I don't think you'll find many Prince fans who disagree that the 80s were his best period musically.

But now that we've received what will most likely be the last batch of new music he'll release in the 00s, how do you think this decade compares to the 90's?

90s:
Graffiti Bridge
Diamonds & Pearls

Come
The Gold Experience
Exodus / Goldnigga
Chaos & Disorder
Emancipation
New Power Soul
The Truth / Karmasutra
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale
Rave un2 The Joy Fantastic

00s:
Chocolate Invasion/Slaughterhouse/NPGMC tracks
The Rainbow Children
One Night Alone (Live & Piano)
Xpectation / N.E.W.S. / C-Note
Musicology
3121
Planet Earth
Indigo Nights
Lotusflow3r/MPLSound/Elixer



What say you? I think it's very close, but I'd probably go with the 90s by just an inch because of the Come/TGE period, which I think was loaded with top-notch songs.
[Edited 3/26/09 12:23pm]

90s. The first half anyway. I loved Crystal Ball and The Truth too.

90s all day every day.

Just because of TGE I'd have to say 90s. My favourite Prince was the mid 90s Prince.

This decade turned out to be filled with loads of great music too, though. In the end he surprised me, because the 00s were much better than I expected them to be in the end!



50 years... unbelievable.

Btw, NoVideo, if you include all the NPG releases in the 90s you also have to include Elixer in the 00s!

Dave1992 said:

I was wondering about that, but to me the NPG albums are more "Prince" albums since he participates so much vocally... And I equate Elixer more with something like Jill Jones.

But I guess in the end they are all really "Prince" albums, so you're probably right

Dave1992 said:

Most definitely. Looking back, it turned out to be quite an excellent decade of music for Prince overall, much better than I thought. At the beginning of the decade it seemed like he was sorta out of the game for a while.

90s win, just for the outfits and hairdos alone.

Can I just cut out the music from 1996-2003 and smoosh together 1990-1995 and 2004-2009 into one fairly satisfying decade?

90s were somewhat acceptable through 96 and maybe the Truth but is been an embarrassment ever since

I'm going to go for the 00's

I would have said that before the release of MPLSound/Lotusflow3r but those seal the deal for me

Gotta give it to the 90s. Though many of the albums were contaminated by the rapping, there were many great songs. Besides a couple of tunes on The Rainbow Children and the Musicology stuff, not much from the 00s sticks with me. So far, with Lotus Flower Prince seems to be ending the 00s on a high note though.
[Edited 3/26/09 14:55pm]

For me, it's almost a tie, strangely enough.

The '90s had a couple of fantastic albums (Graffiti Bridge, The Gold Experience, The Truth) but a boatload of some of Prince's worst stuff. Particularly in the latter half of the decade.

The '00s material never hit the heights of the best of his '90s output, but there have been some nice surprises (TRC, Musicology, Lotus/MPLS Sound) among the less-than inspired stuff. One major plus was his rediscovered sense of restraint in terms of quantity - His "major" albums of the decade never felt bloated like some of his '90s efforts did.

If I had to choose though, I'd go for the '90s, flaws and all. The highs were infrequent, but damn they were good.

90's

Risico said:

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head.

The rap stuff definitely put a damper on some of the early 90s albums... and yet there were still some amazing moments.

And I agree with your comment about the major albums of the 00s not being as bloated as some of the 90s stuff.

Also, speaking of the early 90s stuff... I tend to group Graffiti Bridge in with the 80s, because it contained mostly old material, and Diamonds & Pearls is such a drastic change stylistically it seems like the first album of the 90s to me.

The 90s win easily just because Prince has never had a better live period than when he was with Sonny, Tommy, Morris and Michael. That band could basically play anything, and they could take a song and rework it on the spot. The 90s studio and live bootlegs alone would beat his entire 00s catelog.

The 00s were good during the ONA tour period because for the first time since then, he challenged himself by playing with great live musicians (John Blackwell; Renato; Maceo). That era was pretty short though, and it never really translated to much in the studio. The problem with this decade is that the positive (in some circles) reaction to the watered down crap that was Musicology caused him to basically throw away much of the decade (see 3121; PE) instead of going back to the drawing board (like he has a little with the new projects).

90's easily... if only just for the Come/Gold Experience material.

When was "Facedown?"

The 90s. The 90s wins

The uh-ohs

Anxiety said:

Right on!

90s by a huge amount. the 90s stuff may be flawed, but at least it was daring

Easily the 1990s , I still think Prince was making consistently excellent albums throughout that decade , whereas the 00s were good albums with the occasional bouts of excellence .