This song came out in 1982. It felt like a lifetime before 1999 would arrive now we are 25 years past and it feels like it was just yesterday. Funny how your age changes your perspective on life.
I just posted the same thing! 1999 was a lifetime from 1982 and how we are almost 26 years past it! The world keeps turning and we are just here for the ride.
I recalled this a bit differently so I looked it up on Princevault. You are correct in that "1999" reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Disco Top 80 Chart, and #12 on US Billboard Hot 100 Chart which was the more mainstream chart.
I remember 1999 when it came out in the early '80s, and how weird it felt when it became an anthem in 1999, time flies for real.🎉. And... ain't nobody like Prince ❤️
The Y2K deal was, for the most part only two digit year codes were used, so a lot of preparation/updating had to be done to ensure that a 4-digit year code was standard. Otherwise, there would be confusion about whether “00” meant 1900 or 2000. The worry was that programming upgrades were not going to be ready in time for the turn to year 2000. (I am oversimplifying, but that’s the gist.)
As a programmer, I changed a lot of old RPG programs in 1990-1992 to correct the date defect for the company I was working for. Then in 92 I relocated, got a new job and started programming in a more advanced programming language that recognized the year in 4 digits well before 1999. When 2000 rolled around, nothing happened in my reality... as far as I know. 🤔
There was a lot of illogical fear porn about it back then. I went to a seminar from a guy that put out a book and started to jump onto the hype. My dad worked on repairing circuit boards with IC chips and he set me straight. He said that so much of the things people were concerned about didn't even use a date code to have it even matter. On that eve on TV the government unveiled their underground bunker facility and that let me know this was all just a scam to get that thing built with no congressional oversight. Never heard about it ever again after that.
My stepdad loved this song. He always said he wanted it played at his funeral because he didn't want anyone crying for him. When he passed three years ago the pastor actually agreed and it was played at his funeral in the church. I miss him so much and I may be the only person who cries listening to this song. Thanks for the reaction.
The line “I was dreaming' when I wrote this, So sue me if I go too fast” always struck me as a shout out to Steely Dan’s song Deacon Blues which has the line “I cried when I wrote this song, Sue me if I play too long.”
The 99-00 changeover problems were neither a rumor, nor fake news. The problem was that when computer software was initially written, the used a 2-digit year format to save space - but that meant that when the computers doing date sequencing as part of their essential functions got to 12/31/99, the next day was assumed to be 1/1/1900, as if we were doing the century over. Millions of lines of code had to be revoewed and edited yo change to a 4-digit year, instead. Thousands worked for years to revise the software to avoid the potential problems that could have arisen. Fortunately, they succeeded, and nothing bad happened - but it could have!
@@CJBW it wasn't an easy remedy. It took software developers several years to get management to spend the resources needed to fix this. It was only in 1998 that they FINALLY got serious. I spent a year just testing the water / electric billing system for a mid sized town. The 1st version of the change reversed all of the date comparisons. Imagine getting a bill for 100 years. Or the system saying it was negative. Or that you didn't have any service at all.
Yes purple was his color. If you look online you can find many landmarks that lit their buildings up in purple for several days after his passing. The Eiffel Tower, The Forum, The Empire State Building, even here in Detroit, The Renaissance Center which is part of the Detroit skyline was lit up in purple. It was beautiful to see him being honored around the world.😢💜💜
I worked in an ICU in 1999 and the entire IT department and management of the hospital was there in case something happened and the monitors and equipment stopped functioning. Of course nothing happened and there was a LOT of relief in the air. Plus some champagne hidden in the ice machine.
Microsoft released updates for Windows days in advance that increased the time line on the system calendar so nothing crashed. I remember staying up until midnight chatting with online friends waiting to see if my computer crashed. Luckily my OS was updated days before and nothing happened. :)
I worked in ICU then too. Everything was being checked & sticker tags “Y2KSafe” attached. I was one of the lucky ones who had the night off, so got to be at the beach with the fireworks display
Came out in 82 it was played at midnight 98-99 & 99- 2000 it played on almost all radio stations at once two years in a row. Who else did something like thar? NOBODY!! Genius.
This song was huge, it expressed what we young people of that time felt, that we wouldn't live to see the year 2000. The lyric 'the world has a bomb we could all die here today. But before that happens I'll dance my life away.' Iconic.❤
Purple is and has been associated with the color of royalty…therefore, Prince chose purple! And fittingly chosen in my opinion!! RIP PRINCE…you are greatly and forever missed! 💜✌️
@@tootsiepop5313 I had just walked into the nail salon as it came on TV - Breaking News - Prince dead at 57…I sat there furiously blinking back tears - 2016 was a bad year for icons
That was at the MTV and the song was Gett Off. I remember that performance so well! I swooned too… to me, he was the most beautiful being that I’d ever seen. 😊
I was glad to have my little moment with Prince. He and I were both going into Sunset Sound to record some music. As we entered at the same time, he smiled that radiant smile and I smiled back. That charisma.
Yes and Brown Mark is the other guitarist who at this point recently replaced Andre Cymone who was a childhood friend of and had a nice career himself. Married and worked with Jodi Watley after leaving Prince band.
Prince's favorite color WAS purple. His favorite # was 7...he made references to it in many of his songs...because of it's biblical significance. That was Brown Mark singing the other lead, as part of the Revolution. "2000 party over...OOPS! out of time".
This song was a must in all New Year's Eve parties that year. I even hace a pic a friend took when I was dancing to it in my fancy dress. It felt like we've just arrived into the future, things looked bright. Then the party ended in 2001 😟
This video was most of ours first introduction to Prince. This was the song and video that opened my eyes. I was like damn if this black guy can make good music I bet others can too. It really expanded my views on music. I was 16 when this dropped
@LunaJo67WDHTMJ where did I say that. I said first introduction to Prince. Reading is your friend. No other black groups at the time were incorporating heavy guitar and other styles he was incorporating. Plus I was 15 and just discovering other styles of music other than metal and guitar driven rock.
