From 'Graffiti Bridge' in 1990 to '1999: The New Master' in 1999, the nineteen-nineties saw Prince's music in severe retrograde.

Whereas in the 80s, he'd invented genres without even realising it, the 90s saw him clinging to his prior genius and current fads in equal measure. When he drawls, "My only competition is well... me, in the past" on 1998's 'Don't Play Me', this isn't just self-depreciating humour or unashamed egotistical posturing but an awareness of the passing of his Purple Patch.

The eve of the 90s, 1989, saw the release of his 'Batman' album. Many see this as his first unabashed "commercial" album with it's poppy production and (obviously) comic-book imagery but it's anything but. The soundtrack begins with 'The Future', a throbbing meditation on how the flash and thrill of instant highs shouldn't replace the deep-seated fulfillment that spirituality can give you. In typically perverse Prince-fashion, he namechecks Hollywood as promoting negative imagery... on the soundtrack to that year's biggest Hollywood blockbuster.

The 'Batman' album goes on to recount a tale of sexual-obsession (Electric Chair), cracks a joke about penis-size (Vicki Waiting) and it's penultimate track is a hymn to spontaneous animalistic lust (Scandalous). Hardly the fodder of your average PG-13 movie soundtrack. "Electric Chair" is lyrically the distant cousin of the equally-dark "Extra Loveable", but that's another essay...

What did change with the 'Batman' project, is that the singles culled from the album were amongst the most commercial he'd put out, up to that time.

"Batdance" was a structureless musique concrète featuring samples of dialogue from the movie. The stunt had already been pulled some nine years previously by Queen on the title-track of their Flash Gordon soundtrack. Considering that the previous single to this had offered the sublime "Eye Wish U Heaven, Parts 1. 2. 3.", the kid-friendly track jarred like sherbert after a bowl of whipped cream.

"Partyman" and "The Arms Of Orion" again pandered to MOR radio stations across the globe (although the "Partyman" mixes do feature fan-friendly elements). "The Future" (the most mature song on the album) was tellingly, only released as a single, a long way from Hollywood... "Scandalous" bucked the trend of the 'Batman' single-releases in the U.S. and Far-East: his most straight-forward R n' B ballad to be released as a single since "Little Red Corvette" nearly a decade earlier. However, whereas "Litle Red Corvette" borrowed Soft Rock conventions of the day, "Scandalous" leaned on the jazzy chord-progressions of his own mid-to-late eighties output. This sonic template was to recurr again and again on many of his identikit 90s tracks...

But the fans could breathe a sigh of relief because as always, the B-Sides were theirs. "200 Balloons" a manic, speed-fuelled blues-stomp with flourishes of house; "Feel U Up" a squaling paean to frottaging; "I Love U In Me" a downright filthy sentiment bathed in classic doo-wop harmonies and "Sex", a schizophrenic stuttering doodle.

Yes. The fans were always rewarded for their devotion by a handful of B-Sides.

Then came 'Graffiti Bridge'...

Batdance is a work of genius.

It's not my favourite Prince track by any means but it works brilliantly.

He managed to take his internal good vs bad struggle that exists within us all and was explored through Lovesexy, and then he used it to illustrate the tortured character of Bruce Wayne and bring it to the masses.

Every single sampled vocal from the movie (and at one point, almost an entire scene) expresses and expands upon his gemini ideal of people having different sides to their personality

'I'm gonna kill you!' = Power
'I'm not gonna kill you' = Soul
Same person saying both things.

The Lovesexy concept given a parallel with Bruce Wayne/Batman's character. A cross-over of true genius. And Batdance is still the best Prince track to play as loud as possible.

Musically, the Batman soundtrack seems to cover old ground. But Batdance itself was something that Prince hadn't done before and although most of the vocals are sampled from the movie, they're done brilliantly and more effectively than anything he could have come up with himself to express what he was trying to say at that time.

