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Controversy is the fourth studio album by Prince, released on October 14, 1981. Keith Harris of Blender calls the album "Prince's first attempt to get you to love him for his mind, not just his body" and comments that it "refines the propulsive funk of previous albums and adds treatises on religion, work, nuclear war and Abscam."
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The album is so named because of the negative press the previous album Dirty Mind received for being so racy and Prince anticipating a similar response in that Controversy continues the sexual theme.
Controversy is an album of contrasting themes: both sexual and serious. It was because of these two themes the album was considered disjointed by critics of the day. Controversy sold 400,000 copies and peaked at number 21 in the Billboard charts. It was later certified Platinum by the RIAA. Annie Christian is the name of a character created by Prince to depict Satan and evil deeds (Annie Christian / Antichrist) and to make reference to key events of the day, in particular gun control (the murder of 28 African-American children in Atlanta, and the shooting of John Lennon: Prince had been performing at The Ritz in New York for the Dirty Mind Tour on the day of the murder).
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