19871991Sign o' the Times, released in 1987 as a double album, reached the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and achieved the greatest critical acclaim of his career, topping the annual and highly reputable Pazz & Jop critics poll, reaching the top 100 of Rolling Stone's list and The All-TIME 100 Albums of TIME Magazine, which declared it was the best album of the 1980s.
Following the album, Prince launched the Sign o' the Times Tour in Europe. At the end of the last tour Prince disbanded his long-time performance band, known since the release of the movie and album Purple Rain as The Revolution (although 'The Revolution' is mentioned on the album 1999), and parted ways with Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman, Bobby Z Rivkin, and Mark Brown (Brown Mark). His follow-up live performance band retained Matt Fink on keyboards, and added Boni Boyer on keyboards, Sheila E on drums, Levi Seacer, Jr. on bass, and Miko Weaver on guitar.
1987 saw the potential for two of pop's biggest stars coming together to perform a duet. Michael Jackson talked with Prince about performing a duet together for the title track of his new album Bad. However, Jackson and Prince ended up having creative differences, and Jackson ended up cutting the title track for the album on his own.
Also in 1987, Prince planned to release The Black Album, a funk-oriented album whose erotically-charged lyrics and club-focused beats were perceived by many as his attempt to woo back the black audience he was supposed to have lost with his mid-80s forays into rock, pop and psychedelia. In reality, it was a collection of random tracks recorded during the previous few years, some of which had initially been created for Sheila E's birthday party in 1986. The album's release was suddenly cancelled at Prince's behest mere days before its intended release. While many manufactured copies were meant to be destroyed, several escaped and became the source for numerous bootleg editions. The album circulated through the bootleg underground music world until it was finally given an official release in 1994. Prince later attributed his eleventh-hour request that the album be pulled from release to a spiritual epiphany, but rumors still abound that this epiphany was in fact the product of a bad experience with the drug Ecstasy.
The 1988 album Lovesexy was Prince's spiritual answer to the dark message of The Black Album. Lovesexy was a disappointment in its chart performance, only reaching number eleven on the Billboard 200, but reaching number one in the UK. (One track from The Black Album, When 2 R in Love, also appeared on Lovesexy.) The Lovesexy World Tour's portion in the U.S. also proved to be commercial disappointment. Prince lost money as dates failed to sell out. Prince recouped his losses with the European and Japanese legs of the tour.
In 1989, Prince would record the soundtrack for Batman, which would return him to the top of the U.S. album charts at number one, with the single and worldwide hit Batdance reaching number one of the Billboard Hot 100, while another track, Partyman which featured the vocals of his then girlfriend Anna Garcia would be the most remembered song from the film. On September 24, Prince performed on Saturday Night Live the song Electric Chair after having been introduced by Batman co-star Jerry Hall. Prince next released the film sequel to Purple Rain, titled Graffiti Bridge, which performed poorly at the box office. The soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge featured Prince and other artists such as Tevin Campbell, Mavis Staples of the Staple Singers, and Morris Day and The Time. It would reach a chart peak of number six in the U.S. and number one in the UK. He also collaborated with Madonna on her Like a Prayer album for the song entitled Love Song.
Miles Davis was a huge fan, proclaiming Prince to be the most exciting artist of his time, and saying that he could be another Duke Ellington. The two were planning to collaborate on an album prior to Davis's death, but plans fell through; this album would eventually become Davis' 1986 release Tutu. [citation needed]
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