What were the "Signs O' The Times"

Prince released his pop tour de force "Sign O' The Times" album on the Paisley Park record label on March 31 1987. The album was the follow up to Parade (1986) and Prince's first "solo" album following his departure from The Revolution. The album featured themes such as the depressing state of the world in the title track, gender identity/androgyny in "If I was your girlfriend", party funk in "Housequake", sexual lust in "It", replacing a loved one in "I could never take the place of your man" and the spiritual enlightenment in "The Cross"
The album spawned three top-ten hits, the most from Prince since Purple Rain in 1984. Although sales were modest critics applauded this attempt as his greatest work. In 1989, Time Out Magazine ranked it as the greatest album of all time. It was ranked #16 on the New Musical Express list of the All Time Top 100 Albums, 3rd in Hot Press's magazines's list of the 100 Best Albums of All Time and #35 on VH1's 100 Greatest Albums. The Times listed the album as the 29th greatest Album of all time.. In 2003, the album was ranked number 93 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #12 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the 80's". Although regarded as "less polished" than his earlier efforts it was a royal performance to usurp the "King"