Back in 1982, in high school and couldn't even begin to comprehend 1999 - I would be sooo OLD! 1999 comes around...Y2K scare...and I'm working NYE, running a casino area at a community centre. I thought, dang (not exact word I used!), if the world ends I'll have spent my last evening working. Glad it didn't, and I still don't feel soooo OLD. Great song!
Brings back memories about that time. I was in computers, had CS bachelors degree and was a programmer. So I remember the scare that the whole world was going to stop when the year 2000 came along since all data records only accounted for two numbers for the year. This was the whole Y2K deal, all computers would fail, meaning the world would fail. It really wasn’t as bad, programmers had been preparing for a long time, but it was made into a bigger deal… anyway… This is an awesome song by Prince!! Thanks for all of your reactions!❤❤
We were stationed in Germany when this came out. I was twelve, and we used to hitchhike to the base from housing. Along comes a GI driving his pink caddy with the top down with this playing. We jumped in and off we went. He had his afro picked and was on point. That was the best ride we ever had. Every time this comes on, I'm sitting in that pink caddy. Good memories.
Dr. Fink told the story of how they were on tour and had all watched a documentary on TV about Nostradamus and end of the world. The next day they had the day off and the band decided to go to Disney for the day. Prince declined to go with them. When they returned he had written 1999! Crazy! 🎉 Inspiration poured through him. Also this was his pre-Revolution band. One iteration away (although Prince hints at the Revolution on the album cover). So implicit reference maybe.
My son was invited to attend the New Years Eve party in 1999 at Paisley Park by a friend who did lighting work for Prince...He said it was the experience of a life time
I don't know if Prince's favorite color was actually purple, but the tickets for the "Purple Rain" tour LITERALLY had "WEAR SOMETHING PURPLE" printed on them 💜🥰.
You really do need to dive into more old Prince. Controversy, Ronnie Talks To Russia, Sister, Bambi, and so many more from his first half dozen albums. His original band (before the Revolution) consisted of Dez Dickerson (guitar), Andre Cymone (bass), Bobby Z (drums), Gayle Chapman and Dr Fink (keyboards).
You should watch his Super Bowl halftime performance. It is incredible. Rated #1 of all halftime performances. He played in a tropical storm with live guitars.
My mom waited out 3 days in line to get prince tickets..she got front row center seats! I got to go and was in sixth grade 😊..can you imagine?? It was 1985 ,purple rain tour and I was in awe 😮..I got a purple rose from him and a tambourine..also caught a pair of lace panties with a candy attached to them that were thrown out to the crowd. Sheila E sang also and asked my dad up on stage..to which he was like noooooooo waaaaay😂(he was a portly accountant lol)..thank god he didn’t do it bc the next guy asked did and had to sit in a chair while Sheila e grinded and sang all over the guy!😮. Anyways,it was so fun and we were hard of hearing for days afterwards lol❤
Dez Dickerson is the guitarist with the Japanese flag headband. Dez actually played the famous rock guitar solo in Prince's classic "Little Red Corvette," with Prince mixing the recording. You expected the "1999" video to be a little end-of-the-world movie. Oddly, such a video exists, but for another Apocalyptic dance song that Prince wrote music & lyrics for called "The Dance Electric." He recorded it with Revolution bandmates Wendy and Lisa on BG vox, and gave to Andre Cymone to replace Prince's original vocals with his own and release in 1985 on Andre's 3rd(?) album. Prince was notoriously controlling in the studio so the video may (or not) have been dreamed up by him, too. It was a banger back in the day. Andre was Prince's best friend in their teens and his first bassist from 1979-1981. "The Dance Electric" got a lot of radio play on my local pop/dance station at the time. Despite the uptempo dance/funk nature of the track, it is one of Prince's more spiritual songs with a smattering of bible-influenced lyrics ("love your enemies, there isn't much time"). I was going to recommend you react to it...the song is still a banger IMHO...but the video is VERY eighties and dated -- very Mad Max Road Warrior, but cheesier LOL. But for all its 80's B-movie cheesiness, as an adult I can pick up on the darker themes in the video that I completely missed as a teenager: the sadistic hedonism of wealthy aristocrats getting off on peasants (slaves?) performing carnal 'dances' for their pleasure and amusement, and those same elites dispensing of the peasants that collapse from the excess of carnal activity they may possibly have been forced to perform. (I'm assuming they are peasants or slaves as they are all adorned in what looks like dirty rags and all appear to be strapped up with metal studded leather straps like they are bound animals.) One shady businessman sifting through a wad of cash sits across from another, appearing to point at the pair as if he is waging a bet on how long they will last before they fall to the floor. Near the end of the video, a bright flash of light signifying an apocalyptic event is at hand frightens the salacious elites, sending them into a panic as pieces of the the opulent ballroom begin to fall down around and on them. The peasants dance on, unbothered and unafraid. Andre's character looks on with satisfaction at the impending destruction of the ruling class. The video fades out on Andre and his partner -- liberated, survivors -- sharing an innocent kiss, finally free to experience love as they stand amid the rubble and fog of a fallen "Babylon.". Revolution drummer Bobby Z. said in an interview that Prince watched an HBO documentary on Nostradamus in the early 1980s while he and his band were staying in a motel on tour. The next morning Prince had written "1999" inspired by that documentary. Prince wanted to write a positive message about not succumbing to despair in the face of anticipated destruction, or something to that effect. I agree: it is a very liberating and uplifting message. 💜
When this song came out in 1982, I was 22. I remember at the end of that year being at a nightclub in San Francisco with friends on New Year's Eve and dancing to that song at the stroke of midnight into the year 1983. Many years in 1999, at a big NYE event in San Francisco hotel, I danced with my then future husband to 1999 at the stroke of midnight into 2000 when all the balloons came down. My 22 year old self would've never thought I would be dancing to the same song 17 years later again on NYE. Still love this song and it bring back great memories. RIP Prince💜💜💜
BP, you are just a few months older than me. I graduated in 1999 and never forget playing this on New Years! From hearing this as a kid and then realizing we had caught up to what he was singing about. ( Prince had a rough childhood, but he was intelligent, talented, and called out a lot of stuff too. )
You need to check out his half time Super Bowl performance. Many (myself included) think that was the best half time show ever. There was a downpour of rain just before he went on, and they asked him what he wanted to do. He asked if they could make it rain harder. Damn, now I have to look that up and watch it.
