Publication: USA Today [US]
Date: September 11, 1991
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Title: "In Prince's palace; A personal peek inside Paisley Park"
Interviewed By: Edna Gundersen

Prince is sipping hot tea in his softly lit recording studio. The unrelentingly steamy lyrics of Insatiable, from his upcomingDiamonds and Pearlsalbum, pervade the room: Like a wildcat in a celibate rage/I want U alone in my dirty little cage.

''There I go corrupting children again,'' he cracks, adding abruptly, ''Want me to skip to the next song?''

''Why, are you embarrassed?''

He shakes his head. It's hard to imagine what would embarrass pop's controversial Sultan of Seduction, whose erotic stage vignettes and sexual lyrics have thrilled fans and appalled parents since 1980's Dirty Mind reveled in oral sex, incest and carnal kicks.Princesays he's never self- conscious performing sexy material. ''When I'm onstage, the audience has come into my room. I'm in control.''

Notoriously press-phobic and as inaccessible as Michael Jackson,Prince, 33, has managed huge critical support and commercial success without courting the media. Yet today he is granting a rare behind-the-scenes audience at his 65,000-square-foot, pyramid-peaked Paisley Park empire. He's imposed awkward conditions: no notebooks or tape recorders (forcing frantic scribbling during breaks).

Throughout a daylong encounter,Princelaughs easily and is surprisingly chatty and polite while maintaining an aristocratic air.

Pungent incense burning nearby competes with a heady cologne of exotic spice and wildflowers. He's in canary yellow - snug pants, a billowy shirt knotted at the midriff and spike-heeled boots. The ''typhoon'' bouffant he sported at the afternoon's tour rehearsals lies collapsed on his forehead in a sprawl of curls.

''I'm creating a sound nobody's heard before,'' he says as Daddy Pop explodes from the speakers. ''There aren't a lot of electronics this time. I'm bored with electronics.''

Unlike 1989's Batman and 1990's Graffiti Bridge, Diamonds was not tethered to a film, leavingPrincefree to explore new realms.

''Making hits is the easiest thing I could do,'' he says. ''But it's like taking a ribbon for a race someone else won. I can't do that. I can't repeat myself.''

Whether baring his royal hiney in a peek-a-boo costume at last week's MTV awards show or crooning a jazz ballad (Strollin') that would fit on a Bing Crosby record,Princeis fearlessly inventive.

And prolific. Diamonds is his fifth album in five years. He'll tour in October. He oversees the Paisley Park entertainment complex and his Glam Slam nightclub, whips up eye-popping videos, produces new artists and collaborates with everyone from Madonna to Miles Davis.

''I can't wait four years between records,'' he says. ''What am I going to do for four years? I'd just fill up the vault with more songs.''

At last count, the vault held 385 unreleased finished recordings. (The locked safe is tucked in a trophy room crammed with awards, gold records, Grammys and his Purple Rain Oscar, which bears a warning label: ''Do Not Touch.'' Scarves are draped from the ceiling. The floor is strewn with flower petals.)

Pop's most enigmatic figure is effusive about his music, stiffening only when the conversation drifts toward formal interrogation: ''This isn't an interview,is it?'' he asks curtly.

He's mum on his love life. Still, sex is a running theme, even in unrelated topics. The bond with his New Power Generation band is ''a lot like copulation. When Jon Bon Jovi asked me if he could do a song with my band, I went, what? No! It was like he wanted to make love to my woman.''

Princeis less voluble on the subject of religion and his tendency to entwine sacred and sexual themes in song and onstage.He's also vague on specifics of a recent spiritual transformation. He refers to a vision - of a vast field with the letters G-O-D hovering overhead - that led him to shelve the so-called Black Album, a raunchy hard funk collection.

The now widely bootlegged record reflected negative and angry aspects of his former personality, he says. Lovesexy chronicled a spiritual renewal, lavishly re-enacted in the tour that followed.

''The Lovesexy tour was hard,'' he says. ''I was reliving this metamorphosis every night. It was draining.''

Upstairs in his spacious office,Princescreens new videos. The room is a neo-psychedelic boudoir. A peace sign is embedded in the door's stained-glass panel, and a giant heart-shaped mirror hangs over a bed crowded with pillows. Another bed and a plush divan occupy distant corners. Harlequins and a stuffed rabbit are propped on shelves alongside videos and CDs.

Gangster Glam's images ofPrincepoolside at home flicker on the monitor. Smitten with theatrics and Broadway-scale grandeur,Princehas recently immersed himself in a series of plot-connected videos. But he's not actively constructing a movie, he emphasizes. Last year's critically savaged Graffiti Bridge, which bombed at the box office, is still a sore subject that stokes his defensive ire.

''Graffiti Bridge was not a failure,''Princesays, calling the movie ''one of the purest, most spiritual, uplifting things I've ever done. It was non-violent, positive and had no blatant sex scenes. Maybe it will take people 30 years to get it. They trashed The Wizard of Oz at first too.''

Negative attitudes poison the entertainment industry, he says. ''I always see myself described as arrogant or pretentious. I just do what I want. I don't consider that arrogance.

''We should stop arguing and stop attacking each other. The first time I heard Yoko Ono sing, I went, hey, you got to quit that - today! But I had to stop myself. How can I say she shouldn't sing? Maybe she feels a strong need to express herself.''

He is charitable toward peers, heaping praise on George Clinton, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O'Connor, Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle (''fire just pours out of her''). Miles Davis ''can do more in 10 minutes of playing than anybody who ever put lips to a horn can do in a lifetime.''

He's also enthusiastic about NPG (''the best band I've ever had'') and the stable of female artists he's cultivated, including Martika, Ingrid Chavez and soon-to-debut rapper Carmen.

''Carmen's dangerous,'' he says, admitting, ''Women want to work with me more often than men. Women understand me better. They're less threatened by me.''

He's not dismayed by pop's current crop of manufactured videogenic stars. ''Education is the real problem,'' says the self-taught prodigy, who played all the instruments on his early recordings. ''Nobody's learning how to make music, how to read and write it, and how to play. I worry that we're raising a whole generation that's going to turn out nothing but samples and rehashes.''

With that remark,Princesnaps off the TV and prepares to leave. The office is nearly dark, and Paisley Park is deserted. His band has headed to a concert, butPrinceis going home to work on a video. ''No sleep again tonight,'' he mutters.

Lots of exposure

- New album:Diamonds and Pearls,due Oct. 1.

- New single: Cream, out today.

- Current video: The Roman-orgy Gett Off, airing on MTV.

- New home video: Five-clip Gett Off compilation, in stores this week. Uncensored, 30 minutes, includes Violet the Organ Grinder and Clockin' the Jizz.

- Upcoming tour: First U.S. outing since 1988's Lovesexy tour starts in October.Princeand his New Power Generation will perform new songs and older hits.