When the radio or TV plays Prince, they always play "Cream" or "Gett Off" as the definate Prince hit. Of course, they do play "Purple Rain" and some of his 1980s work, but those 2 songs often get a lot of radio play.

It's like "Cream" and "Gett Off" are Prince's most famous/ popular songs, despite coming from a rather forgetabble album of the early 1990s.

I love both songs ("Gett Off" remixes are funky) but I love his other stuff that he released before and after that, and I know there's more to Prince than these 2 songs.

So what is it about these 2 songs that define Prince? The groove? Their original performance on the charts back in the day?

probably something to do with being released as singles, with decent videos,

lots of promotion and a tour to back up the album. plus, they are good songs,
both of them, eventhough "cream" gets shat on here at the org all the time if
and when someone brings it up.

I don't think I have EVER heard Gett off on the radio. In fact I remember requesting it when it came out and the pop station said they don't play rap music and the R&B station said that song did not fit their radio format. Still to this day I have not heard that on the radio. Cream I have not heard since 1992 or so. I always hear Kiss, Little Red Corvette, 1999, LGC, Raspberry Beret, WDC or Purple Rain. Every now and then I want to be your lover.

IstenSzek said:

probably something to do with being released as singles, with decent videos,

lots of promotion and a tour to back up the album.

This!

The were big hits, of course radio plays hits.

I don't really understand the question.

Would you expect them to play Solo?

D&P is one of Prince most famous albums, hardly forgettable.

It was definitely promotion (plus maybe any label payola that was still common in those days). Also, I think I people were really hungry for a comeback, and on paper, this all seemed right.

I do love Gett Off, but yeah, these were both pretty middling as Prince singles go.

[Edited 1/24/16 4:20am]

Gett Off hardly ever plays on the radio or t.v. I dont know what you guys are talking about. I love that song!!!

Gett Off is an excellent song and one of his best club bangers, I don't think the song is overrated at all! Considering it was a big hit in The Netherlands at the time I am surprised I never hear it on the radio. Now that I think about it, the only Prince songs that get played regularly here are 1999 and Kiss. I don't hear the others anymore.

on Belgian radio I hear these songs all the time:

Controversy

1999

Little red corvette

Purple rain

when doves cry

I would die 4 U

Let's go crazy

Raspberry beret

Kiss

Sign o' the times

alphabet st

diamonds & pearls

cream

the most beautiful girl in the world

so a wide range from 1981-1994.

in 2004 they placed musicology and in 2006 they played black sweat as the new singles, but nothing after 1994 since then. they played a snippet of Funknroll once.

I think Get Off is a great song with that guitar in the middle or so.

You can talk chart positions all day long, but I hear "Cream" with the same frequency as "Kiss", "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Little Red Corvette", and "1999".

It made a big splash on television AND radio (popular), and is one of his most accessible and format-versatile tracks (pop in writing and production style).

I never hear "Gett Off". Hell, I hear "Alphabet St" more often than "Gett Off".

funkaholic1972 said:

Gett Off is an excellent song and one of his best club bangers, I don't think the song is overrated at all! Considering it was a big hit in The Netherlands at the time I am surprised I never hear it on the radio. Now that I think about it, the only Prince songs that get played regularly here are 1999 and Kiss. I don't hear the others anymore.

I hear Cream quit often on the radio. Same with Tmbgitw and rasbetty beret.

Don't know which channel. probably some shit like 538 LOL

"Cream" is a superb song...one of Prince's finest singles.It's fun,catchy and has a great video.I can see why it became such a big hit.

nyse said:

cream was Absolutely Amazing and his only #1 of the 90's not over rated. Its probably the coolest song in his catalog. As for "get off" it really was not that big of a commercial hit. should have been bigger.

Probably not on radio, but MTV played the hell out of the video.

trax said:

I don't think I have EVER heard Gett off on the radio. In fact I remember requesting it when it came out and the pop station said they don't play rap music and the R&B station said that song did not fit their radio format. Still to this day I have not heard that on the radio. Cream I have not heard since 1992 or so. I always hear Kiss, Little Red Corvette, 1999, LGC, Raspberry Beret, WDC or Purple Rain. Every now and then I want to be your lover.

Although I've heard Cream from time to time, the songs you have listed are the ones I consistently hear, too. It's as if the rest of his vast catalogue doesn't even exist as far as radio is concerned, but those are great gateway tunes for getting someone hooked and interested in digging deeper.

nyse said:

cream was Absolutely Amazing and his only #1 of the 90's not over rated. Its probably the coolest song in his catalog. As for "get off" it really was not that big of a commercial hit. should have been bigger.

