Prince is out of touch with the nature of the people that makes hits.

Black Sweat is the Wrong Message.

no purple ticket

Spanky said:

lol..I posted the same thing shortly after you! I agree totally it's one his most obvious singles in a decade

'Cause radio stations that used to play P back in the day now have Pussycat Dolls, LL, and Nick Lachey on a continuous loop. I don't even think the stations here in MN employ DJs anymore. The last P song I heard on the radio? "The Current" played "Life O The Party." I doubt that's gonna win anyone over.

No extended versions, no remixes, (of course, no b-sides), no a cappellas for the mashup djs, and no CD single available when the video hit. The single just wasn't available in the right ways in the right places.

I personally think it was gaining some momentum that was then cannibalized by its big daddy (3121).

Repost here:

What went wrong? I think you could easily attribute it to the choice of songs to release and in the order thus far. TAC 1st? For the people who dug that and actually bought it, Black Sweat is totally different so there is no groove. Kind of like playing a country song on the radio and then moving onto opera. No one will listen long.

Anyway, BS is not strong single material. Its too over the top and not as smooth as Kiss, although its pretty good.

Fury supposedly is the next single and I think thats a poor choice as well. No congruity. It should go:

Lolita
Love
The Word
Fury
Satisfied
etc
etc
[Edited 4/4

The beat is really good, just needs a good remix for the clubs.

In America, you get a hit through airplay, not sales, bonkers though that system is. So the reason is clear - the DJs didn't want to play it. So the question is now, why didn't DJs want to play Black Sweat? For this there could be multiple answers - Universal didn't bribe the station enough to put it on their playlists, or Prince insisted Universal didn't pay the usual fees (and so kept true to his song 'Jukebox With A Heartbeat'!), or with all the specific genre playing stations they couldn't decide what genre Black Sweat fit into, or DJs regard Prince still as a has-been and instead would rather play youth-orientated singles by artists with careers less than a few years old, or all of the above.

In the UK, the new number one got there by downloads alone which now count towards the chart. I may be wrong, but is Black Sweat even available via UK Itunes? So that hurts it a lot.

Personally, I've never been able to get into the psyche of people who buy singles. I always think, save the money and put it towards the album, unless it is a 12 inch or has an unreleased b-side or remix.

Personally, I don't buy the idea that it was a bad single choice. It's infectious, contemporary, but different enough to stand out from the crowd. I'd rather Prince put out a funky experimental sounding single than some done-to-death middle-of-the-road mushy r'n'b ballad.

ooh, im getting a weird deja vu moment here

andykeen said:

Too 'bare'? Like Kiss or SOTT?

I've never heard it on any local radio stations or seen it on any of the major music video stations here in Canada.

my friends like it. They are confused by it though, my friend Davonn said, "I heard that new Prince song..I kinda like the beat but it's weird..it makes me wanna..." then he just stopped

It was a hit video for a while, I guess if the song isn't on Itunes then it cannot be a hit. The lack of a chorus may be the real reason.

The song blows, that's why.

TimeKeeper said:

So every song that's a hit is top notch?

The Black Eyed Peas? "Laffy Taffy"? Nickelback?

Because that one dj at that club only played it once. Remember?

Moonbeam said:

Of course not. But a catchy song is a catchy song, no matter how bad you think it is.

Black Sweat isn't catchy.

TimeKeeper said:

It certainly has my Mom singing the chorus quite a bit.

the chorus is a bit weak and loses focus in the 2nd verse. the vocal breakdown sounds harsh. apart from that its ok.

TimeKeeper said:

You hit the nail on the head here...

Spanky said:

Here's the real reason. It's quite simple, actually.

DJs don't control what music they play. Clear Channel does. Clear Channel doesn't like Prince, therefore, they don't allow their stations to play "Black Sweat" or any other new Prince song regardless of quality. If you listen to satellite radio or if you're on the internet, you'll hear "Black Sweat." If you listen to corporate controlled (Clear Channel) radio, you will only hear what they want you to hear. Simple as that, really.

SPANKY...This baffles me too!
Because any song now-a-days can be a hit on radio.
There's so many sucky songs on radio.
Pink's latest single sucks balls big time!
Pussycat dolls latest single isn't all that great!
Kelly Clarkston also has a single out now, which isn't all that great upon first listen.

But its all about promotion and getting the single played enough to get a hit!
I know alot of non-prince fans who actually love "BLACK SWEAT", they would tell me the BIG Prince Fan, I saw your boys video on MTV and even thou I never got into his music, I'm digging that song.

The Song is an instant hit!
It has fire and its definitely what the industry needs now!
Its something refreshing and daring at the same time.
I am a DJ, I've worked in radio for awhile now and I know for a fact that this song could fit into hip hop & pop top 40 formats, but the fact is Prince took the industry head on a few years back and dissed everyone.

So now their not trying to hear him and give him a chance.
They've pretty much black balled him.
Most radio programmers hate PRINCE for some reason.
Universal and other major labels know Prince's talent and are aware of his potential even after all the backlash towards record companies.
They know PRINCE can still sell records thats why they sign him up for 1 album deals.

Prince's Black Sweat should have been a hit!!!
In Prince's mind, its already a hit, It was #1 on Itunes and #1 on Billboard Top 100 single sales...So he's not worried about the song at this point!!!
No doubt. The album is awesome and is pure pop!!!

It wasn't a bad choice for a single...I honestly feel Prince will never have a place in mainstream radio again,because ppl dislike what he stands for and they figure, he's already established, has a wide fan base and still sells out concerts and can sell a good million records each time. He won't be hurting without us!

Thats how they think!
I've talked with many dj's and pd's in the radio industry and they all have had alot of negative things to say about him. Not so much his music, but him as a person and the bottom line is they absolutely hate PRINCE with a passion!

Thats why they can get on the air and say...he's got a number one album...congrads and then play "when doves cry" or "rasberry beret", instead of keeping the interest going and playing his newer material.

Te Amo Corazon should have impacted r&b adult and jazz stations like fire and they didn't even want to give him a chance.

I would like to know the idiot who decides Prince's new videos only get play for 2 months on mtv and thats it!
Whose this guy???
[Edited 4/5/06 0:23am]

NPD313 said:

I can only think that would be because Prince has rocked the boat, and no one likes someone who rocks the boat, especially when it's sinking! By going to the extreme of saying record contracts were like slavery, more than anyone he shone a spotlight on the inner workings of record companies. Add to that, he went off and bypassed record companies for so long and encouraged others to do the same - no wonder record companies as a whole hate him, and their way of getting back at him is to dissuade radios that they feed from playing him too much! It's a conspiracy, I tells ya!

"Black Sweat" is not a hit for one reason...it's a good song and these days,"good" songs don't become hits.Crap songs become hits.

It may not be a top ten hit, but it's getting a helluva lot of video play on MTV Hits, BET, VH-1 Soul, and BET J. That's pretty good for Prince considering radio won't touch him.

In britain, i haven't heard it being played on the radio much or on music television. I think people have to hear a song a few times, so that it gets into their heads before they buy singles. Just think, has anyone ever bought a single after the first or second listen!!

Airplay and playlists suck.