I think the album was met with a lot of positive press and quite a few positive reviews...but just how famous/popular was Prince in 1978-79? Was he a legit musical celebrity? Or a bit of an unknown still?

I wasn't a fan until 1984 or so...

This is a good question, and this is where are old schoolers are much needed in this forum who were around that time. We can only go off on reviews of the album at the time.

He...wasn't? It's relative, but even Prince said people "quietly" knew about him when "Soft and Wet" came out. For You was a soft launch. But For You was a quiet beginning.

Later, when "I Wanna Be Your Lover" finally had a video, he started to appear on television, and that song ended up on compilation albums, like K-Tel's Soundwaves, he certainly landed on people's radars.

Today's music is so different with how people come blaring out of the gate with iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, etc., then a lyric video on YouTube, then a real video on YouTube, then they get an interview on every third-rate YouTube vlogger or wannabe media outlet (ie a person w/ an iPhone and iMovie), which may or may not bolster a few views. If they're lucky, they get a record deal or maybe their song gets picked up in a milk commercial or whatever.

NOW, given that all that happens these days, and artists can still be viewed as having a "soft launch", for anyone to take notice of Prince with "Soft and Wet" in the middle of yacht rock fever was no small task on his or WB's part. Records sit in bins they way mp3s sit on Spotify. People still have to dig to find something or check alternative outlets for music. For You reached #21 on Billboard Top Black Albums, it got C+ reviews, and "Soft and Wet" made it to #21 on Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. He eeked into the Top 100 on Billboard as well. No small feat for anyone. Oddly, "Just As Long As We're Together" peaked one spot higher than "Soft and Wet".

I'm guessing that Prince's appearance on American Bandstand on the 26th of January 1980 would have been the first exposure that people outside of the local Minneapolis scene or R&B radio would have had of him. That would have been his first cross over appearance, being on a show beamed out to people's living rooms, and of course Prince very famously or rather infamously may have gotten a little overcome by the experience in the interview with Dick Clark. The vast majority of the audience would have had zero idea who this guy with the high voice, pretty hair, and gold pants was.

I feel like TP matches up with my experience. I started buying records around this time. We had an R&B station in the Boston area and we went to New York several times a year. I may have heard Soft and Wet, but didn't find Prince until I wanna be your lover.

Then I went back and found "For You".

I honestly don't recall hearing "Soft And Wet" on the radio back then.The first time I heard a Prince song was "I Wanna Be Your Lover" the next year.It seems like For You did OK for a debut,but it wasn't a major success.Interestingly enough,Rick James released his debut album around the same time,and it was huge.

It was a moderate hit on R& B stations, but not played at all on pop stations. The album didn't get much attention from the music press or the general public, and it wasn't the type of statement album like Dirty Mind to pique the interest of the uninitiated.

I am not sure, as I am too young but no one had really heard of him in New Zealand at the time. For You was not even released in New Zealand until mid 1984 during the Purple Rain era!

.

What I do know is that "I wanna be your lover" was a huge hit here and only released in January 1980 as it's counted as a 1980 hit here rather than 1979. We got the American show - Solid Gold, but heavily edited and we did not get Bandstand or anything else here, just our own RTR countdown.

.

Someone must have promoted Lover, as it became a #3 hit here, it hit the charts at 48 on Feb 17 1980 and then went - 37, 43, 19, 20, 11, 7, 4, 4, 4, 3 (Week of 27/4/80 my 4th birthday!), 6, 7, 8, 14, 20, 33, 38, and out 16 weeks on the chart, nearly going gold.

.

Yet despite all this success, Prince would not bother out chart again until early 1983 when 1999 was a single hit peacking at #4 and then Little Red Corvette in later 1983 and finally even Doves Cry was only a #2 here, and Lets Go Crazy was bearely Top 10 and Purple Rain got to #25, I would die 4 u and Take me with u missed the chart completely. He was never a huge star here until 1988 and I am sure if you asked anyone here in NZ, other than some university DJ or hardcore Maori DJ or musician, they would have no idea who or what Prince was and automatically assume you were talking about Prince Charles.

In Detroit he was quite popular during the For You era. Soft and Wet stayed on the radio and Detroit's ONE and ONLY Electrifying Mojo bumped the hell out of Just As Long As We're Together, My Love Is Forever and I'm Yours. Most of us didn't have a clue of who the hell this Prince guy was but we liked him from the start.

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world. I don't even hear P on the radio now, so I can hardly imagine back then besides some black stations. I think people want to remember IWBYL as being bigger than it was. As far as the Pop world was conccerned he didn't exist, Fleetwood Ma were selling over 20 million records at the time, so was Saturday Night Fever, he wasn't a factor and the album still isn't platinum, I dont think, correct me Purple Zombies, or just a little above a million.

