im interested to know what couldve happened had prince actually released the black album (the most heavily bootlegged album of ALL TIME apparently ) in 1988 and not 1994..

personally,i think he fucked up ....

was it drugs??

whatever it was,it didnt seem like the best idea

..n ill be honest ,with the exception of lovesxy,dance on,alphabet st n i know i think its a much better album than lovesexy....and thats a fave 4 me too


im interested in hearing the opinions of those prince fans who were there in 88 waiting impatiently for its release ...

then subsequently denied ,,,,


ESCOBAR I MISS U
[Edited 4/1/05 2:29am]

If the Black Album was released in 1988 it would have had a big impact, and influenced many artists. Released in 1994 it was overlooked, thought of as old and outdated. Not viewed as the powerful timeless classic masterpiece that it is. It's much better then Lovesexy. Lovesexy is preachy and over-produced.

Not being released added to Prince's mysterious personality, It (well I think) did him good, then the official release killed it.

It was so popular despite its bootleg status... in 1988 both Bono and The Edge put it on their top ten list of albums for that year, I remember Steven Tyler saying he jogged to it every morning....

Every dude i know that I played it for liked it, and Bob George sealed the deal. (most had not heard anything like that back then.)

I think his fans would have loved it but I dont think it would have earned him many more.tracks like superfunky and bob george are pure prince 2 me but if I play em 2 people they are like wtf.

I think only Prince himself can tell u what really would've happened had he released it then instead of now. I'm sure he would've felt somewhat shameful of it, and it probably would've affected his writing from that point on.

Having said that, I think the 1994 release was a curse and a blessing. It made everyone's bootleg copy pretty much obsolete (I paid $75 4 mine which I thought was worth it at the time), but then again we all want the best sound quality we can find.

Had the Black Album come out in 1988, it would've been huge and sold by the shedload. Bob George would've been one of the most imitated and sampled songs around. Oh, and his career would have gone off on another tangent.
[Edited 4/1/05 9:38am]

Well, if the Black album was released, Lovesexy would never have been recorded - so let's go right back to the beginning.

The Black Album is released, it is not the follow-up to SOTT, it is released with no information about the artist who recorded it, but of course the media immediately suss who it is - I imagine reviews would have been mixed as usual, but with a majority of reviewers enjoying the harder-edged dance/funk and wicked sense of humour on the record - I can see that there may have been the view that Prince still had a few surprises left in him, and his tongue-in-cheek criticism of rap (Dead On It) would have been taken with good humour (because it's lyrics are basically true) - I imagine tracks like Cindy C and Le Grind would have been club hits, and Bob George lesser so, but a bit of an underground/fan favourite.

I think Prince's recordings then would follow a similar path to what it did any way, with some sparse funk tracks with a House influence, like The Line or Escape for example.

By time of it's release, work would have continued on Graffiti Bridge, and it would have been released as the follow-up to Sign O' The Times as planned. Had the movie been released (looking at the original script) it would still be ripped a new ass-hole by critics, although the more focused soundtrack would be received warmly (without all the padding of the related artists tracks) - and of course the tacky "Purple Rain II" tagline wouldn't have been hastily added.

Since Prince was approached to do the Batman soundtrack, I imagine this would have still occured, and depending on the timing of the release of Graffiti Bridge, I imagine it would still go ahead. After Batman, I can't really say, but I imagine the growing force of rap and hip-hop would have creeped into Prince's insecurities sooner or later and he would have tried to assimilate these styles into his own music, to mixed results, as did happen. Corporate World, or a similar album would have probably gone ahead, and we might have gotten that 2nd Jill Jones LP and the 4th Sheila LP.

The Black Album had a huge influence in '88. It didn't sell albums, and videos weren't playing on mtv, but music lovers were onto it.For the longest time I thought it was a publicity stunt, Now I'm not so sure.
Maybe I'm finally buying into the hype. I don't know. Great album,and you should remember it went along with Lovesexy when it was released.

I was like a nut who was actually right in a crap Hollywood movie.

releasin it in 88 woulda meant no lovesexy

The Black Album was scheduled for release in December 1987 not 1988. This was NOT a 1988 project and had nothing to do with 1988. Most of the recordings had been finished in the winter of 1986-1987.

Jestyr said:

Fuck off I didn't say anything about the date the Black Album was released I said the stuff accredited to Jestyr and I suspect Jestyr said what was accredited to me. WhA THe FU?

Am I the only person who thinks The Black Album sucks overall? Granted, I didn't hear it until around 1992 on a bootleg cd with Crystal Ball material (which blew The Black Album away imo), but I've rediscovered a lot of Prince music years after it was recorded and loved it. I just missed the boat on this one. Aside from "Rock hard in a Funky Place and maybe "2 nigs...", Its just subpar for me.

Fuck off I didn't say anything about the date the Black Album was released I said the stuff accredited to Jestyr and I suspect Jestyr said what was accredited to me. WhA THe FU?

Fuck off I didn't say anything about the date the Black Album was released I said the stuff accredited to Jestyr and I suspect Jestyr said what was accredited to me. WhA THe FU?

Sorry for my outburst. I hadn't read the other posts. I don't know what year The Black Album was released, but I remember the time.

There wouldn't be any Lovesexy, and i would've never heard Glam Slam and i most likely wouldn't be here.

I think it would have done really well with the critics. It's always hard to tell what the masses would have felt. It doesn't have many radio songs. Maybe Cindy C and when 2 are in love?
Either way, I would have gladly taken the release.
I'm not sure why everyone thinks Lovesexy wouldn't have happened.
I think Prince's anger towards the music industry inspired the album and him letting go of the anger brought out Lovesexy.

It might have had a bigger underground impact, but wouln't have been a "mtv/hit" type of record anyway, & maybe it wouldn't even have had more impact cuz the "bootleg" issue created a mythical aura around it that it might not have had if officially released.
Lovesexy could have happened anyway, but WB probably wouldn't have agreed 4 a release b4 the 2nd half of 1988.

Actually, i think the release of a 3 LP/CD Crystal Ball instead of a 2 LP/CD SOTT would have had more impact: as Eric Leeds once said, it would have been such a CRAZY MASTERPIECE (quality PLUS quantity) that it would have been even more critically acclaimed than SOTT has been. Maybe it wouldn't have been a commercial success, but it would have established Prince as a total genius once & 4 all.

We DID miss something here...

I also wonder how "Dream Factory" would have been perceived, cuz as good as it was, it would really have sounded "weird" at the time...
[Edited 4/1/05 14:20pm]

Just the name Black album in a thread makes orgers rush over to have their 2 cents, then all the 2 cents become $100 worth.

you are forgetting what influence the black album would have had on the path of music trends. All thing after it would be slightly different.... for example:prince would have actually pre-empted popular acceptance of the hard cussing gangsta rap with "bob george". as it is prince's music seemed to be a bigger influence on more pop friendly stuff these days, but the black album would have put him in more of a different shade of influence and respect...

MetroArea said: