I have seen many a Prince fan comment on songs they think should have been a single instead of something else.....so Im wondering...what song do u think should have been made a single in place of another song.....and why?
Do u think that certain songs beign released instead of others would have helped Prince's popularity? Or is there another reason?
Discuss.....

Prince has had a lot of poor single choices from albums. A lot of projects could've done with a bit better single choice or order to maximize their commercial potential. Parade, SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman, , Come, TGE, Emancipation all spring instantly to mind.

Parade: Girls & Boys should've followed Kiss.
SOTT: IIWYGF should not have been single #2
Lovesexy: Glam Slam and I Wish U Heaven were poor choices over the title track.
Batman: Partyman was fluff, Arms Of Orion and Scandalous too schmaltzy, The Future and Vicki Waiting would've worked better.
: The Continental screams single.
Come: Letitgo and Space were bad single choices too mid-tempo. Better would've been Pheromone, Come (with the remixes on an EP? Even the Beautiful Experience version as the main single mix?)
TGE: Endorphinemachine, Billy Jack Bitch, Shy, 319

A lot of these were potential single choices at one point (Lovesexy, Continental) or released in other countries (G&B, The Future), but they weren't promoted or had a promo video, etc.

dolphin should have been a real single, not just a video. after the worldwide
success of tmbgitw, keeping up the pace and momentum he should have released
that song as a single with the album following quickly.

then he should have pulled something like 319 off it together with i hate u,
(which was an actual single) then gold as the last single.

the way things worked out the whole project, which had many fans excited and
many non fans paying close attention due to tmbgitw success, it all just went
down the shitter.

a lot of what happened in the years after that could have been much much more
succesfull if he hadn't had that weird lull within the WB fights.

Planet Earth in the UK should of been released on a REAl cd format, like USA got.

It would of gone to at least No.2 what with all the 21 Nights In London stuff.

Guitar was just getting airplay, people like it, it was getting playlisted and everything. It even entered the download chart at no.33, which meant it could chart for real at no.81

a video should of dropped then the single would of charted at at least no.15.

Future baby mama could of followed it up, then Chelsea Rodgers and SHOE

IstenSzek said:

In my opinion 'Dolphin' shouldn't even be on the album. I remember that a friend of mine gave me the Gold album to convince me to join her in going to a concert (much later though, in 1998). 'Dolphin' made me shudder, if I had heard it a few more times I probably never would have discovered the greatness of Prince.

One that deserved to be a hit,as regards Joe Public is concerned...If I Was Your Girlfriend..it should have reignited the Prince flame lit with Purple Rain.

I've ran several threads on here about this as well. My picks;

D.M.S.R.
Private Joy
She's Always In My Hair
Automatic (edited)
When U Were Mine
Adore

He should have released either "Lady Cab Driver" or "D.M.S.R." as a single instead of "Little Red Corvette". His fans at the time were much more into those two songs and were expecting one of them to be the next single. Also, those two jams would have kept him unknown to the pop/rock crowd, which would have been a good thing.

vainandy said:

I heard that P intially wanted to release LCD but he knew he would have had to edited out quite a bit and he didn't want to do that so.....I've always said "D.M.S.R." was an obvious single but I think P already felt he had the black audience. His main focus was trying to crossover (Little Red Corvette, Let's Pretend) but at the same time, keep his black audience in tact.Little Red was crucial for him and it set him and the audience up for Purple Rain.

Yeah, but gaining that new audience also led to a style change and albums like "Around The World In A Day" and "Parade". If Prince had only had his earlier R&B audience during this era, they would have laughed his ass out of there and he would either have to change his style back or starve to death.

There are too many songs to list but the few I can name off the top of my head are:

Housequake
Automatic
Adore
Strange Relationship
The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
Soul Sanctuary
Blue Light
The Maxx
Lovesexy
The Future
Vicki Waiting
Trust
The Beautiful Ones
Dolphin
A Million Days
The Word
Lolita
Love

There's more but that's off the top of my head

Should have been singles!

