Mag in 1999 he addressed this very subject: "I'm not against the record industry. Their system is perfect. It benefits the people who it was designed to benefit: the owners."
Still, this didn't stop him re-recording his ENTIRE back catalogue on WB so Warner Bros couldn't benefit from it.
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"I wanted to buy my masters back from Warner Bros," he said in the same interview. "They said no way. So I'm going to re-record them. All of them. Now you will have two catalogues with pretty much exactly the same music -- except mine will be better -- and you can either give your money to WB, the big company, or to NPG [New Power Generation, Prince's new label at the time]. You choose."
The reason for this was as follows: "While he still receives royalties from his Warner Bros'. albums, the Artist stands to take home a larger share if he can bypass the label and sell the records directly to fans themselves." MTV reported.
The musical landscape was also starting to shift dramatically in 1999. CD sales were beginning to decline as piracy became commonplace.
Hip-Hop and sampling was also a massive part of pop culture by this point. Prince was dead against having his music sampled to begin with but eventually had a complete shift on the matter. In 1999, Paisley Park announced they would release a seven-CD collection of samples from his vintage songs that DJs and recording artists would be able to use without paying a clearance fee.
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"I never wanted my music sampled, now you can have all the samples you want," he told Paper Mag at the time.
'Excuse Me Miss' sampled 'Walk Don't Walk'
As for actual partying, well he recorded a special concert on December 18 that was broadcast on pay-per-view on December 31 at 10 PM.
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It was dubbed "The Rave Un2 The Year 2000" and was recorded at his Paisley Park estate.
As for his New Year's Eve plans in 1999, he remained coy. He ended the Paper Mag feature with "I told the last reporter that I would be at a bar mitzvah."
God bless Prince and Happy Birthday.
Words by Matthew Cooper
Lead Image Credit: Warner Bros
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