SoulAlive said:

I don't agree that Lovesexy was the most 'obvious' hit - clearly that was Alphabet St., and it was. Beyond that song, I don't think there were any clear single choices on the album. Lovesexy would have been a brave choice since it sounded unlike anything Prince had done previously or that was around at the time. The idea that you would have to cut out the best bits to make it radio friendly... well if that doesn't diminish the impact of the song, I don't know what would! Personally I thought 'Dance On' got completely overlooked as a potential single, and still does.

metalorange said:

With the song "Lovesexy",you only would have to edit out the nasty spoken part at the end.I like this part alot,but it's hardly the "best" part of the song,anyway.Removing it would not diminish the song one bit.It would be similar to the radio edit of "IIWYGF",where he edited out the spoken parts at the end.There's no way radio stations would have played the part where he says "kiss you there,you know,down there where it comes...I'll drink every ounce"


"Dance On" a single? I think it was too edgy for pop radio.Imo,these should have been the three singles from Lovesexy:

"Alphabet St"
"Lovesexy"
"I Wish U Heaven"

There was a radio edit and 12" remix made for Lovesexy, and it almost WAS the
2nd single. Prince had originally wanted Glam Slam to be the 2nd single, and
WB had them pressed up ready to go, but then, only a few weeks before it was
due for release, Prince decided it was the wrong choice for the 2nd single and
tried to get the release stopped. WB argued that because it had already been
pressed, and the radio & video promos had already gone out, that it was too
late to stop it, and they might as well let it go and see how it did. Prince
was right, and it didn't do very well. For some strange reason though, he
didn't follow Glam Slam up with the already prepared Lovesexy single, instead
deciding to go with I Wish U Heaven.

SoulAlive said:

I remember back in the day in the SF Bay Area they used to play "Private Joy" all of the time even without it being released as a single.

And it used to be in all the Prince mega-mixes they did on the radio at that time.

SoulAlive said:

It was

iconsweat said:

Really??? When and where was it released as a single?

Sowhat said:

B-side to Do Me Baby

Arh come on isn't THIS the reason that we ALL love him!

Picks the wrongs songs, doesn't know how to market himself, is seen as weird when actually he's probably boringly normal, pretends he doesn't want to be cool and good-looking when really he does, write songs about sex to pretend he's cool, knows deep down his guitar is just a prop, wear's high heels because he hates being short, tries to pretend he doesn't care what anyone says about him, in the shallow world of pop is deep and philosophical and wears his heart on his sleeve about religion.

In short we love him because he's just like the rest of us vulnerable and flawed and as much in the dark about life as the next man.

Well that's why I love him anyway!

ElCapitan said:

PJ charted on rnb charts. I remember KUTE used to play it a lot.

The problem for me is I find it hard to dislike a lot of his music so I don't mind any of his choices.

Prince is for discerning fans who want more than a quick hit. Take a song like Anna Stasia or Sometimes It Snows in April. They are like WOW songs but they are definately not radio friendly.

How can you chose between The Beautiful Ones and Take Me With You? You watch him sing Take Me With You live and it's irresitible not to join in. It's such a great sing-a-long song. The Beautiful Ones is slower but equally as good. But can you see radio listeners listen to the bit at the end where he's practically crying? That doesn't seem like radio music. It's far too personal and real.

Radio listeners want instant gratification. Something that they can listen to with there friends and not feel embarrased or shy. Radio music rarely depicts genuine emotion. It's usually the radio friendly kind. "Hey boyfriend" that kind of thing.

It depicts a world wear women giggle and wave at boys and boys give sly looks and everyone lives happily ever after. Even bands like Coldplay don't sing about anything much. "And it was all yellow.." What the hell does that mean??

Okay there are odd exceptions like Nirvana and Radiohead but they rarely spell things out in the way Prince does. Take for example "Bambie I've got what you need. Bambi maybe you need to bleed" Talk about to the point.

Prince is unforgivingly honest and not everyone is quite so comfortable with that. We like to live in a world where everything is politically correct and people are scared to speak their minds incase they get called rascists, sexist homophobic, etc.

But Prince says it in a way where we know it is not deliberately to upset people. It is just coming from the heart. In a sense he proclaims truth in his music and in essence as a society er are not all comfortable with that!

Se7en said:

NO WAY SE7EN

EVERYONE ELSE HAVE HIT DUET WITH GWEN STEFANI THAT YEAR

PRINCE MISS BOAT ON THAT ONE

THERE IT GO WAY DOWN RIVER!

BYE BYE BOAT WITH GWEN AND LOAD OF CASH!

TOOT TOOT!

POOK said:

BorisFishpaw said:

Damn,Prince! He was so close to releasing the right single for once,lol

ElCapitan said:

No,I meant that it should have been an A-side single,as oppossed to a B-side

MendesCity said:

Reflection would have done better on the R&B Charts.

kpowers said:

Adult contemporary R&B, maybe. And that's a stretch.

ElCapitan said:

next to call my name, not really

kpowers said:

How many mellow acoustic R&B songs are on the airwaves nowadays?

ElCapitan said:

your getting off the topic

kpowers said:

The topic is what songs would make a good single. That song would not because the R&B airwaves of today ain't trying to hear that type of song, imho.


Lets just agree to disagree.

Or we could agree that I'm right and you're wrong, either way works for me.


.
[Edited 10/17/06 15:46pm]

ElCapitan said:

I'm compairing call my name to reflection, doesn't matter what chart it is, I feel reflection would do better.

I'm sure they have been times when he's picked a few married people.

kpowers said:

You brought the R&B charts into this to begin with. Either way, it's a nice song, but it would've tanked as a single.

Call my name wasn't a major hit by any means, but it stayed around forever. And it's the first Prince song in a long time that I heard pre-teens spontaneously singing along to. It was definitely the safer choice between those two songs for radio, but it was also the right choice, imho.

ElCapitan said:

If you read what you were replying to is that some one said call my name was a hit on the R&B charts, thus you responded to that remark

kpowers said:

ElCapitan said:

mmmmm ok

The 'Graffiti Bridge' album is another example of the wrong singles being released."Thieves In The Temple" was a perfect choice for the lead-off single,but why did he follow it up with the uneventful "New Power Generation"? A stronger choice for the second single would have been "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" or "Elephants And Flowers".

The lead off single for Graffiti Bridge was originally scheduled to be
"The Question Of U". As is often the case with Prince albums, He then
recorded "Thieves In The Temple" at the last minute and released that
instead. There were plans to still release "The Question Of U" as the
2nd or 3rd single, as well as "Elephants & Flowers" which was also
slated for a single release. Also briefly considered for single releases
were "Tick Tick Bang" and "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got".

BorisFishpaw said:

Yeah,I heard that "Question Of U" was originally planned as the first single.I think he even shot a video for it.I think it would have been an odd choice for a lead-off single.

There are a lot of songs I would have picked as singles, but here's the deal: I nthe last ten+ years, there haven't been a dozen hit songs by other artists that I would spend a cent on. The charts have been dominated by rap, hip-hop and horrible grunge for almost a decade and a half.

I can't stand any of that "music". (And somebody please shoot me if I'm ever again in a place where "SexyBack" is playing. Never mind, if that happens I'll gladly shoot myself.)

So, the songs I would have picked as singles probably wouldn't have sold in that climate. Therefore, I can't criticize Prince's selection of singles, because my picks would have bombed.