Album of the Day

When Prince took the audacious step of issuing his first double album, he was far from a household name – but 1999 helped turn him into one. The breakthrough Warner Bros. set (the performer's fifth) made both his ambition and craftsmanship undeniable; while it featured extended tracks and wide-ranging lyrical concerns relative to previous releases, the collection also included hook-filled singles like “Delirious” and “Little Red Corvette,” which was released on this day in 1983 and became the Purple One's first Top 10 single. And though we're well past the year that the hit title song predicted would mean “party over,” the set's synth-driven electro-funk still runs at full power. Prince would soon go on to scale even greater heights, but 1999 assured his place in the music history books.