So, not really an era, was it?

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world. I don't even hear P on the radio now, so I can hardly imagine back then besides some black stations. I think people want to remember IWBYL as being bigger than it was. As far as the Pop world was conccerned he didn't exist, Fleetwood Ma were selling over 20 million records at the time, so was Saturday Night Fever, he wasn't a factor and the album still isn't platinum, I dont think, correct me Purple Zombies, or just a little above a million.

So, not really an era, was it?

No, you're right. It's not like he placed 4 singles (8, counting The Time and Vanity 6) in the R&B Top 10,
and those same singles in the Dance Top 10 as well, two of them at #2 (1979, 1980) and two at #1 (1981, 1982),
before LRC came out.

And the "10 or so people" include unknowns like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,
who, certainly by pure accident, asked for Prince to open for the largest grossing US tour of 1981.

Newsflash: you're not "the eye of the music world", sorry pal. I know it must be hard.
Prince was on every serious music critic's "radar" from Dirty Mind on.

"I'm fairly certain", "let's be honest", "but I'm sure", "I can hardly imagine"...
Your sentences speak volumes of how much of a condescending troll you are,
my advice is to get outta here before us zombies eat your tasteless brain out, sucker.

Would someone please bring us back to the subject.

[Edited 1/22/18 19:48pm]

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through.

You're missing an element in your statement. He wasn't on the white radar until "Little Red Corvette". It was really stuck, not in a bad way, in the R&B/Soul market and charts. LRC is what gave just enough rock to cross him over to pop/rock music. Even the band members at the time have noted that. The crime is that with Dez's virtuosity on the guitar, LRC didn't come out a year or two earlier, to really give Prince an earlier wing-stretch into the white rock market, while letting Dez shine more in concerts. Although jams like "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" were rock songs and they played the fuck out of them. It wasn't enough to put them on a white radar though.

If anything, "Let's Go Crazy" picks up where "Little Red Corvette" left off, as "Computer Blue" picked up where "Something In The Water" left off.

bonatoc said:

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world. I don't even hear P on the radio now, so I can hardly imagine back then besides some black stations. I think people want to remember IWBYL as being bigger than it was. As far as the Pop world was conccerned he didn't exist, Fleetwood Ma were selling over 20 million records at the time, so was Saturday Night Fever, he wasn't a factor and the album still isn't platinum, I dont think, correct me Purple Zombies, or just a little above a million.

So, not really an era, was it?

No, you're right. It's not like he placed 4 singles (8, counting The Time and Vanity 6) in the R&B Top 10,
and those same singles in the Dance Top 10 as well, two of them at #2 (1979, 1980) and two at #1 (1981, 1982),
before LRC came out.

And the "10 or so people" include unknowns like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,
who, certainly by pure accident, asked for Prince to open for the largest grossing US tour of 1981.

Newsflash: you're not "the eye of the music world", sorry pal. I know it must be hard.
Prince was on every serious music critic's "radar" from Dirty Mind on.

"I'm fairly certain", "let's be honest", "but I'm sure", "I can hardly imagine"...
Your sentences speak volumes of how much of a condescending troll you are,
my advice is to get outta here before us zombies eat your tasteless brain out, sucker.

Would someone please bring us back to the subject.

[Edited 1/22/18 19:48pm]

bonatoc said:

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world.

No, you're right. It's not like he placed 4 singles (8, counting The Time and Vanity 6) in the R&B Top 10, and those same singles in the Dance Top 10 as well, two of them at #2 (1979, 1980) and two at #1 (1981, 1982), before LRC came out.

[clapback snip]

Ya know, ya just don't fuck w/ Bonatoc. SRSLY. Take note, y'all.

TrivialPursuit said:

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through.

You're missing an element in your statement. He wasn't on the white radar until "Little Red Corvette". It was really stuck, not in a bad way, in the R&B/Soul market and charts. LRC is what gave just enough rock to cross him over to pop/rock music. Even the band members at the time have noted that. The crime is that with Dez's virtuosity on the guitar, LRC didn't come out a year or two earlier, to really give Prince an earlier wing-stretch into the white rock market, while letting Dez shine more in concerts. Although jams like "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" were rock songs and they played the fuck out of them. It wasn't enough to put them on a white radar though.

If anything, "Let's Go Crazy" picks up where "Little Red Corvette" left off, as "Computer Blue" picked up where "Something In The Water" left off.

Well, he clearly was since Rolling Stone were reviewing him on his second album. It took him having a hit for them to notice but notice they did. He was clearly intriguing to critics before the general public took to him. On this side of the atlantic he was on the cover of NME by summer 1981, no small feat.

