DaniCalifornia said:

RicoN said:

I had a poster of the cover on my wall at the time...

not long after I found an article on my pillow that my mum had ripped out of a magazine. The article? What to do if your son is gay.

Ooh, poor mum... Obviously you have survived this episode anyhow. It is so common that people mistakenly combine androgyny to homosexuality.

Yes. Many people only see black or white, they're that simple. You can be a macho or an homesexual, nothing inbetween.

This only applies to the U.S.:

I was around at the time of release, getting to be a huge Prince collector (as opposed to a fan) because of the SOTT movie and hearing a cassette Black Album. I was a freshmen/sophomore in college.

It was not just the album cover's fault.I know this because I saw people not getting into the music without ever even seeing the album cover.

And even though MTV and other music video shows played the Alphabet St video, the song was just not produced in a way that was that cool to people's ears. I beleive this because I had overheard people talking about the new songs they liked or disliked, and the response to Prince's track was disinterest to a mild like.

I know that ultimately it was the music's fault because I saw, that summer time after time, when people I knew of all different types (from advertising computer nerds to rock n roll stoners, to frat guys/sorority girls, heard tracks from Lovesexy through me or around me, they expressed disappointment and dislike compared to the older Prince songs they did like. And very often after hearing Black Album tracks, I would get asked by some of the guys (very mainstream guys) for copies of that album, but I never got a request for Lovesexy.

And after the single of Alphabet st? Glam Slam? There's no way that would hit in the States! I had a friend who saw the video ONCE on MTV. I was taping hours of MTV just to catch it, and never got it recorded. It was just not played. And then I wish U Heaven's video got played on BET, not even MTV.

DaniCalifornia said:

RicoN said:

I had a poster of the cover on my wall at the time...

not long after I found an article on my pillow that my mum had ripped out of a magazine. The article? What to do if your son is gay.

Ooh, poor mum... Obviously you have survived this episode anyhow. It is so common that people mistakenly combine androgyny to homosexuality.

I think I'm over it... just... mum loves me really..

muleFunk said:

Amkatnip said:

I remember clearly...for a hint; scroll back to the top of this page. The "naked guy" cover was a little much for 1988. I remember picking up a copy at the record store in Minneapolis and they had it hidden behind the counter. I had to ask for it. It was NOT on the floor.

It wasn't any easier for a hetero teenage guy asking for it either. I got a "neat" look from the cashier.

Ah...the things we do as as Prince fans.

It was the same in Tennessee. The album was hidden behind the counter like it was a Penthouse or Hustler magazine.

I was a 18 year old high school senior in 1988 and was asked for my ID to buy the album.

This of course does not apply for Europe.

too preachy, weird and european

the pop production probably disappointed funk fans/purists as well...

pepper7 said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

1) As mentioned above, the fact that the album was released (on cd) as one continuous track did not help the album.

2) The cover art caused some problems in the USA, several US retail and distribution outlets refused to display the album on the shelf and instead kept it behind the counter. Apparently WB requested new artwork but Prince refused, saying that the cover art was integral to the concept of the album content.

3) Before the album was released, Prince also wanted there to be no videos made. He stated that not doing videos would set him apart from other artists and also create a mystery around the album. Of course he did change his mind which must have pleased WB.

4) A tour of the USA was already planned, but Prince decided to postpone the dates and take the tour to Europe first.

5) The US tour lost money due to poor ticket sales, the losses were later recouped when Prince took Lovesexy to Japan.

Lovesexy did do well outwith the USA, it went top of the charts in a few countries, but ony reached number 11(?) in the US.

Seriously, doesn't Prince rock!!

Yes he does, but not when it is to the detriment of his career.

I'm just glad that it got released the way it is. With that cover art, with those songs, with the style of production. It's one of those albums that truly define Prince.

I don't really get the usual gripe about the production. The arrangements are very imaginative and it's a pleasure to listen to it. It's not overproduced in a way that would make me want to press the "stop" button halfway into the album. Prince could clearly pull off doing those type of arrangements, so why the hell not. How many "lofi" or "minimalist" tracks had he recorded during the sessions that resulted in SOTT and The Black Album? 30-50? You'd think he'd want to move and do something else instead for a while.

... and c'mon, Prince was born to put a picture of him naked on one of his albums.

The continuous sequence thing doesn't really count.

