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DanceMusicSexRomance - Prince: The First Decade
The definitive study of one of contemporary music's most gifted, creative, driven and mysterious artists.
"I record because it's in my blood... If I didn't, I'd die."
Focusing on the first decade of Prince's recording career - from the precocious pop funk of his 1978 teenage debut For You, to the intoxicating blend of rock, soul, gospel and R&B of 1987's critically lauded Sign O' The Times, this biography covers an extraordinary ten-year-period of creativity that gave birth to some of the most genre-straddling, groundbreaking and influential popular music ever recorded, including the multi-platinum crossover triumph of Purple Rain.
Illustrated with unseen photos and drawing on over 300 hours of new interviews with band members, producers, friends, former lovers and associates, DanceMusicSexRomance traces the artist's life from his humble Minneapolis roots through controversial stardom to his eventual rejection of the Prince persona. The book also analyses the artist's defiant celebrations of sexuality and his complex affinity for the opposite sex while presenting an informed critical appraisal of his work that ultimately gives a deeper understanding of a truly enigmatic musician, songwriter and performer.
Per Nilsen, is editor of the highly respected Prince magazine Uptown, and author of the acclaimed Prince: A Documentary, as well as books about David Bowie and Iggy Pop.
"I record because it's in my blood... If I didn't, I'd die."
Focusing on the first decade of Prince's recording career - from the precocious pop funk of his 1978 teenage debut For You, to the intoxicating blend of rock, soul, gospel and R&B of 1987's critically lauded Sign O' The Times, this biography covers an extraordinary ten-year-period of creativity that gave birth to some of the most genre-straddling, groundbreaking and influential popular music ever recorded, including the multi-platinum crossover triumph of Purple Rain.
Illustrated with unseen photos and drawing on over 300 hours of new interviews with band members, producers, friends, former lovers and associates, DanceMusicSexRomance traces the artist's life from his humble Minneapolis roots through controversial stardom to his eventual rejection of the Prince persona. The book also analyses the artist's defiant celebrations of sexuality and his complex affinity for the opposite sex while presenting an informed critical appraisal of his work that ultimately gives a deeper understanding of a truly enigmatic musician, songwriter and performer.
Per Nilsen, is editor of the highly respected Prince magazine Uptown, and author of the acclaimed Prince: A Documentary, as well as books about David Bowie and Iggy Pop.
- GenresMusicBiographyNonfiction
285 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1999
3 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 19, 2016
Believe it or not, I went to sleep on page 80 of this book at about 10pm local time, and a few hours later my phone was bombarded with messages from friends back home, and when I woke up at 5am, I saw that Prince was dead. So, literally, he died while I was reading this book, I mean, actually the same second. Of course I was listening to Prince when I was reading it because I was listening to the albums that I was reading about at the same time. I know there are bigger Prince fans, but honestly I've never met one in real life bigger than me. From 1989 when I was 11 years old and he did the Batman soundtrack until now, I've been obsessed with Prince. The music, the lyrics, the personality, the mystery, the insanity (he was insane, I've always admitted that). This isn't the place to go into my relationship with the art of Prince, but trust me, it never waned not even a little bit. I don't draw Prince signs all over my personal belongings like I did when I was in junior high, but I don't draw anything on them. But if I did, I would draw Prince signs.
ANyway, of course this book is useless if you don't already love Prince. It's gossipy, it focuses a lot on band turmoil, and most importantly on production. AND, it only covers material up until 1988. While Prince was never as successful as he was in 1984 again, his music and lyrics and personal narrative went into far more interesting directions after this. Rest In fucking Purple. There will never be anything comparable in my lifetime.
ANyway, of course this book is useless if you don't already love Prince. It's gossipy, it focuses a lot on band turmoil, and most importantly on production. AND, it only covers material up until 1988. While Prince was never as successful as he was in 1984 again, his music and lyrics and personal narrative went into far more interesting directions after this. Rest In fucking Purple. There will never be anything comparable in my lifetime.
October 16, 2018
Well worth a look if you´re a Prince fan. Covers the period up to LoveSexy and while there´s not much on his family background which isn´t new, the dry, this-happened then that-happened of the recording history pages makes for fascinating if nerdy reading. Most of the book is informed by quotes from a few individuals but it´s just about enough to keep things entertaining. I enjoyed the Camille/Crystal Ball history (now easy to access online and even on Spotify) and forgot about some things, like The Ballad of Dorothy Parker being inspired by a dream (a la Yesterday) and a bad ecstasy tab being responsible for The Black Album being withdrawn. Good stuff, if a bit like a loooong Wikipedia article.
December 27, 2016
You could tell the music was well researched, but once again, another book full of bias speculations and blatant physco-analysis of Prince. Not a lot of solid evidence, but it was a good catalog of his first decade of music. I love his 90's music also and wished the book would have continued on to cover some of that as well. Would have loved to hear about the different members of NPG and how they contributed, not just The Revoutions...
April 7, 2013
If you only read one Prince bio, make it this one. Granted, it only covers Prince's life and career up to 1988 and sums up the remainder of his career in a few pages, but quite honestly, you don't need much more. This book deals with the best years of Prince's career and shows you how amazing those were.