TrivialPursuit said:

jaawwnn said:

TrivialPursuit said:

You're missing an element in your statement. He wasn't on the white radar until "Little Red Corvette". It was really stuck, not in a bad way, in the R&B/Soul market and charts. LRC is what gave just enough rock to cross him over to pop/rock music. Even the band members at the time have noted that. The crime is that with Dez's virtuosity on the guitar, LRC didn't come out a year or two earlier, to really give Prince an earlier wing-stretch into the white rock market, while letting Dez shine more in concerts. Although jams like "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad" were rock songs and they played the fuck out of them. It wasn't enough to put them on a white radar though.

If anything, "Let's Go Crazy" picks up where "Little Red Corvette" left off, as "Computer Blue" picked up where "Something In The Water" left off.

Well, he clearly was since Rolling Stone were reviewing him on his second album. It took him having a hit for them to notice but notice they did. He was clearly intriguing to critics before the general public took to him. On this side of the atlantic he was on the cover of NME by summer 1981, no small feat.

And the European audience was eating him up prior to 1982

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world. I don't even hear P on the radio now, so I can hardly imagine back then besides some black stations. I think people want to remember IWBYL as being bigger than it was. As far as the Pop world was conccerned he didn't exist, Fleetwood Ma were selling over 20 million records at the time, so was Saturday Night Fever, he wasn't a factor and the album still isn't platinum, I dont think, correct me Purple Zombies, or just a little above a million.

So, not really an era, was it?

It reached number one on the R&B chart and NUMBER ELEVEN on the Billboard Hot 100. It was one spot away from being a top ten hit on the pop chart! And this is before R&B airplay was factored into the Hot 100, so it got there purely from mainstream Top 40 play. It was also a gold-certified million-selling single (in 1980, not after Purple Rain). It didn't position him as a star the way LRC did, but let's not pretend the song wasn't a giant crossover hit. Plus it gave him his first top 40 album. You're making up an imaginary narrative.

RJOrion said:

FACT...Prince was WELL known to black folks immediately after "i wanna be your lover" was released...it was played nonstop on the radio...next album, Uptown was all over the radio, and Party Up, and When U Were Mine also got spins... white radio and TV finally caught on with Little Red Corvette and 1999...but Black folks (especially black women) were heavy on the Prince bandwagon WAY before Little Red Corvette...

I wouldn't contradict any of that.

Not popular at all until "I Wanna Be Your Lover" came out. That was the first Prince song I ever heard on radio anywhere. I'd never heard of him until after "I Wanna Be Your Lover" came out...and then I mistakenly thought it was a Sylverster song the first time I heard it...

I can only speak for Houston, Texas back in the 70's-early 80's. In those days, it was hard-to-impossible to know what people in New York, LA or Miami were listening to. And vice versa. So my comments reflect Houston, Texas:

He was known a bit in the discos, but I don't recall him being known outside of that.

The first thing I can remember Prince being known for was that "Soft and Wet" was clearly a song about vaginas. Believe it or not, that was kind of shocking back then. So he was known for shock value, but not necessarily for talent.

"Soft and Wet" was played some but after that, I don't recall hearing anything from him on the radio OR in the discos until the "Controversy" album hit. "Let's Work" was his big breakout song in Houston. But it was the only thing played off that album.

Prince didn't catch a whole lot of attention until the "1999" album.

bonatoc said:

Musician9 said:

I'm fairly certain no one outside of a few rand b stations knew about it. Let's be honest, he wasnt truly on the radar until Little Red orvette broke through. But I'm sure 10 or so people will swear he was the shit when he was non-existant in the eye of the music world. I don't even hear P on the radio now, so I can hardly imagine back then besides some black stations. I think people want to remember IWBYL as being bigger than it was. As far as the Pop world was conccerned he didn't exist, Fleetwood Ma were selling over 20 million records at the time, so was Saturday Night Fever, he wasn't a factor and the album still isn't platinum, I dont think, correct me Purple Zombies, or just a little above a million.

So, not really an era, was it?

No, you're right. It's not like he placed 4 singles (8, counting The Time and Vanity 6) in the R&B Top 10,
and those same singles in the Dance Top 10 as well, two of them at #2 (1979, 1980) and two at #1 (1981, 1982),
before LRC came out.

And the "10 or so people" include unknowns like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,
who, certainly by pure accident, asked for Prince to open for the largest grossing US tour of 1981.

Newsflash: you're not "the eye of the music world", sorry pal. I know it must be hard.
Prince was on every serious music critic's "radar" from Dirty Mind on.

"I'm fairly certain", "let's be honest", "but I'm sure", "I can hardly imagine"...
Your sentences speak volumes of how much of a condescending troll you are,
my advice is to get outta here before us zombies eat your tasteless brain out, sucker.