This was 1988. People were buying records and cassettes and just starting to buy CD's. Only one of my roommates even had a cd player that Fall. We were still all cassette and records. Cassettes were the majority of sales.

I still don't own Lovesexy on CD. The complaints about the sequencing have always seemed sill to me.

Lovesexy was my first album/tape I owned

with my own money. I was 10, and all my parents friends

were like,r u crazy let ur daughter have the album!

He's naked,she's to young 2 listen to that!

My parent's didn't care,cus they knew I liked him

b4 Lovesexy came out. That's y Lovesexy

is very special 2 me when 9yrs old and

young dealing with a uncurable disease.

I Took that tape with me whenever I had

to go through chemo.

SoulAlive said:

Two reasons....

***the nude album cover----There were many people who were offended by that album cover (especially heterosexual males).It kept many people from getting into this album.

***the wrong singles---"Alphabet St" was a strong first single but the follow up "Glam Slam" was a snoozefest.That song didn't stand a chance on pop radio in 1988.Not surprisingly,it bombed and it also killed the album's momentum.Beginning with Parade,I started to notice a trend.Prince would release a kickass first single,then follow it up with a questionable second single.The title track to Lovesexy was the obvious choice for second single.

Quote:

too preachy, weird and european

the pop production probably disappointed funk fans/purists as well...

Reaction:

What the hell is European about Lovesexy? I am European (dutch), and i dont see it.

Parade was an European album IMO, at least to some extent, with the French influences (a semi-classical song like Venus de Milo, Brecht-Weill like balladry on Under the Cherry Moon, and the french jazz-like vibe of Do U Lie), but what exactly sounds 'European' on Lovesexy?

And what about this 'pop production'? Rave sounds like a pop-record, 3121 too, where is the 'pop' in the production of Lovesexy?

Again i like to focus on the music and arrangements on Lovesexy: Sign of the Times did take some sonic 'left turns' but composition-wise it was a collection of mostly straightforward, often 'catchy' songs.

Lovesexy lacked in the songwriting-department and it was 'compensated' by the arrangements. It simply wasnt a commercial record: here you have prince trying to 'marry' Duke Ellington, Frank Zappa, George Clinton and the Beatles in arrangements that border on over-production and almost collapse under their richness of idea's.

To me Lovesexy showed Princes growth as an arranger, but its definitely not an album that is easy to digest for people who are looking for another Little Red Corvette or U got the look. In the end the music on Lovesexy was 'too difficult' for manypeople to warm up to.

About the cover: so Prince poses nude with a crucifix. A Dutch book that came out at the time stated it perfectly:
This time he is naked, all he wears is his faith.
But I understand that not everybody got it. And that is once again one of the reasons I love Prince: he has his own artistic vision and lives by it. If you get it, you get it. If not... so what?

No truly kick ass single.

Alphabet St is great, but at the time it struck me as sort of a weaker take on Kiss. It's actually great, but not quite as concise and easy as U Got the Look or Kiss. And nothing to follow it up. I was still listening to radio at the time and heard Alphabet St a bit (& saw the video), but never heard Glam Slam or I Wish U Heaven.

Interest in Prince was already on the wane. Around the World, Parade, all sold less & less. Lovesexy came out, what a year after Sign? Which was a double album, and was still probably keeping people busy.

Add to that patchy reviews, his continued perception as a total nut, nude album cover, and continually less defined place in popular music and you have the general downward trend that continues even now, with some resurgances here and there.

Swa said:

I think the fact the album was sequenced as one continuous track on CD made it a difficult album to get into.

Maybe later. But in 1988, most folks were still buying vinyl. (Actually, it'd be interesting to find out which album really marked the crossover from vinyl to CD. The first Prince CD I bought was Diamonds and Pearls.)

I think a bigger factor was that he was naked on the cover. Trust me - there were a lot of places that sold the album from behind the counter as a result. It wasn't put in the bins with everything else.

Genesia said:

Swa said:

I think the fact the album was sequenced as one continuous track on CD made it a difficult album to get into.

Maybe later. But in 1988, most folks were still buying vinyl. (Actually, it'd be interesting to find out which album really marked the crossover from vinyl to CD. The first Prince CD I bought was Diamonds and Pearls.)

I think a bigger factor was that he was naked on the cover. Trust me - there were a lot of places that sold the album from behind the counter as a result. It wasn't put in the bins with everything else.

