treehouse said:

That the B-side was a non-album throwaway cut? People didn't think of it that way.

Context is everything. It used to be that a B-side could become the big hit (Elvis did it 51 times), or feature two different artists, or extended versions of songs broken up on to two sides, and there's this little thing called a Double A side record....

Sure, there are plenty of examples from the 50s and 60s of that happening, when indvidual disc jockeys could decide to flip the record around if they liked the B-side better. But that wasn't true of top 40 radio in the 80s, as you must know if you were around at the time. Maybe a few independent radio stations or college radio stations were doing that sort of thing, but not top 40. My local top 40 station didn't even have real disc jockeys most of the time, it was preprogrammed material and top 40 countdowns. So Prince and WB decided that "Raspberry Beret" should be the hit and they promoted it that way. If they wanted "She's Always In My Hair" to be the hit, they would have made it an A-side and released a video for it.

[Edited 1/12/12 7:23am]

electricberet said:

treehouse said:

That the B-side was a non-album throwaway cut? People didn't think of it that way.

Context is everything. It used to be that a B-side could become the big hit (Elvis did it 51 times), or feature two different artists, or extended versions of songs broken up on to two sides, and there's this little thing called a Double A side record....

Sure, there are plenty of examples from the 50s and 60s of that happening, when indvidual disc jockeys could decide to flip the record around if they liked the B-side better. But that wasn't true of top 40 radio in the 80s, as you must know if you were around at the time. Maybe a few independent radio stations or college radio stations were doing that sort of thing, but not top 40. My local top 40 station didn't even have real disc jockeys most of the time, it was preprogrammed material and top 40 countdowns. So Prince and WB decided that "Raspberry Beret" should be the hit and they promoted it that way. If they wanted "She's Always In My Hair" to be the hit, they would have made it an A-side and released a video for it.

[Edited 1/12/12 7:23am]

Most people thought Erotic City was an A-side single because it was played a lot on radio (at least in Houston), an edit that snipped out all the "fucks" by repeating the lyric before I think.

Add She's Always In My Hair between Raspberry Beret & Tamborine, put Girl between She's Alwasy in My Hair & Tamborine

OldFriends4Sale said:

Add She's Always In My Hair between Raspberry Beret & Tamborine, put Girl between She's Alwasy in My Hair & Tamborine

I don't think "Girl" got re-worked for b-side release until after the album was released.

And only one of them would have fit on an LP release (again, with a little shuffling).

of course removing the embarrassing conversation with God at the end of "Temptation" would have freed up a little space.

errant said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Add She's Always In My Hair between Raspberry Beret & Tamborine, put Girl between She's Alwasy in My Hair & Tamborine

I don't think "Girl" got re-worked for b-side release until after the album was released.

And only one of them would have fit on an LP release (again, with a little shuffling).

of course removing the embarrassing conversation with God at the end of "Temptation" would have freed up a little space.

Cool,

I usually put them in that order for a playlist

I loved Temptation for the sheer ax work and Eddie M's sax was just wicked, the ending reminds me of God or parts of Computer Blue in conversation and darkness but I could have done without it too

It was good to see all the different opinions. I made a my own little version the other day just to test lol. I put she's always in my hair after tambourine. This song hits soooooo hard:)