Well, to put things in perspective. The album was double platinum. A good accomplishment by any measure. BUT, we are talking about 1988. That was a monster year for music. I remember it well. George Michael dropped Faith and sold 25 million, Michael Jacksons' follow up to Thriller, Bad sold 20 million, U2's Rattle and Hum, Guns and Roses Appetite for Destruction, Public Enemy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Bon Jovi with New Jersey , Terrance Trent Darby with The Hardline... If you want to talk about a year with incredible competition, that is the one. All of the above split the demographics of Princes core and casual fans. Love Sexy is a great album, and it works as a whole. But it was not radio friendly and it was quickly lost. Also, his stage set that was designed for the tour was going to limit him to mostly first tier venues. While a lot of these other guys just needed a stage and a backline, and thus were a lot more mobile with their travel arrangements and the profit ratio was higher, so they got much bigger pushes from the company.

I agree with a lot of what has been said.

Forgive me if I missed it, but I dont think anyone mentioned the rise of hip hop.

I think that had a lot to do with the "fall" of soul music.

The answer's too obvious. LoveSexy would've sold more if it wasn't for that nude cover.

People were not ready to hear Prince as a preacherman. Anna Stesia (which is a incredibly beautiful song, I think) he sings:

"Save me Jesus, I've been a fool
How could I forget that U are the rule
U are my God, I am Your child
From now on, 4 U I shall be wild
I shall be quick I shall be strong
I'll tell Your story, no matter how long (no matter how... no matter)

We're just a play in Your master plan
Now, my Lord I understand..."

It was a shock for partying people but also for those who took their adulthood more mildly than Prince. They were in no need of anaesthesia and stopped listening to Prince no matter how good his music was.

In Finland the album cover was not a big thing. It was cute and it was nude, that's all - like we all are after birth and sauna.

[Edited 8/24/11 23:32pm]

In interviews, Prince likes to mention how James Brown and Aretha Franklin had albums coming out every 3 or 6 months as an excuse for releasing so many albums. Sadly, the formula for chart success in the 80's meant taking some time between albums. Michael Jackson and U2 took their time, and had stellar management. By 1986, Prince was telling Fargnoli, Macaroni, and Cuvallo, or whatever their names were...what to do. Prince did what he wanted. Imagine how big Sign "O" The Times would've been as a follow up to Purple Rain. Further imagine how big it would've been with "Kiss" as the lead single.

To compensate for only releasing an album every 3 or so years, Prince easily could've had multi-disc outtake sets released every 8 or so years as box sets. But no, he had to have an album out every damn year. Lovesexy could've been huge with its best songs mixed with Graffiti Bridge in 1990. The market was over-saturated, and even Madonna and Phil Collins did not release albums as frequently. You can't find a single multi-platnium artist who released an album every year. Even Purple Rain followed a year with no album. Considering how much product Prince released, he did fairly well, just not as well as he could have.

Of course, letting Tony M in the band was the first time I was ashamed of Prince. That guy was so bad, I had a hard time trying to tell anyone he was still a "serious" musican. Even Tony M's brilliant rap about putting somebody's face in manure wasn't enough. Has anybody else ever rapped about manure before or since?

I don't think the cover had anything to do with it at all. It sits firmly in the middle of the catalog in album sales. Taken with my previous post, I think it did what it was supposed to do on its own. A proper tour would have maybe sold another million units, but would have eaten that in the cost.

itsjustaroundthecorner said:

Lots of great reasons listed already: - the cover was BRUTAL. I love it, but my brother was gonna kill me when he had to bring it home from the mall for me. Most people agreed with my brother. - I love glam slam, but 'flick a nipple' would never be played on radio back then. But I have to say, Im still stunned about how incredibly shut out Prince was at this point. It just all turned COLD. - HE NEEDED TO TAKE A BREAK! It was just non stop with him. He needed to see sign o the times thru fully. Hot Thing and Housequake should have been A side singles on their own. And he needed to tour behind it in the states. BIG mistake. HUGE! Then take a break and come back with something big. But he didn't do things like everyone else. It's one of the reasons why most us love him. It worked out , I guess. He is a living legend and still going. He beat the system in a lot of ways, ultimately. However at thetime, it would have been great to see SOTT become a blockbuster.

I agree with much of what you said regarding SOTT.It's been said many times before,but one of Prince's biggest career mistakes was not bringing the SOTT tour to the States in 1987.Things might have turned out differently for him.

Every time I think about that particular era, something about it always seemed real off.

Timmy84 said:

Every time I think about that particular era, something about it always seemed real off.

the Lovesexy era was the first time I noticed that mainstream America was tuning Prince out.The "Alphabet St" video was shown on MTV but I never saw the other two videos ("Glam Slam" and "Eye Wish U Heaven") on that channel at all.Even our local R&B station,which had always supported Prince in the past,didn't really play those two singles.As someone else pointed out,there was so much going on in 1988....Michael Jackson was on tour with 'Bad',George Michael was in his 'Faith' heyday.Sadly,Prince got left behind.

