How different do you think Prince's career would have been if he had:

1) Not fallen out with Warner Bros

2) Not changed his name

3) Released the Come album in 1993 with the following possible tracklist (note that Letitgo wouldn't have been recorded and "The Hits" would come later)...

Come
Name (aka What's My Name)
Interactive
Come (speedy short version)
Space
Pheromone
Loose
Papa
Race
Eighteen (aka 18 & Over)
Dark
Peach
Pope
Come (slow long version) - continuing into hidden track:
Strays (aka Strays Of The World)

4) Released TGE in 1994 with the following possible tracklist...

The Gold Experience
Pussy Control
Endorphinmachine
Shhh!
We March
Days Of Wild
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World
Dolphin
Now
Acknowledge Me
319
Shy
Billy Jack Bitch
Eye Hate U
Gold

What do people think?

It wouldn't have been different, at all. John Q. Public wouldn't have given a rat's ass about that alternative tracklist for Come. I mean...they didn't buy the album, anyway -- what would the addition of some obscure alternate tracks have done?

The desert years of the 90s were as much about the music becoming less accessible to the casual listener as they were about Prince's "weirdness." (Meaning the name change, etc.)

Well in 93 Peach was a hit and the Come album would have come off the back of that. Also, there would not have been the confusion of Prince announcing his name had changed to and then having an album released a few months later by Prince!!!

PLUS...TGE would have been released off the worldwide success of TMBGITW meaning there would have been a distinct possibility that TGE would have been as successful as D&P.

Personally I think Prince was on a commercial role in the early 90s that was not capitalised on IMHO

The first 2 things are directly tied to each other. I think Princes issues stem way beyond his fight with Warner Bros. Even with Backing support from WB, both might have sold better, but not by much.
[Edited 2/13/07 9:55am]

To sum up, Prince and Warner Brothers screwed themselves out of a lot of money by bringing their feud public. Prince stopped caring, Warners stopped marketing and in the end it wouldn't have mattered what he released, it still would have gone into the tank. It was such an unhappy time for Prince fandom and that is where the masses said their final farewell, leaving the 100,000 or so of us diehards who would buy anything the man put out.

jaypotton said:

I don't know on what planet Peach was a "hit," but I never heard it until The Hits/B-sides came out.

And, if anything, having Come released under the name Prince should have helped its sales, since that's how most people still knew him at that point. But it didn't.

The Gold Experience got great reviews, but still didn't sell all that well. I don't think adding Days of Wild and Acknowledge Me would have done anything to help -- though having WB behind it might have.

Genesia said:

UK, reached number 17. Released to promote The Hits/The B-Sides.

The A+ material was there IMO, it just wasn't marketed, put out there or even released.

An album (or 2) of the best material from this time period, marketed well with great single choices (!) etc could've been on par with D&P in terms of commercial success IMO.

I was always disappointed that Peach didn't do very well as a single.

Days of Wild should have been a single.

come (techno mix) could have been edited into a single.

even 319 could have been a single.

GottaLetitgo said:

Do you really think that his core is that small?

NouveauDance said:

Do you really think at that time, there were any radio friendly hits that the radio would actually play?

superspaceboy said:

It's not 3 million strong...I think if you looked at the people who bought NEWS or TRC 100,000-200,000 sounds about right. Of course now is one of those times where everybody loves Prince, because of the Super Bowl, but his next album, whenever he releases it, will still struggle to go gold.

NouveauDance said:

I have to agree with that. Come/TGE has his strongest material of the 90's, but between the feud and the name change, it was all wasted. Could have been a huge period for Prince AND WB if egos could have been mended.

superspaceboy said:

People I know seemd to respond well to Come (the techno mix), and 319, and Days of Wild (unreleased studio version). Other stuff just didn't get their attention. Well Pussy control got attention. And is still played at clubs as a novelty song.

ufoclub said:

Pussy Control and Billy Jack Bitch should have been THE singles off the album.

For me the main point is that TGE *should* have been released off the back of the success of TMBGITW instead of around 18 mths later! I truly believe TGE (if backed by Warners and with Prince touring) could have been as big as D&P. To allow this to happen in my scenario Come needed to be released the year before (and we know all the songs were recorded in 93 and ready for release so it is logical).

