Prince has always wanted hit records. In the 80s they just happened, he was that good. In the 90s he started having to try and write a hit and blamed the record company when it didnt happen. But from Rave onwards, he has desperately been trying to become a hit maker again to the point where he has tried every trick in the book, including following trends which dont suit him.

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He gave it a break during the "jazz" years, and just did what he wanted. And before he realised the NPGMC was too much hard work, he didnt really care about charts then either. But Musicology onwards he seems to have set out on a path for chart success. Maybe he feels he is being forgotten by the young generation and wants to come accross as being current.

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Of course, it was the labels fault, or the digital piracy was to blame for his lack of success, or it was the fact that the music being churned out by bedroom producers was charting and "real musicians" were being forgotten. Whatever the reasons, we now have a new solo album with a big label. Lets see if he needs excuses this time around, or the album will be the chart success that he craves.

I agree, that line got old a long time ago. We know Prince is a real musician and he plays real music. If he wasn't do you think most of us would be fans of his?

I hope he keeps saying it , just to piss some of you off even more

Lockwood88 said:

I hope he keeps saying it , just to piss some of you off even more

Me too!

Rebeljuice said:

Prince has always wanted hit records. In the 80s they just happened, he was that good. In the 90s he started having to try and write a hit and blamed the record company when it didnt happen. But from Rave onwards, he has desperately been trying to become a hit maker again to the point where he has tried every trick in the book, including following trends which dont suit him.

.

He gave it a break during the "jazz" years, and just did what he wanted. And before he realised the NPGMC was too much hard work, he didnt really care about charts then either. But Musicology onwards he seems to have set out on a path for chart success. Maybe he feels he is being forgotten by the young generation and wants to come accross as being current.

.

Of course, it was the labels fault, or the digital piracy was to blame for his lack of success, or it was the fact that the music being churned out by bedroom producers was charting and "real musicians" were being forgotten. Whatever the reasons, we now have a new solo album with a big label. Lets see if he needs excuses this time around, or the album will be the chart success that he craves.

By the 2000's standards and for an artist past his prime, Musicology, 3121, the Lotusflow3r trilogy and even Planet Earth (given the low promotion) were successful in terms of sales. IDK where this urban legend that they weren't originated but it's a urban legend. Obviously will never sell 5M copies of an album or more anymore but much less people sell by the milion than in the 80's and 90's anyway. One has to understand that while Come or Rave were considered failures by 1994's and 1999's standards, they would certainly have been considered reasonable, moderate but reasonable successes in 2010. People keep comparing to Madonna but it's a mistake IMHO, for Madonna is much more of an exception than a rule, and she's gone through numerous concessions (following the most commercial trends of the moment with every album) to maintain her sales figures (which she somehow failed to do with the last album, who sold "only" 2M, a considerable figure but nonetheless the lowest selling studio album of her career).

Now it's VERY possible that is himself under the illusion that he could and should sale and average 4M copies of an album every year, as he did between 82 and 92, but if he is he is as delusional as some people on this forum. Of course he could go and have Pharrell or another trendy producer compose and produce an album for him and maybe manage to sell 3 or 4M copies, but would u want this? I certainly wouldn't. I suspect his recent interest in Josh Welton is motivated by a similar idea, though, being that Welton has proven (see his music on YT) that he can duplicate whatever radio-friendly crappy sound in en vogue at the moment, and maybe sees him as a way to give a "younger" sound to his music. If it is, I think he's making a mistake. If it's just because he genuinely likes the guy and his music, then so be it ^^

databank said:

Rebeljuice said:

Prince has always wanted hit records. In the 80s they just happened, he was that good. In the 90s he started having to try and write a hit and blamed the record company when it didnt happen. But from Rave onwards, he has desperately been trying to become a hit maker again to the point where he has tried every trick in the book, including following trends which dont suit him.

.

He gave it a break during the "jazz" years, and just did what he wanted. And before he realised the NPGMC was too much hard work, he didnt really care about charts then either. But Musicology onwards he seems to have set out on a path for chart success. Maybe he feels he is being forgotten by the young generation and wants to come accross as being current.

.

Of course, it was the labels fault, or the digital piracy was to blame for his lack of success, or it was the fact that the music being churned out by bedroom producers was charting and "real musicians" were being forgotten. Whatever the reasons, we now have a new solo album with a big label. Lets see if he needs excuses this time around, or the album will be the chart success that he craves.

By the 2000's standards and for an artist past his prime, Musicology, 3121, the Lotusflow3r trilogy and even Planet Earth (given the low promotion) were successful in terms of sales. IDK where this urban legend that they weren't originated but it's a urban legend. Obviously will never sell 5M copies of an album or more anymore but much less people sell by the milion than in the 80's and 90's anyway. One has to understand that while Come or Rave were considered failures by 1994's and 1999's standards, they would certainly have been considered reasonable, moderate but reasonable successes in 2010. People keep comparing to Madonna but it's a mistake IMHO, for Madonna is much more of an exception than a rule, and she's gone through numerous concessions (following the most commercial trends of the moment with every album) to maintain her sales figures (which she somehow failed to do with the last album, who sold "only" 2M, a considerable figure but nonetheless the lowest selling studio album of her career).