SoulAlive said:

Timmy84 said:

Every time I think about that particular era, something about it always seemed real off.

the Lovesexy era was the first time I noticed that mainstream America was tuning Prince out.The "Alphabet St" video was shown on MTV but I never saw the other two videos ("Glam Slam" and "Eye Wish U Heaven") on that channel at all.Even our local R&B station,which had always supported Prince in the past,didn't really play those two singles.As someone else pointed out,there was so much going on in 1988....Michael Jackson was on tour with 'Bad',George Michael was in his 'Faith' heyday.Sadly,Prince got left behind.

Yeah it was almost as if he didn't exist in 1988. Especially with new jack swing coming on up that same year and let's not forget Terence Trent D'Arby was still riding high off his debut so Prince was definitely a superstar without much exposure in 1988 in the U.S. at least.

that's why I was glad when he did 'Batman' a year later.He needed that big commercial comeback....to let people know that he was still around,lol.

TylerHippie said:

I was watching a video from 88', and in the video Sheila E said that Lovesexy wasn't during to good on the charts. The tour was a beast. The album had some good ass songs. "Anna Stesia", "Alphabet St", "I Wish U Heaven", "Positivity" and "When 2 R In Love". 5 out of 9 isn't bad. But those are the tracks I like.

Maybe the critics and world wasn't ready for it. I think Prince could've done better with singles.

"Alphabet St."

"Anna Stesia"

"I Wish U Heaven"

"When 2 R In Love"

Werent those the singles? Except for Anna Stesia i think.

it maybe wasnt big in the usa but it was huge in europe...the us public was finding it hard to keep up with prince at this time...he had released 5 albums in less than four years and they couldnt keep up....his sales were declining in the usa since the mega selling ' purple rain ' mainly due to saturating the market..

in europe...prince sales were still rising and after the brilliant ' sign o the times ' album...europe recognised prince has thee musical genius of the 80s....the lovesexy album was number one all over europe (his first in the uk) and the tour was a huge sucess...

.

blackbob said:

it maybe wasnt big in the usa but it was huge in europe.

.the lovesexy album was number one all over europe (his first in the uk) and the tour was a huge sucess...

.

Exactly!

There seems to be only a very few Americans on the org who are able to comprehend the concept of there being a world outside of the US.

[Edited 8/25/11 2:42am]

I think people overestimate the influence of the album-cover. A lot of it had to do with the music itself.

Allthough experimental in certain places, the songs on Sign of the Times were among his most straightforward and 'catchy' since those on Purple Rain and therefore loved by many.

Lovesexy is a far more experimental album, especially when it comes to the arrangements: lots of dissonants, instruments playing in different keys at the same time, jazz-elements, several musical styles being crammed into one song. Lovesexy is not exactly 'easy listening', its a rather demanding listening experience for the more 'casual music listener'.

[Edited 8/25/11 4:34am]

TheDigitalGardener said:

blackbob said:

it maybe wasnt big in the usa but it was huge in europe.

.the lovesexy album was number one all over europe (his first in the uk) and the tour was a huge sucess...

.

Exactly!

There seems to be only a very few Americans on the org who are able to comprehend the concept of there being a world outside of the US.

[Edited 8/25/11 2:42am]

I agree that Lovesexy was at first a commercial succes over her in Europe. It was nr. 1 in almost every country when it was released.

But a lot of that had to do with the succes of Sign of the Times. That album (and tour) were such a succes over here in Europe. Sign actually sold more copies in Europe then Purple Rain, and it was his real breakthrough in Europe, i think.

So Lovesexy rose to number 1 based on the succes of Sign. But i remember several people around me, who jumped on the bandwagon when 'Sign' came out, were disappointed when they actually heard the music on the Lovesexy. Eventually Lovesexy sold less then Sign.

I remember people enjoying the Batman album more, saying 'it was more straightforward'.

TheDigitalGardener said:

blackbob said:

it maybe wasnt big in the usa but it was huge in europe.

.the lovesexy album was number one all over europe (his first in the uk) and the tour was a huge sucess...

.

Exactly!

There seems to be only a very few Americans on the org who are able to comprehend the concept of there being a world outside of the US.

I get what you guys are saying but Prince is an American artist and let's face it,America is his largest market.So when a Prince album flops here in America,that's a big deal,regardless of how well it does elsewhere.

SoulAlive said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

Exactly!

There seems to be only a very few Americans on the org who are able to comprehend the concept of there being a world outside of the US.

I get what you guys are saying but Prince is an American artist and let's face it,America is his largest market.So when a Prince album flops here in America,that's a big deal,regardless of how well it does elsewhere.

