If 3121 had been released in the 1980's how many of its songs do you think would have been top 10 hits?

Lolita, perhaps. And that's it.

per what i remember of Prince and 80s radio

Top 10
Lolita
Love

Top 40
The Word
Black Sweat
Fury (SNLive version)
3121

good point..if 3121 was the album that came out instead of Around The World in a Day, he could have had four or five top 10 singles from it.

If 3121 had been released around 85-89 then I suspect Black Sweat, Te Amo Corazon and Fury would ALL have been top ten.

However, Prince would also have been credited with starting the slick R&B sound that has permeated the 90s and 00s (like he was the key influence for the Minneapolis sound that dominated the mid 80s) as opposed to copying it...in other words 3121 would probably have been considered an excellent ground breaking album during the 80s instead of a derivative okay collection of nice songs!

jaypotton said:

I agree

None. In the 80's Prince charted because most of his music sounded like nothing around.

The 3121 stuff is great, but it follows the trends, it no longer sets them.

Lolita and Black Sweat

SquirrelMeat said:

That was my point though, in the 80s nothing sounded like 3121. It's only now that 3121 sounds like standard R&B. Prince would have been considered ground breaking with 3121 in the 80s!

If 3121 were released in the '80's?


3121
Black Sweat
Lolita
The Word


They may have done well. They would have had non-album track B-sides,
the 80's standard 45 edits, and the 12" 7-10 minute versions.

Love, Incense & Candles, Satisfied - would have done well on the radio.

Fury may have gotten some crossover rock radio airplay.

3121 would have been a Top 10 album for several weeks or months.
Maybe even gone to Number One then.

I noticed some comments about how 3121 sounds like standard R&B, that it is following trends, and that is why it did not do better.

The trends that 3121 follows are the trends that Prince created in the 80's.
Maybe the rest of the world has finally caught up to Prince but I doubt it.
To borrow a line for "Undisputed" where the comment was made that "Prince is out of touch" and Prince responds "my dear I am the touch" is actually true.
Prince has set many of these trends in motion years ago, very few artists can come close to matching the quality and style of a Prince album.

Chris

RedKite said:

I really like the 3121 album but would only give it 3/5 compared to earlier work. You are right to say Prince put things in motion through his huge influence over the Minneapolis sound (probably "perfected" by Jam & Lewis but "invented" by Prince). However, the issue is that Prince is retracing his steps and coming into line with the current sound of R&B and that seems a retrograde step for many fans. We loved the fact that Prince was a step AHEAD. He's still a solid songwriter with albums scattered with gems (though not as consistently as in his heyday).

That said, the guy is nearly 49 with a 26 year career. I can't think of anyone who could claim to still be cutting edge at that stage/age of their career!

Those are exactly the two that would have fit into the 1980s. That's why they are my two favorites from the album.

vainandy said:

So r U stuck in the 80s?

SquirrelMeat said:

This is exactly why I feel that if stations played this music and he was pushed without the negative preconceptions that the media has this album would be a smash.If another artist had released 3121 that artist would be praised and that cd would have been played non-stop on fm stations.It's a non-religious fan's masterwork.It should have been more successful in today's climate.It's just the baggage that the Prince personae brings with it.

rockwilder said:

I would say it is also because Prince set the bar for himself so high with his own musical progression from 78 to 88 that any artist would find it impossible to repeat that. People expect too much from him!

Nope, I'm stuck on music, which doesn't exist anymore except with Prince. The 1980s are just my favorite years. The 1970s were great too.

vainandy said:

I get U.
The 60s were good 2
I think music went when rap went mainstream - it used 2 have political content or @ least something interesting 2 say... now it's nothing but shit

But hey, there r some nice artists out there who r not Prince but they do what they can