Dude, Y2K was real. PCs were still essentially new! They didn't know what was going to happen and fortunately everything was OK. I'll never forget seeing this 1st semester of my college year on the first big screen in a lounge. It was 🔥!! Will never forget that moment! Thanks for another great reaction ❤
Almost moved to Minneapolis back in the 80s because of the local music scene that Prince was such a big part of. Was going to college a few hours away from the Twin Cities and went there every weekend I could to hit the clubs. Saw Prince twice. Such a great time. When I first graduated I did some job hunting there, but ultimately went back to California. One of the biggest regrets of my life. Should have made a life in MPLS.
@maryt2290 that's ok. I seem to remember 2016 being a big loss of talent natural and some not natural ( that i wish hadn't happened) across all of showbiz that year.
We never thought about this song as a kid. But as an adult, early 20's adult, Emergency services dispatcher and 911 operator concerned if the computer systems were going to crash at midnight things were a bit concerning. When 0001 hrs rolled over and everything worked, I was so relieved. I didn't believe J.C> was coming back that night, but still the apocalypse could have jumped off. Thank God it didn't.
I spent from around 10.45pm til 2am on Dec. 31st 1999 to Jan. 1st 2000 in QuikTrip 605 in St Louis. If the world was going to go bonkers, I was going to be with my husband. Lisa and Wendy are the two ladies, Dez Dickerson is the lead guitar (headband), and that's all I can match up in my husbands book on Prince. The Revolution had a lot of members come and go. In 1982-83 he wasn't thinking that just yet about end times.
At the time this video was filmed Prince was dating the keyboard player on the left with the hat. Her name is Jill Jones. Jill recorded a solo album with her. They see not officially call the Revolution until the Purple Rain album.
This came out 2 years prior to Purple Rain. It wasn't part of the 1984 movie. It was a mega-hit in 1982 though. The guitarist with the japanese headband on is Dez Dickerson. He left the band right before the Purple Rain album, but Prince still let him have a small part in the movie.
Grew up with Prince. The literal definition of an artist. Heard you mention song related movies. There are 2 that most people forget. First one is American Graffiti ( with the legendary Wolfman Jack, google him) second is Easy Rider. The movies are dated, but, helps you understand the culture of those times.
Prince had two major color phases, 1983-1984 was full purple then in 1988 he turned full peach/salmon. About music movies, unfortunately they ran out of fashion but back in the 70's and 80's a lot of bands produced theirs. Besides the already mentioned Purple Rain and The Wall I would like to mention two of my favorites, both produced by The Who: "Quadrophenia", starring Sting from the Police as the main character and "Tommy". I remember the time when I went to cinemas in my town to see movies from Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Kiss, The Clash, Sex Pistols and many others. In recent years I appreciated both Bohemian Rhapsody and Motley Crue's biopic "The Dirt".
Did Prince like the color purple? OH MY! Where were you when the world turned purple the day he passed. And there is a Pantone color that was created for him that is a purple shade. The name of the color is Love Symbol 2. Prince was purple. 💜 ☔️
The musical is "Singin' in the Rain". (1952) It starred Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds (mother of Varrie Fisher), featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles.
So many ties to the Minneapolis suburb, St Louis Park. The keyboardist Matt Fink and the drummer Bobby Z. Bobby Z's brother David Z is considered the father of the Mpls sound, was behind the sound "Funkytown" and did some producing w Prince.. Their actual last name is Rivkin, and their cousin is Leslie Fhima, who was the runner up on the Golden Batchelor. Her and Prince actually dated for a brief time.
This DOUBLE ALBUM on Vinyl was my introduction to PRINCE, in 6th grade, and I was a PRINCE FANATIC, STILL AM, BUT my sophomore year in high school I became a METAL HEAD
I’m from Minnesota and my cousins lived a few blocks away from Prince but he wasn’t a famous musician at the time. We were all kids and probably brushed shoulders with the Purple One. and didn’t know he would be famous. I believe I heard somewhere that he went to the same record store we did. Ok, it was a head shop, but about 3/4 of it was vinyl records and about half of those were imports and rare records. The rest was clothing, jewelry (silver, turquoise, & coral) and other stuff. We went there for records and T-shirts. And we probably shared the same corner store. New Year’s Eve in 1999 I was waiting for the sky to fall. By that time my youngest child was almost an adult at 2 years younger than you. . I think it would be awesome if you reacted to music movies like Purple Rain, Grease, American Graffiti, Walk The Line etc. Different types of music with some being biographical, musicals like Greae and Jersey Biys being both, a musical based on a broadway play about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. By the time you go down the music movie rabbit hole you’ll find a category of endless voices. I highly recommend Jersey Boys. It was so well done!
Losing Prince was hard for us Minnesotans and all music lovers. I only live 4 miles from his club of choice First Avenue where they filmed the movie Purple Rain. Another music movie you might want to watch is The Jazz Singer starring Neil Diamond. A lot of his hits are in the movie.
