Looking back...I can't help what might have been going through Prince's mind when it came to touring, I must say, there was some missed opportunties for sure!

• Instead of promoting SOTT in 87 in the US, he tours only 3 months, while commerically U Got The Look and ICNTTPOYM are HUGE in the US, we get Lovesexy a much weaker album and tour.
• Coming of the sucesss or Batman, we get a fundraiser show and The Nude Tour goes across the pond.
• 1991 and 1992 he releases his most commerical album with D&P and - No tour but we get Act 1...yippie.
• 1995 we get TGE..but no tour... Only in Europe. But we did get the JOTY tour. Yippie.

anyone else feel the same way?

macaylasdad said:

Looking back...I can't help what might have been going through Prince's mind when it came to touring, I must say, there was some missed opportunties for sure!

• Instead of promoting SOTT in 87 in the US, he tours only 3 months, while commerically U Got The Look and ICNTTPOYM are HUGE in the US, we get Lovesexy a much weaker album and tour.
• Coming of the sucesss or Batman, we get a fundraiser show and The Nude Tour goes across the pond.
• 1991 and 1992 he releases his most commerical album with D&P and - No tour but we get Act 1...yippie.
• 1995 we get TGE..but no tour... Only in Europe. But we did get the JOTY tour. Yippie.

anyone else feel the same way?

It's much easier to examine a life and the decisions made in it from the outside looking in, and with 30 years of historical and commercial hindsight. I think tours are generally planned to go alongside a project, rather than being hastily assembled afterwards and put on the road in reaction to the initial success of one. Maybe in that case, the thing Prince wasn't clairvoyant about was pre- determining which albums and projects would be huge, and which would have a lukewarm reception in certain countries. Regardless, it seems that he didn't plan his career out exactly how YOU felt he should have, so Bad Prince, bad Prince! I don't particularly mind that there wasn't an enormous world tour in support of Batman. Meh! I think his legend can ride that knock/missed opportunity.

I live 'across the pond', and while Lovesexy may be seen as a weaker album and tour over there.... over here Lovesexy hit #1 and Prince was riding a wave of popularity, while his stock in the U.S had kinda plummeted for a while. With that in mind it seems a pretty good idea that he toured Lovesexy so extensively in Europe. Certainly no missed opportunity there, then.

I think the man did his best to please us, while pleasing the most important person first... and if he ever made commercial and career decisions that didn't seem to go hand in hand, the only person who got hit in the pocket was him..... and he died tens of millions of dollars richer and more successful than 99% of people on this earth will ever be... so I think he did okay.

And btw, with the sheer genius that came from the man, yeah, I too would love to have known what went through Prince's mind, but for entirely different reasons. Oh, to be given that treat, if only for a minute or two.

Every major artist in history coulda woulda shoulda at some pont... that's life, and that's a career. Nobody can ever be perfect, because as an audience we never all want the same thing at the same time. So he did what he did, and I for one am grateful.

No doubt the tours were way better overseas... However you have to remember besides 1999 & PURPLE RAIN, all his albums sold better overseas especially in Europe.

Lovesexy for example sold over 2 million in Europe while it struggled to sell 750,000 copies in the U.S.

Sign O' The Times sold just 1 million in USA but sold over 3 million in Europe as well... Even Parade sold better in Europe.

Diamonds & Pearls 2 million of the sales were in the U.S. the other 4 million were overseas.

macaylasdad said:

Prince suffered from the backlash of the mega selling Purple Rain album/movie and from the controversy surrounding the cover to Lovesexy. That cover was the beginning of those little stickers that were placed on albums that warned parents that their little children might be harmed emotionally by what was inside. I hate to say it but that was pretty much his peak here in the US. His albums continued to sell well here but not as well as they did in Europe. The people in Europe 'got' him while here at home he was looked upon as a sexed up freak for alot of years. He knew he had fans here but he also knew that he wasn't as appreciated as he would have liked to be. The US society has a way of making someone a superstar and then spend years knocking them back down off of the pedestal that we placed them upon. Most artists/singers/actoers only have a shelf life of about 7 years before the public grows weary of them and loses interest. Prince did have alot of missed opportunities in his decades long career but he did what made him happy, not what others wanted him to do. He followed his muse and heart, sometimes to the detriment of his career but he was happy with what choices he made. By doing so he earned respect from many people, both within and outside of the music 'business'.

kingricefan said:

Prince suffered from the backlash of the mega selling Purple Rain album/movie and from the controversy surrounding the cover to Lovesexy. That cover was the beginning of those little stickers that were placed on albums that warned parents that their little children might be harmed emotionally by what was inside. I hate to say it but that was pretty much his peak here in the US. His albums continued to sell well here but not as well as they did in Europe. The people in Europe 'got' him while here at home he was looked upon as a sexed up freak for alot of years. He knew he had fans here but he also knew that he wasn't as appreciated as he would have liked to be. The US society has a way of making someone a superstar and then spend years knocking them back down off of the pedestal that we placed them upon. Most artists/singers/actoers only have a shelf life of about 7 years before the public grows weary of them and loses interest. Prince did have alot of missed opportunities in his decades long career but he did what made him happy, not what others wanted him to do. He followed his muse and heart, sometimes to the detriment of his career but he was happy with what choices he made. By doing so he earned respect from many people, both within and outside of the music 'business'.

I don't think he suffered from backlash from Purple Rain... I mean that is what made him a music superstar and cultural icon. Purple Rain is what gave him world wide acclaim not world wide backlash... Parental Advisory stickers didn't harm him or his commerciall aspects, it actually helped commercially, as rebel teen, the majority of what makes up the record buying demographic at the time, wanted those albums with parental advisory stickers on, it actually helped boost sales.

As for Lovesexy, what Walmart refused to carry it, and some record stors would put a brown paper bag on the cover? Still regardless of the cover, commercially Lovesexy wasn't appealing to the Top 50 radio at the time, besides Alphabet Street which hit #8, and as soon as that was over, the album quickly fell off the U.S. charts barely selling 750,000 copies. However it pushed almost 2 million in Europe.

His artistic peak can be debated for another day, but Prince's commercial peak for the time being was with Diamonds & Pearls. You have to remember since Purple Rain, world wide every Prince album went platinum. ATWIAD, PARADE, SOTT, LOVESEXY, BATMAN, GRAFFITI BRIDGE, they all went Platinum with worldwide sales... When you add just those albums up that's over 18 million copies just with those albums, so commercially he was still relevant.

Diamonds & Pearls sold over 6.7 million copies, so commercially he still had clout, as a matter of fact with Lovesymbol album and the three Hits/The B-Sides albums all selling over a million, he had 4 albums after D&P that went platinum... It's 1994 -2003 where he lost almost all the commercial appeal he had, barely going GOLD in USA, and not playing major stadiums anymore for tours... As we all know 2004 was his "final" mainstream commercial peak, with Musicology. The album sold over 3 million worldwide, he performed at the Grammy's, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and his tour was a 100% sell out and grossed over 87 million, making him the highest earning musician that year.

Just yesterday I watched a show he did in London during D & P. Being in the U.S. yeah I'm still butt-hurt over those tours we didn't get here But if he was happy with the choices he made I guess at this point I'm ok with that.

The Nude Tour and the Love Sexy Tour looked like they would have been GREAT concerts to have been able to go to.

kingricefan said:

Prince suffered from the backlash of the mega selling Purple Rain album/movie and from the controversy surrounding the cover to Lovesexy. That cover was the beginning of those little stickers that were placed on albums that warned parents that their little children might be harmed emotionally by what was inside. I hate to say it but that was pretty much his peak here in the US. His albums continued to sell well here but not as well as they did in Europe. The people in Europe 'got' him while here at home he was looked upon as a sexed up freak for alot of years. He knew he had fans here but he also knew that he wasn't as appreciated as he would have liked to be. The US society has a way of making someone a superstar and then spend years knocking them back down off of the pedestal that we placed them upon. Most artists/singers/actoers only have a shelf life of about 7 years before the public grows weary of them and loses interest. Prince did have alot of missed opportunities in his decades long career but he did what made him happy, not what others wanted him to do. He followed his muse and heart, sometimes to the detriment of his career but he was happy with what choices he made. By doing so he earned respect from many people, both within and outside of the music 'business'.

The funny thing is that once he got to Emancipation, the US was where he sold more once again, all the albums after for the most part though not big sellers here, sold much more than overseas. I forget which of the later Prince releases it was but I heard it didnt break 10,000 overseas.

macaylasdad said:

... in the US, we get Lovesexy a much weaker album and tour.

nonsense, the amazing Lovesexy tour is brilliant.

+ the pop-funk Lovesexy album is amazing I disagree with u a LOT.

I guess "complaining threads" like this one, are popular here?

whatever I am leaving the thread.. 1-2-3 now..

