RRA said:

on PRINCE, Why wasn't "Bambi" a single?

In 1979,Prince was still a relatively new artist and Warners didn't wanna take any chances.A song about a lesbian might not have gone over well,in some circles.They were playing it safe.

RRA said:

As somebody alluded to, just because a song is great doesn't mean the public will dig it. Even songs that you would think would kick butt in the charts sometimes bafflingly flop. (I'm reminded of David Bowie's immortal "Heroes," which didn't even crack the Top 100 in the U.S.) Sometimes tracks that sound like hits do becomes hits, sometimes they just fall flat. (Hell remember that "1999"'s first release kinda fell flat before WB smartly re-released it after "Little Red Corvette" was a hit.)

the thing about picking singles is....you gotta choose the songs that have the most mass appeal.Just because a song is a "fan favorite" doesn't mean it will become a hit to the masses.You think that "Starfish and Coffee" would have been a huge hit.I disagree,I think the lyrics would not have been easily understood by the masses (just like "If I Was Your Girlfriend").Those were risky choices.

EddieC said:

SoulAlive said:

Any song can be edited into a 4-minute radio edit the dirty talk at the end could have been eliminated completely,in which case the song could simply fade out with the guitar solo.Yeah it would have been less interesting (lol),but it would work.

But by doing all that you wind up with a MUCH less interesting song, and one that's no more radio-friendly than Glam Slam--so what's the point, other than to clutter up my music collection with an edit I'll never actually listen to? Kind of like the Let's Go Crazy edit--except that travesty resulted in a hit song, and a chopped up Lovesexy wouldn't.

In my humble opinion.

I disagree."Lovesexy" is an interesting song,even without the dirty spoken parts at the end The track is relentless and very danceable.I don't think an edit would have lessened its appeal one bit.

adamf said:

I'm glad I started this debate as a serious collector it almost seems he intentionally derailed the momentum of the albums by strange 2nd singles. When there were better options. Was this so he could move into his next project?

I remember a late-80s article in Black Beat magazine,which covered this exact same topic.It was about Prince and his odd habit of choosing questionable singles.An insider was quoted as saying "It's no secret as to why 'Parade' and 'Sign O The Times' weren't blockbusters....but releasing those singles ("Mountains" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend") is simply something that Prince wanted to do."

It's likely that Warners would have chosen better singles,but Prince had complete control over what his singles would be.

adamf said:

On a final note I stopped at diamonds and pearls and prince hired frank dileo who was Michael Jackson's. Manager and what we got was proper promo videos and a good choice of singles.

This was a smart move on Prince's part.He saw how Michael Jackson's albums routinely had five or six singles that did well,and Prince wanted to have an album like that,too.Frank Dileo was brought in to assist with the promotion.Diamonds And Pearls had five singles,two of which reached the Top 10 ("Cream" went straight to Number One).This is one of the few times when all of the right singles were chosen from a Prince album.

GottaLetitgo said:

If anybody can explain why he debuted the "Willing and Able" video during the Super Bowl and then decided to release the brilliant but "Debbie Downer" of a single "Money Don't Matter 2Night" instead I would love to hear it.

"Money Don't Matter 2Night" is a good song,but I never felt that it should have been a single.Musically,it's nice but the lyrics are sorta confusing.Money always matters I think "Live 4 Love" would have been a better choice,for the final single from that project.

RRA said:

SoulAlive - Regarding G&B, again its easy to claim that after the fact.

I can't believe that some of you don't see the obvious hit potential in "Girls And Boys" this song is insanely catchy and fun.This could have even been the first single.

Aaron6 said:

@SoulAlive,I agree "Private Joy", would've been a great break through pop single for Prince, but what made LRC a major hit besides the fact it was/is a great choice for a second single is, Mtv exposure that truly propelled that song to a "pop audience". Keep in mind, up until MJ's "Billie Jean", Mtv refused to air black artist's videos, it wasn't until the powers to be @ Epic threaten to pull ALL their videos from Mtv's format that MJ and other black artist who benefited, such as Prince start getting that type of exposure...my point,I truly don't think LRC would've been a major hit without the exposure of Mtv, it made a huge difference in that song's success.

SoulAlive said:

adamf said:

EddieC said:

But by doing all that you wind up with a MUCH less interesting song, and one that's no more radio-friendly than Glam Slam--so what's the point, other than to clutter up my music collection with an edit I'll never actually listen to? Kind of like the Let's Go Crazy edit--except that travesty resulted in a hit song, and a chopped up Lovesexy wouldn't.

In my humble opinion.

Songs were not only edited for radio, but for 45s which couldn't hold much time. With vinyl, if you try to put over a certain amount of time, the sound quality decreases. Like you can't put the full versions of songs like Papa Was A Rolling Stone or Rapper's Delight on a 45. In some cases, they might split the song in half and label them Part 1/Part 2, with the main part of the song on side 1, and the rest on side 2, but even that would not have worked with those 2 songs.

.

Sometimes the single version was a different mix than the album version. On the 45 of The Payback by James Brown, there's this DJ like talking over the song, saying things like "This is for Chicago!" & "This record is too much!". No One Is To Blame by Howard Jones was re-recorded with Phil Collins (who is not on the LP version) playing drums and singing background. The single version of The Beatles' Revolution is also different than the album version.

Wasn't Electric Chair considered as the second single from the Batman soundtrack?

muleFunk said:

Wasn't Electric Chair considered as the second single from the Batman soundtrack?

Not sure.I think "The Future" would have been a cool second single.