It's a mistake to look at Prince's music in terms of 80's and 90's. Perhaps it's better to judge it on an album by album basis or perhaps even by era. Admittedly, my favorite era is the mid 80's, including albums such as Purple Rain, Parade, Sign 'O the Times and most of the boots and b-sides from that time. However, my next favorite era is the music from the early to mid 90's. Therefore, it would be unfair for me to claim 80's Prince is my favorite when there are so many songs from the 90's that I'd place above some of his 80's output. For instance, albums like Contraversy, ATWIAD, The Black Album, ect. are good overall but not every single track is classic IMO. I'm sure MOST people would agree that Prince's best music isn't everything from the 80's in various order followed by the 90's and so on, all perfect and precise.

That's why it's funny when I read things like "that's one of Prince's best songs of the 90's" and I'll think that's one of his best songs EVER. Songs such as Theives in the Temple, 7, Shy, Come On, In This Bed I Scream, The Love We Make and others are among his best. Now whether they're as good as his VERY best is another story, but they're atleast as good as some very good songs from the 80's. I'll even concede that Prince's better songs aren't as plentiful as they used to be, but they're there and in large enough quantity that they shouldn't be tossed aside as if they doon't matter!

Every artist is at their best in their 20's and 30's (unless they get a late start or don't make it that far). It just happened to be the 80's and the Revolution happened to be the band at the time.