Illustrator said:

Nobody's listening to me...

This is what I feel like is happening: Gold

My fav. song & I can't take much more

I remember when it came out the DJ on my local radio station said "Prince is back...this is his best song since "Purple Rain". They subsequently played the song three times and never played it again.

I had heard them say it was the new Purple Rain. That's the vibe I get when I listen to it. It's a shame it wasn't as big as PR cause Gold was an excellent song. Powerful but in a different manner.

purplecam said:

Finally some positivity...

It is powerful in a different way. I've felt its power. The first time I heard it, my ears perked up... and I could feel something inside me just connect with it... depending on the mood I'm in, it has brought tears to my eyes whenever I'd hear and/or watch the video of it.

It's a brilliant song that's gone unnoticed by people that aren't so into Prince like we are... it's a pity, but at the same time, I'm okay with the fact it wasn't huge.
Duh, I wasn't in the place I'm in now when it first came out... even so, it's just a shining glowing gem that goes unnoticed, but I know that it'll always have a home with me.

i don't get this hype arond Gold, i can't see anything special about it, try as i might.
maybe i'm just stupid or somethin'.

riffraff said:

No, you're not.

I accept the fact that not everybody feels Gold the way that I do. I just can't stand when people tear it down... I'd rather them be indifferent.

The song and I have a certain closeness because I liked it from first listen and it has been there for me when I needed it.

Those are my reasons.

Others don't get it just because it hasn't reached them in the same way, maybe because it's just not the song for them.

Okay - there's lots of love around here for Gold.
DJs (and P) hyped the song when it came out.
So why didn't it sell? Peaking only at 89 or something??
Market saturation, poor previous material, the name change, or something about the music?

twistee said:

Prince might have sabotaged it, saying it was the next "Purple Rain", but the general public didn't agree with him.
And the name change probably "tarnished" it a bit.

It was aight.

Nice song.New Purple Rain r Let's Go Crazy? No way!

twistee said:

Purple Rain is Prince classic, whereas Gold sounds like he's trying too hard and to me always came across like it could be background music for T.V commercial I dont see as anywhere near Purple Rain.

good songs on Gold would be ...."Most Beautiful Girl in the World","Shhhh",

OskarKristio said:

and Hate U

twistee said:

It boils down to the simple fact that radio listeners, at the time, just didn't find the song appealing. That's all there is to it. He was well past the name change and that didn't hurt The Most Beautiful Girl... or I Hate U, which were sizable hits (I Hate U succeeded even without a video).

Nor did it have anything to do with Prince comparing it to Purple Rain, as the general public wouldn't have even known he made that statement. The fact is it just wasn't a good choice for a single then.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

You care too much about what people think! Not everyone likes Gold, so damn what! I think it's a great song btw.

FunkJam said:

It is like Prince took the formula and sound of the song Purple Rain and tried to take it to another level with GOLD, he polished it, gave it the same type of anthemetic sound....but he cannot duplicate the raw sound of Purple Rain. Purple Rain was unique when it came out....GOLD was P trying to copy himself,but make it seem unique. Dont get me wrong I love GOLD..the intro with the keys and the "na,na,na na" melody is great...but can't you see that it is a bit like the end of purple rain when he sings....whooooo,ooooh,oooh.ooooh..."
Purple Rain is the older brother of GOLD.

thepope2the9s said:

I don't really think Prince was trying to copy Purple Rain specifically, rather he was just trying to purposely write yet another power ballad... even within that mold they sound worlds apart. Now, The Ladder, Otoh...

theodore said:

Haha... yeah, I was kinda crazy yesterday...

See my siggy... I took that song to heart the moment I heard it... so naturally I'd want to defend it.

Prince might have set himself up for a fall by saying it was the next "Purple Rain"... people expected something similar.

Formulaicly (if that's even a word), their structure is 95% identical (5% attributing to the diff. instruments used, minus the "sing-along" chorus, and the meaning behind it).

Gold, I think was just there for me at the right time and I understood it right away. PR, I didn't even try to analyze, I let it come to me... luckily today, I heard it and found a glimmer of hope.

I've thought of the two songs are yin and yang, kinda (blame my Chinese culture class for this)... Yang-Gold shines with the light of enlightenment, Yin-PR is shrouded in sadness, but yin & yang transform into one another, so PR does have a bright side to it... I felt like there had to be. If its supposed to be depressing, why would Prince play it all the time (aside from the fact people just expect)? He tends to favor playing/writing happier material.

When ever Prince was back in favor with the Press they would compare songs to tracks on the PR album. When Graffi Bridge came out they said that "Can't Stop this Feeling I got" to "Lets go Crazy" (What the???) and "Graffti Bridge" To "Purple Rain."

FOr me it caused me to react negatively to the songs because they just aren't any where near the quality of the tracks they compared to them to. Don't get me wrong, I love both songs, but they just don't compare to anything on the "Purple Rain" soundtrack.