The New Power Generation – Cream

After the lackluster success of "Lovesexy" followed by the triple platinum sales of Prince's soundtrack to "Batman", Prince needed to prove that "Batman" was just as much a success because of him and not just because the movie was a blockbuster. Prince knew that his follow-up would make or break him... Fortunately, his marketing savvy was right on this time (it isn't always... think "Under The Cherry Moon") and Prince played it to the fullest, releasing "Gett Off," which regained his credibility at clubs and with R&B radio and firmly established the New Power Generation as a worthy successor to the Revolution. But Prince still needed another "Kiss" or "When Doves Cry" and he knew it. Reportedly, Prince had already written "Diamonds and Pearls" with the intention of it being the album’s big song, but he felt that he needed something faster as he felt ballads were harder to 'break' at radio.

"Cream" was written with the intention of being Prince’s 'comeback' hit and that it was. "Cream" ended up being exactly what Prince needed to regain credibility with mainstream/top 40 audiences and the public in general: it shot to #1, went gold, and pushed the related album "Diamonds and Pearls," to the top five and multi-platinum status. To boot, the remixes of "Cream" (elsewhere in Ogs) kept him alive in the club scene, with his first official domestic (US) release that included trance mixes of one of his songs. "Cream" may sound light & fluffy at first, but that's about the only similarity it has to namesake... for Prince and the NPG this was the whole sundae... including the cream on top.