Friend, Lover, Mother, Sister/Wife

It would have to be a radio edit, as the album version clocks in at around the 7min mark, but I always felt like this song could've been a massive valentines smash ala TMBGITW!

Wherever U Go Whatever U Do

This song had hit written all over it. Such a shame that Arista didn't release it as a single as it would've really changed the fortunes of the Rave album imo.

The One U Wanna C
If this had been released in the late 80s/early 90s it would've been a smash, but perhaps not in 2007.

Dance 4 Me
This should've had a video and been pushed to get airplay. It should've been the lead single from MPLSoUND, instead of the mediocre Chocolate Box.

[Edited 11/18/18 3:40am]

Love Sign got lots of TV and radio airplay, it would have sold if released.

.

Dinner With Delores would have benefitted from a more intensive promo (but WB didn't care anymore): it would have pleased the Brit Pop crowds. I Like It There could have pleased the alt. rock crowds as well.

.

Sleep Around had "Summer of 1997 club hit" written all over it.

.

So Far So Pleased, obviously. With a music video featuring Gwen it could have been a smash hit.

.

After that I'm not sure, the industry changed so much, people's tastes did too.

MattyJam said:

Friend, Lover, Mother, Sister/Wife

It would have to be a radio edit, as the album version clocks in at around the 7min mark, but I always felt like this song could've been a massive valentines smash ala TMBGITW!

Wherever U Go Whatever U Do

This song had hit written all over it. Such a shame that Arista didn't release it as a single as it would've really changed the fortunes of the Rave album imo.

The One U Wanna C
If this had been released in the late 80s/early 90s it would've been a smash, but perhaps not in 2007.

Dance 4 Me
This should've had a video and been pushed to get airplay. It should've been the lead single from MPLSoUND, instead of the mediocre Chocolate Box.

[Edited 11/18/18 3:40am]

All of them

I think "Love" had hit potential.

"Dance 4 Me" is a good choice.

hmmm....

Oddly, i think "Life O the Party" could have made some noise, like it or not. Trying to remember what was "in vogue" during specific time periods but I don't follow popular music like I used to so that's tricky for me.

How about "Laydown"?

Lovesign - lots af airplay. Complete missed opportunity

Letitgo - should have been promoted a little more

The One - Again alot of airplay in the UK

She loves me 4 me

Love

319 - should have been a single

Lolita

Sticky Like Glue

databank said:

Dance 4 Me was a single.

Dandroppedadime said:

MattyJam said:

Dandroppedadime said:

I think once he left WB (TMBGITW apart), he was never gonna have a massive hit because it’s all about payola and the way the industry works. SayinG that, if he had of written an undeniable hit pop song then it might of had a slim chance, but I personally don’t believe he created one good enough to do the job. He made some great music but was it never perfect and he never seemed to be interested in pushing/promoting one song at a time, one song was out and he’d go on tv and play something else! I respect him for that, but if he really wanted a hit he would of had to be behind it 100%, and he never was.

I couldn't disagree more with the bolded part. There's a bunch of songs he released post-Warners that would've been considered Prince classics if they'd been released in the 80s/early 90s, or if he'd continued to have industry backing post-Warners. I could name at least half a dozen Prince songs that are considered "classics" - big hits from his heyday - which imo only achieved that status through being released at the right time, when Prince was still considered cool, when he still had industry backing and still had his songs played on the radio. Ain't no way songs like Cream, U Got The Look, Diamonds & Pearls, Batdance etc hold a candle to the songs I listed in my original post. [Edited 11/18/18 12:30pm]

*

While I agree with the sentiment of your response about timing and promotion being important aspects of making a song a "hit" and that Prince did write some important and very well crafted songs during the 90s and 00s, of the four songs in your original list, only "Friend, Lover, Mother, Sister/Wife" and "Dance 4 Me" has equal the craftsmanship as "Cream," "U Got the Look," and "Diamonds & Pearls." And, while I really like "Batdance," I'll concede that, although it is interesting, funky, and danceable, it's a bit too quirky for most folks to be considered one of Prince's "best" songs. And, this is from someone who has "Musicology" and "Colonized Mind" in my top ten favorite Prince songs, depending, of course, on what day you ask me. But, one thing is for sure, "I Wonder U" will never be in my top ten, but I digress.

databank said:

Love Sign got lots of TV and radio airplay, it would have sold if released.

