When Prince says that his music hasn't changed much, I think this is largely true.

It occured to me that many of these albums Prince has given us that we dismiss as "mediocre" these days would have been looked upon as absolutely BRILLIANT in 1985 as a followup to Purple Rain.

OK. Maybe not "Rainbow Children".

But what if "3121", "Planet Earth" or "Musicology" was released in '85?

What albums do you think would have been a huge success as a Purple Rain followup?

Heck, I think even "Chocolate Invasion" or "Slaughterhouse" would have been hugely successful (and perhaps, even moreso than the above 3 mentioned...)

To answer your question: NO !

and:

"The Rainbow Children" (9),

- is better - imo - than:

"Musicology" (7)

"3121" (5)

"Planet Earth" (5)

"20Ten" (7)

I believe everyone of these albums would have been a huge "miss",

even if they were released when Prince was at his peak (1980-1988).

They have some great songs alright, but are still as albums pretty weak. None of these have the famous "Prince sound", and none of these includes a big "Hit".

mydrawers said:

When Prince says that his music hasn't changed much, I think this is largely true.

It occured to me that many of these albums Prince has given us that we dismiss as "mediocre" these days would have been looked upon as absolutely BRILLIANT in 1985 as a followup to Purple Rain.

OK. Maybe not "Rainbow Children".

But what if "3121", "Planet Earth" or "Musicology" was released in '85?

What albums do you think would have been a huge success as a Purple Rain followup?

Heck, I think even "Chocolate Invasion" or "Slaughterhouse" would have been hugely successful (and perhaps, even moreso than the above 3 mentioned...)

You are seriously 41 years old and you think Chocolate Invasion would've been successful in 1985? The mind baffles at some of you pressed stans.

Just remember hit album doesn't always mean great album.

20Ten could've been a hit in 1985

802 said:

LOtUSFLOW3R (single disc) is the only one I see that could have been a hit in 1985. 20Ten not too far behind.

You simply can't compare.

The era and vibe that something is released in is every bit as important that the quality of the record itself.

1999 released now would probably go unnoticed. It was only fresh then. It was of its time, or in the case of some classics, one step ahead.

Anything Prince released as the follow up to Purple Rain would have been a hit I reckon. So it's good that he went with something slightly experimental, but not too far distant from the Purple Rain sound in ATWIAD

So on that note, I'm with Victor on this one. The Lotusflow3r album is definitely his strongest of the past 12 years in my opinion and would have been viewed as a strong follow up to Purple Rain (if perhaps not as groundbreaking). While ATWIAD is considered the 'psychodelic' follow up to Purple Rain, Lotusflow3r may have been viewed as more 'jazz-rock-fusiony' follow up...

But yeah, this is a hard question. Squirrel's right - Context plays a huge part in all of this.

[Edited 6/28/11 7:17am]

Given that a lot of Prince's fans were teenagers or younger in 1985, I don't think his recent work would have met with a great reception. I was 11 when ATWIAD came out and was fascinated by the sense of freedom and discovery in songs like "Paisley Park" and "Raspberry Beret." I don't think I would have found 3121 interesting at all. As a middle-aged married dude I can relate better to his recent work but it would have seemed lame back then.

toejam said:

Anything Prince released as the follow up to Purple Rain would have been a hit I reckon.

Agreed.

Also, I never really understand these types of questions - would these type of songs and albums even have been recorded by Prince then - they're made with the experience and knowledge of everything that came before, so it's not like you can transplant TRC or NEWS into 1985 and say 'ta-dah!', it doesn't work.

mydrawers said:

When Prince says that his music hasn't changed much, I think this is largely true.

It occured to me that many of these albums Prince has given us that we dismiss as "mediocre" these days would have been looked upon as absolutely BRILLIANT in 1985 as a followup to Purple Rain.

OK. Maybe not "Rainbow Children".

But what if "3121", "Planet Earth" or "Musicology" was released in '85?

What albums do you think would have been a huge success as a Purple Rain followup?

Heck, I think even "Chocolate Invasion" or "Slaughterhouse" would have been hugely successful (and perhaps, even moreso than the above 3 mentioned...)

Well, I really like Musicology, 3121 and the Lotusflower/Mplsound stuff. They are all very solid albums IMO. I think with WB behind those projects, I think the promotion and single choices would have been better. Mtv would have the videos in heavy rotation and Prince would be rocking them with that 85 energy he had. Sure, a let down from the phenomenon of PR, but the albums would have sold well and would have given us a classic or two. I love ATWIAD as a brave followup to PR, but I think the albums I mentioned had more hit potential.

[Edited 6/28/11 10:10am]

I think that either 3121 or LotusFlow3r would've been hits in 1985. They kind asorta fit the sound he went for with Around The World in A Day. 3121 has black sweat, te amo corazon, the title track and the dance. Lotus had colonized mind, crimson and clover, and feel good feel better.

Welcome2daRevolution said:

mydrawers said:

When Prince says that his music hasn't changed much, I think this is largely true.

It occured to me that many of these albums Prince has given us that we dismiss as "mediocre" these days would have been looked upon as absolutely BRILLIANT in 1985 as a followup to Purple Rain.

OK. Maybe not "Rainbow Children".

But what if "3121", "Planet Earth" or "Musicology" was released in '85?

What albums do you think would have been a huge success as a Purple Rain followup?

Heck, I think even "Chocolate Invasion" or "Slaughterhouse" would have been hugely successful (and perhaps, even moreso than the above 3 mentioned...)

Well, I really like Musicology, 3121 and the Loutflower/Mplsound stuff. They are all very solid albums IMO. I think with WB behind those projects, I think the promotion and single choices would have been better. Mtv would have the videos in heavy rotation and Prince would be rocking them with that 85 energy he had. Sure, a let down from the phenomenon of PR, but the albums would have sold well and would have given us a classic or two. I love ATWIAD as a brave followup to PR, but I think the albums I mentioned had more hit potential.

I agree.

I also was just thinking about something like this, a few weeks ago.

[Edited 6/28/11 10:03am]

You know what? More than anything, Prince would have better executed his ideas back in 1985 than he has on material since then. Most recent Prince songs are only a couple of f**k ups away from being pretty great.

NouveauDance said:

toejam said:

Anything Prince released as the follow up to Purple Rain would have been a hit I reckon.

Agreed.

Also, I never really understand these types of questions - would these type of songs and albums even have been recorded by Prince then - they're made with the experience and knowledge of everything that came before, so it's not like you can transplant TRC or NEWS into 1985 and say 'ta-dah!', it doesn't work.

We're creating a "mystical, fantasy" world with this thread - we are assuming just for a minute that it is possible to do JUST THAT.

NouveauDance said:

Also, I never really understand these types of questions - would these type of songs and albums even have been recorded by Prince then - they're made with the experience and knowledge of everything that came before, so it's not like you can transplant TRC or NEWS into 1985 and say 'ta-dah!', it doesn't work.

Very true. I think its clear his mindset was different back then, the albums mentioned, played apart in awhole nother time in his life, not to mention that they would have been sorely outta place in the 80's

Totally pointless hypothesis!

The Rainbow children would never have been a hit except for members of the JW cult, its shit. I think only the really dancy songs and albums would have hit in 1985, same with the heavier rock. A lot of his funk lite and sexy ballads, along with the neer rap stuff like Mr Goodnight would have flopparooed.

If he has released the 2000s line up in the 80s, he would have only a been a big star as perhaps Cyndi Lauper or the Thompson Twins rather than what he was. Black Sweat may have cracked Pop top 5, but his music now was too black for the 80s, he would have seen Soul singles success but very little Top 100 action, Prince would have been marginalised as a Black Artist like Roger and Zapp, Maze or a crossover king like Kool n the gang. I refer more to early and mid 80s rather than 1989 when the racial boundaries were really falling down, thanks to an interest in dance musaic, techno, garage and rap.

If he had only released on TRC in 1985, he would have been as big as Scritti Politti or Sigue Sigue Sputnik if he was lucky.

I would say LotusFlower or 3121

Adorecream said:

The Rainbow children would never have been a hit except for members of the JW cult, its shit. I think only the really dancy songs and albums would have hit in 1985, same with the heavier rock. A lot of his funk lite and sexy ballads, along with the neer rap stuff like Mr Goodnight would have flopparooed.

If he has released the 2000s line up in the 80s, he would have only a been a big star as perhaps Cyndi Lauper or the Thompson Twins rather than what he was. Black Sweat may have cracked Pop top 5, but his music now was too black for the 80s, he would have seen Soul singles success but very little Top 100 action, Prince would have been marginalised as a Black Artist like Roger and Zapp, Maze or a crossover king like Kool n the gang. I refer more to early and mid 80s rather than 1989 when the racial boundaries were really falling down, thanks to an interest in dance musaic, techno, garage and rap.

If he had only released on TRC in 1985, he would have been as big as Scritti Politti or Sigue Sigue Sputnik if he was lucky.

IMO, Prince should have started rapping in 1985. I know that Prince didn't like rapping for a long, LONG TIME, but back in 1984-85, it was clear that rap was the future of soul music.

What is curious about this question is what you define as a "hit." I agree with the posters who talked about the context in which an album is released. The times have changed, the industry has changed, Prince has changed, some of his audience has changed. So it is hard to compare a 1985 album to a 2005 album in many regards.

However, this thread compelled me to do some research or Prince's chart success because that is something that I have never paid attention to since I like what I like regardless of whoever shares my opinion. What I found is that Prince has had success throughout his career. Many of his post-1985 albums and singles have charted well. However, context is even an issue if you use chart success as a marker because I found a difference in chart success based on the chart, for example Billboard Hot 100 vs. Billboard R&B/Hip Hop. As a more specific example, one of my top Prince song's of all time, IIWYG peaked at 67 on the Hot 100 Chart in 1987 but peaked at 12 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart. By the Hot 100 standard peaking at 67 would not be considered a "hit." However, by the R&B/Hip Hop standard peaking at 12 is a hit. IIWYG is probably one of Prince's most popular songs in the R&B community. So, I guess it is all relative to what one defines as a "hit."

I think Prince has been consistent in the quality of music that he has released throughout the different stages of his career. At the end of the day, I dig more than I don't, which is why I am still a fan.

Here are the charts I referenced.

Billboard Albums - 28 charted

http://www.billboard.com/...p;g=Albums

Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Albums - 27 charted

http://www.billboard.com/...p;g=Albums

Hot 100 Singles - 49 charted

http://www.billboard.com/...;g=Singles

R&B/Hip Hop Singles - 46 charted

http://www.billboard.com/...;g=Singles

None of those records fit next to his WB classic back catalog today, why wouldn't they stick out like a sore thumb then too? Audiences are more sophisticated now when the records still sound off, then in 1985, and consider, even when people were clamoring for anything Prince, audiences didn't get Mazarati, and the other side catalog.

That said, "Black Sweat" and a couple other singles would been big.

None of his recent shit would've been "big" or successful back in the day beyond the same reason EVERYTHING he put out sold back then - he was famous. People will buy records just to hear what the crazy new guy is doing.

However, to suggest that these records "fit in" with that time period is asinine and wrong. Stop letting your fandom cloud your sanity.