I also think my version of Come would have felt like a more solid follow up to as opposed to the contract fulfilment that just 10 tracks (arguably maybe 9 tracks) felt at the time. Come also received virtually nothing in terms of marketing push from WB and Prince refused to collaborate so the general public didn't know anything about it! With those factors in mind I believe Come could have been as successful as

superspaceboy said:

BIlly Jack Bitch? I think people wouldn't listen to that back then. It's too focused and retro synth funk.

ufoclub said:

It sounds like the end of the Kiss 12" to me. I think it would have done well.

jaypotton said:

Your assessments regarding Come are true. I didn't even know what it was and I was a Prince fan. I was told it was his "Death" album. I didn't even know it was a proper album until much later.

superspaceboy said:

The lowest GLOBAL sales estimates I have seen are 250 thousand copies of The Vault sold. So there would seem to be upwards of that figure world-wide. Most Prince albums have sold upwards of 500 thousand in the States.

metalorange said:

I don't own the Vault...so I would take it those are the REALLY HARDCORE numbers. I'd assume now his "core" is about 1/2 Million. Not HUGE, but still enough to be out there doing things that matter.

GottaLetitgo said:

Do you really believe that it will struggle to go gold? 3121 was certified gold three months after it was released. I don't think that was based solely on shipments. I know so many people who bought that album who hadn't purchased any of the NPGMC stuff - they didn't even know about the club. However, because of the tour and Musicology, they bought 3121.

I think that as Prince's music returned more to his soul/funk roots alot of the Pop/Rock fans left. I also think that because the music industry is obsessed with youth and performers who range from no talent to minimal talent that a true artist like Prince will never receive the attention that he did in his heyday. Times have changed and the general publice doesn't have the palate to appreciate real music by real musicians. We're deep in the American Idol, corporatization days of music. That said, I still don't think that Prince's fanbase is as small as 100,000.

Y'all R 4getting. Prince didn't want commercial success in the 90's and into the 2000's. His trip was all about "fuck the system" and then in the late 90's it was "I'm #1 at the bank and I knew my purple rain fans wouldn't stay with me" and in the 2000's it was "See, I tried to go commercial with Rave and got screwed" and now (2005-07) that nobody cares, he is being Mr. Nice Guy. IMHO.

metalorange said:

A little better than that, I think - #14 in the UK. At the time, I was surprised it didn't hit the Top 10 (and I wasn't a big Prince fan back then).

coulda shoulda woulda....what if he never disbanded Revolution?

superspaceboy said:

Yeah I do.

I think had the whole name change thing not been a factor, and the music had been marketed well, I think quite a few tracks could've been hit singles, especially after MBGITW.

Interactive, Love Sign, 319, maybe even Pheromone, Acknowledge Me and Endorphinmachine could've worked too.

Gold was also commercially viable (did well in the UK), and 'Shhh' could've done well on US R&B Radio.

Just my opinion

rainbowchild said:

Then he never would have grown or evolved as a musician. As fans we would not have experienced all the great music and amazing live shows that the wonderfully talented musicians from the SOTT, LoveSexy and NPG bands have given us. Disbanding the Revolution was one of the best moves Prince ever made. It exemplified his willingness to take chances and explore new things. It also demonstrated his desire to grow as a musician.

jaypotton said:

Great track lists, but no it would not have changed anything, because Prince wasn't behind his contract filler albums. He should have been but then again Warner's wasn't behind him either. Had P & Warner's been in sync, P probably would have approached his track listing & song versions better. If i remember correctly P was promoting TGE way before it was released, he was promoting it while Come should have been getting promoted. There was an award show that P performed at and he sang I Hate U & Billy Jack Bitch (I think) and nothing from Come (and Come was the new album). It was just too much BS going on back then.

superspaceboy said:

Man I was waiting for Billy Jack Bitch to get released as a single for I don't know how long. Maybe there's still a chance?...

Anyway, Pussy Control would get no airplay back then (hell maybe not even now), BUT, that song was an underground hit.


.
[Edited 2/13/07 21:59pm]

jaypotton said:

that was the plan