Released: August 21, 1990

Songwriter: Prince

Producer: Prince

[Intro]
Lay down your funky weapon
Yeah y'all, here we go
Pumping the big noise in the 90's

[Verse 1]
Pardon me for living, but this is my world too
I can't help that what's cool to us might be strange to you
Pardon me for breathing, can we borrow some of your air?
The problem with you and your kind is that you don't know love is there

[Pre-Chorus]
Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor
Making love and music's the only things worth fighting for

[Chorus]
We are the new power generation, we want to change the world
The only thing that's in our way is you
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas
We're sick and tired of you telling us what to do

[Verse 2]
Pardon me for thinking, but there's something under my hair
I bet you thought the lights were on but no one's living there
You think that if you tell enough lies they will see the truth?
I hope they bury your old ideas the same time they bury you

[Pre-Chorus]
Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor
Making love and music's the only things worth fighting for

[Chorus]
We are the new power generation, we want to change the world
The only thing that's in our way is you
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas
We're sick and tired of you telling us what to do

[Interlude]
We are the new
We are the new, we are the new
Making love and music
New power, we stand

[Verse 3]
Pardon us for caring, we didn't know it was against the rules (shout it out)
If we only want to love one another
Then tell me now who's the fool (tell me, tell me)
No father, no mother, no sister, no brother, nobody can make me stop
Said if you didn't come to party child, I think you better get up of my block

[Pre-Chorus]
Lay down your funky weapon, come join us on the floor
Making love and music's the only things worth fighting for

[Chorus]
We are the new power generation, we want to change the world
The only thing that's in our way is you
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas
We're sick and tired of you telling us what to do
We are the new power generation, we want to change the world
Go on and get up off my block
The only thing that's in our way is you
Get up off my block, because
Your old fashioned music, your old ideas
Love is there if you'd just open up to it
We're sick and tired of you telling us what to do
If you'd just believe your whole world would change

[Outro]
New power generation, you've got to rearrange
We are the new power generation, you've got to give up all the fight
We are the new power generation
We got to try to love one another, baby
We are the new power generation
We are the new power generation

Prince

An American singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and actor that produced 22 RIAA-platinum albums during his 40-year career, Prince may be known for one of many different things – his turn as “The Kid” in the iconic film/album/8 ½ minute ballad “Purple Rain”, being the writer behind the acclaimed anthem “Kiss,” rivaling Michael Jackson at the pinnacle of his career, being the inspiration behind censorship laws, or being the artist addressed as an unpronounceable symbol throughout the 1990s—but while many know of Prince, most don’t fully understand the impact his legacy left on this world.

Going by many aliases throughout his life, Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 7, 1958 with his father’s (John L. Nelson) stage name as his own given one. Growing up, Prince suffered from serious epileptic seizures at a very young age, but he had wrote his first composition of many by age seven, and outside of his love for basketball, he wanted music to be his purpose in life. His tumultuous childhood, witnessing alcoholism and abuse, caused him to find refuge in neighbor André Cymone’s home in his teens, where the two competed in local band competitions, leading to Prince’s introduction to Morris Day alongside music with his cousin’s band 94 East, leading him to be courted by record labels and ultimately signed to Warner Bros. Records with complete creative control; at 19, his debut album, For You (1978) was released – Prince played all 19 instruments on the record.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis, Rick James, and James Brown, Prince desired to form a music dynasty and after the success of his next albums – the platinum-selling Prince (1979), the sexually-charged Dirty Mind (1980), and politically-motivated Controversy (1981) – he negotiated for the ability to form his own label and manage artists of his own. Prince’s trademark sexual/religious rhetoric within pop-and-dance, funk-rock sound gained him a following, but his opening slates for Rick James and The Rolling Stones were both negatively received and facing bankruptcy, the young artist began to reach for mainstream popularity. Cashing on the drug-influenced doomsday mania of the times, 1982’s 1999 easily achieved that mainstream appeal, landing him on MTV, music charts, and radio stations across the world.