Dearly Beloved. With these two words, a new era of pop funk was ushered in. Prince might as well be saying, We are gathered here today to shift the cultural landscape, for with Purple Rain, Princes sixth studio album (and soundtrack to the film Purple Rain), originally released June 25, 1984, Prince well and truly took the crown of funk royalty.

Anyone paying attention to the grooves laid out in his two preceding albums (1981s Controversy and 1982s 1999), knew that Princes ascendancy into the stratosphere was pre-destined. We were all too aware of the purple funk bubbling beneath the surface.

For many, the album and movie go hand in hand, a set of audio and visual conjoined twins never to be separated. The music of Purple Rain is paired with the energetic live performance pieces perm