With Crystal Ball, Prince discovered that it's much more difficult to get records to an audience than it seems some fans who pre-ordered their copies through Prince's website (from which a bonus fifth disc was included) didn't receive them until months after the set began appearing in stores. Once it was clear that Emancipation wasn't the commercial blockbuster he'd hoped it would be, Prince assembled a long-awaited collection of outtakes and unreleased material called Crystal Ball in 1998. However, even his devoted cult following needed considerable time to digest such an enormous compilation of songs. Setting up his own label, NPG (which was distributed by EMI), he resurfaced later that same year with the three-disc Emancipation, which was designed as a magnum opus that would spin off singles for several years and support several tours. In the summer of 1996, Prince released Chaos & Disorder, which freed him to become an independent artist. The Gold Experience was issued in the fall although it received good reviews and followed a smash single, it failed to catch fire commercially.
By the end of the summer, a fed-up Warner had negotiated a compromise that guaranteed the album's release, plus one final record for the label. In early 1995, he immersed himself in another legal battle with Warner, proclaiming himself a slave and refusing to deliver his new record, The Gold Experience, for release. In November 1994, as part of a contractual obligation, Prince agreed to the official release of The Black Album. Later that summer, Warner released the somewhat halfhearted Come under the name of Prince the record was a moderate success, going gold. In 1994, after becoming embroiled in contract disagreements with Warner Bros., he independently released the single "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," likely to illustrate what he would be capable of on his own the song became his biggest hit in years. The following year, he released his 12th album, which was titled with a cryptic symbol in 1993, Prince legally changed his name to the symbol.
With their first album, Diamonds and Pearls, Prince reasserted his mastery of contemporary R&B it was his biggest hit since 1985. In 1991, Prince formed the New Power Generation, the best, most versatile, and talented band he had ever assembled. The following year he released Graffiti Bridge (the sequel to Purple Rain), which turned out to be a considerable commercial disappointment.
With the soundtrack to 1989's Batman he returned to the top of the charts, even if the album was essentially a recap of everything he had done before. Instead, he released the confused Lovesexy in 1988, which was a commercial disaster. Prince was set to release the hard funk of The Black Album by the end of the year, but he withdrew it just before its release, deciding it was too dark and immoral. In 1986, he released the even stranger Parade, which was in its own way as ambitious and intricate as any art rock of the '60s however, no art rock was ever grounded with a hit as brilliant as the spare funk of "Kiss."īy 1987, Prince's ambitions were growing by leaps and bounds, resulting in the sprawling masterpiece Sign 'O' the Times. Instead of continuing in this accessible direction, he veered off into the bizarre psycho-psychedelia of Around the World in a Day, which nevertheless sold over two million copies. Partially recorded with his touring band the Revolution, the record featured the most pop-oriented music he has ever made. Purple Rain made Prince a superstar it eventually sold over ten million copies in the U.S. The album was a monster hit, selling over three million copies, but it was nothing compared to 1984's Purple Rain. The follow-up, Controversy, was more of the same, but 1999 was brilliant. With 1980's Dirty Mind, he recorded his first masterpiece, a one-man tour de force of sex and music it was hard funk, catchy Beatlesque melodies, sweet soul ballads, and rocking guitar pop all at once. Prince's first two albums were solid, if unremarkable, late-'70s funk-pop. Occasionally, his music was inconsistent, in part because of his eclecticism, but his experiments frequently succeeded no other contemporary artist blended so many diverse styles into a cohesive whole. With each album he released, Prince showed remarkable stylistic growth and musical diversity, constantly experimenting with different sounds, textures, and genres.
Not only did he release a series of groundbreaking albums he toured frequently, produced albums, wrote songs for many other artists, and recorded hundreds of songs that still lie unreleased in his vaults. During the '80s, he emerged as one of the most singular talents of the rock & roll era, capable of seamlessly tying together pop, funk, folk, and rock. Few artists have created a body of work as rich and varied as Prince.