muleFunk said:

Just cause you do a video don't mean squat. besides, WHO plays videos anymore? Seriously...MTV, VH1? What at midnight?...wow that's great for promotion! It was NOT in heavy rotation on radios across the country, though I did hear it here and there.

Simple: no strong melody lines / the lack of a chorus.

It might have the kind of refreshing minimalistic funk-sound of Kiss, but Kiss was 'built around' a well written composition, Black Sweat wasn't.

Just like the song 3121 is no If I was your girlfriend or Housequake, and Dance 4 me is no Erotic City, Black Sweat is no Kiss.

Riverpoet31 said:

I still hear Kiss more than I hear Black Sweat on the radio.

L0tusFl0w3r said:

I can answer THIS question in one word: Ageism!

Black Sweat was a type of Prince-song that was able to go toe-to-toe against Justin Timberlake's Sexyback in 2006. But most of the Clear Channel-owned Top 40 radio stations wouldn't allow the Prince VS. Justin rivalry to happen, despite that both artists went public with their opinions concerning Sexyback. In other words, Prince was looked down on by some in the music industry as someone that was "too old" to compete against an artist of a younger generation.

I reckon it's because the album/studio version is pretty flat and maybe a bit soulless.

Hear it live and it's a different matter! Why didn't he add horns, that crazy keyboard and amazing bass to the studio version? It's possibly my favourite tune from 21 nights.

Prince refers to gatekeepers a lot, and I think it's true, if you're signed to a major label you can guarantee chart success. Look at how much hype surrounded Musicology (released through Sony) - this was his return to form. Personally I thought it was an 'ok' album, albeit with stellar musicianship and production.

TonyVanDam said:

what about Madonna ? Born the same year as prince

L0tusFl0w3r said:

Are we talking about THE same Madonna that had to lower her standards by appearing on 106 & Park (a shit-hop/r&b [rhythmless bullshit] based show no less) to promote the Hard Candy album by entertaining a bunch of kids that weren't aware that Lucky Star was Madonna's first video to play on BET and not 4 minutes?!?

Madonna herself has also been a victim of ageism within the industry, but in a different way from Prince. And THAT^ story proves my point. She had to step down to the level of kids just to re-kick start USA album sales that weren't there since Bedtime Stories. And those same kids are mostly fans of Beyonce.

Prince didn't have to step down to that level because it was Justin & Timbaland themselves that was stepping to Prince's level (studio production-wise that is, because they're can NOT beat Prince in live performamces!). But in the end, The Clear Channel-owned Top 40 radio stations chosen to NOT allow Prince to compete against the younger MPLS-wannabe sounding Justin.

.
[Edited 7/11/12 23:24pm]

"Black Sweat" is a great song,

but it didn't help the sales with no 12 inch extended version and no real b-side,

I mean "Beautiful Loved & Blessed" is a crappy b-side...

Jasziah said:

I think it means "Black Sweat" only made it to # 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.

http://www.allmusic.com/c...r5ldhe~T51

thedance said:

The B-Side concept in the music biz is over by far, most major labels don't even press singles anymore, nowadays it's all about digital marketing and that "pay to get played" radio thing, super-sad but true...

^ yeah thats a pity,

but Black Sweat was a cd single,

I have 2 versions (a normal cd single, and 1 in paper cover whateverthatiscalled),

both - incl. BL&B as b-sides..

thedance said:

I know, I have the red vinyl and the CD single with the video but what I was trying to say is singles charts are not based on physical sells anymore.

My guess is Prince singles are pressed only because of die-hard fans and completists; speaking of BS, a non-album track would have been better than BL&B but Prince was heavily into Tamar at the time.

Plus, who really knowks about the contract between Prince and Universal? Maybe they settled a deal for the 12 album tracks and nothing else and they made the single out of that deal, just guessing...
[Edited 7/29/09 6:10am]

There are some good sound in the song
but the song as a whole is kinda weak

Black Sweat, you get a really obvious 'black' woman in black girating while you drink black coffee and people think about how uncool that can be especially when you don't really date women like that. I don't care how he dates but when you do something like that it become non relatable, just like Michael Jacksons songs after Bad that were sexual songs about a woman

If he had a different woman in the video for me I would have probably not been so distracted.

I think it was his best song that he did in years. It would have been great on MPLSound. Although the video was in heavy rotation, the younger crowd prefer those dreadful younger artist.

it's cuz there was no crazy dancing or trend starting video promo... and no crazy remix version maybe? And bad artwork?

Prince was too calm and reserved?

Don't care at all about charts but that song was not good. Synths were annoying as hell and there was absolutely NO hook. Love would've been a much better choice if he wanted a hit. Personally 3121 & The Word were the two choice cuts from that album.

MantuaPharoah said:

true

Can you imagine if Timberlake or Andre 3000 recorded $.... its the same thing

Prince burned his bridges as someone else says he took this path