What's up with the chart position? It's kind of odd that it not charting better. I hear it quite often on the radio. On another board that I post on (non-Prince), people are always posting that they really like the song. Someone even posted that she 'loses it' when she hears CMN and On The Couch. My 22 year old sister told me today that she really likes CMN. It just seems odd that it didn't chart better.
[Edited 9/4/04 23:24pm]

Supernova said:

Yeah, that must be it. I thought it had a chance of doing decent on the charts considering they play the hell out of Alicia Keys latest song, which has an old school 'feel' to it. But I guess not, even though CMN is far superior to that crap 'If I Ain't Got You.'

I've seen it on VH1, but never heard it on the radio.

PurpleCharm said:

as of yesterday it was the #2 most played song in the country on Urban a/c radio


1 1 ANITA BAKER You're My Everything 1426 1535
2 2 PRINCE Call My Name 1409 1503
3 3 ALICIA KEYS Diary (f/Tony! Toni!... 1336 1322
4 4 LUTHER VANDROSS Think About You 1109 1159
5 5 TEENA MARIE Still In Love 1107 1031

its #27 overall on billboard's Urban chart
its #82 on the billboard hot 100
and #1 on radio and records Urban a/c chart

Mazerati said:

Thanks for posting. So, it's doing well on the Black (urban) charts, but not so well on the hot 100.

PurpleCharm said:

well top 40 radio hardly gave it a play and for some reason Sony didnt release the song to the Hot A/C format (which in my opinion is the best format out there) so it was kind of limited on high far it could go up the charts...but remember all the billboard charts are these days are radio airplay charts and without a retail single its really hard to gauge how popular the song is with people other than radio programmers

it gets a lot of airplay here in Indy....but on the urban adult contemporary station.....

I don't understand you guys, do you really expect a song completely influenced by black gospel or a complete soul song like "Call My Name" to be played on Top 40. Come on!!!

gman1966 said:

I don't think the asthetics of the song hinder or help it.

Honestly , I feel it's the image that Prince portrays and how catchy the song is that will make it a top 40 hit or not.

Call My Name simply isn't THAT good a song--it just isn't. And it certainly isn't very catchy.
But much worse songs have gotten heavy rotation based on the artist being the latest "buzz".
It's hard for a Jehova's witness who refuses to curse, and preaches "God" talk in every interview to be the latest "buzz". Let's face it, youngsters normally want a rock star--Prince is acting like your highschool music teacher.

AsianBomb777 said:

You forgot to add in YOUR opinion!!! That song is huge in the black community.. Period...

gman1966 said:

BET, just like CMT are nitch markets. I'm talking about heavy rotation on top 40 stations and channells. No opinion needed to see those facts.

AsianBomb777 said:

So what I don't give a shit about Top 40, it's a hit on Black Urban Radio that's all that matters and my whole point songs like that are not played on White radio and those are the facts!!!

gman1966 said:

Well, if they can play Alicia Keys "If I Ain't Got You" they can play CMN. I would have never imagined in my wildest dreams that "If I Ain't Got You" would be a hit on the Hot 100 chart, MTV and VH1. That song is just as soulful as CMN, but it was pushed because it's by one of the 'it' girls of the moment. If AK had sung CMN, I am pretty sure it would be a hit.
[Edited 9/5/04 7:52am]

AsianBomb777 said:

You do realize that black music(the crappy sh!t) is dominating the hot 100 chart. The industry picks and chooses what artist they want to push.
[Edited 9/5/04 7:57am]

AsianBomb777 said:

Good lord, you just called the entire black community in America a "niche" market...lol...(not "nitch")...one-legged homosexual female surfers between the ages of 45-60 is a "niche" market...

And considering that the "Top 40" station out here in Los Angeles has a playlist that is 50% rap and hip hop, I think CMN's success (or lack of) on top 40 has less to do with quality of the song (it's beautifully sung, beautifully played, beautiful melody...), than it does just not fitting in very well with what many top 40 stations are now playing. ICPC or A Million Days would probably do much better on top 40, not because they're better songs but because they fit the format.

'Black Gospel'?

Whats with that?
umm...I don't think it sounds like a Black Gospel Song and I didnt know they even had such a category called 'Black Gospel'...I thought Gospel was only called Gospel and Christian was called Christian!

Well its a great soul ballad, and if D'Angelo could top charts with 'Untitled' and Alicia Keys can chart 'Diary' high on the charts, then 'Call my name' can boost high on singles chart.

But look at the Big Picture: Musicology is in the Top 10, so shouldn't that be enough, it certainly is for me...after almost 20 weeks on the charts and it hasn't flopped to the bottom of the charts.


So thats a good thing!

PurpleCharm said:

Yes, but let me get this straight.
I'm not saying that music can be very soulfull or very ethnic and not get radio play--that has nothing to do with whether it gets radio or airplay. It's your image--whether your the latest buzz-- that will get you on the stations along with promotion. OutKast makes no bones about their funky roots, but they're seen as "hip" and current, so they get lots of radio play.

What I'm saying is that Prince is not seen as a "buzzworthy" musician, so his music doesn't get played. He doese interviews where he always praises God and preaches that obscenity is passee. He preaches monogamy and owning your own masters and teaching young cats the ropes--like I said, this a musican that comes off more like your music teacher than a Rock star.

BET will play his songs becuase of its urban and soulful sound. But BET is still a nich market compared to the goliath that is MTV. And to get on MTV you have to have the "buzz" or be a full on ROck star. When I say "Rock Star" here I mean "hip celebrity" and I'm not denoting rock music.

THe industry does have a heavy hand in what gets played. And image is everything. But Prince's image just doesn't fit that mold.

And that song "Call My Name" isn't good enough on it's own merits to generate enough buzz on it's own or demand from the public. Prince will just have to try again with something else.

Byron said:

I'm not saying black music is a nitch market. Nor am I saying Country music is a nich market.
I'm saying BET and CMT are nich markets. They hold a fraction of the audience that MTV and VH1 do---for that matter they don't even have the same audience as Telemundo.

Please realize that I'm not saying black music or even country (remember Shania Twain's hits?) can't get top 40 play--but to do so, they have to be "hip" or the latest thing. That's why Alicia Keyes can be as soulful as she damn well pleases and she'll get played, but Anita Baker will never see a video on TRL.

AsianBomb777 said:

Actually, BET and CMT aren't markets at all...they are tv stations which cater to markets, which are aimed at markets...they may not garner a huge audience, but the audience they aim their programming towards is a rather large and pretty mainstream one. So when you say they're "niche markets", you are in reality saying that the markets they cater to are "niche" markets...you obviously didn't mean it that way, but that's what you ended up saying...

I agree with the rest of what you've said...

AsianBomb777 said:

Agreed

Byron, what u said is true...since Alicia Keys is the "it" girl now, she can be as soulful as she want and be successful..its all about image and who's hot..not about the actualy music
prime example is this
Patti Labelle records "If You Asked Me To" in 1989...I thought that song was SO beautiful but the song goes nowhere on pop radio..but charts top 10 on the black charts..a few years later, Celine Dion takes the SAME SONG with the SAME ARRANGEMENT sang almost the same(of course Patti's sound better) and Celine takes the song to a pop top 5 hit...why couldnt Patti have done the same? Its the SAME SONG..SAME ARRANGEMENT..SAME EVERYTHING...
Celine was just the "it" girl at that moment(among other issues I wont discuss right now)