When You Were Mine
She's always in my hair
Housequake
Strange Relationship
Lovesexy
Electric Chair
Walk Dont Walk
The Continental
Loose
Dolphin
So Far So Pleased
Vavoom
A Million Days
The one U wanna C

Starfish & coffee, very catchy, the first time i heard it i was bobing my head, and singing along.

People that dont like Prince KNOW this song,and sing along. it crosses demographics across the board every which way, young old black white

If "dont worry be happy" could be a hit, i dont think why this one wouldnt have been.

i will start from sign o the times and onward:

hot thing should have been the A side instead of i could never take the place of ur man or even having housequake as the b side

Lovesexy: perhaps lovesexy should have been the 2nd single instead of glam slam

batman: electric chair should have been released as a single instead of the arms of orion

Graffiti bridge- either elephants and flowers or joy in repetition could have been singles

diamonds and pearls - push should have been a single

:: y oh y wasn't the continential a single? even the max could have been released

the hits/bsides ..well only so much one could do on this release

come - phermone could have been a smash tho i understand the lyrical content could have been 2 taboo 4 radio

the gold experience - billy jack bitch should have been the lead single instead of eye hate u

chaos and disorder - i like it there could have been a single and perhaps dig u better dead

emancipation - any of these songs would have been killer 2 lead off this project instead of betcha by golly wow ..style is one example even sleep around as much as he played it live

the vault- she spoke 2 me instead of extraordinary

rave- 2 not have hot wit u as the lead single was such a travesty. u have eve on the track and would have given him play on urban stations. so far so pleased with gwen could have attracted the pop market

musicology - dear mr man should have been released instead of either call my name or cinnamon girl

3121- love was dying 2 b heard in clubs banging off the walls. the word could have been a single instead of fury or satisfied

planet earth - he did the right thing on these tracks with the xception of chelsea ..should have held that shit back in2 the vault and the rest of that album

the problem of late with prince's single choices 2 kick off a project is, well ur not going 2 succeed if u lead it off with a ballad. prince has been known as a funkateer or grove maker so what made him successful in the past was the 1st single screming out ur speakers DANCE!!!

Musicology was the last project 2 get that formula right

Always fun to speculate.

In Love
I Feel 4 U
When U Were Mine
Private Joy
Intl. Lover
Beautiful Ones
Life Can Be So Nice
Adore (in place of IIWYGF).
Le Grind
LoveSexy (in place of I Wish U Heaven).
Lemon Crush
Release It
Question of U
Elephants & Flowers
The Continental

Come
Phermone (not Letitgo)
Race (not Space)
We March
Dolphin
Sshhh
C&D
Slave
One Kiss at a Time
Joint 2 Joint
Undisputed
Baby Knows
3121
The One U Want 2 C (in US).

I am sure i will think of more later.

I think that was the B side of "Do Me, Baby" if I remember correctly.

"Spirit" and "Uh Huh"

Happy Birthday LaToya...She is 52 today...and Janet turned 42 about a week ago.

The one that comes 2 mind is Love off 3121, the killer drum track would have sold this baby, yet I agree Black Sweat was truly commercial I am amazed it stalled where it did, as it was Prince's most accessible single in ages, other I think should have been singles chronologically

I Feel 4 u, When U were mine, Lets work (as first single), Do Me Baby, Free, Girls and Boys, Housequake, Annastesia, Cant stop this feeling I got, Joy in Repetition, We can Funk, Dolphin, One kiss at a time, The Marrying kind/If eye was the man in yo life, ICPC, Love, Planet Earth, Funk

blackguitaristz said:

Ahhh...now see I knew someone had done some threads on this before, I just wasnt sure who but I figured it was worth a rehash

i've got it in my head that alot from the chocolate invasion and slaughterhouse could have done well.. or do they not count?

high
vavoom

funky design

?

:s

but yeah, even from the 'normal' albums
i think there is soo much

it's a real shame