We are now farther from the year 1999, than this song was when it was written and released. I discovered the Y2K bug back in 1991 because I maintained a computer system that used only a 2 digit year and when we didn't set the date correctly (99 instead of 90) when it flipped the new year 00, there were transactions that could be be acted upon because they took place in the "future". Thankfully it was a training environment so we just reloaded the computer. We did report this to the DoD chain of command and by the time 1999 came around, most of those older computers were retired and replaced with 4 digit years. I actually got a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for that.
Congrats!! TY for mentioning that it was a real thing and it didn’t happen because IT workers fixed most of it in time. My hubby had to spend the night at the office just in case something was missed.
I remember that our White House was lit up purple in memory of Prince ❤ I’m sure there’s a video out there for it, bc it was broadcast on the news channels at the time.
My dad passed in 1998…in 1999 we moved…I didn’t have time to worry about anything….whatever was to be I couldn’t stop it, so I chose just to move forward…and we are still moving forward…lol!
I first heard this at a party on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia in 1983. My cousin was so drunk that he was drinking vodka and milk 😂. Great song to this day and another one ahead of its time.
Okay first it wasn't a rumor. The grid was set to crash but our wonderful IT people were out there solving the issues. So many programs were not written with the algorithm to flip from 1900 to 2000. Had it not been realized and resolved in time things all over would have crashed because of that while flipping from 1 to 2. LOL They weren't set to take a 00 as a year because the computers would have thought you meant 1900. You can't have a new baby in the hospital and tell the computer it was born a thousand years ago. It just wouldn't work. As far as the color thing, yep ❤that was his favorite color. You should watch a tour of his house sometime. 😘
I was in tech, and a whole lot of people made a ton of money rewriting Fortran code. And we had backup plans in case, but everyone was somewhat panicked. Which made it fun to celebrate!
I led our company's North American Y2K project. We had one glitch because the vendor didn't fix their program as promised. It was a good effort to document equipment. I was up, sober, for over 24 hours. The next NYE I had a glass of champagne every hour, on the hour. Edit: Russia's grid did have some glitches.
@@myntami Definitely was not a rumor, IT was prepared and pretty ready for it, it was a bit blown out of proportion a little. If they had not been, it definitely would’ve been an issue. No one forecast that a 4 digit year would be better than a 2 digit year.
This song came out in 1982. It felt like a lifetime before 1999 would arrive now we are 25 years past and it feels like it was just yesterday. Funny how your age changes your perspective on life.
Yeah, in 1982 this was a futuristic song.
I just posted the same thing! 1999 was a lifetime from 1982 and how we are almost 26 years past it! The world keeps turning and we are just here for the ride.
I soooooo totally agree
My words exactly !! 1999 was so far off !!! Where did time go ???😂
Exactly!
1999 was #1 on the Billboard chart in 1982. Then 17 years later #1 in 1999. Then 17 years later #1 in 2016.
I recalled this a bit differently so I looked it up on Princevault. You are correct in that "1999" reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Dance/Disco Top 80 Chart, and #12 on US Billboard Hot 100 Chart which was the more mainstream chart.
Nobody does it like Prince 💜💜💜Sleep in peace❤
I remember 1999 when it came out in the early '80s, and how weird it felt when it became an anthem in 1999, time flies for real.🎉. And... ain't nobody like Prince ❤️
Song is still a banger. I remember when this song came out.
When Prince passed, he left enough unreleased music that his estate can release an album every year for a century.
Wow, I hope they do make at least another album.
At 64 years old, I got to experience some wonderful music in real time😊
Why they waiting so long
The thing is, I’m not sure Prince was interested in releasing most of it, if any of it.
Yup....@@OldManYellsAtSpurs
The Y2K deal was, for the most part only two digit year codes were used, so a lot of preparation/updating had to be done to ensure that a 4-digit year code was standard. Otherwise, there would be confusion about whether “00” meant 1900 or 2000. The worry was that programming upgrades were not going to be ready in time for the turn to year 2000. (I am oversimplifying, but that’s the gist.)
Exactly. Oh the so many cobol programs I had to change. Ick
Generated a lot of work so that was goodl.
My dad had to do a lot of work updating stuff for his company. I remember that!
As a programmer, I changed a lot of old RPG programs in 1990-1992 to correct the date defect for the company I was working for. Then in 92 I relocated, got a new job and started programming in a more advanced programming language that recognized the year in 4 digits well before 1999. When 2000 rolled around, nothing happened in my reality... as far as I know. 🤔
There was a lot of illogical fear porn about it back then. I went to a seminar from a guy that put out a book and started to jump onto the hype. My dad worked on repairing circuit boards with IC chips and he set me straight. He said that so much of the things people were concerned about didn't even use a date code to have it even matter. On that eve on TV the government unveiled their underground bunker facility and that let me know this was all just a scam to get that thing built with no congressional oversight. Never heard about it ever again after that.
Prince was a musical genius RIP
Yes Purple was his color. His house and driveway was painted purple.💜💜💜💜
Actually according to his sister Tyka, who passed away recently, she said it was orange.
Paisley Park is white with purple lights and it’s on Prince Roger’s Nelson memorial highway
My stepdad loved this song. He always said he wanted it played at his funeral because he didn't want anyone crying for him. When he passed three years ago the pastor actually agreed and it was played at his funeral in the church. I miss him so much and I may be the only person who cries listening to this song. Thanks for the reaction.
{{{hugs}}} I'm sorry.
Awwwwww❤
@@Mary_Beth_Reimer thank you. He was my hero
@@davidbrown7779 thank you so much
The line “I was dreaming' when I wrote this, So sue me if I go too fast” always struck me as a shout out to Steely Dan’s song Deacon Blues which has the line “I cried when I wrote this song, Sue me if I play too long.”