Would someone please bring us back to the subject.

[Edited 1/22/18 19:48pm]

Deleted - l'ange bleu - moderator

Adorecream said:

I am not sure, as I am too young but no one had really heard of him in New Zealand at the time. For You was not even released in New Zealand until mid 1984 during the Purple Rain era!

.

What I do know is that "I wanna be your lover" was a huge hit here and only released in January 1980 as it's counted as a 1980 hit here rather than 1979. We got the American show - Solid Gold, but heavily edited and we did not get Bandstand or anything else here, just our own RTR countdown.

.

Someone must have promoted Lover, as it became a #3 hit here, it hit the charts at 48 on Feb 17 1980 and then went - 37, 43, 19, 20, 11, 7, 4, 4, 4, 3 (Week of 27/4/80 my 4th birthday!), 6, 7, 8, 14, 20, 33, 38, and out 16 weeks on the chart, nearly going gold.

.

Yet despite all this success, Prince would not bother out chart again until early 1983 when 1999 was a single hit peacking at #4 and then Little Red Corvette in later 1983 and finally even Doves Cry was only a #2 here, and Lets Go Crazy was bearely Top 10 and Purple Rain got to #25, I would die 4 u and Take me with u missed the chart completely. He was never a huge star here until 1988 and I am sure if you asked anyone here in NZ, other than some university DJ or hardcore Maori DJ or musician, they would have no idea who or what Prince was and automatically assume you were talking about Prince Charles.

Think I remember Cream being quite a big hit in NZ?

For You album basically flopped. Disco was at its peak and Prince was too ahead of his time. Soft & Wet single was popular in Detroit and got a lot of airplay. At the radio station they were giving away copies of the album to anybody who stopped by. I don't think Prince did a promo tour because he would have definitely went to Detroit. I didn't care for the album except for the title track and Soft & Wet. After the project Prince was still unknown. Next album was great and they played the album cuts on the radio like Bambi. They also played the extended Sexy Dancer

Interesting. So his special relationship with Detroit goes way back.
I understand why he called the city his second home, or something close to that.
Detroit supported him right from the beginning.

The massive opening of the Purple Rain Tour,
the birthday show and the Electrifying Mojo interview
and probably a lot of stuff I'm missing out make perfect sense now.

SKipper's loyalty (cough, cough — to cities he has a strong relationship with)
is one of his most endearing traits.

bonatoc said:

Interesting. So his special relationship with Detroit goes way back.
I understand why he called the city his second home, or something close to that.
Detroit supported him right from the beginning.

The massive opening of the Purple Rain Tour,
the birthday show and the Electrifying Mojo interview
and probably a lot of stuff I'm missing out make perfect sense now.

SKipper's loyalty (cough, cough — to cities he has a strong relationship with)
is one of his most endearing traits.

Yeah, "we go back like Faygo and Red Pop". (Detroiters...what up doe?)

But seriously, it cannot be said enough how much Detroit embraced Prince right from the very beginning. Mojo's show came on the radio 6 nights a week and he would play some Prince music every single night and right from the beginning he would play the songs that most other radio stations wouldn't ever touch and probably still have never touched to this very day.

When For You came out I was only 8 years old, so I honestly don't know what it did sales-wise in Detroit but I loved listening to the radio, especially to Mojo and I remember what I heard. When the Priince album dropped, it was a wrap, the Detroit and Prince relationship was solidified and Mojo wore it out. I think the only songs from it that he wouldn't play on a nightly basis were "When We're Dancing Close and Slow, With You and I Feel For You" and the night he played "It's Gonna Be Lonely" for the first time, I became a Prince fan for life, right then and there. I was 9 and wouldn't even know what Prince looked like until the Controversy album and it was love at first sight.

With each Prince album (including The Time's and Vanity 6's) the bond with Detroit and Prince grew stronger and deeper through the Purple Rain era and into the The Parade era and the beloved Birthday concert at Cobo that led to the Prince/Mojo interview. By the Sign O' The Times era, Mojo was no longer on the radio on a regular basis but the Detroit love had been set in stone and there was no turning back. I don't think there's ever been a Prince concert in Detroit that didn't sell out and there have been LOTS of them. We're his little Motorbabies for life and now I guess...beyond too.

bonatoc said:

Interesting. So his special relationship with Detroit goes way back.
I understand why he called the city his second home, or something close to that.
Detroit supported him right from the beginning.

The massive opening of the Purple Rain Tour,
the birthday show and the Electrifying Mojo interview
and probably a lot of stuff I'm missing out make perfect sense now.

SKipper's loyalty (cough, cough — to cities he has a strong relationship with)
is one of his most endearing traits.

Comment deleted - l'ange bleu - moderator