“Let's Go Crazy” by Prince

"Let's Go Crazy" is the starting gun for Purple Rain, opening both the 1984 album and the movie, with Prince and the Revolution tearing out of the gate like a revival meeting plugged straight into the mains. Prince wrote it, sang it and played guitar alongside Wendy Melvoin, with Lisa Coleman and Dr. Fink on synths, Brownmark on bass and Bobby Z. on drums, the whole band shouting behind him.

Under the party there's a sermon: the song is usually read as a push toward Christian living, with its runaway elevator image standing in for the Devil. As a single it gave him his second number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the R&B and dance charts too, with the racy "Erotic City" on the flip. After his death in 2016 it came back to the Hot 100, reaching number 25.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.