Prince has had many questionable singles choices in his career - as have many artists. Lurking on his albums (and b-sides and unreleased tracks) there are songs that, had they been given their chance as a single in the right situation, could have been gigantic hits.

It's interesting to think about what might have happened had "Girls & Boys" followed "Kiss" instead of "Mountains." To me, with the right video - something sexy and stylish like "Kiss" - "Girls & Boys" would have followed it to the top of the charts. It's an obvious smash. The fact that he passed on it for "Mountains" is just insane. Don't get me wrong, I like "Mountains" alot, but it's a 4th single. "Girls & Boys" is a smash.

Another missed opportunity: "Hot Thing". It was so good that it charted as a b-side. The single edit of it is hot. Imagine it in a prominent spot - perhaps the 2nd single from "SOTT" - its funky and unique like "Kiss." Imagine it as the first single from "SOTT" - a prelude, the first taste of his new direction after disbanding The Revolution. Tight, lean, mean and funky. It would have raced to #1.

Imagine looking at a "Best of Prince" compilation today and seeing songs like "Girls & Boys" and "Hot Thing" at the same level of mass consciousness as "Kiss" and "Little Red Corvette."

What are some of your picks for hidden smashes that, given the chance, could sit alongside the man's biggest singles.

Housequake/Adore instead of If I Was Your Girlfriend.
Loose
Joy in Repetition
Billy Jack Bitch
New World instead of Betcha By Golly, Wow
Love 2 the 9s instead of 7
Vicki Waiting instead of Arms of Orion

When You Were Mine
Private Joy
Housequake
Adore
Shhh
319
In This Bed Eye Scream
One Kiss At A Time
Joint 2 Joint (edit)
So Far,So Please/Hot Wit U remix (double A side lead single)

IIWYG
Just As Long As We're 2gether
And God Created Woman
We Can Funk
Billy Jack Bitch
Shhh
Private Joy
Crucial
Get Blue
The One
Eye Hate U
Wonderful Ass

billy jack bitch without a doubt

If I Was Your Girlfriend

Shhh

Gold

Hot Thing (could have easily been huge)

Housequake (shortened a bit though)

I think The Beautiful Ones could have done well as a single too...

Gold should have been a much bigger hit but was a victim of the mangled publicity campaign for TGE.

New Power Generation should have been a hit but fell victim to a late video and single release and the bad buzz of the movie.

Letitgo definitely should have been Top 20 but Come was buried by WB.

And of course about 10 different songs from Emanicpation that never had a chance.

GottaLetitgo said:

Gold wasnt really that good....too formulatic

While agree with Girls and Boys, I still think Mountains is ten times better as a song. It did fairly well on R&B stations, but wasn't a big hit.

Crucial - defintely (Did he even release singles when he finally released Crystal Ball?)

The One - edited

Any song from 1999 that wasn't a single. It's that consistent and that good.

When U were Mine

I Hate U

Shh

Somebody's Somebody (was this a single?)

Strange Relationship

Not on topic, but if he would have recorded a Prince-ish version of Manic Monday (which he gave to the Bangles) and of Uncle Sam (which he gave to Tevin Campbell), they would have been huge. Obviously, Manic Monday was huge anyway.

Singingboy said:

7 was a great choice.

coltrane3 said:

Somebody's Somebody was released as a cd single (plus there was the video)

I agree 7 was a good choice
3 chains o' gold could've been up there to

White Mansion

I agree with all those that say Housequake.

After the moody and thought provoking SOTT, a party jam like Housequake would have been perfect.

kpowers said:

Why? What do u like about it? I'd like someone to explain why this song is good, coz it sounds like a dirge to me.

IMO THE great lost single opportunity was...

Strange Relationship

coltrane3 said:

He was looking at releasing Poom Poom, but that fell through just like most things including Crystal Ball II, Roadhouse Garden, Wasted Kisses single etc.

***"Housequake"---I was shocked that Prince didn't release this song as a single.It should have been the second single from 'SOTT'.The title track was dark and serious...."Housequake" would have lightened the mood and got everyone rushing to the dancefloors in the summer of '87.In the DMSR book,Eric or Alan Leeds says that Prince was on tour in Europe and he didn't realize the impact this song was having in the States.R&B radio LOVED this song,and it would have went Top 10 easily.All they had to do was come up with a single edit and remove the cuss words from it ("Bullshit!")

***"Lovesexy"---this song is everything that "Glam Slam" isn't.It's fast,funky,sexy and danceable.Should have been the second single from the album.

***"Girls And Boys"---as previously mentioned by Northernlad,this song should have been the second single from 'Parade'.I'm sure it would have followed "Kiss" to the Number One position."Mountains" is a decent song but it's not exciting enough to be the all-important second single.

***"Private Joy"---the best song on 'Controversy'.Would have been a cool third single.

***"It"---This hard,pumping jam had alot of hit potential.I know it would have been a huge MTV/pop hit in early 1988.

Shafty said:

Exactly! "Housequake" was the obvious choice for second single.

'mountains' should have been a bigger hit than it was.

'question of u' should have been released as a single...i dunno how well it would have done, but it's such a signature song from that album, which needs all the positive associations it can get.

i'd say 'come on' should have been a bigger hit, but i think it's kind of appropriate as an underground/sleeper/fan favorite.

Anxiety said:

This song was actually planned as the first single from 'Graffiti Bridge' and a video was filmed for it.At the last minute,I think Prince decided that "Thieves In The Temple" should be the lead-off single.

'Love Sign' would have done well on the back of TMBGITW, but I think Warners stopped the release..

SoulAlive said:

i remember reading in rolling stone that 'question of u' would be the first single, then it never happened. i've seen a really bad quality deleted scene from GB w/ the song, but i don't know if that was the actual scrapped video.

Anxiety said:

mountains groove wasnt good,great chorus but p sounded like he was yelling on the verses

mirrorbestfriend said:

With the horns and Prince's falsetto,"Mountains" sounds like a Bee Gees song That's not a bad thing,I'm a huge fan of the Bee Gees,I just didn't think it was the right choice for a single.

SoulAlive said:

i agree....you explained it better though

SoulAlive said:

it's my favorite prince song ever, so whatever. i'm biased.

17 Days as a single and not a B-Side would have been just as big as When Doves Cry IMO

You gotta Love Dorothy Parker. Rock N Rolls Alive..... was a quality b-side to Gold too