A Look Back At Prince's 'Diamonds and Pearls' 25 Years Later

(Radio.com) Twenty five years ago this weekend (October 1), Prince released Diamonds and Pearls, his first album with his longtime backing band, the New Power Generation. The album, which spawned a number of hit singles, went double platinum and saw him incorporating hip-hop elements into his music.

"23 positions in a one-night stand." Any notions that Prince had lost his early '80s edge with the decidedly more spiritual and less carnal emphasis found on albums like Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge were smashed with the release of the single 'Gett Off" in the sweltering heat of the summer of 1991.

Rumbling over a bottom-heavy New Jack Swing beat and eerie flute melody, this was the Prince that had both thrilled and scandalized listeners with songs like 'Head" and 'Darling Nikki." He hammered home that point with a legendary performance of the song on the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards [watch the semi-NSFW performance here]. Clad in his notorious a�less lace pants amidst a stage populated by writhing half-naked dancers, it was part musical performance, part stage version of Caligula. But Prince's 'Gett Off" stole the show from the first flash of his bare butt. It was not exactly a "comeback," since he never stopped clocking Top 10 hits in the years after Purple Rain, but 'Gett Off" let it be known in no uncertain terms that Prince was still remarkably relevant. And that he could still get racy. But like the best Prince albums, Diamonds and Pearls had lots of shades and styles. Read more here.

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