Forward thinking: Prince and the Revolution in Nice, 1985. Photograph: Richard Melloul/Corbis
It used to be said that Prince was 10 years ahead of his time. Even when he released a disappointing single, the critics would agree it was only bad "by his standards". But then, somewhere in the early 90s, the public decided that the future was welcome to all the synth-funk workouts it wanted (and, five centuries later, Buck Rogers seemed pretty grateful).
It may be coincidence, but at exactly the same time, rifts began to appear between the artist (or, as he would soon become, The Artist) and his record label, Warner Bros. To cut a long and winding story short, in 1993 Prince cunningly changed his name on the basis that "the company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince." He wrote 'Slave' on his cheek for a bit, released records via his own NPG label and later started selling them direct to fans over the internet.
Is any of this beginning to sound familiar? In 1993, Prince was universally dismissed by all but the most ardent fans as an egomaniac in loonpants. But substitute EMI for Warner Bros and Radiohead, Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams or Kate Bush for Prince, and the boot is now squarely on the other foot. Guy Hands is now wearing the loonpants. As Prince proved during his O2 Arena stint and album giveaway, it's just taken the rest of the industry 15 years to catch up with his business model. Robbie Williams' manager Tim Clark even pulled out the 'Slave' routine in comparing Guy Hands to "a plantation owner". Pathetically, EMI leaked a story about paving the roads of China with unsold Robbie Williams CDs in response.
But it wasn't just Prince blazing a trail for the artist back in the 90s. In 1991 George Michael was the biggest British recording artist of his generation, touring the number one album Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 around the world. But Vol.2 never appeared, amid claims that Sony weren't supporting him as they should do when it came to promotion. (Hear that, Sir Macca?) At the time, Michael - like Prince - was dismissed as getting "too big for his boots".
Now who's laughing? If they really are ahead of their times, by 2023 expect to see Radiohead suing everyone on the internet and Robbie Williams sending himself up on Christmas comedy specials. But don't expect them to release anything decent in the meantime.
