I wasn't around when Prince was relseing popular singles but I'm sure you guys were what do you think were some bad single choices, what would you have rather had as a single, rember not your favorite song but as a single, that means pop appeal. You can do as many as you want, even if the album wasn't relesed. I will say...

From Musicology Cinnimon Girl was a terrible choice, Illusion or Marrying Kind WOuld have worked perfectly and would have made fantastic videos

have fun

Let's start wayyyy back with ...

Parade: Girls & Boys should have been the 2nd single instead of Mountains (which could have been 4th single).

SOTT: Housequake Should have been released as 2nd single, instead of IIWYG, and Adore should have been released as 5th single.

Lovesexy: Glam Slam should have remained an album track in favor of the Lovesexy song itself.

: This album was teeming with potential hits, imo, but the single/order released were mind numbingly bad... I would have gone with something like
1) Seven
2) The Max
3)The Morning Papers/Damn U (Double A-side/TMP sent to pop radio & DU sent to R&B radio)
4) Blue Light or I Wanna Melt With U

The Gold Experience: Should have released Dolphin and Shhh before resorting to Gold.

hey jtfolden,I agree with everything you said

"If I Was Your Girlfriend" was a poor single choice.Great song,but it should have remained an album track.There was no way it could have become a big hit.

The catchy "Girls and Boys" should have been the second single from 'Parade' instead of "Mountains",which fizzled on the charts.

and yes,"Glam Slam" was a poor single choice.The song is too boring for pop radio.The second single from 'Lovesexy' should have been the exciting title track.

For You - Soft & Wet, I'm Yours, Baby
Prince - Bambi instead of Still Waiting, With You or It's Gonna Be Lonely as 4th
Dirty Mind - When You Were Mine as 1st single, Dirty Mind, Uptown, Partyup
Controversy - Private Joy as 2nd or 3rd single
1999 - Something in the Water instead of Delirious
Purple Rain - The Beautiful Ones & Computer Blue instead of I Would Die 4 U & Take Me With U
Around the World in a Day - Paisley Park as 3rd single (in US) before America
Parade - New Position as 2nd single, Girls & Boys as 3rd (no one could understand words to Mountains)
Sign 'O' the Times - Sign to Pop, Girlfriend to R&B, Hot Thing to Pop, Housequake to R&B, Adore to Adult Contemp, It to Pop, Dorothy to R&B, Starfish to Pop, Forever in My Life
Lovesexy - Lovesexy as 2nd single
Batman - Electric Chair instead of Arms of Orion
Graffiti Bridge - Thieves, Joy in Repetition
Diamonds and Pearls - also Walk Don't Walk (fit well with the style at the time)
- also And God Created Woman to Adult Contemp & The Continental to Pop
Come - Pheromone, Papa, Dark (to Adult Contemp), Loose
Chaos and Disorder - I Like It There & Zannalee instead of Dinner & December
The Gold Experience - 319 as 1st, Eye Hate U as 2nd, Now to R&B, Dolphin to Pop, and Gold as 4th
Emancipation - Face Down as 1st, Damned if Eye Do, The Human Body, The Love We Make
NewPower Soul - Come On as 1st
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic - So Far as 1st, Strange But True as 2nd, Beautiful Strange (while promoting Rave In2)
The Rainbow Children - Family Name, 1+1+1 is 3, Everywhere, Last December
Musicology - If Eye Was the Man In Ur Life, Dear Mr. Man
3121 - (Te Amo Corazon -- off to a bad bad start)

"Private Joy" should have been released as a single from 'Controversy'.It's the best track on the album.In fact,it should have been the third single instead of "Do Me Baby",which I think is very overrated.


Why was the sappy "Arms Of Orion" released as a single,instead of "The Future"?

A few of the singles from 'Love Symbol' are questionable.Why wasn't "And God Created Woman" and "The Continental" released as singles? Those are two of the strongest tracks."The Morning Papers" was a poor choice for a single.

DavidEye said:

Totally agree.

Here's my idea of what singles he should've released from '86-'89,
and in what order...

Kiss
Girls & Boys
Mountains
Anotherloverholenyohead

Sign O' The Times
U Got The Look
Housequake
I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
Adore
Strange Relationship

Alphabet St.
Lovesexy
Eye No
I Wish U Heaven

Batdance
Partyman
The Future
Scandalous

A Million Days shouls STILL be a single IMO. (BUT ONLY WITH THE RIGHT PROMOTION!!)

XVI said:

Cinnimon was a good choice.
bad choice- call my name (for a slow song he should of released A million days or Reflection)
The greatest romance ever sold (So far so pleased would have been a better choice)

Dirty Mind
Uptown
Dirty Mind
Partyup

Parade
Kiss
New Position
Anotherloverholenyohead
Girls & Boys
Mountains

Sign 'O' the Times
Sign 'O' the Times
Housequake
Adore
U Got the Look
Hot Thing
I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man

Lovesexy
Alphabet St.
Lovesexy
Anna Stesia

Batman
Batdance
Partyman
Electric Chair
Scandalous

Graffiti Bridge
Thieves in the Temple
We Can Funk
New Power Generation
Can't Stop This Feeling I Got
The Question of U

Diamonds & Pearls
Gett Off
Cream
Diamonds And Pearls
Live 4 Love
Money Don't Matter 2night


Sexy M.F.
The Continental
7
Blue Light
My Name is Prince

Come
Pheromone
Space
Come (Edited to 3-4 mins)

The Gold Experience
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
P Control
Endorphinmachine
Eye Hate U
Gold

Emancipation
Sleep Around
Somebody's Somebody
Face Down
Right Back Here in My Arms
La, La, La Means Eye Love U

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
Baby Knows
Prettyman (B-Side, possibly)
Hot Wit U
The Greatest Romance Ever Sold
So Far, So Pleased

Musicology
Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance
Musicology
Call My Name
Cinnamon Girl
If Eye Was The Man In Ur Life

What has always bothered me the most the past nearly 20 years

Why thieves and why not joy in repetition?