To me, Prince's post Lovesexy output and his supposed 1990s drop in quality had more to do with fans expectations than it did with his own creativity.

In retrospect, Prince's 1990s music has me just as hooked as anything else he's done. It's just different and in a way, he challenged us more during that time than any other time.

"Batdance" is the weirdest song ever to hit number 1. It is hardly "commercial" in the sense that it is a typical pop song. The one way it is "commercial" is in its advertisement of the movie.

Enigmoid said:

That post was just the preface. As a whole, I think the 'Batman' album is his last classic album...

1990.

"Dear Dad,
Things didn't turn out quite like I wanted them 2.
Sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode."

And explode he did, for the next ten years. The longest artistic car-crash in the history of popular music.

The 'Graffiti Bridge' album was a mess from start to finish. The opening track "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" introduced a jangle to his music which had never appeared previously. It was the sound of a forced smile; an over-compensatory whoop here and an unnecessary guitar solo there... It was soulless, plastic, inane and unemotional - on both a musical and lyrical level. The aural equivalent of a "Dress-Down Day" at work... You will have fun; you will shake your booty...

"New Power Generation"s title borrowed a thematic motif from his 'Lovesexy' album of two years prior. If this was the New Power Generation as promised by "Eye No"s opening welcome, then I wanted the old powerless one back. The chorus embarrasingly sang, "Your old fashioned music, your old ideas" whilst beats that wouldn't sound out of place on a Paula Abdul B-Side, flickered in the background like a broken neon sign.

Prince had done rap before but it was always his idea of rap, namely a mono-tonal conversational drawl as evidenced on "Irresistible Bitch", "Scarlet Pussy", "Annie Christian" and "Bob George". The twangy nasal vocal-stylings of the earlier "Dead On It" were always perceived to be a satire of the growing phenomenon of Gangsta Rap. Whilst 1987's "Dead On It" appeared to deride rap-culture, the 'Graffiti Bridge' album was the first to embrace hip-hop - ten years too late. Prince's new-found "rap-skills" always made you conscious that he was rapping about rapping. The toe-curlingly embarrassing "The Latest Fashion" features the following rhyme: "Its jacked, cause I'm back, and I'm harder than a heart attack, And I'm the cure for any disease, 'Cause there ain't nobody funky like me!". You can insert your own punchline.

Amidst the hodge-podge of cartoon-funk-lite and overblown synth-strings are some classic songs...

The Burn-Worthy

"The Question Of U" is lyrically trite but compensates with a haunting melody which wouldn't sound out of place, played on an alto-sax at Birdland.

"We Can Funk" hitches a ride to George Clinton's mothership and takes you on a welcome excursion from Prince's 70-minute id. Possibly the first time that a Prince collaboration hadn't swamped his artistic partner.

"Joy In Repetition" sounds completely out of place with the other over-glossed material and moreso with the knowledge that the song is a good few years older than the rest of the album. The insertion of the same party ambience from 'Lovesexy', only escalates the feeling that the song belongs to a better album. Prince does this confessional-story shtick well... "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker", "Anna Stesia", "Here On Earth"...

"Still Would Stand All Time". One of the prettiest of his most God-bothering moments. Not only was Prince baring his soul but he was baring his Soul in a completely unironic moment of gospel-tinged clarity. Whilst "The Ladder" smacks of the worst white-bread TV Evangelists' infommercials, "Still Would Stand All Time" conjured the raw-emotion of a Mahalia Jackson. When he hollers, "So many times, I thought I could not make it, Life was closing in, I just knew... I just knew I couldn't take it", you not only believe it but you feel it.

BinaryJustin said:

I've never been able 2 xplain 2 people why this is 1 of my least favorite Prince songs. U nailed what I was trying 2 say. Well done!

npgmaverick said:

Co-sign, really made sense of why I find this song annoyingly lacking in some department.

Great essay thus far, I look forward to reading more of it as you wade through the decade. Even though the 90's era was spotty, I truly love the Symbol-->Emancipation period. Graffiti Bridge, however, remains exactly as you've described it: Forced and recycled. Not to mention a total mess.

So far you make some interesting observations, and therefore... I'll keep reading. Kickass job so far!

BinaryJustin said:

Lyrically trite? WTF?

It would be trite if he was singing to a girl but he's singing to God. I think it is lyrically one of his very best in that context. You know, man questioning his role before God.

p.s I am enjoying your essay though

Im glad my appreciation of the 90's spawned your disertation.
Ill go ahead and keep digging the greatness of the mid 90's.

DarkKnight1 said:

dude, the 90's weren't bad, I agree.

I especially like his 1992 - 1995 streak. Hit or miss, but alot of fire in his material back then.

BinaryJustin said:

I have to disagree with you there.

The Gold Experience, The Truth, The Rainbow Children and NEWS are infinitely more satisfying.

Those four albums are as worthy as anything Prince has come up with thus far.

And for those who poo-poo NEWS. It is Prince's most daring work ever and was the biggest 'fuck you' statement he's ever made. It's a difficult journey to find NEWS's heart, but it's possibly one of the most satisfying Prince destinations you'll ever find. And for an artist of his calibre to create such a non commercial album at a time when he really needed a commercial album, well...

This analysis is one of the best I have read regarding this period and these records. While I don't necessarily agree with everything the observations are generally spot on and incisive, not to mention it's very well written.

Enigmoid said:

After Rave bombed he had no other choice. Giving up on desperately trying to record a hit album and then releasing something as unimaginative as NEWS I don't find very praise-worthy. Besides, he records crap like that all the time. This time he just decided to release it. Bad choice if you ask me.

BinaryJustin said:

I feel that the biggest problem with Graffiti Bridge was that at the time of it's release, any fan worth the name had already heard a number of the tracks on it via bootleg.

And as such, one could only judge the album by what we'd already heard.

'Can't Stop This Feeling I Got' was immediately a no-go cos we'd already heard the mid 80s version. 'We Can Funk' was crucified on Graffiti Bridge and everybody who was aware of the wonderful, sensual version that preceded it felt cheated. 'Joy In Repetition' lacked that wonderful, slow deliberate opening and therefore lacked part of it's previous enigma. 'The Question Of U' was also known before the album's release so it was no surprise that anybody who was a fan before 1990 and had eagerly awaited the album's release felt a sense of disappointment from an album that contained so many songs that we'd already heard before in bootleg-o-vision and had, for the most part, been bastardised to make them less interesting than what we'd already heard.

But ultimately, if you listen to Graffiti Bridge as someone who's never heard any outtake and listen to it as a stand-alone product, it is yet again a work of genius.

Yeah, 'Can't Stop This Feeling I Got' isn't as good as the bootleg version that we all know and love, but the GB version has an almost 1950s rock n roll feeling which echoes the vibe of Graffiti Bridge the movie. 'We Can Funk' may not have the same sensuality as the previous version, but it's as funky as hell. And as for 'Joy In Repetition', well the song is still there...

As an album, Graffiti Bridge is fascinating. 'Tick Tick Bang' and 'Elephants and Flowers' are like nothing Prince had ever come up with before. 'Still Would Stand All Time' is beautiful and 'Graffiti Bridge' must surely be the song that would have made the most perfect Christmas single.

Graffiti Bridge combines commercialism, some of Prince's finest art, his one-man-band production, song-writing and movie making skills (okay, the movie's a bit shite, but he still made it. I can't even begin to think how I'd go about making a movie).

Graffiti Bridge is a hindsight album of the highest calibre.

It stands as a tribute to a one man motown type enterprise.

btw, loving this thread. Thanks BinaryJustin

Enigmoid said:

If you believe that's true then Prince doesn't have many fans because I believe the vast majority never heard those tracks before. Anyway, the same could be said about TGE and Come. Do you think that was a problem too?