.

Dinner With Delores would have benefitted from a more intensive promo (but WB didn't care anymore): it would have pleased the Brit Pop crowds. I Like It There could have pleased the alt. rock crowds as well.

.

Sleep Around had "Summer of 1997 club hit" written all over it.

.

So Far So Pleased, obviously. With a music video featuring Gwen it could have been a smash hit.

.

After that I'm not sure, the industry changed so much, people's tastes did too.

*

Those of us who lived through this era (90s and 00s) all have songs that, even during that time, we thought could be big or bigger if only Prince, WB, or both could have found a way to market them more. But, as someone who often defends hip hop even though, aesthetically, I'm not a fan of it, by 95-96 music tastes had changed so much that I'm not sure that any amount of promotion would have yielded Prince a bigger hit. And, of course, I'm quite open to being wrong, but, as I remember those two decades, the masses weren't really checking for Prince, at least not in America, which is what made the success of Musicology so interesting. (And, when I say the success of Musicology, I'm not referring to the stunt he pulled to get it to number one, but that people generally seemed to like the singles and the album.) Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of those people who shit on Prince's 90s and 00s output. Hell, I was having a great time listening to that output than the other crap that was being promoted. But, it just seems that, as with all art, Prince's popularity was in a natural ebb from 97 - 03 with Musicology being another natural flow. But, having said all of that, I had a great fucking time listening to Prince's music during the 90s and 00s as I did from 78 - 89. I'm just happy that I got to experience it from day one to the last day.

Great ear on what shoulsd had been in the '90's for Prince. I guess that the purple one was listneing to different influences; that was misguided him on what would had be a smash hit in the '90's for him.

I've always thought The Love We Make could have been huge. It's so beautiful - and such a powerful message.

MattyJam said:

Dandroppedadime said:

I think once he left WB (TMBGITW apart), he was never gonna have a massive hit because it’s all about payola and the way the industry works. SayinG that, if he had of written an undeniable hit pop song then it might of had a slim chance, but I personally don’t believe he created one good enough to do the job. He made some great music but was it never perfect and he never seemed to be interested in pushing/promoting one song at a time, one song was out and he’d go on tv and play something else! I respect him for that, but if he really wanted a hit he would of had to be behind it 100%, and he never was.

I couldn't disagree more with the bolded part. There's a bunch of songs he released post-Warners that would've been considered Prince classics if they'd been released in the 80s/early 90s, or if he'd continued to have industry backing post-Warners. I could name at least half a dozen Prince songs that are considered "classics" - big hits from his heyday - which imo only achieved that status through being released at the right time, when Prince was still considered cool, when he still had industry backing and still had his songs played on the radio. Ain't no way songs like Cream, U Got The Look, Diamonds & Pearls, Batdance etc hold a candle to the songs I listed in my original post. [Edited 11/18/18 12:30pm]

2 b honest the ones you listed are probably the "worst" choices for commercial and hit material...

feeluupp said:

Genesia said:

I've always thought The Love We Make could have been huge. It's so beautiful - and such a powerful message.