1999. It’s amazing how freaked out people were due to Y2K. Happy New Years BP.
Parasite companies cashing in on the fear didn't help either. Selling scam products to the gullible.
So happy I got to see Prince live!! This man was so talented!! Legend!!!
Me too! :) LJ
The 99-00 changeover problems were neither a rumor, nor fake news. The problem was that when computer software was initially written, the used a 2-digit year format to save space - but that meant that when the computers doing date sequencing as part of their essential functions got to 12/31/99, the next day was assumed to be 1/1/1900, as if we were doing the century over. Millions of lines of code had to be revoewed and edited yo change to a 4-digit year, instead. Thousands worked for years to revise the software to avoid the potential problems that could have arisen. Fortunately, they succeeded, and nothing bad happened - but it could have!
It could have been/was so easily remedied. But, widespread panic.
@@CJBW it wasn't an easy remedy. It took software developers several years to get management to spend the resources needed to fix this. It was only in 1998 that they FINALLY got serious.
I spent a year just testing the water / electric billing system for a mid sized town. The 1st version of the change reversed all of the date comparisons. Imagine getting a bill for 100 years. Or the system saying it was negative. Or that you didn't have any service at all.
R. I. Purple
💜💜💜
PRINCE 🙏
Yes purple was his color. If you look online you can find many landmarks that lit their buildings up in purple for several days after his passing. The Eiffel Tower, The Forum, The Empire State Building, even here in Detroit, The Renaissance Center which is part of the Detroit skyline was lit up in purple. It was beautiful to see him being honored around the world.😢💜💜
1999 was the last time I threw a huge NYE party. Seemed liked the thing to do. Happy 2025 to everyone!
Happy New Year ❤
Happy New Year! I remember 1999 both the song and the year. I was so lit that new year. I don't drink anymore but back then.
@@barbaramatthews4735
Yeah same here...
I don't drink anymore BUT neither do I drink any less...
😂
Happy 2025! 🎉
I worked in an ICU in 1999 and the entire IT department and management of the hospital was there in case something happened and the monitors and equipment stopped functioning. Of course nothing happened and there was a LOT of relief in the air. Plus some champagne hidden in the ice machine.
Microsoft released updates for Windows days in advance that increased the time line on the system calendar so nothing crashed. I remember staying up until midnight chatting with online friends waiting to see if my computer crashed. Luckily my OS was updated days before and nothing happened. :)
I worked in ICU then too. Everything was being checked & sticker tags “Y2KSafe” attached.
I was one of the lucky ones who had the night off, so got to be at the beach with the fireworks display
Came out in 82 it was played at midnight 98-99 & 99- 2000 it played on almost all radio stations at once two years in a row. Who else did something like thar? NOBODY!! Genius.
This song was huge, it expressed what we young people of that time felt, that we wouldn't live to see the year 2000. The lyric 'the world has a bomb we could all die here today. But before that happens I'll dance my life away.' Iconic.❤
Purple is and has been associated with the color of royalty…therefore, Prince chose purple!
And fittingly chosen in my opinion!!
RIP PRINCE…you are greatly and forever missed! 💜✌️
I still can't believe he is gone 💔💔💔
💔
@@tootsiepop5313 I had just walked into the nail salon as it came on TV - Breaking News - Prince dead at 57…I sat there furiously blinking back tears - 2016 was a bad year for icons
The perfect song for today! Happy New Year! 🎉🎊 This man was pure genius!
Wow! I literally remember being at a club on NYE 2000 and dancing to this song!
Now I want to watch Purple Rain again. Probably the 100th time. RIP Prince💜
I remember Prince performing this for a late night TV show way back and he wore cheek less chaps. Right on TV. My mother almost swooned lol.
That was at the MTV and the song was Gett Off. I remember that performance so well! I swooned too… to me, he was the most beautiful being that I’d ever seen. 😊
🌸 @@tracyface69... exactly I feel the same way
The day that we said hello at Sunset Sound, he was wearing those “open air” chaps pants…and I was following him in the door. Best view til 1999. Lol
THIS got me ready for tonight!! I love Prince. That man oozed sex appeal.
Yep. My first, and only celebrity crush!
This was my class graduation song. 1999 baby! 🎉🎉
I was glad to have my little moment with Prince. He and I were both going into Sunset Sound to record some music. As we entered at the same time, he smiled that radiant smile and I smiled back. That charisma.
About the movie Purple Rain... I watched that sooooo many times as a teenager.
I look back at it now? I guess it's like a cult classic thing. 💜💜💜
Legend....legendary song.... Prince was the goat
React to all the Prince that you want!! 💜 Be here in seconds flat!!
💜☔☔💜
❤❤❤Prince RIP one of a kind 💯🔥
Dez Dickerson is the other singer. Girl singers are Lisa (before Wendy and Lisa) and J. J.
of Dez Dickerson and the Modernaires later
Yes and Brown Mark is the other guitarist who at this point recently replaced Andre Cymone who was a childhood friend of and had a nice career himself. Married and worked with Jodi Watley after leaving Prince band.
I was wondering where Wendy was. I didn't realize this song was before she joined the Revolution.
I got introduced to Prince when I was in the 9th grade my freshman year of high school. Been hooked on his music ever since.
Prince's favorite color WAS purple. His favorite # was 7...he made references to it in many of his songs...because of it's biblical significance. That was Brown Mark singing the other lead, as part of the Revolution. "2000 party over...OOPS! out of time".