Gett off was big in Europe, top 5 in most countries.

Overrated?

Never heard that about Gett Off.

I never cared for Cream. I like the lyrics and the music should be catchy but for some reason it just doesn't work for me.

It's just sung too smugly and starts off with that extended moan that sends my finger to the 'next' button.

Gett Off... that's my jam.

Unlike anything else at the time and the video is great too.

nextedition said:

"Cream" = one of his worst hits.

"Gett Off" = ok, but the chorus doesn't live up to the sexyness of the beat, and Rosie Gaines' vocals are not very sexy either (imho of course).

Same goes for "Black Sweat". Great sexy beat, but annoying synth sound. Here I think also the chorus doesn't live up to the expectations of the song.

Amongst other worst hit songs I can't liston to when on the radio = "Peach" (although I do love the acoustic guitar or piano version live), and "Diamond & Pearls" (just plain boring).

Another certainly boring one = "The Work". To me this is an unfunky track which I never liked. Good thing they stop playing that on the radio.

[Edited 1/27/16 12:19pm]

Cream = overrated

Gett Off = underrated

RJOrion said:

Cream = overrated

Gett Off = underrated

Agreed, Get Off video is great.

They are NOT overrated, both are great songs, okay they are not his 80s classics, but they come close.

Both are extremely catchy songs and had the great videos and a great melody. If Cream is so bad, why was it a number one hit, almost without trying and why did it attract me as a fan. I hardly think a lesser single would have. Not just me, but a whole lot of other people became Prince fans because of these two songs.

.

Plus I think Graffiti Bridge album and the movie put so many people off Prince, he had dropped in their estimations a lot since the peaks of SOTT and Lovesexy and Batdance and GB were both sup par albums with a lot of filler, despite the better tracks, there was a lot of rubbish and music squandering his legacy on both of them. There is no way songs like Lemon Crush, Vicki Waiting, Tick tick bang, Graffiti Bridge or New Power Generation would have even been tracks on any 1980 -1988 album. So when the funky refrains of Gett Off came through the speakers in mid 1991, many people disillusioned by the past two years, would have thought "Prince is back"

.

It also helped both singles were the funkiest and catchiest shit he had out since Alphabet street. Many good songs between then, but not too many super funky catchy ones (Okay Batdance, but it was overproduced and larded with samples, how could it not hit with the movie it was in front of?). The 1989/1990 period had seen him fall out of the public eye and the Nude tour was a flop overrall.

.

Also the allure of the new band may have attracted new people as well and got old fans back. The momentum continued with Diamonds and Pearls reaching #3 as a hit, okay it was trend chasing, but it worked.

.

For me becoming a fan at the time, it was the video to Cream that sold it for me, the sexy dancing, the band performance and sexy guitar lines along with Prince prancing around and humping his guitar that did it. Gett Off when it came out barely registered with me, but after getting the single to Cream, I looked at Gett Off and thought "Hey this is actually really funky" and after buying the album, knew there was more to this Prince guy and he fascinated me more, I just wanted to get all his music there and then. It is a journey I have never looked back from!

214 said:

Adorecream said:

They are NOT overrated, both are great songs, okay they are not his 80s classics, but they come close.

Both are extremely catchy songs and had the great videos and a great melody. If Cream is so bad, why was it a number one hit, almost without trying and why did it attract me as a fan. I hardly think a lesser single would have. Not just me, but a whole lot of other people became Prince fans because of these two songs.

.

Plus I think Graffiti Bridge album and the movie put so many people off Prince, he had dropped in their estimations a lot since the peaks of SOTT and Lovesexy and Batdance and GB were both sup par albums with a lot of filler, despite the better tracks, there was a lot of rubbish and music squandering his legacy on both of them. There is no way songs like Lemon Crush, Vicki Waiting, Tick tick bang, Graffiti Bridge or New Power Generation would have even been tracks on any 1980 -1988 album. So when the funky refrains of Gett Off came through the speakers in mid 1991, many people disillusioned by the past two years, would have thought "Prince is back"

.

It also helped both singles were the funkiest and catchiest shit he had out since Alphabet street. Many good songs between then, but not too many super funky catchy ones (Okay Batdance, but it was overproduced and larded with samples, how could it not hit with the movie it was in front of?). The 1989/1990 period had seen him fall out of the public eye and the Nude tour was a flop overrall.

.

