Is there a better album that Prince’s Purple Rain? The answer is “maybe, but probably not.” But whether or not it’s perfect or near-perfect or as perfect as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or OK Computer, it’s my favorite album. I think it came out at the right moment in my childhood to be embedded into my cognitive schemata for life. It rocks, it’s danceable, it’s dirty, it’s sublime. Every song is great, even the throwaway ones, like “Darling Nikki,” which is used in the movie Purple Rain as a sign that out hero is losing it. It’s also the first time that I noticed that my parents weren’t censorious. They had no issue with the word “masturbating.” Ha.