This song was a must in all New Year's Eve parties that year. I even hace a pic a friend took when I was dancing to it in my fancy dress. It felt like we've just arrived into the future, things looked bright. Then the party ended in 2001 😟
This video was most of ours first introduction to Prince. This was the song and video that opened my eyes. I was like damn if this black guy can make good music I bet others can too. It really expanded my views on music. I was 16 when this dropped
Because we didn't have other Black artists until then...?
@LunaJo67WDHTMJ where did I say that. I said first introduction to Prince. Reading is your friend. No other black groups at the time were incorporating heavy guitar and other styles he was incorporating. Plus I was 15 and just discovering other styles of music other than metal and guitar driven rock.
That man could do everything. He could play all instruments, dance and sing. I am a 5'9" white woman and he was atrractive to me.
Back in 1982, in high school and couldn't even begin to comprehend 1999 - I would be sooo OLD!
1999 comes around...Y2K scare...and I'm working NYE, running a casino area at a community centre. I thought, dang (not exact word I used!), if the world ends I'll have spent my last evening working. Glad it didn't, and I still don't feel soooo OLD.
Great song!
Brings back memories about that time. I was in computers, had CS bachelors degree and was a programmer. So I remember the scare that the whole world was going to stop when the year 2000 came along since all data records only accounted for two numbers for the year. This was the whole Y2K deal, all computers would fail, meaning the world would fail. It really wasn’t as bad, programmers had been preparing for a long time, but it was made into a bigger deal… anyway…
This is an awesome song by Prince!! Thanks for all of your reactions!❤❤
We were stationed in Germany when this came out. I was twelve, and we used to hitchhike to the base from housing. Along comes a GI driving his pink caddy with the top down with this playing. We jumped in and off we went. He had his afro picked and was on point. That was the best ride we ever had. Every time this comes on, I'm sitting in that pink caddy. Good memories.
LOVE PRINCE... I Was at a party in 1999 - people dancing all the B.S. but no one played this song or requested it.
Dr. Fink told the story of how they were on tour and had all watched a documentary on TV about Nostradamus and end of the world.
The next day they had the day off and the band decided to go to Disney for the day. Prince declined to go with them. When they returned he had written 1999!
Crazy! 🎉
Inspiration poured through him.
Also this was his pre-Revolution band. One iteration away (although Prince hints at the Revolution on the album cover). So implicit reference maybe.
My son was invited to attend the New Years Eve party in 1999 at Paisley Park by a friend who did lighting work for Prince...He said it was the experience of a life time
I don't know if Prince's favorite color was actually purple, but the tickets for the "Purple Rain" tour LITERALLY had "WEAR SOMETHING PURPLE" printed on them 💜🥰.
You really do need to dive into more old Prince. Controversy, Ronnie Talks To Russia, Sister, Bambi, and so many more from his first half dozen albums.
His original band (before the Revolution) consisted of Dez Dickerson (guitar), Andre Cymone (bass), Bobby Z (drums), Gayle Chapman and Dr Fink (keyboards).
You should watch his Super Bowl halftime performance. It is incredible. Rated #1 of all halftime performances. He played in a tropical storm with live guitars.
I second this recommendation!
Oh yes! This song, Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars) and Mony Mony (Billy Idol), are my oldies. I can't sit down, got to dance 💃
He dreamed the lyrics. Yes, the Revolution was his band. ❤1981
No. He wrote the lyrics. Dr. Fink told the story behind how Prince wrote the lyrics
My mom waited out 3 days in line to get prince tickets..she got front row center seats! I got to go and was in sixth grade 😊..can you imagine?? It was 1985 ,purple rain tour and I was in awe 😮..I got a purple rose from him and a tambourine..also caught a pair of lace panties with a candy attached to them that were thrown out to the crowd. Sheila E sang also and asked my dad up on stage..to which he was like noooooooo waaaaay😂(he was a portly accountant lol)..thank god he didn’t do it bc the next guy asked did and had to sit in a chair while Sheila e grinded and sang all over the guy!😮. Anyways,it was so fun and we were hard of hearing for days afterwards lol❤
Yep! Purple what his color!! His house was even painted purple! 😆
Dez Dickerson is the guitarist with the Japanese flag headband. Dez actually played the famous rock guitar solo in Prince's classic "Little Red Corvette," with Prince mixing the recording.
You expected the "1999" video to be a little end-of-the-world movie. Oddly, such a video exists, but for another Apocalyptic dance song that Prince wrote music & lyrics for called "The Dance Electric." He recorded it with Revolution bandmates Wendy and Lisa on BG vox, and gave to Andre Cymone to replace Prince's original vocals with his own and release in 1985 on Andre's 3rd(?) album. Prince was notoriously controlling in the studio so the video may (or not) have been dreamed up by him, too. It was a banger back in the day. Andre was Prince's best friend in their teens and his first bassist from 1979-1981.
"The Dance Electric" got a lot of radio play on my local pop/dance station at the time. Despite the uptempo dance/funk nature of the track, it is one of Prince's more spiritual songs with a smattering of bible-influenced lyrics ("love your enemies, there isn't much time"). I was going to recommend you react to it...the song is still a banger IMHO...but the video is VERY eighties and dated -- very Mad Max Road Warrior, but cheesier LOL. But for all its 80's B-movie cheesiness, as an adult I can pick up on the darker themes in the video that I completely missed as a teenager: the sadistic hedonism of wealthy aristocrats getting off on peasants (slaves?) performing carnal 'dances' for their pleasure and amusement, and those same elites dispensing of the peasants that collapse from the excess of carnal activity they may possibly have been forced to perform. (I'm assuming they are peasants or slaves as they are all adorned in what looks like dirty rags and all appear to be strapped up with metal studded leather straps like they are bound animals.) One shady businessman sifting through a wad of cash sits across from another, appearing to point at the pair as if he is waging a bet on how long they will last before they fall to the floor. Near the end of the video, a bright flash of light signifying an apocalyptic event is at hand frightens the salacious elites, sending them into a panic as pieces of the the opulent ballroom begin to fall down around and on them. The peasants dance on, unbothered and unafraid. Andre's character looks on with satisfaction at the impending destruction of the ruling class. The video fades out on Andre and his partner -- liberated, survivors -- sharing an innocent kiss, finally free to experience love as they stand amid the rubble and fog of a fallen "Babylon.".
