Through the years Prince has dropped the ball many of times. What do you think was so of his biggest mistakes.

AWTWIAD -85
Graffitti Bridge - movie
Name change
Not touring the US with SOTT
NPS - that album smells like feet!!!
Larry "i don't have a group anymore" Graham
Not touring the US with TGE - 95

Just a few off the top of my head!!

I am old school so to me, the first one was disbanding the Revolution.

i think his biggest mistake was being inaccessable (recluse) for so long....good to see a change!!

THE WHOLE NAME CHANGE AND FIGHTS WITH WARNERS

one thing: the entire era.

bds70 said:

for sure the name change

why do u think Around the world in a day is a mistake?? its a classic album..and if people jumped off the Purple Rain bandwagon because of that album then they didnt deserve to be Prince fans

Mazerati said:

If it was'nt 4 the name change P would'nt b as free and happy as he's been over the past few years. It liberated his spirit and gift! 2me P should have tour'd the US with SOTT. That was his biggest mistake bcuz that album would have took off sales wise if he had!

Com'on how can you have beef with era it added character to who Prince was and made him more well-known sure it was nuts, BUT IT'S PRINCE.

ATWIAD is a great album. I don't look at that as a mistake but more of a showcase for just how talented he was. The biggest mistake in my opinion was the name change and the whole story that went with it...I believe Mayte said something like when they walked thru the doors at the end of the 7 video Prince changed...weird

ATWIAD a mistake? No way, it was great. I guess the name change is the one that would likely be my choice of the worst mistake.

bein a man whore and flaunting it to the fullest...2 me thats his BIGGEST career mistake and one of his BEST career moves.

Zealotry.

His biggest mistake was meetin with Larry Graham

asg said:

BATMAN SOUNDTRACK! NOT THE BIGGEST MISTAKE, BUT THE OIL ON THE DOWNWARD SLOPE.

Controversy said:

Ditto!

If I had to pick one thing... it would be the Graffitti Bridge the movie

But more so than a single mistake was literally his repeated mistake at 'singles'.

Whom ever has been the primary persons responsible for selecting what album tracks would be released as singles since ATWIAD has been on dope. Prince's albums weither over all good or fair have been repeated ly mismanaged as far as single releases go. I dont beleive a bad Prince album exist... which is my opnion so please step off before any one trys to argue a moot point...I really dont give a F what any one else thinks in that regard.

Everything after "For You"

Mazerati said:

released too soon after purple rain, it killed the momentum

Raijuan said:

I'd also go along with the Warner/"Slave" issue. There's no doubt in my mind that Warner was placing some restraints on his creative output, but when you bite the hand that feeds you AND air your dirty laundry at the same time, you're gonna lose support on both sides. Though he's been able to recover from it, I don't think it's been a full recovery and it's taken quite some time to do so.

1. child molestation charges....MJ
2. child pornography charges...R Kelly
3. drug rehab...Whitney
4. nervous breakdown...Mariah

i think those are career mistakes. not touring to support SOTT just don't quite cut it.

bds70 said:

Not allowing any real input as to how to run his business. Somebody needs to help him choose his single release strategy,

That and the name change, which really just made him irrelevant to the record buying public and the industry that he's still working to be a part of. Believe me, if he really didn't care about the industry he would not be putting as much effort into this latest round of records and tours.

bds70 said:

I don't think the name change was a mistake. It was foolish, and it confused damn near all of his casual fans, which had already started falling off anyway. He made more money releasing music on his own than if he had stayed with WB. He may have sold more staying with WB, but he wouldn't have made as much money.

Not touring the US with SOTT may have hurt, but when you think about it, he hasn't really toured the US (as far as highly promoted arena tours) more than a few times since Purple Rain. We got Lovesexy, Jam of the Year, the tour for Rave, and now the Musicology tour. The rest of his tours here have only been known by the die-hard fans. Unless I'm forgetting something as I'm writing this. Was Nude a national tour, or did he only hit a few cities with it? Either way, he hasn't done big tours for most of his albums.

I'd have to agree with QuakeXLE, his choices for singles has kept him from being one of the most popular musicians of all time and turned him into being something of a cult/underground performer. Sure, almost everyone on the planet has heard of him, so he's popular in that respect. Sure, he's in the RNRHOF, but that's voted on by musicians, and he's never had respect problems with musicians. I'm talking about how he could have and should have dominated the charts for the past 20 years. Every album he has released has had 2-4 songs on it that would have/could have been songs that kept him up high on both the singles and albums charts. The most casual fan has only heard Cream and TMBGITW over the past, what 12 years? Worse than not touring the US for SOTT was releasing If I Was... as a single. Cool song, not radio friendly. Killed the album. And having BBGW and TGRES as the 1st singles on his two main album releases after leaving WB.... If he had only flipped the first Emancipation single and had Right Back Here in my Arms as the 1st single, Arista may have stayed in business.

Releasing the right singles would have kept him in the limelight even through the name change, would have kept SOTT on the charts longer, which may have lead to a tour here...

But on the other hand, if he had stayed on top of the charts this whole time, maybe this Musicology tour wouldn't be any where near as special as it is. 'Cause I have to admit, as many times as I've been lucky to see him live, as often as I listen to all of his work, official or not, for me, this current tour is the highlight of being a Prince fan.

Releasing ATWIAD after Purple Rain was a huge mistake.

Prince lost a lot of new fans after putting that album out.

Don't get me wrong, I believe ATWIAD is one of his best, but it was a bad business move.

He could of easily expanded his fan base again with a Purple Rain 2 sounding album. All those who were still on the fence would of converted. All the heavy metal and rock types were like,"Wow! That P guy does seem to play good, but he is kinda weird... maybe gay... but he does seem to be with all those hot girls, but...I don't know... I don't think I wanna take a chance on being wrong and my friends making fun of me... Maybe I'll buy his next album." (which of course never happened)

Up unitl ATWIAD, P's popularity and recognition was steadily climbing higher and higher with each passing album. After Purple Rain, P was god and surpassed MJ in the public eye. Everyone was expecting another great rock album. If he did, I believe he would of sealed his genius and importance once and for all... then he should of started experimenting with his fans minds...

ATWIAD is the reason why we always have to explain P to non-believers and it is also the reason why a lot of other artists were surprised at the RRHOF this year.

Newbies can't possibly know this... only those of us who have been there the entire journey.



(The name change and the warner/slave thing were not pivotal at all... they just created more weirdness to P's mystic.)

ocadv said:

i don't think releasing around the worlda after prpl rain was a bad career move...that took some guts cuz he probly knew he was gonna loose fans..and even tho doin another prple rainish album would've sealed his genious and all it probly wouldn'tve been right 4 him....and around the world aint the reason i have to xplain princes genious 2 folks...its cuz of that whole warner thing mostly.

Releasing BADDDDD Singles!!!!
and too many concept cuts and albums!

(Be creative thats fine, perfect a sound then release it, dont torcher people with your ego!)

With all of his unique behavior. All would be forgiven and forgotten if he kept peoples
feet dancing and heads bobbing!

Not to compare him at all to R Kelly. But to R's credit in the face of turmoil and controversy
(something as extreme and child molestation charges!) he has still kept making hits and kept his fan base and career afloat. What happens in court remains to be seen.

Before anyone even starts!! Shut The F*** UP!

This is not a comparison of Prince to RKelly there is no comparision.
The parallel deals strickly with how to approach and overcome negative controversy and turmoil in your career with your music.

wdrew said:

umm he is one of the most popular musicians of all time..anyways i have seen many people's list of what should be singles on Musicology and to be honest i am glad Prince picked what he did i wouldnt trust u guys