Yes, Prince definately made a 'comeback' during the release of Emancipation and afterwards. I think he and Madonna both suffered their backlash at the same time. Madonna's was when she released her Sex book, the Erotica album and her infamous 'I'm not leaving' appearence on the David Letterman show, and I think that was around the same time that Prince was experiencing his backlash. I guess people were fed up with having other folks sexuality shoved down their throats daily. You couldn't get away from it.

lastdecember said:

kingricefan said:

Prince suffered from the backlash of the mega selling Purple Rain album/movie and from the controversy surrounding the cover to Lovesexy. That cover was the beginning of those little stickers that were placed on albums that warned parents that their little children might be harmed emotionally by what was inside. I hate to say it but that was pretty much his peak here in the US. His albums continued to sell well here but not as well as they did in Europe. The people in Europe 'got' him while here at home he was looked upon as a sexed up freak for alot of years. He knew he had fans here but he also knew that he wasn't as appreciated as he would have liked to be. The US society has a way of making someone a superstar and then spend years knocking them back down off of the pedestal that we placed them upon. Most artists/singers/actoers only have a shelf life of about 7 years before the public grows weary of them and loses interest. Prince did have alot of missed opportunities in his decades long career but he did what made him happy, not what others wanted him to do. He followed his muse and heart, sometimes to the detriment of his career but he was happy with what choices he made. By doing so he earned respect from many people, both within and outside of the music 'business'.

The funny thing is that once he got to Emancipation, the US was where he sold more once again, all the albums after for the most part though not big sellers here, sold much more than overseas. I forget which of the later Prince releases it was but I heard it didnt break 10,000 overseas.

lastdecember said:

kingricefan said:

Prince suffered from the backlash of the mega selling Purple Rain album/movie and from the controversy surrounding the cover to Lovesexy. That cover was the beginning of those little stickers that were placed on albums that warned parents that their little children might be harmed emotionally by what was inside. I hate to say it but that was pretty much his peak here in the US. His albums continued to sell well here but not as well as they did in Europe. The people in Europe 'got' him while here at home he was looked upon as a sexed up freak for alot of years. He knew he had fans here but he also knew that he wasn't as appreciated as he would have liked to be. The US society has a way of making someone a superstar and then spend years knocking them back down off of the pedestal that we placed them upon. Most artists/singers/actoers only have a shelf life of about 7 years before the public grows weary of them and loses interest. Prince did have alot of missed opportunities in his decades long career but he did what made him happy, not what others wanted him to do. He followed his muse and heart, sometimes to the detriment of his career but he was happy with what choices he made. By doing so he earned respect from many people, both within and outside of the music 'business'.

The funny thing is that once he got to Emancipation, the US was where he sold more once again, all the albums after for the most part though not big sellers here, sold much more than overseas. I forget which of the later Prince releases it was but I heard it didnt break 10,000 overseas.

Emancipation didn't seel well... It only sold 500,000 but was counted twice for being a 3 cd set there for being certified 2x Platinum by RIAA.

kingricefan said:

Yes, Prince definately made a 'comeback' during the release of Emancipation and afterwards. I think he and Madonna both suffered their backlash at the same time. Madonna's was when she released her Sex book, the Erotica album and her infamous 'I'm not leaving' appearence on the David Letterman show, and I think that was around the same time that Prince was experiencing his backlash. I guess people were fed up with having other folks sexuality shoved down their throats daily. You couldn't get away from it.

lastdecember said:

The funny thing is that once he got to Emancipation, the US was where he sold more once again, all the albums after for the most part though not big sellers here, sold much more than overseas. I forget which of the later Prince releases it was but I heard it didnt break 10,000 overseas.

Commercially no he did not make a comeback during the release of Emancipation.

The tour and the album was not a big hit at all, despite all the promotion including the Oprah interview.

Emancipation barely sold 500,000 copies in the U.S. After Emancipation there was no comeback, that was his lowest commercial peak until Musicology.

As a matter of fact after Emancipation he had the lowest record sales in his career with albums like Crystal Ball, NewPowerSoul was another commerical flop, The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale, Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic was a commercial flop, and sold miserably overseas, I think it sold less than 20,000 in the U.K.The Rainbow Children, N.E.W.S... All sold nothing. His comeback was from Musicology.

[Edited 12/30/17 8:37am]

[Edited 12/30/17 10:11am]

Highest selling album:

Purple Rain - 25+ Million

Lowest selling album:

N.E.W.S. - 30,000

"Comeback" album sales:

Emancipation: 500,000 (U.S.)

Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic: 500,000 (U.S.)

Musicology: Over 3 million total 2 Million (U.S.)

the Sign o the Times tour

and there should have been a LOT of 1985 ATWIAD performances and shows (not at full tour)

What about the tours the US got and Europe not?

Prince didn't tour 1999 or PR in Europe.