Unleashing a persona that's part barroom romantic, part serial killer, Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers  project has now eclipsed his Nineties soul-grunge outfit Afghan Whigs. On the group's fifth record,  arrangements vary — dissonant strings, thrift-store drum machines, wah-wah guitar — but never the sense of menace, even when girl voices (Ani DiFranco, Petra Haden) hover like lost spirits. "Gunshots, baby/let's cut through the crowd," Dulli croons at one point over sniping guitar, like Satan taking a date to an assassination. Whatever the scenario, you know everyone will regret it in the morning. And yet no  one can resist. Even at this late date, that's pretty much what rock is all about.

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“1999”

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.