I hear you, but it still did reasonably well in the US, just not as well compared to the albums of the past. His album sales were in decline way before Lovesexy in the USA. I mean, what did the USA consider to be a flop back in '88, less than a million sales?

I think it did well in the US taking into consideration the cover, the content, the postponed tour dates and all.

On a slightly off topic note, I wonder what total sales of the album are now in 2011 in the US? Would be interesting to find an accurate figure.

Also, I would not like to bet on the USA being his biggest market now.

[Edited 8/25/11 5:55am]

SoulAlive said:

I get what you guys are saying but Prince is an American artist and let's face it,America is his largest market.So when a Prince album flops here in America,that's a big deal,regardless of how well it does elsewhere.

Actually, European population exceeds North Americans, but I understand what you mean. Prince's main audience is there where his musical and spiritual roots are.

[Edited 8/25/11 6:00am]

Hmmmm let me see:

Naked pretty man on cover sitting on a flower?

Tinny production

Psudo-religio-cultish lyrics

Unfashionable (in 1988) androgyny theme

Strange non-pop horns and chords

Was never meant to be a big album

masbas said:

The cover. The music was a letdown from what he was doing around that time. It is a great album, musically, but like The Rainbow Children, some found the lyrics quite silly and immature.

The decline of Prince's sales in the United States had begun years ago, Lovesexy was just one step ahead. In Europe the path was more or less the opposite.

I'll tell you something significant: Lovesexy did well in Spain. I'm not kiddin'. Alphabet Street got radio airplay. Actually, it was the first of his songs I liked.

Also, although Prince had been playing with androginy for quite a long time, maybe this was too much for many people, even more taking into consideration that a few months before he had released If I Was Your Girlfriend as a single.

Javi said:

Also, although Prince had been playing with androginy for quite a long time, maybe this was too much for many people, even more taking into consideration that a few months before he had released If I Was Your Girlfriend as a single.

Let's face it: many geniuses of music and art are androgynous more or less. It is the main source of their creativity. I can't blame or reject them for that. As many people have written before, competition was hard those days when Lovesexy was released. Album was soon forgotten.

[Edited 8/25/11 7:01am]

Lovesexy wasn't a hit because everything done about the promotion, era, and album itself was done wrong.

I agree with much of whats been said here but, I really have to add that the songs just weren't that strong. I'm sorry but that's just how I see it. This record marks the beginning of a bad trend; Too much focus on the production and layers of sound and too little focus on the song itself. When 2R in Love is a great song and Alphabet Street was fun but aside from that , it took work to get into the record. I was 17 when he dropped this and I saw it as a great letdown after SOTT. Not saying I didn't grow to like it but definitely did not cause my copy of SOTT to get dusty .

[Edited 8/25/11 8:14am]

I've said it many times :

I think a lot of it has to be that stupid cover. I know a lot of people that didn't want any part of

it due to the cover, especially guys that were very big Prince fans. Many of them started acting like they didn't want anything to do with him because the other folks were blasting on Prince so badly, I witnessed a lot of that too. That Cover seperated the fans that really enjoyed his music from the ones who just kept seeing this naked dude that is posing like a woman. I am female and I was quite embarrased myself looking at the photo. I just turned it around so I didn't have to look at it..

My conclusion I think it was the cover, some stores didn't supply them and I remember just seeing

the back of the CD on the shelves when it came out. When you have a lot of people that says 'yes' to anything you do and say, this is the consequences you have to face. It is best to listen to someone who truly has your back and not afraid to say 'no' as long as you don't threaten their job just because they disagree on a decision you are about to make.

example to what just happend while I am typing this I was scrolling down the page

and my son just looked at the

picture of the Lovesexy cover..what's the first words out of his

mouth, just now? " ugh!" What gay pic" 'yuck' and then he walked away-

still commenting on it...

I think he needs therapy now....

but see what I went through listening to my peers at school, on the bus, at

work, and in my neighborhood...that is why when I see that cover I get

mad because it was rough. It was hard being a kid and liking Prince back then.

Prince made it hard for us fans back then and sometimes still today. I think too

that is why so many folks that liked Prince in the Purple Rain days are stuck in that

time era and never moved on. You will still hear people ask "What has Prince been up

to?, then they will say "I remember seeing him in concert in the 80's" or "I really liked

him in Purple Rain. He is so cute" and that basically ends the conversation. I will look at

people that makes those comments to me and think how they have

missed out on a lot of great music, performances and lots of laughs.

I know I have said enough...but that cover traumatized me for life..

But other than I enjoyed listening to the LoveSexy CD--It was really different

because you couldn't skip/fast forward/shuffle or anything, all you could do

was Press play and enjoy the ride.

Luv ya P.