Also the allure of the new band may have attracted new people as well and got old fans back. The momentum continued with Diamonds and Pearls reaching #3 as a hit, okay it was trend chasing, but it worked.

.

For me becoming a fan at the time, it was the video to Cream that sold it for me, the sexy dancing, the band performance and sexy guitar lines along with Prince prancing around and humping his guitar that did it. Gett Off when it came out barely registered with me, but after getting the single to Cream, I looked at Gett Off and thought "Hey this is actually really funky" and after buying the album, knew there was more to this Prince guy and he fascinated me more, I just wanted to get all his music there and then. It is a journey I have never looked back from!

It's not the guitars, the sexy singing, the band performance or the video that hooked me. It's that freaking string line between each singing text.

"This is it

Doooooooooooo-ooooooooooooo

It's time for you to go to the wire

You were hit

Doooooooooo-oooooooooooooo

'Cause you got the burnin' desire"

[Edited 1/27/16 13:32pm]

Wolfie87 said:

Adorecream said:

They are NOT overrated, both are great songs, okay they are not his 80s classics, but they come close.

Both are extremely catchy songs and had the great videos and a great melody. If Cream is so bad, why was it a number one hit, almost without trying and why did it attract me as a fan. I hardly think a lesser single would have. Not just me, but a whole lot of other people became Prince fans because of these two songs.

.

Plus I think Graffiti Bridge album and the movie put so many people off Prince, he had dropped in their estimations a lot since the peaks of SOTT and Lovesexy and Batdance and GB were both sup par albums with a lot of filler, despite the better tracks, there was a lot of rubbish and music squandering his legacy on both of them. There is no way songs like Lemon Crush, Vicki Waiting, Tick tick bang, Graffiti Bridge or New Power Generation would have even been tracks on any 1980 -1988 album. So when the funky refrains of Gett Off came through the speakers in mid 1991, many people disillusioned by the past two years, would have thought "Prince is back"

.

It also helped both singles were the funkiest and catchiest shit he had out since Alphabet street. Many good songs between then, but not too many super funky catchy ones (Okay Batdance, but it was overproduced and larded with samples, how could it not hit with the movie it was in front of?). The 1989/1990 period had seen him fall out of the public eye and the Nude tour was a flop overall.

.

Also the allure of the new band may have attracted new people as well and got old fans back. The momentum continued with Diamonds and Pearls reaching #3 as a hit, okay it was trend chasing, but it worked.

.

For me becoming a fan at the time, it was the video to Cream that sold it for me, the sexy dancing, the band performance and sexy guitar lines along with Prince prancing around and humping his guitar that did it. Gett Off when it came out barely registered with me, but after getting the single to Cream, I looked at Gett Off and thought "Hey this is actually really funky" and after buying the album, knew there was more to this Prince guy and he fascinated me more, I just wanted to get all his music there and then. It is a journey I have never looked back from!

It's not the guitars, the sexy singing, the band performance or the video that hooked me. It's that freaking string line between each singing text.

"This is it

Doooooooooooo-ooooooooooooo

It's time for you to go to the wire

You were hit (You will hit!)

Doooooooooo-oooooooooooooo

'Cause you got the burnin' desire"

[Edited 1/27/16 13:32pm]

That too, I thought it was a bass line and Levi's guitar stabs that sounded like 'Dun darnt" just like the hooks in T Rex's 1971 smash Get it on, bang a gong, which made them huge stars in the UK and kicked started early 1970s Glam rock (Not to be confused with poodle hair metal in the mid 1980s).

There's a whole lot of things in that song, that made me look at Prince and realise, that this was not one or two elements, but several factors going on at once that showcased how clever this artist was and just how catchy that damn song (Cream) was.

And in the video, Levi is in one of his 1940s zoot suits playing that blue guitar and stepping every time the dun darnt happened. That was slick and cool, and of course you can't miss Sonny and that unique looking bass, Prince is singing about having a horn and blowing it, the shit was just magic. Honestly I wish you were all there on that day in 1991, when I was really watching that shit for the first time and having my synapses zapped and my mind was in full "Just what the fuckitude".

[Edited 1/27/16 15:56pm]

[Edited 1/28/16 1:49am]

mjscarousal said:

I love "Gett Off" but I think the album version is kinda tame.I prefer the 12" extended version with the extra lyrics and extended rap part ("I like U better with your dress half on",etc)...that version is outrageously funky!!

Cream is way too much like Get It On for my tastes, but I've always loved Gett Off. Gett Off reached #4 here in the UK, and Cream reached #15, so they were both pretty big hits in this neck of the woods.