Handclapsfingasnapz said:

He's not only an Org newbie...he's a PRINCE newbie.

SquarePeg said:

Which is further proof that it would've kicked ass as a single. Now technically you could say MJ didn't need to release a song like Beat It cause the title track was such a huge hit, but isn't that a little silly?

I think Beautiful Ones would've been a huge hit, and would've pushed even more copies of Purple Rain.
[Edited 3/13/05 17:35pm]

PurpleKnight said:

I guess we'll never know...will we?

SquarePeg said:

Though it is not my fave...it seems to me it has a "strong following" so to speak.
I personally don't think it mattered which song(s) were released as single ...Purple Rain (movie) made almost every song someone's favorite. Right? Just MO...

PurpleKnight said:

Not necessarilly, people freak out when they hear IIWYGF live also which flopped as a single. The Beautiful One's would've probably been a nice hit on R&B stations but not done much for the top 40. The problem is, just like Adore, R&B stations were already playing The Beatiful Ones. Anyway, it's one of those things we'll never know I guess.

Back in 1985 if you hadn't picked up a copy of Purple Rain by the time Take Me With U was released, you weren't gonna pick up a copy.


.
[Edited 3/15/05 11:20am]

Do Me, Baby is another "cult classic" that bombed as well.1999 didn't do too good when it first was released either.

I can't believe what I'm hearing. AWTIAD, Parade, D&P, and various other CD's of his have been dogged buy fans for being too commercial, and then here you guys are praising one of his most commercial pop songs of all time. There's nothing wrong with that, but the contradictions I hear from you guys(OK, maybe you can forget what I said about it being a single, we all contradict ourselves sometimes I guess) are showing. To me it sounds like generic 80's pop by a one man boy band. Britney Spears' lyrics have some times been commended also.

I think that if "Sleep Around" was released as it's lead-off single, Emancipation may have been more of a success.

Oh - I think "The Beautiful Ones" would have been too long and screechy for daytime radio schedules. Would you really want to hear all that screaming whilst stuck in a traffic jam, trying to get home?

PurpleKnight said:

Wow,I have been saying this for years! "Take Me With U" was a weak choice for the final single from 'Purple Rain'.I would have chosen "The Beautiful Ones",which was a surefire smash hit.There is no doubt in my mind that it would done extremely well as a single,as opposed to "Take Me With U",which didn't even make the Top 10.

PurpleKnight said:

Yes! So, so stupid! Just think if you'd been around to tell him, Purple Rain, the album might have sold well, he may have had a couple of number ones, and he might even have become really famous, if not a superstar!

sitruk7 said:

And deservedly so.That song is overrated imo.Why didn't they release the superior "Private Joy" as a single instead?

BinaryJustin said:

If it had been released as a single,I'm sure they would have edited out some of the screaming.Kinda like the single edit of "Do Me Baby"...it fades out just right before that LOUD scream that he does.

skywalker said:

Hahaha! Co-sign. Exactly what I was thinking. When Doves Cry and Let's Go Crazy are easily two of the most creative songs of the Eighties.

Let's Go Crazy starts with a sermon and gospel organ. The song is about life and death, good and evil, and sex, sex, sex. It has a killer guitar riff and ends with a tremendous guitar solo that NO ONE in pop was doing at the time.

Commercial?

It's hard to think of a less commercial song to put on top forty radio and run on MTV.

The Beautiful Ones is the song that made me fall for Prince the Musician. An all-time classic and for the longest time, my favorite song on the album.

doctamario said:

No, most of the fans did not roll their eyes. Most of us thought the song kicked all kinds of ass.

"The Beautiful Ones" backed with a B-side of "Electric Intercourse". That would have been sweet

And hell ya! "Housequake" should have been on the A-side of its own single release
[Edited 3/14/05 10:39am]

doctamario said:

I've been a fan since '82 and "Let's Go Crazy"kicks ass!I still get chills when I hear the intro.

Alasseon said:

I can think of one! "When Doves Cry"!!!

TheRealFiness said:

Not true at all. Warner's tried to convince him to not release "When Doves Cry" as a single, since it was so uncommercial (no bass line really freaked them out). He stood his ground and it was released anyway, and thus became a big hit. They also weren't too thrilled with "Let's Go Crazy", due to the sermon at the beginning and the guitar solo at the end, but once again Prince refused to budge. This happened years later with "Kiss" as well. Plenty of times WB didn't like P's choice for a single, and he proved them wrong.

PurpleKnight said:

Yeah that whole Purple Rain period kinda sucked for him, eh? The Beautiful Ones as a single COULD have sent that whole project into the stratosphere. Stupid Prince.


*giggles and lowers sarcasm-meter*

gvnblkr said:

I know Purple Rain was huge and all, but I still feel like he missed out on one more big hit from the project. You can never sell too many albums either.

PurpleKnight said:

Just fooling witcha. But in all seriousness, I think (like someone else mentioned) he could have released every song on that album to at least a top 10 level response. The momentum was huge what with the tour, movie, etc... but it rarely gets any bigger than that.

Being a chart-geek, I've often wondered how "The Beautiful Ones" or another track from 'Purple Rain' might have fared as a single. Michael and Bruce both pulled seven top 10 hits from 'Thriller' and 'Born In The USA,' respectively, around that same time. And "Take Me With U" would easily have been a top 10 hit; it was a timing issue. Remember, that song (which peaked at no.25, by the way), fell off the charts literally just two weeks before "Raspberry Beret" debuted. Two weeks. Why would Prince or Warner Brothers keep pushing that song if they had a whole new album ready to go? If Prince had waited until 1986 or '87 to release his next record, I can almost guarantee you that "Take Me With U" would have gone top 10, and "The Beautiful Ones" and maybe "Baby I'm A Star" would've been hits as well. It woulda been cool to see those songs as hits, but who's complaining? I'd rather have 'Around The World In A Day' and 'Parade' than more singles from 'Purple Rain.'

Oh, and Doctamario, "Let's Go Crazy" may sound like just another cheesy 80s pop song to you now, but you should have heard it in 1984. There was NOTHING on mainstream top 40 at that time that sounded like it. NOTHING. Look at the songs that hit number one around it: John Waite's "Missing You" and Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called To Say I Love You." Fine 80s pop songs, but they don't sound nothin' like "Let's Go Crazy".....

I understand and respect all of your opinions on Let's Go Crazy. But if you're going to praise such a poppy commercial song, then don't bash Diamonds and Pearls or any other album for being too commercial and playing to the charts.
[Edited 3/15/05 11:29am]
[Edited 3/15/05 11:35am]

doctamario said:

Why not? D&P was overly commercial and played to the charts. Either way, that's a subject for another thread.

hypocrites

doctamario said:

what's hypocritical about it?

PurpleKnight said:

Exactly. "Let's Go Crazy" was certainly full of hooks, but it only sounds 'overly-commercial' to you doctamario because you've probably grown up hearing all of it's imitators. It's a very "prince" song. And I'm not knocking Diamonds & Pearls, I like that album a lot, but Prince was chasing trends, not setting them then. He DEFINED popular music in 1984. He was only PART of popular music in 1991. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, that's just the way it is. But commercial intent is irrelevent. Argue all you want, but here's the black-&-white-fact-of-the-matter: "Let's Go Crazy," in no way, features Tony M.


End of discussion.

renfield said:

You're right.