Why i wish u heaven and not anna stesia?

Something in the wate is a great song but not a single worthy song, Delirous was a great choice. Call My Name need to be a single because Sleep On the couch was stupid and the album needed a ballad as a single. Was international lover a single? Did it have a video? I think that would have been a great single for 1999 as a slow song (anything but Free)

LillianLaughs said:

because even though they're great songs, they're definitely not hit singles.
There's a big difference.

The Morning Papers

1999 (the new master)
[Edited 1/2/06 17:38pm]

XVI said:

i think "something in the water" would've been cool to hear on the radio at the time -- especially after the success of the 1st 2 singles -- it's different and would've drawn a more diverse interest in the album

"international lover" was never released as a single (and no video as far as i know); though, interestingly enough, it was nominated for a grammy award

btw, i really like "on the couch" but i agree that "call my name" was the better single choice

What were the singles from ATWIAD? I'm guessing/know Rasberry, Pop Life, Tamborine(?)

DavidEye said:

Yeah, Private Joy is probably the most radio ready cut from that disc. I wonder whether it was Prince or WB that was picking singles at that time.




The album is, I think, more diverse than most people give it credit for... If Prince or WB had been a little more aggressive / adventurous they could have pimped out several promo only singles in a variety of formats to the appropriate stations. It really is a major marketing disaster, imo, that this album didn't do as well as D&P.

jtfolden said:

I'm so glad that someone feels the same way that I do about the single choices for . I always believed that should have been one of Prince's biggest albums but Prince and WB fucked up royally on this. Songs like Blue Light, The Max, The Continental, Damn U and And God Created Woman were BEGGING to be singles and I think they would have been huge smashes. And then with the choices they made, they jacked it up. 7 should have been first, My Name is Prince could have been released later than it was, Sexy MF could have gone either way and The Morning Papers shouldn't have been released. It's criminal that this CD isn't bigger than it is.

XVI said:

In America,the singles were "Raspberry Beret","Pop Life" and "America".The song "Paisley Park" was released as a single in other countries,if I'm not mistaken.

Without question,"Paisley Park" is the best track on the album and really should have been a single here in America too.

purplecam said:

I heard that Warners wanted "7" to be the first single.They went nuts when they heard it and felt that it could become a huge hit.But Prince had other ideas.He wanted to release the hip-hop styled "My Name Is Prince" as the lead-off single.It only became a minor hit,but the next single "7" quickly reached the Top 10,as Warners had predicted it would.

purplecam said:

Right. D&P was considered a commercial comeback at the time and, imo, they were scraping the bottom of the barrel for good singles there. In fact, I'd even be so bold to say that the album had more hit single possibilities than any disc before it, if handled right. It could have easily been given a major long-term push if a few heads had come together and banged out a marketing plan that made some sense (and $$$).



Yup, pop out 4 or 5 mainstream singles...promo out a few other tracks to other radio formats, etc... Damn U actually was released as a single but was directed at R&B stations only, IIRC.

I agree , was chalk full of hits. But when you release the rap/hip-hop flavored Sexy MF and My Name is Prince as the first two singles, you are dooming the project from the start. "7" still went on to be a big hit , but you can only imagine what would have been if they lead off with this as the first single.

We often praise Prince being ahead of the curve, but in this case his insistance of releasing rap songs as singles because it was the thing to do and following the rap trend...bad move.

My picks for Singles in order:

7
The Continental
And God Created Woman (pop) / Damn U (r&b)
My Name is Prince
Blue Light (as 5th single if the album still had steam)

A lot of people suggested "So Far So Pleased" as a single, but wasn't there a problem with getting Gwen's label to okay it?

Tamborine was full of pop potentail I wonder why it wasn't relsed, maybe it was too short

XVI said:

sextonseven said:

That rings a bell. I seem to remember that the record company didn't want Gwen on another single so close to a No Doubt release.

If my memory serves me correctly, Prince has had the final choice of singles on every album except For You and Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic.

We know his single choices suck.

To me it falls into two categories, the great singles than never were, and the bad choices that should have remained great album tracks.

Should have been singles:

When you were mine
Private Joy
The Ladder
Strange Relationship
Housequake
Lovesexy
When 2 R In Love
Electric chair
Walk Don't Walk
The Continental
Dolphin
Interactive
Lovesign
My Computer
So far so pleased
Baby Knows
The last December
Illusion Coma
A Million Days

SquirrelMeat said:

Even so the powers that be should of made that a single

kpowers said:

I think that was the point, the powers that be blocked the single release! The only way it could have been a single was if someone else sang in place of Gwen on the single.

sextonseven said:

that was not my point