First off, yesterday was Record Store Day, and it is safe to say that I have acquired plenty of interesting gems to keep this blog awesome for many months to come. This song was not one of my finds - I have actually had this for several years. This is a white label 12", meaning that there is absolutely no information about the song or artist on the sleeve or on the record itself, besides a small, round purple sticker with the words "Purple People Paisley Punk Promo" in bold white letters. These words (and the color of the sticker), sent one clear subliminal message to my brain: "This has something to do with Prince." And I was right.
This is the only song that turns up on Discogs for the person/group Purple People, but if it is a trusted source, then this was released in 1998 in the UK. What "Paisley Punk" turned out to be, is a fairly standard-sounding 90's House remix of Prince's song "1999." This started several debates in my brain, bouncing back and forth between 'What's the point? "1999" was already a perfect dance song, why did they have to dumb it down into some 4-on-the-floor club fodder? This is offensive.' and 'Ooh! Prince done up to sound like a 90's Fatboy Slim song!!'
At the end of the day, both of my brains were right. This song does a solid job of dumbing down a really great dance song that everyone is already familiar with, but it's also kind of cool how the Purple People, whoever they may be, used Prince's cool drum rolls, kept the mix really lo-fi and muddy, and threw in a thick-as-pea-soup bass line that nearly wipes out the rest of the track. Okay, so it's not amazing, but it's a lot of fun just for the novelty of hearing Prince, Lord and Master of Copyright Law, being remixed in such an unambitious crowd-pleasing manner. Enjoy.
