What does everyone think the worst Prince period has been?

I've got two:

Batman through (and ending with) the Gold Experience. A time when he seemed so desperate for a hit, was losing patience with the WB, and struggled awkwardly to integrate hip hop into his sound. A few gems came through, but otherwsise, we got a whole lot of filler.

Second: Emancipation through Musicology (and, yes, that includes TRC, though he at least found his musical groove back on that one, even if he'd lost the plot lyrically). Same thoughts on filler apply, although I think I prefer this era because he least seemed to be following his own muse, experimenting, and generally risking failure to grow a bit as an artist.

my first worst: The wannabe hip-hop period around between The Gold Experience and Emancipation.

second worst: The way over commerical Diamonds & Pearls and

Though there were a few gems in both, for the most part it was a struggle to remain as fanatical as I was about his 80s stuff.

I would say the year of emancipation and the jam of the year tour was kind of boring in songs, although his performance was still intense.

I loved when the music club had its download shows with new songs and stuff, that was a fun time.

MendesCity said:

I agree with you but I would say that the first period ended with the Come album which I really like.
In the second period I think he had some very strong songs on The Chocolate Invasion and The Slaughterhouse Albums but most songs he released to the general public were mediocre.

The 90's hands down.
Except for "7" and "Face Down"

theplejades said:

I forgot about Come...I'm with ya!

For Prince, if he had released the diamonds and pearls material with some of the material from the symbol record as a single cd, then come , then the gold experience, then emancipation, the truth as a seperate commercial release and then the rainbow children.

If this was the 90s, it would have been spectacular. unfortunately he ruined it with chaos, nps, rave

DynamicSavior said:

For the entire 90's all you can come up with is that? Face Down?

I'd say the worst period is obviously the late 90's NPS, Rave, High.

Emancipation through TRC, or roughly '96-2001. I just don't really like anything from that era, with Chaos and Disorder being the lone exception.

Sure, there were some gems here and there, and one of the best Prince songs ever came out of that period (The Love We Make), but otherwise... to my ears at least, it was all pretty dire.

NoTime2Hate said:

Absolutely.

I was tempted to say the "For You" and "Prince" period but "Prince" is actually one of my favorites.

The "Rave" period.

By far the Larry Graham/Kirky J. period, until The Rainbow Children. During this period, Prince wasn't showing any true musical ambition. He contented himself with the overly familiar, revisiting traditions without putting an original twist to them and using subpar production values.

But that was only the worst. There was a first period, the GB/Diamonds and Pearls/Symbol years. Although these albums contained some great songs, they also had a lot of indulgent, overproduced or pedestrian material that would not have been worthy of a b side ten years before.

Come and TGE provided a somewhat short and not totally fulfilling respite before it was back to the same problem of overproduction and throwaway tracks with Emancipation, which at least had a good number of worthy but badly produced songs. Of course Kirky J. was already around. When Larry came, we got NPS and the early NPGMC stuff.
[Edited 2/25/06 18:24pm]

MendesCity said:

in each of those, you combines like 3 periods in one. I'd have to go with the Dirty Mind and Controversy period.

The late 90's, 1996-2001. The music sounded flat and boring. Kirky J and Larry Graham, man how could things not go wrong with that combo? Plus, the whole suing websites thing was very unsettling. Just a very rough time to be a fan.
[Edited 2/25/06 19:06pm]

as several others have said, the Larry through TRC period.

The 1990s.

the entire period.

nurse said:

We Prince fans are really spoiled. Imagine being a M jackson fan or a Dangelo fan? Damn.....I'll take any and everything I can get from Prince. I want it ALL!

MendesCity said:

This is it for me.

whodknee said:

Hell yes! That period was the worst. Emancipation, too, to usher it all in. The Crystal Ball fiasco...The Truth being so overtweaked in the studio...NPS sucking my ass dry...Rave Un2 being shit...Rave In2 being slightly less stinky shit...all the "High" material, which blew...the aborted Crystal Ball 2 and Roadhouse Garden shit...ugh...the Kirky J. shitty band...did I mention shit?

I remember attending a GREAT show at Paisley the weekend before Rave came out. Prince played a bunch of the songs live, and they sounded FIERCE. Baby Knows sounded like masterful blues...so much raw guitar. Then the album came out. SNORE.

Thank god for TRC! And even NEWS, as much as I hate it, seems to have given Prince some musicianship fuel...

MendesCity said:

So 2 u Prince has been crap since 1989.

None really
For every Chaos and Disorder we have a Come or Disc 2 of Emancipation, so Come to now is mediocre, still u could make up a great 2cds of Gems from this period. Prince to 1988 is superior on the other hand.

I take back my earlier answer....in terms of sheer awfulness and stupidity, I'd have to say his worst period is from exactly when Graffiti Bridge first premiered (specifically that TERRIBLE Tick, Tick, Bang performance...dear lord...) until the moment he finished shooting 3 Chains O' Gold. Prince will not be forgiven by these sins, not by God nor Man...

rudeboynpg said:

Not at all. Like I said, I love The Gold Experience, and think it was sort of the fruition of everything he was struggling with, but like that was his final exorcism of it. I love a lot about Come, Chaos & Disorder, TRC and a good portion of the "High" tracks. And I think Musicology was pretty damned great, and am definitely looking forward to 3121.

MendesCity said:

Okay, cool. Keep an open mind and an open ear.

Everything after Lovesexy has been old ground re-tread.... with the possible exception of: TRC, NEWS, One Nite Alone, The Truth and Xpectation.... or whatever the fuck it was called. All 'mainstream' releases have exposed Prince's shortcomings and all 'club' releases have been, in the main, material we all own through bootleg.

Teaming up with Larry Grahm

Oh, the Come/Cold Experience/Exodus period was interesting... but nothing new 'musically' occurred then.