Revolution drummer Bobby Z. said in an interview that Prince watched an HBO documentary on Nostradamus in the early 1980s while he and his band were staying in a motel on tour. The next morning Prince had written "1999" inspired by that documentary. Prince wanted to write a positive message about not succumbing to despair in the face of anticipated destruction, or something to that effect. I agree: it is a very liberating and uplifting message. 💜
Prince was simply awesome! What a performer! Rip
One of my favorite dance songs!
Prince was beyond a genius
Im a 55 year metal head from the bronx and prince is in my top 5 bands of all time
When this song came out in 1982, I was 22. I remember at the end of that year being at a nightclub in San Francisco with friends on New Year's Eve and dancing to that song at the stroke of midnight into the year 1983. Many years in 1999, at a big NYE event in San Francisco hotel, I danced with my then future husband to 1999 at the stroke of midnight into 2000 when all the balloons came down. My 22 year old self would've never thought I would be dancing to the same song 17 years later again on NYE. Still love this song and it bring back great memories.
RIP Prince💜💜💜
At 64 years old, I got to listen to some wonderful music in real time😊
68 here and I agree
BP, you are just a few months older than me. I graduated in 1999 and never forget playing this on New Years! From hearing this as a kid and then realizing we had caught up to what he was singing about. ( Prince had a rough childhood, but he was intelligent, talented, and called out a lot of stuff too. )
One of my favorite prince songs. Gives me chills
You need to check out his half time Super Bowl performance. Many (myself included) think that was the best half time show ever. There was a downpour of rain just before he went on, and they asked him what he wanted to do. He asked if they could make it rain harder. Damn, now I have to look that up and watch it.
This song introduced me to Prince. Brings back memories, for sure. All I remember is that it was different... didn't expect to like it, but did. 😉
Dude, Y2K was real. PCs were still essentially new! They didn't know what was going to happen and fortunately everything was OK. I'll never forget seeing this 1st semester of my college year on the first big screen in a lounge. It was 🔥!! Will never forget that moment! Thanks for another great reaction ❤
I remember dancing to this at a highschool dance. I graduated in 2002. God I waited too long to subscribe... happy new year 2025, new sub! Yaaayaa! 🎉💜
Almost moved to Minneapolis back in the 80s because of the local music scene that Prince was such a big part of. Was going to college a few hours away from the Twin Cities and went there every weekend I could to hit the clubs. Saw Prince twice. Such a great time. When I first graduated I did some job hunting there, but ultimately went back to California. One of the biggest regrets of my life. Should have made a life in MPLS.
Minnesotan here. A friend of mine saw him at 1st Ave and caught a purple tambourine he threw into the audience.
@@wWSwiftyWw I loved First Avenue!
The first musician whose death brought me to tears.
2016 sucked with losing both Prince and George Michael.
@@maryt2290 and david bowie rip 3 legends
@ OMG how could I forget Bowie !! Thanks for pointing that out
@maryt2290 that's ok.
I seem to remember 2016 being a big loss of talent natural and some not natural ( that i wish hadn't happened) across all of showbiz that year.
@@maryt2290 Leonard Cohen as well
Little Red corvet was filmed on the same day as 1999
We never thought about this song as a kid. But as an adult, early 20's adult, Emergency services dispatcher and 911 operator concerned if the computer systems were going to crash at midnight things were a bit concerning. When 0001 hrs rolled over and everything worked, I was so relieved. I didn't believe J.C> was coming back that night, but still the apocalypse could have jumped off. Thank God it didn't.
I spent from around 10.45pm til 2am on Dec. 31st 1999 to Jan. 1st 2000 in QuikTrip 605 in St Louis. If the world was going to go bonkers, I was going to be with my husband.
Lisa and Wendy are the two ladies, Dez Dickerson is the lead guitar (headband), and that's all I can match up in my husbands book on Prince. The Revolution had a lot of members come and go.
In 1982-83 he wasn't thinking that just yet about end times.
At the time this video was filmed Prince was dating the keyboard player on the left with the hat. Her name is Jill Jones. Jill recorded a solo album with her. They see not officially call the Revolution until the Purple Rain album.
This came out 2 years prior to Purple Rain. It wasn't part of the 1984 movie. It was a mega-hit in 1982 though. The guitarist with the japanese headband on is Dez Dickerson. He left the band right before the Purple Rain album, but Prince still let him have a small part in the movie.
I was born and raised in Minneapolis so I'm pretty in love with Prince. I've got to say even all these years later he is so sexy!!
He me too 💜 Mpls
Me too💜💜
Me too, Bloomington
this song wasnt big in uk till 1985.... prince one of the best...🎤⬇️✌️
Grew up with Prince. The literal definition of an artist.
Heard you mention song related movies. There are 2 that most people forget. First one is American Graffiti ( with the legendary Wolfman Jack, google him) second is Easy Rider. The movies are dated, but, helps you understand the culture of those times.
Prince had two major color phases, 1983-1984 was full purple then in 1988 he turned full peach/salmon. About music movies, unfortunately they ran out of fashion but back in the 70's and 80's a lot of bands produced theirs. Besides the already mentioned Purple Rain and The Wall I would like to mention two of my favorites, both produced by The Who: "Quadrophenia", starring Sting from the Police as the main character and "Tommy". I remember the time when I went to cinemas in my town to see movies from Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Kiss, The Clash, Sex Pistols and many others. In recent years I appreciated both Bohemian Rhapsody and Motley Crue's biopic "The Dirt".
