Are you referring to 8 minute Rave In2 version or the 4:30 version?

I never liked Eve's rap in any of them.

She's too masculine

I like the rest of lyrics.

what u mean it didn't sell...yes it did

BobGeorge909 said:

Cuz it sucked.

I don't really understand the OP's post, but yeah: this.

But you know, maybe if Prince like had promoted it or something....
Instead of delivering the video for the original version months late for instance

(the single edit of which I still like, although it doesn't say 'massive hit' to me).

The Jason Nevins remix got a lot of radio play in the UK.

That could have possibly been a hit but for the cock-up of the delayed video

It's too complicated to be instantly recognizable + the title sounds sarcastic (not something to flog on Valentine's day).

When you let it grow on you it's a lovely intricate song. I agree it should have been a hit, but I understand why it wasn't

Ymaginatif said:

It's too complicated to be instantly recognizable + the title sounds sarcastic (not something to flog on Valentine's day).

Did anybody ever 'get' the title?

That song is straight garbage, no remix could ever save it. Probably my least favorite lead single of his. No real hook, lifeless production.

TGRES tried too hard to be TMBGITW Pt. II...

In the UK the single or album came with a poster or something, meaning it couldnt enter the charts. It would have gone to around no.10 in the albums chart, he actually had some okay promotion in the uk for Rave/TGRES. He was on Top of the Pops, TFI friday etc. The single flopped because the video was delayed and airplay wasn't great. Album sold well though.

dodger said:

The Jason Nevins remix got a lot of radio play in the UK.

That could have possibly been a hit but for the cock-up of the delayed video

That's good news even though it was too little too late: I always thought this one version could have been a massive hit and save the album the way the remix of Sing It Back saved Moloko's second album (and probably their whole career for that matter: the album, though absolutely brilliant, had gone nearly unnoticed until this remix surfaced months after the album was released), and I thought no one else had ever noticed that Jason Nevins mix. THIS version is the one which should have been pushed by Arista and Prince with a music video and lots of promotion and pressure to TV and radios to play it, it could easily have been a summer club hit in 2000. Unfortunately a few months after the album was released Prince and the label had already had a falling out and nothing could happen anymore.

djThunderfunk said:

TGRES tried too hard to be TMBGITW Pt. II...

True, it was the worst possible choice for a single. The success of TMBGITW already was somewhat of a surprise in 94, because those kind of ballads weren't exactly what the youth fancied at the time, but releasing a similar ballad in the context of 1999 was suicide. So Far So Pleased would have been the hit if allowed to be released, and since it wasn't possible to release that, Hot Wit' U would have been the obvious one for a lead single. Or even Undisputed for that matter: at the time stuff like Kelis, TLC and other Neptunes productions were doing good in the charts, and appealing to teens and people in their 20's.

RumAndRaisin said:

In the UK the single or album came with a poster or something, meaning it couldnt enter the charts. It would have gone to around no.10 in the albums chart, he actually had some okay promotion in the uk for Rave/TGRES. He was on Top of the Pops, TFI friday etc. The single flopped because the video was delayed and airplay wasn't great. Album sold well though.

765,000 copies wasn't that bad even though record sales were at a historic high at the time and P could and would expect much more than that.

It was a low sale by P's own standards at the time but still lots of artists would have liked to sell that many copy of their album at the time. For example Tricky's Maxinquaye, despite being a massive semi-underground success and a record that's considered among the 90's greatest and most influencial albums, had "only" sold 500,000 copies worldwide by 2012, 17 years after its original release.

appleseed said:

The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (Adam and Eve Remix feat Eve) is a great jam. I bet it would have been/would be amazing live as a duet, but the money making magic, suggested by the title, just gets lost on the recorded versions. I don't buy into any nonsense about Prince losing his mojo or not understanding musicology it the market.

It's actually a good song. The video ended up being one of his best to date at the time. Live, it was kind of dull, there was no energy and he never mixed it up by performing it at a piano or accountic.

On the flipside I think Cannal+ was treated to a career highlight of Motherless Child. Which was inspired.

All I know is even back then I was tired of hearing Prince talk about money and contracts.

Just the title having the word 'sold' in it was annoying to me, and then the song itself was dull, um, indecipherable JW gobbity-gook. I can't even say anything good about Eve "Because they call you tha Arrdist", and she was one of the best mc's at the time. UGGH... Prince: Whackness Since At Least 1999!

I don't know how much it sold but, here in cleve. oh, it got played on the top 40 and hip hop station all the time regularly and I know a lot of people back then that didn't listen to Prince and only listened to mostly hip hop who liked that remix. It's one of my favorite b-sides.

I heard one of the remixes at McDonalds in DC once. It was very unexpected.

Prince was excited about this song but I don't know why. It was merely a decent track, no big "comeback" single. The only reason I can imagine : it was poppy biblical and Prince was deep into his conversion, thought that was a nice melody to sing.

Blixical said:

It's just not possible to sell albums when you come off as so unhappy, unless of course you're Robert Smith or MOrrissey.

Everything about the RAVE era was just embarassing... This was one of the few times as a Prince fan that it was embarassing to be a Prince fan at the time.

The music was not on point at all, his style and fashion choices for were just out of touch... Actually that was the truth, RAVE went GOLD in the U.S. that's it and quickly fell off the charts, he was out of touch with the public at that time.

He eventually had his "comeback" in 2004, but the RAVE era was just a disaster.