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Thu 19 June 2025 3:00, UK
Legit, the 1990s were a pretty catastrophic time to have been massive in the 1980s. While the megastars of the decade that taste forgot didn’t all fall by the wayside after the next one began, precious few of them remained as relevant and beloved as they had been previously. One of the best examples of this is, heartbreakingly enough, Prince.
The diminutive icon began the decade continuing his late 1980s hot streak, even securing a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 in the form of ‘Cream’. However, this wouldn’t last. As the 1990s went on, Prince’s legendary productivity only got more and more overwhelming, and he expected his record label to release everything he provided them, but Warner Bros were getting cold feet.
By 1993, Prince records weren’t selling the way that they used to. Obviously, they weren’t flopping, but selling just under three million copies of 1992’s Love Symbol after Diamonds and Pearls had done over double those numbers in a single year previously was an alarming slump. The label reasoned that people needed a little time to miss Prince and tactfully suggested that they hold off on releasing a new album for a while.
Naturally, the gracious musician took this with understanding and maturity. Thanking his label for being a reasonable collaborator, trying to get the best out of their…
Just kidding, he started making public appearances with the word “slave” written on his face. Why didn’t he just take them to court? Because another icon of the 1980s had done exactly that at around the same time, and it did not go well for him.
Why didn’t Prince sue his record label?
In an illuminating interview with Q magazine conducted in 1995, Prince discusses his issues with his label with quite alarming candour. The interviewer, David Cavanagh, zeroes in on the point by asking why he’s acting out in public this way, why not just take them to court? The artist formerly known as ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’ answered in a way that’s weirdly heartwarming.
He said, “It isn’t a case. It’s not going to go to court. You see, George Michael…”; according to Cavanagh, Prince took a moment to breathe and collect himself at this point. “Even mentioning his name makes me angry. One of the most brilliant songwriters, and look what they did to him. Now he can’t make music. But he went a different route to me. I told him, ‘You don’t have to go to court’, but he did, because he thought he could win.”
This is, tragically, true. In 1990, Michael released Listen Without Prejudice Vol 1, a masterpiece of the era and a smash hit despite, in Michael’s eyes, the best efforts of its label. He took Sony to court over their mishandling of the record and ultimately lost, leading to a six-year period where he couldn’t release music.
Prince, a man with oceans of respect for the work of George Michael, didn’t want to make the same mistakes the ‘Freedom!’ hitmaker had. Instead, he put the pressure on his label as a public spectacle. While it destroyed his reputation for a few years, he was dropped from Warner Bros in 1996, the name of the first album released after that, on his own label? Emancipation.
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