Great song. RIP Prince. ❤️✌🏻🎶
That line always gets to me when he sings parties are meant to last. May he RIP
Did Prince like the color purple? OH MY! Where were you when the world turned purple the day he passed. And there is a Pantone color that was created for him that is a purple shade. The name of the color is Love Symbol 2.
Prince was purple. 💜 ☔️
Another purple aficionado is Donny Osmond.
The musical is "Singin' in the Rain". (1952) It starred Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds (mother of Varrie Fisher), featuring Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse in supporting roles.
Prince was a musical genius and probably the coolest human ever.
Happy New Year! This is the first RUclips video I've watched in 2025.
I remember bringing in the year 2000. I was 16.
So happy that you are looking in to Prince - for me an all time favorit artist ❤
One of the best grooves ever !
So many ties to the Minneapolis suburb, St Louis Park. The keyboardist Matt Fink and the drummer Bobby Z. Bobby Z's brother David Z is considered the father of the Mpls sound, was behind the sound "Funkytown" and did some producing w Prince.. Their actual last name is Rivkin, and their cousin is Leslie Fhima, who was the runner up on the Golden Batchelor. Her and Prince actually dated for a brief time.
Oh my goodness, one of my favorite Prince songs!
This DOUBLE ALBUM on Vinyl was my introduction to PRINCE, in 6th grade, and I was a PRINCE FANATIC, STILL AM, BUT my sophomore year in high school I became a METAL HEAD
I’m from Minnesota and my cousins lived a few blocks away from Prince but he wasn’t a famous musician at the time. We were all kids and probably brushed shoulders with the Purple One. and didn’t know he would be famous. I believe I heard somewhere that he went to the same record store we did. Ok, it was a head shop, but about 3/4 of it was vinyl records and about half of those were imports and rare records. The rest was clothing, jewelry (silver, turquoise, & coral) and other stuff. We went there for records and T-shirts. And we probably shared the same corner store.
New Year’s Eve in 1999 I was waiting for the sky to fall. By that time my youngest child was almost an adult at 2 years younger than you. .
I think it would be awesome if you reacted to music movies like Purple Rain, Grease, American Graffiti, Walk The Line etc. Different types of music with some being biographical, musicals like Greae and Jersey Biys being both, a musical based on a broadway play about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. By the time you go down the music movie rabbit hole you’ll find a category of endless voices. I highly recommend Jersey Boys. It was so well done!
How to feel old. Realizing more time has passed since 1999, then did before 1999 when this song first came out
Prince set a trend, so incredible...
If people would let the heart and music guide them, they wouldn't be fighting people and love people! ❤
Losing Prince was hard for us Minnesotans and all music lovers. I only live 4 miles from his club of choice First Avenue where they filmed the movie Purple Rain. Another music movie you might want to watch is The Jazz Singer starring Neil Diamond. A lot of his hits are in the movie.
I love prince singing listen to diamond and pearl it's really fire
I went to a New Year’s Eve party in 1999. This was the first song they played at 12:01 AM 2000.
The guitarist singing with the headband is Dez Dickerson
We are now farther from the year 1999, than this song was when it was written and released.
I discovered the Y2K bug back in 1991 because I maintained a computer system that used only a 2 digit year and when we didn't set the date correctly (99 instead of 90) when it flipped the new year 00, there were transactions that could be be acted upon because they took place in the "future". Thankfully it was a training environment so we just reloaded the computer. We did report this to the DoD chain of command and by the time 1999 came around, most of those older computers were retired and replaced with 4 digit years. I actually got a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for that.
Congrats!! TY for mentioning that it was a real thing and it didn’t happen because IT workers fixed most of it in time. My hubby had to spend the night at the office just in case something was missed.
I was in New Orleans for the new year in 1999 to 2000. They were hosting the National Championship that year. Insane party.
I remember that our White House was lit up purple in memory of Prince ❤ I’m sure there’s a video out there for it, bc it was broadcast on the news channels at the time.
My dad passed in 1998…in 1999 we moved…I didn’t have time to worry about anything….whatever was to be I couldn’t stop it, so I chose just to move forward…and we are still moving forward…lol!
I first heard this at a party on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia in 1983. My cousin was so drunk that he was drinking vodka and milk 😂. Great song to this day and another one ahead of its time.
Okay first it wasn't a rumor. The grid was set to crash but our wonderful IT people were out there solving the issues. So many programs were not written with the algorithm to flip from 1900 to 2000. Had it not been realized and resolved in time things all over would have crashed because of that while flipping from 1 to 2. LOL They weren't set to take a 00 as a year because the computers would have thought you meant 1900. You can't have a new baby in the hospital and tell the computer it was born a thousand years ago. It just wouldn't work. As far as the color thing, yep ❤that was his favorite color. You should watch a tour of his house sometime. 😘
I was in tech, and a whole lot of people made a ton of money rewriting Fortran code. And we had backup plans in case, but everyone was somewhat panicked. Which made it fun to celebrate!
I led our company's North American Y2K project. We had one glitch because the vendor didn't fix their program as promised. It was a good effort to document equipment.
I was up, sober, for over 24 hours. The next NYE I had a glass of champagne every hour, on the hour.
Edit: Russia's grid did have some glitches.
IT was more ready than the general population knew.
@@myntami Definitely was not a rumor, IT was prepared and pretty ready for it, it was a bit blown out of proportion a little. If they had not been, it definitely would’ve been an issue. No one forecast that a 4 digit year would be better than a 2 digit year.
TY for saying this!! Hubby spent nye on office floor in case something had been missed, not to mention the ton of overtime he worked before!!