Funk / Pop / R&B · 1990s Career
Prince spent the 1990s pushing against industry control, changing his public name, releasing music at a relentless pace and continuing to blur the lines between funk, rock, soul and electronic pop.
Diamonds and Pearls
The 1991 album brought major commercial success with the New Power Generation and showed Prince adapting to contemporary R&B without losing his signature musical identity.
The symbol era
His dispute with Warner Bros. became one of the decade’s most famous artist-versus-label conflicts, symbolized by his decision to use an unpronounceable symbol as his name.
Why the decade matters
Prince turned artistic ownership itself into part of his public story and remained one of popular music’s strongest advocates for creative independence.