Now it's VERY possible that is himself under the illusion that he could and should sale and average 4M copies of an album every year, as he did between 82 and 92, but if he is he is as delusional as some people on this forum. Of course he could go and have Pharrell or another trendy producer compose and produce an album for him and maybe manage to sell 3 or 4M copies, but would u want this? I certainly wouldn't. I suspect his recent interest in Josh Welton is motivated by a similar idea, though, being that Welton has proven (see his music on YT) that he can duplicate whatever radio-friendly crappy sound in en vogue at the moment, and maybe sees him as a way to give a "younger" sound to his music. If it is, I think he's making a mistake. If it's just because he genuinely likes the guy and his music, then so be it ^^

No your right, you can't compare Prince to Madonna , madonna could never sing.

[Edited 9/1/14 11:30am]

databank said:

Rebeljuice said:

Prince has always wanted hit records. In the 80s they just happened, he was that good. In the 90s he started having to try and write a hit and blamed the record company when it didnt happen. But from Rave onwards, he has desperately been trying to become a hit maker again to the point where he has tried every trick in the book, including following trends which dont suit him.

.

He gave it a break during the "jazz" years, and just did what he wanted. And before he realised the NPGMC was too much hard work, he didnt really care about charts then either. But Musicology onwards he seems to have set out on a path for chart success. Maybe he feels he is being forgotten by the young generation and wants to come accross as being current.

.

Of course, it was the labels fault, or the digital piracy was to blame for his lack of success, or it was the fact that the music being churned out by bedroom producers was charting and "real musicians" were being forgotten. Whatever the reasons, we now have a new solo album with a big label. Lets see if he needs excuses this time around, or the album will be the chart success that he craves.

By the 2000's standards and for an artist past his prime, Musicology, 3121, the Lotusflow3r trilogy and even Planet Earth (given the low promotion) were successful in terms of sales. IDK where this urban legend that they weren't originated but it's a urban legend. Obviously will never sell 5M copies of an album or more anymore but much less people sell by the milion than in the 80's and 90's anyway. One has to understand that while Come or Rave were considered failures by 1994's and 1999's standards, they would certainly have been considered reasonable, moderate but reasonable successes in 2010. People keep comparing to Madonna but it's a mistake IMHO, for Madonna is much more of an exception than a rule, and she's gone through numerous concessions (following the most commercial trends of the moment with every album) to maintain her sales figures (which she somehow failed to do with the last album, who sold "only" 2M, a considerable figure but nonetheless the lowest selling studio album of her career).

Now it's VERY possible that is himself under the illusion that he could and should sale and average 4M copies of an album every year, as he did between 82 and 92, but if he is he is as delusional as some people on this forum. Of course he could go and have Pharrell or another trendy producer compose and produce an album for him and maybe manage to sell 3 or 4M copies, but would u want this? I certainly wouldn't. I suspect his recent interest in Josh Welton is motivated by a similar idea, though, being that Welton has proven (see his music on YT) that he can duplicate whatever radio-friendly crappy sound in en vogue at the moment, and maybe sees him as a way to give a "younger" sound to his music. If it is, I think he's making a mistake. If it's just because he genuinely likes the guy and his music, then so be it ^^

I agree entirely with you. I dont think it is so much a desire for Prince to want to sell millions again (he does alright in monetary terms), but more that he wants to be at the forefront and in the younger generation's psyche again. He doesnt want to be an old school "has been" and wants to be a hit maker in the sense that he is in the public eye, front and centre stage.

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His desire to be a hit maker is more an ego thing to be seen as current and trendy and still top of his game, not about the bank balance or X million copies sold.

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Whilst it is true that several of his 00's albums can be deemed successful sellers by todays standards, they didnt really get P on the radio and in the general public's consciousness. His name wasnt on the lips of every young kid, every radio dj, every TV station. He wasnt leaving every other musician or band in his wake. And I think thats what P really craves which is why we have gooten more albums that Prince thinks would be a hit as opposed to albums where Prince is doing it because he wants to.

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AOA sounds like it could be yet another attempt at a hit and PE is P doing what he wants. I could be wrong, but it is the impression I am getting. It doesnt mean it will be a bad album. You never know, maybe this time he will actually succeed and he will get his big hit and, at the same time, we may get a great album.

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Maybe the planets are aligned and all the ducks are in a row on this one. r maybe he has his head in the CLOUDS once again.

[Edited 9/2/14 2:42am]

Militant said:

Well, I've got news for you. This album is going to be incredibly successful. On top of that, it'll likely be very good too. Too bad that doesn't fit into your hateful tirades of what he's about.

To be honest, I think to say that the new record "is going to be incredibly successful" is wishful thinking. When put against other Prince releases over recent years, it may be able to be viewed as more of a success - due to Warner being on board to pump a bit of a cash into promotion, but in the grand scheme of things, I can't see it being a major, global, chart-threatening release. I think if we were to see it in the top 40 (UK) that'd be a moderate success, and impressive. Is that reallly worthy of a record being "incredibly successful"? I'm unsure.

I'm not knocking it though, I'm way more into CLOUDS as a jam that many others on here, i think it's great. U KNOW... I dont know.

People should look at album sales these days, the only album that sold 1 million in the US in 2014 is the Frozen soundtrack, otherwise sales are in the toilet. For Prince it will be a success if he sells 250-300k and I'm not even sure that is possible. Jack White did those kind of numbers so far with a #1 album...