Prince introduced the blackest band of his career on Diamonds and Pearls, his first album not billed as a solo effort since Prince and the Revolution’s Parade (1986). He’d enjoyed a creative and cultural cachet tantamount to The Beatles after Purple Rain, which wore off by 1991. Here, he’d compete with hip-hop (meet rapper Tony M!) and the harder beats of new jack swing (meet drummer Michael B!), updating his sound and reclaiming his African American audience in one fell swoop. Proving he could produce hits whenever he felt like it, “Cream” went straight to number one.

– Miles Marshall Lewis