Imagine that it is December, 1987 and instead of scrapping it Prince decides to release the Black Album. Which songs do you think would have made the best singles?

Le Grind
Cindy C.
Dead on It
When 2 R in Love
Bob George
Superfunkycalifragisexy
2 Nigs United 4 West Compton
Rockhard in a Funky Place

Frankly I don't see any obvious pop singles but I think that "Le Grind" and "Cindy C." could have been sizable R & B hits. I could even see an edited "2 Nigs United For West Compton" being a small hit similar to Madhouse's "6" but otherwise I don't see any obvious singles. What do you think?

There is not a strong single on the entire album

Which speaks to Prince's genius as the album itself is pretty good.

1. Le Grind (the leading single)
2. Superfunkcalifragisexy
3. Bob George
4. Cindy C


these are the strongest songs imo..

Superfunky
When 2 R In Love
Rockhard In A Funky Place
Le Grind

This album was so underground in it's presentation that he could have had a lot of fun with it.

Le Grind
Cindy C
Bob George
When 2 R N Love
Rock Hard In A Funky Place (strongest) it would have been cool to have Susannah in the video since that's her(Camille) voice in the song behind Prince

I could see him and the band in black:lace,leather,ruffled shirts, 1legged pants, black cloud guitar(parade) black double kick drumset

No real singles, but "Le Grind" or "Cindy C" could have had a showing on R&B radio. The instrumental no one would have cared about.

ernestsewell said:

Rock Hard In A Funky Place would have been a strong single

OldFriends4Sale said:

Not sure about that. Even in radio back then, I really don't believe a slow song like that would have really done anything on radio, either in 1988, or 1994. A fan's LOVE of a song, and knowing its ins and outs doesn't always equate with it being a radio-friendly song. That's not to say a fan wouldn't WANT to hear it on the radio, because clearly some would. But in the grand scheme of radio programming, they'd probably go for one of the first two tracks, OR possibly "When 2 R In Love" (which is a safe assumption that it ended up on R&B/Urban radio like "Adore" did, just cuz some folks loved it, and it was R&B enough to get into some sort of rotation.)

Le Grind
Cindy C

"Le Grind" should have been sent to R&B radio as the first single.Our local R&B station actually played this song a few times in 1988.They found a bootleg copy and were really hyped about it.

"When 2 R In Love" should have been the second single.


Beyond that,I don't think there's any other singles on this album.

rialb said:

Just the title alone would have prevented radio from touching that song

thedance said:

Do you seriously think that radio would have played "Bob George"?

SoulAlive said:

I forgot "When 2 R in love"
That defintly would of been a single.
Radio would of fainted at the thought of "Bob George"

"When 2 R in Love," is beautiful and also released on, "LoveSexy."

mostbeautifulboy said:

This album could have been so underground. I think the underground would have played the hell out of it and it would have made the pop radio want it

He could have released some wicked videos for circulation.

Shoot the Black Album was tops in the charts and it wasn't even officially released back then

One night back in '89' here in the Bay Area (California), KSOL played Good Love and When 2 R In Love back to back. It was a special night and there was a buzz about the new exclusive music all through the day on the radio station leading up to debut of the songs. KSOL played those two songs back to back, they then said they received so many good calls regarding those songs that they were going to play them again. I don't know how often the songs were played after that but I had my tape of them so it didn't matter.