*

I agree completely as I love the studio version and every live version I have heard as well, but, while it's so lyrically powerfully, the vocal delivery is quite subtle, especially the first two-thirds of the song. Not subtle in a bad way (and I'm not even sure if "subtle" is the right phrase), but, unfortunately, pop music fans rarely embrace the subtle, especially with powerful messages. Generally, the vocal delivery must be overstated or over the top for most pop fans to get it, almost like they need the artist to scream at them: "Hey, this is important; can't you tell how important this song is by how passionate I am when singing it?" Yet, I would have loved for this to be released with a video directed by someone who understood the message and was well-crafted enough to execute the video so that the message resonated well. Still, it's a great song.

databank said:

Genesia said:

RODSERLING said:

RODSERLING said:

If there is one, and only one, song that could have Been a huge hit, With #1 written all over its face, it s the Cross. A huge missed opportunity, that should be today one if his most known song. . Then, The Beautiful Ones could have Been huge instead of releasing Take Me With U or I would die 4U. . On the 90's, if there wasn t thé feud between P ans WB, Gold would have been a hit everywhere in thé World, like It Was in the Uk. .

No way.

Perhaps a cover by someone else. In that period, U2 could have pulled that off. But not this Prince version, at all.

MattyJam said:

RODSERLING said:

Huge lol for the Guy quoting Sleep around as a would-bé hit in 1997. . It would have been so Twilight Zonesque, that I would have loved to live on this crazy World where such a campy pièce of crap like Sleep Around would have been #1. . With a "Sleep around expérience" EP remix following that, I would have laughed an entire year.

Yeah, Sleep Around sucked in 1996, and sucks even more now.

I don't know where you all are from, but this was THE sound in England/Europe in the clubs late 90's. Listen to George Michael's stuff from that era...it was all neo-Disco, and it was HUGE.

Prince was NOT going to have a hit in this era because of his stance towards the music business. Hits aren't based on quality of songs, they are based on who gets paid and promotion. After Prince left WB, he was really the only one that stood to make $$$$ from a hit Prince song. Thus, Prince's singles weren't gonna happen.

-

All of that said, I always thought "Supercute" could have been huge. It was not to be though, as Prince wasn't playing that game.

nextedition said:

databank said:

Love Sign got lots of TV and radio airplay, it would have sold if released.

.

Dinner With Delores would have benefitted from a more intensive promo (but WB didn't care anymore): it would have pleased the Brit Pop crowds. I Like It There could have pleased the alt. rock crowds as well.

.

Sleep Around had "Summer of 1997 club hit" written all over it.

.

So Far So Pleased, obviously. With a music video featuring Gwen it could have been a smash hit.

.

After that I'm not sure, the industry changed so much, people's tastes did too.

Did you go to clubs in the mid 90s? Nobody was playing stuff like "sleep around"

Well, for one thing there are all sorts of clubs and club cultures.

I see you're from Amsterdam so you may know the movie "Naar de klotte", and I guess Holland was huge on techno (good or bad, the music in the movie is very commercial, though I love the film), but (at least in France) you had techno (commercial and not-so-commercial) and everything else: clubs playing UK-style drum n bass and sophisticated electronica, gay-oriented clubs playing house music and post-disco, clubs playing acid jazz and old skool funk, clubs playing rap and R&B, clubs playing indie rock and brit pop stuff, clubs playing afro and reggae stuff, clubs playing more radio-friendly but still somewhat cool music, and finally those awful clubs playing whatever was on mainstream radios, old and new. I used to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of people back then so I've had a glimpse of all that stuff, there really were all kinds of joints and atmospheres in the big cities.

So yeah, there were a fair amount of those clubs that could have played Sleep Around. It had a funk/acid jazz vibe with real horns, it had a house music beat, the melody was easy and catchy, it was uptempo but slow enough to be sexy. It could have worked.

Or maybe not

But I think it could have worked

databank said:

nextedition said:

databank said: Did you go to clubs in the mid 90s? Nobody was playing stuff like "sleep around"

Well, for one thing there are all sorts of clubs and club cultures.