Reading how Prince walked into a recording studio mere days after coming off the exhausting Purple Rain Tour, sat down at a drum kit, told the engineer to press "record", and then played the first half a dozen songs of Parade in one go just blew me away -- and that is just one of many stories in this book.
Per Nilsen also must receive credit for finally revealing what really happened on the evening Prince decided to cancel The Black Album . But where he really deserves praise is for meticulously documenting Prince's career, something he started in Prince a Documentary and continued to do so for over a decade as part of the Swedish (!) fan publication Uptown .
Not that Dancemusicsexromance is without flaws; for his Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince , Alex Hahn had access to information that Per decided to leave out for various reasons, information which sheds a less flattering light on Prince. Which doesn't mean this book is a hagiography: Prince's behavior is often enough shown to be less than honorable, not only when dealing with fellow musicians, but also on a personal level.
Reading how Prince walked into a recording studio mere days after coming off the exhausting Purple Rain Tour, sat down at a drum kit, told the engineer to press "record", and then played the first half a dozen songs of Parade in one go just blew me away -- and that is just one of many stories in this book.
Per Nilsen also must receive credit for finally revealing what really happened on the evening Prince decided to cancel The Black Album . But where he really deserves praise is for meticulously documenting Prince's career, something he started in Prince a Documentary and continued to do so for over a decade as part of the Swedish (!) fan publication Uptown .
Not that Dancemusicsexromance is without flaws; for his Possessed: The Rise and Fall of Prince , Alex Hahn had access to information that Per decided to leave out for various reasons, information which sheds a less flattering light on Prince. Which doesn't mean this book is a hagiography: Prince's behavior is often enough shown to be less than honorable, not only when dealing with fellow musicians, but also on a personal level.
December 21, 2016
This book is a godsend for a person like me that became a real Prince-head later in life. DMSR reads like an oral history of Prince's most artistically dense period being from For You to just up until Lovesexy. It really drew together a nice chronology for me of all of these names and Prince people I've heard about over the years in podcasts and interviews, making the history easier to track. I really appreciate that the book doesn't totally shy away from the less savory elements of Prince's career. Nilsen, like any right thinking person, recognizes Prince's genius, but also talks about how Prince (especially early on) was reluctant to give credit to those who helped him.
The biggest takeaway of this book is the ridiculous worth ethic Prince had. The need this man had to put out music was just insane. The years the book goes into detail on where Prince is working on 2, 3, 4 or more projects at a time just shows how unreal the cat was.
The only complaint I have is that there wasn't another 30 pages covering Lovesexy to say Diamond and Pearls. I always found the New Power Generation era to be an interesting turn in Prince's career, and I would like to have had the way he developed that band covered. Not to mention getting the story on Batman. Otherwise, this is basically required reading, and a great compliment to all of the podcast interviews you can find these days.
The biggest takeaway of this book is the ridiculous worth ethic Prince had. The need this man had to put out music was just insane. The years the book goes into detail on where Prince is working on 2, 3, 4 or more projects at a time just shows how unreal the cat was.
The only complaint I have is that there wasn't another 30 pages covering Lovesexy to say Diamond and Pearls. I always found the New Power Generation era to be an interesting turn in Prince's career, and I would like to have had the way he developed that band covered. Not to mention getting the story on Batman. Otherwise, this is basically required reading, and a great compliment to all of the podcast interviews you can find these days.
March 25, 2020
Back when it was hard to get books on Prince, this one was given to me as a gift - and I devoured it. A fascinating glimpse into that first incredible decade of Prince, his drive and genius, and his relationship with the other artists in his inner circle. Well worth the read, and a good early addition to what is now a growing body of biographies on an incredibly talented, intriguing and contradictory personality.
July 24, 2011
I read this entire book on vacation last year. I could not put it down, it's the definitive book about Prince's years before his disputes with Warner Bros in the early 90s. There is some information about Prince's personal life and his relationships with band members and girlfriends in addition to information about what he was recording and when. It's fairly written and very enjoyable.
July 25, 2008
brings some clarity to the early Prince years, definitely a good read for a fan, tho some of its not too flattering. But it does humanize him and shows him to be the extremely hard working, ambitious genius he is...
July 13, 2017
I admire this kind of knowledgeable, spartan, no-frills, no unnecessary opinions kind of biography. Nielsen smartly focuses on Prince's first ten years as a recording artist, during which time he was a staggering titan. Nicely done.
May 24, 2007
Excellent!
October 16, 2009
Cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at the genius.
August 27, 2013
The greatest Prince Biography every written.
August 16, 2013
What a great and well researched book on the peak if the purple one's career. Sad that there isn't a sequel to this book.
June 4, 2025
An incredibly well researched book of everything up to Lovesexy with each thing being cross referenced by multiple sources. It doesn’t go very deep into his personal life though I didn’t expect it would, it is after all a Prince book. I would recommend this book to everyone interested in Prince and his music
December 26, 2025
THE definitive book for the most prolific period of Prince’s recording career from For You to Sign ‘O’ The Times
January 6, 2013
Must read for any Prince fan. This is the most comprehensive look at the man's life and first ten years of his career. You get all the highs and lows; the good and bad. You hear from his former friends and bandmates on his temper, his insecurities, his musical genius, and his good heart. My Grade: A+
January 8, 2015
Love the subject and his music deeply. The writing is very straightforward and a bit dry, but nonetheless full of good stuff.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews