dewmass said:

That is a charity single.

'The One', 'Come On' and 'Until Ure in my Arms Again' from 'New Power Soul' could all have been hits if they had been promoted properly.

'Dolphin' and 'Love Sign' in 1995 stand-out though. They were getting a great deal of attention and airplay in the UK ater the number one hit 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World'. Unfortunately, the Warner Bros dispute halted the momentum.

After that 'Emancipation' also had some missed opportunities in terms of singles, due to the closure of EMI. In the UK, Prince scored two top 20 hits with 'Betcha By Golly Wow!' and 'The Holy River', but then as we all know, the promotion just stopped. 'Soul Sanctuary', 'The Love We Make', 'Human body' and 'Sleep Around' could all have been massive hits in '96, '97. I remember people going mad over 'Human Body' and 'Sleep Around'. They had the correct production 'sound' for chart material during the period.

Of course, 'Rave UN2 the Joy Fantastic' was also a wasted opportunity regarding singles. 'The Greatest Romance' was released to retail before the promo video and although the song was worthy of a single release, it certainly was not the correct choice with which to launch the 'Rave' album in Europe. In addition, when Prince conducted a 'Rave' promotional tour in the UK and Europe he most commonly performed 'Baby Knows' which was never released as a single. It would have been much more effective to launch the album with a double A-side of 'So far, so pleased' and 'Baby Knows'. Even if Gwen would not perform in the promo video, they should have gone ahead and shot it anyway.
In Europe 'Wherever u go, Whatever u do' and 'I Love u, but I don't Trust u anymore' could also have been major hits. A another double A-side single would have been effective here. In addition, the remixes of 'Hot Wit U' could have made a hit in the summer months.

Ultimately though, as Prince is independent I wonder whether these various recored companies cared enough to promote him properly.

However, Prince has been very unfortunate in his dealings with record companies. In '94, '95 with the 'Gold Experience' he appeared poised for a major commercial return and 'Emancipation' in '96 again held out similar promise.

dewmass said:

***

Ditto.

Whether it's a charity single or not, the general public should not be forced to endure such crass, talentless, torture.

We should have donated cash for him NOT to release it.

They're not forced, but since distrubtion and promotion is restricted for some acts, and is pushed as hard as possible for other acts (mainly ones created by the record companies) that is why the public buys what they do.

When someone receives 10 months of prime-time TV exposure before they even release their debut single, there will be a huge demand for the product.

Fortunately this type of marketing is short-term, and despite big short-term profits, the record companies know full well when the time for act is up, and they have to create a new buzz.

IAM said:

I agree. Who would want to buy a song like 319 apart from Prince fans? I think this song is weak. A poor man's Gett Off.
[This message was edited Wed Mar 19 4:02:36 PST 2003 by ConsciousContact]

Each time I quickly scan the topics, I read "... should have been big HUGE tits!" instead of '... should have been big HUGE hits!"







[This message was edited Wed Mar 19 4:05:29 PST 2003 by ChocolateInvasion]

Housequake!!!
Mellow!!!
The Greatest Romance!!!

jtgillia said:

MOrning Papers video got a lot of airplay on MTV, etc.

.. i thought you said tits

'Adore' was all over the radio! WB should've issued a single backed with 'Forever In My Life'.

.
[This message was edited Fri Mar 28 17:59:27 PST 2003 by daysofwild]

.
[This message was edited Tue Apr 29 21:40:57 PDT 2003 by daysofwild]

Right Back Here In My Arms
Empty Room

"U Make My Sunshine" is a recent one that springs to mind, with proper label promtion it could have made some noise. Angie Stone being on it alone would create more than the usual buzz on modern day Prince releases...

compilation I made recently: SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOP 10 HITS


1. Vavoom.
2. Baby Knows.
3. Strange Relationship.
4. Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do.
5. Walk Don't Walk.
6. Blue Light.
7. Damned If I Do.
8. Sleep Around.
9. Slow Love.
10. Shy.
11. Until U're In My Arms Again
12. She Loves Me 4 Me
13. In This Bed I Scream
14. So Far, So Pleased
15. Dance On
16. The Continental
17. Dark
18. Soul Sanctuary

18 & Over
Poom Poom
Pink Cashimere
Something in the Water
The Entire 1999 album
The Pope
Sexy M.F.
2the9's

these are my picks

mistermaxxx said:

here here, that's right he said it!!!

And now that I think about it, Prince haven't been on radio is "Kiss". So basically, everything after that that was slammin qualifies.

She Loves Me 4 Me
Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do
Lovesexy
Paisley Park

It also depends where you are geographically in the U.S.
International Lover was a big hit in the south, especially black college campuses but I never heard it get any radio play here in NY.

JamieStarr I fully agree with you, Peach would have been an excellent choice for a single, especially the Radio Cith Musicl Hall concert version- minus the "N" word.

In fairness, a lot of the songs you all mention have been
released as singles and went absolutely nowhere.

"Come On" was a great song. But the video sucked. And it
got played only very little on mtv and other stations.

I don't think I ever heard "Come On" on radio at all. As
with "Greatest Romance", heard it once on radio, seen it
once on tv. Same goes for "The One" and a whole range of
other singles released since the WB dispute 1st stirred.

It's not just a matter of cool songs or cool videos I
guess. There are other factors at play that keep these
songs from reaching the top 10. Fact is that any new
Prince record still appreciated by lots of DJ's [though
not played very much since they probably need $$ from a
record comp to push the single] and even written about
with props by critics.

Most other artists seem to acknowledge Prince's worth &
his skills.

The general public however, seems to care fuck all.

Which wouldn't even be strange if it weren't for the fact
that the other 2 major 80's "icons" MJ and Madonna still
garner an uncomparable hype whenever they release a new
album.

Perhaps the public really is confused about Prince, most
people seem to think he's either dead, did nothing after
1984 or the few that do know seem to have stopped caring
after 1994. Who the hell knows about his internet cd's??

If you tell people that he released about 10 albums,
amongst which several multi-disc sets since 1994, they
look at you as if you've gone insane.

And really, it does seem like Prince doesn't care that
much at all.

If he did, you know he would be able to get a #1 hit in
no time. All he'd have to do would be to buy it, like
all others do. That would put him in the spotlight again
for a while and garner interest in him again. But he
seems unwilling to play it like that.

It's just a shame to see the one artist who can truly
do almost anything and who creates so so so many songs
every year should somehow be forgotten so quickly and
so completely.

All those docu's on tv about the 80's and 90's and even
there, they don't mention Prince anymore. Some media are
acting as if the dude never even mattered at all.

They'll rather have a 15 minute section on Tiffanny or
some other 1dayFly instead of something on Prince.

It's pretty sad.

Essence said:

I agree with UMMS. Other possible hits:

Girls & Boys
Housequake
Adore
Electric Chair
Beautiful Ones
When You Were Mine
So Far So Pleased
Baby Knows
Greatest Romance

daysofwild said:

Ha! It wishes.

P.control
Beautiful Strange
1+1+1=3
Peach
Baby knows
I hate U
Just to mention a few, but I have probably missed a hundred songs more!!!

01 WASTED KISSES
02 SO FAR SO PLEASED
03 5 WOMEN
04 1+1+1=3
05 FAMILY NAME EDIT
06 SHE LOVES ME 4 ME
07 LAST DECEMBER
08 A CASE OF U
09 HIGH THE ALBUM

BUT MOST OF ALL MOONBEAM LEVELS??? WHY WASNT THIS RELEASED
CANUPARIDIGM??