Song · Prince
“America” by Prince
From the EP His Majesty’s Pop Life / The Purple Mix Club (1985)
“America” by Prince appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 1985 and 2026. It was first released in 1985 on the EP His Majesty’s Pop Life / The Purple Mix Club. Its best result is #91 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #182 alternative song of 1985.
Of all the US singles Prince and the Revolution took from their 1985 album Around the World in a Day, "America" came last, and it's a sardonic swipe at the mid-'80s United States that name-checks Communism and frets about nuclear war, a recurring theme in his lyrics that decade. Prince wrote, sang and mixed it, and he plays guitar, bass, synth and drum machine, with Wendy Melvoin, Brownmark, Lisa Coleman, Dr. Fink and Bobby Z. alongside him.
It kicks off with the stop-start sound of a record being cued, DJ-style, before a guitar solo and a climbing synthesized flute line take over, and the standard version fades at 3:40. The 12-inch version runs past 21 minutes, packed with solos, because the band jammed until the tape ran out. The 10-minute live video was shot in Nice, France, on October 27, 1985.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 91 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1985 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 286 | WFPK | WFPK Top 500 Songs of the '80s | 498 |
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