GB was just some weak shit.

RepoMan said:

Yes it was. And a lot of Prince fans felt the same way about Come and TGE as they did about GB; i.e. by the time those albums were released, we'd already heard most of the tracks and as great as it was to hear the songs in perfect quality, the thrill was reduced because we'd already heard the majority of the songs in question. It was only with hindsight that we could truly appreciate the albums for what they were.

And I'll say it again because it's a fact. Any fan worthy of the label really had already heard the GB tracks mentioned at the time of Graffiti Bridge the album. You can deny it if you want, but you'll only be deluding yourself. Graffiti Bridge was released during the golden age of Prince bootlegs. And a number of the tracks on the album had already been heard by most of the hardcore fans.

Enigmoid said:

So what is it? A fan or hard core fan? What's the definition of those terms? You seem to think that the opinion of a select group of fans is way more important than it really is.

Enigmoid said:

I didn't say that 'Batman' was his last good album, I just said it's the last "classic album".

The only track I'd heard prior to Graffiti Bridge's release was "Joy In Repetition". I didn't hear the other boots until later but that hasn't affected my feelings on the actual released songs on the album.

bkw said:

The sentiment behind the lyrics isn't trite but the words are. They're "June with Spoon" rhymes, as Yoko Ono stated of Paul Mc.Cartney's songs, the other week.

U, do, lost, cost, all, crawl...

1990 (Continued)...

"Thieves In The Temple" was a weak-choice for a lead-off single. The song sounded like a Kenny Loggins Power Ballad from the soundtrack of a mid-80s Jerry Bruckheimer movie: all pained guitars, big hair angst and bombastic drum-programming. The single had no new song as it's B-Side but offered an instrumental titled "Thieves In The Temple Part II" and a clutch of ill-judged house-remixes. None of it is essential listening.

The less said about "New Power Generation" as a choice of single, the better. However, it did have B-Sides in the form of reinterpretations of the A-side. He'd done this previously with the single releases of "Alphabet St." and "Glam Slam". However, where "This Is Not Music, This Is A Trip" and "Escape" had riffed upon and expanded the imagery of their respective original tracks, the "New Power Generation" bonus tracks were interpolations rather than remixes or extended jams. These were basically new songs fashioned from the beats, licks and grooves of the single's "Funky Weapon Remix".

"Get Off" plods on aimlessly, with Prince crooning uninspiring lyrics about how how "hip" he is and threatens laughably, "I'm equipped with a whip, I don't have to spank you, 'Coz this is my ship". Unfortunately, the S.S. Paisley Park was sinking fast. The track does feature a catchy hook which would resurface again on another track, the year after. This truly was the decade of repetition.

The Burn-Worthy

Disregarding the hammer-over-the-head remix of the main track, the pointless meandering raps and the bizarre "Get Off", one jewel remains...

"Loveleft, Loveright" is better than 90% of the tracks on 'Graffiti Bridge'. A swimming, groovy nursery rhyme about Prince instigating a menage a trois. There's no message or intent behind the song, it's just a dark, funky, sleazy party jam. It stands in the same corner as an "Erotic City", "Irresistible Bitch" or a "Scarlet Pussy". With this one track, there was still a glimmer of hope that the genius remained.

RepoMan said:

Spoken like a true fan!
[Edited 10/22/05 5:44am]

Cant stop the feeling i got = pure joy.

That song captures joy, just listen to Prince's excitement, its infectious.

Still Would Stand All Time = Prince's all time greatest song IMO.
Beautiful...touches the heart and soul.
[Edited 10/22/05 14:33pm]

After Lovesexy Prince really took somewhat of a break, most of the material found on Batman & Graffiti Bridge were ubreleased bootlegs. That's why I found Diamonds & Pearls so refreshing. But for some strange reason people want 2 shit on that masterpiece as well. I guess some people will never be satisfied.