164: Prince - Sign o' the Times (1987)

July 22, 2025 / Amanda Rodgers

[Part 2 coming soon!]

“I’m not saying I’m better than anybody else. But you’ll be sitting there at the Grammys, and U2 will beat you. And you say to yourself, ‘Wait a minute. I can play that kind of music, too… But you will not do Housequake.’”

—Prince

Shut up, already. Damn! Prince was one of the most interesting popular artists of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and Sign o’ the Times from 1987 was the culmination of one of the most interesting periods in a career full of interesting periods. After various circumstances caused him to abandon a double album (Dream Factory), and other circumstances caused him to abandon a single album (Camille) that he didn’t plan to release under his own name, he initially tried to release a triple album before Warner Bros. made him cut it down to a double. Sign o’ the Times (the resulting double album) has its fair share of hits, yet it’s also messy in a way that appeals to many critics and fans but has also left many people puzzled by some of Prince’s decisions. This episode’s panel has three outright fans of the album (John, Mike, and Rich) and one moderate skeptic (Ben), and this combined with the album’s sprawl results in a lengthy but incredibly dense discussion. Prince was somebody who could appeal to many different people for many different reasons, and in this episode we make a case for why he’s worth digging into beyond a handful of ubiquitous radio hits.

Miscellany

If you like Prince but you’re unwilling or unable to go all in on the 2020 Super Deluxe reissue of this album, it would still be worth your while to get the 2-CD remaster, or the 3-CD Deluxe version with the disc of singles, maxi-singles and B-sides from the sessions
We didn’t mention it in the episode, but the website princevault.com is an incredible resource for learning about the history of any given Prince song or album. It was absolutely invaluable in preparation for this episode, and we have linked it below.

Discord & Rhyme Roll Call

John McFerrin (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Ben Marlin

Sign o’ the Times tracklist

Sign o’ the Times
Play in the Sunshine
Housequake
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
It
Starfish and Coffee
Slow Love
Hot Thing
Forever In My Life
U Got the Look
If I Was Your Girlfriend
Strange Relationship
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
The Cross
It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night
Adore

Other clips used

Prince:

Diamonds and Pearls
Let’s Go Crazy
Shockadelica
Dirty Mind
Baby I’m a Star
Pop Life
Kiss
Something in the Water (Does Not Compute)
Little Red Corvette
Paisley Park
Take Me with U
Alphabet St.
Computer Blue
Mountains
The Beautiful Ones
Hot Thing (Extended Remix)
Forever in My Life (Early Vocal Run-Through)
Forever in My Life + It (live)
Housequake (7 Minutes MoQuake)
D.M.S.R. (Small Club version)
Strange Relationship (1985 version)
Strange Relationship (1987 Shep Pettibone Club Mix)
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (1979 version)
When You Were Mine
The Christ
Crucial
Controversy
The Holy River
Raspberry Beret
Everyday is a Winding Road
3 Chains o’ Gold
Family Name
When Doves Cry (1984 Birthday Show version)
Make-Up

Others:

Rush - Manhattan Project
Frank Zappa - Re-Gyptian Strut
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message
Entombed - Left Hand Path
Kode9 & the Spaceape - Sine
Derek B - Bad Young Brother
Kool Moe Dee - Rock You
T.C. Ellis - Miss Thang
The Young Disciples - Get Yourself Together
Fleetwood Mac - The Ledge
Ween - Housequake
James Brown - Hot Pants
Bobby Jimmy and the Critters - Milkshake
Das Racist - Shut Up, Dude
Sir Mix-a-Lot - Lockjaw
MC Hammer - They Put Me in the Mix
Boy George - No Clause 28
The Osmonds - One Bad Apple (Norman Cook Remix)
Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair
Sly and the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Joni Mitchell - This Flight Tonight
Joni Mitchell - The Jungle Line
De La Soul - Lovely How I Let My Mind Float
Digital Underground - Wussup Wit the Luv
Jessie Ware - Running
Silk Tymes Leather - Life Story
Genesis - it.
Michael Jackson - In the Closet
Shogo Sakai - Funky Monkey Dance
Miles Davis - In a Silent Way
Sly and the Family Stone - Everyday People
Dmitri Shostakovich - Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District, Act 1: Scene 3
Sheena Easton - Morning Train (Nine to Five)
Gary Numan - U Got the Look
Sheena Easton - Sugar Walls
Outkast - Red Velvet
Terminator X - Ain’t Got Nuttin’
Esham - The Devil Gets Funky
Jay-Z feat. Beyonce - 03 Bonnie and Clyde
The Click - If I Took Your Boyfriend
Mick Fleetwood - The Visitor
The Rolling Stones - Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Maurice Ravel - Bolero
Mdou Moctar - Tahatazed
Neil Young - Love and Only Love (Weld version)
MGM Studio Orchestra - March of the Winkies
Metallica - The Frayed Ends of Sanity
LL Cool J - I’m the Type of Guy
Mos Def - Rock n’ Roll
E.U. - Da Butt
Chromeo - Intro
Frank Zappa - Yo’ Mama
Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore
Beck - Debra
“Weird Al” Yankovic - Wanna B Ur Lover
Ween - L.M.L.Y.P.

Band/album personnel

Prince - lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass guitar, piano, synthesizers, Fairlight CMI, Hammond organ, Linn LM-1, LinnDrum, acoustic drums, Publison IM90 Infernal Machine
Wendy Melvoin - backing vocals, electric guitar, tambourine, Fairlight CMI
Lisa Coleman - backing vocals, Fairlight CMI, keyboards, backing vocals
Sheila E - Linn LM-1, cymbals, hi-hat, cowbells and timbales, congas, percussion and transmississippirap
Dr. Fink - keyboards
Miko Weaver - electric guitar
Brown Mark - bass guitar
Bobby Z - Simmons SDS-V
Eric Leeds - saxophone
Atlanta Bliss - trumpet
Susanna Melvoin - backing vocals, vocals
Jill Jones - vocals
Gilbert Davison, Coke Johnson, Todd Herreman, Susan Rogers, Mike Slotts, Brad Marsh - party voices
Novi Novog - violin
Sheena Easton - lead vocals (on “U Got the Look”)
Claire Fischer - string arrangements

Credits

“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:

Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Prince - Starfish and Coffee (this episode only)

You can buy or stream Sign O’ the Times and other albums by Prince at prince.com, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Instagram @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Editing is by Rich Bunnell, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production and original music. See you next album, and keep as cool as you can.

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tags / John McFerrin