When I saw the cover, I was buying it on the day it came out, and I thought "fucking Prince! Now I have to take this god damn thing to the counter and pay money to be embarrassed"

I bought it on CD. The single track definitely annoyed me, but I had already bought it at that point. I doubt it stopped anyone from getting it, but the cover nearly stopped me!

Genesia said:

Swa said:

I think the fact the album was sequenced as one continuous track on CD made it a difficult album to get into.

Maybe later. But in 1988, most folks were still buying vinyl. (Actually, it'd be interesting to find out which album really marked the crossover from vinyl to CD. The first Prince CD I bought was Diamonds and Pearls.)

I think a bigger factor was that he was naked on the cover. Trust me - there were a lot of places that sold the album from behind the counter as a result. It wasn't put in the bins with everything else.

I bought the album in 88 an I bought it on CD.

Agreed. In the end, the songs just weren't that good.

ufoclub said:

This only applies to the U.S.:

I was around at the time of release, getting to be a huge Prince collector (as opposed to a fan) because of the SOTT movie and hearing a cassette Black Album. I was a freshmen/sophomore in college.

It was not just the album cover's fault.I know this because I saw people not getting into the music without ever even seeing the album cover.

And even though MTV and other music video shows played the Alphabet St video, the song was just not produced in a way that was that cool to people's ears. I beleive this because I had overheard people talking about the new songs they liked or disliked, and the response to Prince's track was disinterest to a mild like.

I know that ultimately it was the music's fault because I saw, that summer time after time, when people I knew of all different types (from advertising computer nerds to rock n roll stoners, to frat guys/sorority girls, heard tracks from Lovesexy through me or around me, they expressed disappointment and dislike compared to the older Prince songs they did like. And very often after hearing Black Album tracks, I would get asked by some of the guys (very mainstream guys) for copies of that album, but I never got a request for Lovesexy.

And after the single of Alphabet st? Glam Slam? There's no way that would hit in the States! I had a friend who saw the video ONCE on MTV. I was taping hours of MTV just to catch it, and never got it recorded. It was just not played. And then I wish U Heaven's video got played on BET, not even MTV.

RosesRred said:

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....

Yr son doesn't need therapy. What he needs is for you to steer him away from homophobia and gay slurs.

JudasLChrist said:

RosesRred said:

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....

Yr son doesn't need therapy. What he needs is for you to steer him away from homophobia and gay slurs.

yeah, it's strange when a man is fully naked on a cover people start to act this way, when it was a woman it's apparently hot

ufoclub said:

This only applies to the U.S.:

I was around at the time of release, getting to be a huge Prince collector (as opposed to a fan) because of the SOTT movie and hearing a cassette Black Album. I was a freshmen/sophomore in college.

It was not just the album cover's fault.I know this because I saw people not getting into the music without ever even seeing the album cover.

And even though MTV and other music video shows played the Alphabet St video, the song was just not produced in a way that was that cool to people's ears. I beleive this because I had overheard people talking about the new songs they liked or disliked, and the response to Prince's track was disinterest to a mild like.

I know that ultimately it was the music's fault because I saw, that summer time after time, when people I knew of all different types (from advertising computer nerds to rock n roll stoners, to frat guys/sorority girls, heard tracks from Lovesexy through me or around me, they expressed disappointment and dislike compared to the older Prince songs they did like. And very often after hearing Black Album tracks, I would get asked by some of the guys (very mainstream guys) for copies of that album, but I never got a request for Lovesexy.

And after the single of Alphabet st? Glam Slam? There's no way that would hit in the States! I had a friend who saw the video ONCE on MTV. I was taping hours of MTV just to catch it, and never got it recorded. It was just not played. And then I wish U Heaven's video got played on BET, not even MTV.

You know why they asked you for copies? Not because of the music, but because of the story surrounding "The black album". It was cool to listen to something which was kind of illegal and not available to everybody. IMO there's no single material on "The black album" that would would have done any better than the one on "Lovesexy".

i don't know how many copies it sold, but it was big in many other ways. it signified a point where Prince was making serious spiritual decision; as if he was at a cross roads.

i wish u heaven

< all time gem

JoeTyler said:

too preachy, weird and european

the pop production probably disappointed funk fans/purists as well...

This more or less explains it all why it worked really well in Europe but not in the USA.

thedance said:

LOVESEXY: to me it is one of the best Prince albums,

a Prince top 5 album...

I every track, Dance On is maybe the only weaker song...

Fan-tastic.... and it was #1 in the UK and sold very well in Germany and other European countries too AFAIK: only a disappointment in the US, selling less than a million. I guess the nude cover pic was hurting the sales, those americans (some of those) are strange, lol.....

Same here. Yeah Americans are strange when it comes to music. I nshould know, I am one

Honestly, I love the album, but I'm a musician, so I guess I'm not the "general population". I don't think it's too preachy, I love the production, and I actually think the one-track thing is genius because you have to listen to his idea in its entirety...you can't just pick and choose what you want to hear.

It was a genius move for weeding out all the true Prince fans, as I can see from all the people on here talking about it being too out there for them.

This is who Prince is: he's eccentric, religious, sexual, and just different from most people in general. As so-called Prince fans, you'd think we'd accept that, but on every single forum, somebody's always talking about what Prince should or shouldn't do with his art. I just appreciate his art. How many of us are on his level? If we were, then we'd be doing the things we want him to do with his art, wouldn't we? It's really easy to criticise something just because we wouldn't do it ourselves.

And some albums aren't all about sales, especially in Prince's case. When have you ever heard him talking about doing something for the money? Sometimes artists make art just because.

So we need to stop beating a dead horse about what Prince should/shouldn't do. He's gonna do what he wants regardless.

RoseDuchess12 said:

Honestly, I love the album, but I'm a musician, so I guess I'm not the "general population". I don't think it's too preachy, I love the production, and I actually think the one-track thing is genius because you have to listen to his idea in its entirety...you can't just pick and choose what you want to hear.

It was a genius move for weeding out all the true Prince fans, as I can see from all the people on here talking about it being too out there for them.

This is who Prince is: he's eccentric, religious, sexual, and just different from most people in general. As so-called Prince fans, you'd think we'd accept that, but on every single forum, somebody's always talking about what Prince should or shouldn't do with his art. I just appreciate his art. How many of us are on his level? If we were, then we'd be doing the things we want him to do with his art, wouldn't we? It's really easy to criticise something just because we wouldn't do it ourselves.

And some albums aren't all about sales, especially in Prince's case. When have you ever heard him talking about doing something for the money? Sometimes artists make art just because.

So we need to stop beating a dead horse about what Prince should/shouldn't do. He's gonna do what he wants regardless.

Perfectly SAID! That is exactly how I feel! IN EVERYTHING YOU SAID! I wish people would realize it like & You, and some others see it!

Yet the balance is still good!

NDRU said:

No truly kick ass single.

Alphabet St is great, but at the time it struck me as sort of a weaker take on Kiss. It's actually great, but not quite as concise and easy as U Got the Look or Kiss. And nothing to follow it up. I was still listening to radio at the time and heard Alphabet St a bit (& saw the video), but never heard Glam Slam or I Wish U Heaven.

Interest in Prince was already on the wane. Around the World, Parade, all sold less & less. Lovesexy came out, what a year after Sign? Which was a double album, and was still probably keeping people busy.

Add to that patchy reviews, his continued perception as a total nut, nude album cover, and continually less defined place in popular music and you have the general downward trend that continues even now, with some resurgances here and there.

Tremolina said:

JoeTyler said:

too preachy, weird and european

the pop production probably disappointed funk fans/purists as well...

This more or less explains it all why it worked really well in Europe but not in the USA.

Not true, there's way more funk on Lovesexy (Eye know, 2nd part of Glam Slam, Alphabet St., The fills of "Dance On", Lovesexy, Positivity) than on Purple Rain!

Naked guy on the cover, men were hesitant to buy it.

No tracks, just one long song, so you couldn't listen to your favorite song in your CD player.

Great music, but no possible way it could have been a commercial success with those two factors working against it.

ARJUN said:

Hip Hop and Metal were taking the world by storm. Two separate worlds that never embraced each other - the black and white that is. Yes there were very few exceptions. But you have to understand that is was a much more racist time. I know this. I hung in both black and white communities.

So did I and this is simply not true. Aside from the obvious Run-DMC/Aeorsmith and Public Enemy/Anthrax collaborations, you had Living Color, the Beastie Boys, Faith No More, Bad Brains, Fishbone the Red Hot Chilli Peppers all breaking down racial barriers and mixing up a whole bunch of diferent styles.

I don't think it had much to do with black and white as you think. When I went to the concert in 88 there were all kinds of diferent people there.