I see you're from Amsterdam so you may know the movie "Naar de klotte", and I guess Holland was huge on techno (good or bad, the music in the movie is very commercial, though I love the film), but (at least in France) you had techno (commercial and not-so-commercial) and everything else: clubs playing UK-style drum n bass and sophisticated electronica, gay-oriented clubs playing house music and post-disco, clubs playing acid jazz and old skool funk, clubs playing rap and R&B, clubs playing indie rock and brit pop stuff, clubs playing afro and reggae stuff, clubs playing more radio-friendly but still somewhat cool music, and finally those awful clubs playing whatever was on mainstream radios, old and new. I used to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of people back then so I've had a glimpse of all that stuff, there really were all kinds of joints and atmospheres in the big cities.

So yeah, there were a fair amount of those clubs that could have played Sleep Around. It had a funk/acid jazz vibe with real horns, it had a house music beat, the melody was easy and catchy, it was uptempo but slow enough to be sexy. It could have worked.

Or maybe not

But I think it could have worked

well honestly i also saw that as the only valid single out of emancipation, with the human body as b-side.

databank said:

dodger said:

databank said:

Well, for one thing there are all sorts of clubs and club cultures.

I see you're from Amsterdam so you may know the movie "Naar de klotte", and I guess Holland was huge on techno (good or bad, the music in the movie is very commercial, though I love the film), but (at least in France) you had techno (commercial and not-so-commercial) and everything else: clubs playing UK-style drum n bass and sophisticated electronica, gay-oriented clubs playing house music and post-disco, clubs playing acid jazz and old skool funk, clubs playing rap and R&B, clubs playing indie rock and brit pop stuff, clubs playing afro and reggae stuff, clubs playing more radio-friendly but still somewhat cool music, and finally those awful clubs playing whatever was on mainstream radios, old and new. I used to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of people back then so I've had a glimpse of all that stuff, there really were all kinds of joints and atmospheres in the big cities.

So yeah, there were a fair amount of those clubs that could have played Sleep Around. It had a funk/acid jazz vibe with real horns, it had a house music beat, the melody was easy and catchy, it was uptempo but slow enough to be sexy. It could have worked.

Or maybe not

But I think it could have worked

Yes, it depends on the club/culture for sure. Here in Liverpool The Good Life (Dancing Divaz Mix) became a massive club favourite in 95. It was a 'scouse (term for someone from Liverpool) house' anthem. . I'll never forget being shocked to hear it in a club for the first time (before the single was released). I asked the DJ if it was his his mix then he showed me the vinyl and said 'I've never heard of these; The New Power Generation.' I told him it was Prince but he didn't believe me!

Awesome

dodger said:

databank said:

Well, for one thing there are all sorts of clubs and club cultures.

I see you're from Amsterdam so you may know the movie "Naar de klotte", and I guess Holland was huge on techno (good or bad, the music in the movie is very commercial, though I love the film), but (at least in France) you had techno (commercial and not-so-commercial) and everything else: clubs playing UK-style drum n bass and sophisticated electronica, gay-oriented clubs playing house music and post-disco, clubs playing acid jazz and old skool funk, clubs playing rap and R&B, clubs playing indie rock and brit pop stuff, clubs playing afro and reggae stuff, clubs playing more radio-friendly but still somewhat cool music, and finally those awful clubs playing whatever was on mainstream radios, old and new. I used to go to all sorts of places with all sorts of people back then so I've had a glimpse of all that stuff, there really were all kinds of joints and atmospheres in the big cities.

So yeah, there were a fair amount of those clubs that could have played Sleep Around. It had a funk/acid jazz vibe with real horns, it had a house music beat, the melody was easy and catchy, it was uptempo but slow enough to be sexy. It could have worked.

Or maybe not

But I think it could have worked

Yes, it depends on the club/culture for sure. Here in Liverpool The Good Life (Dancing Divaz Mix) became a massive club favourite in 95. It was a 'scouse (term for someone from Liverpool) house' anthem. . I'll never forget being shocked to hear it in a club for the first time (before the single was released). I asked the DJ if it was his his mix then he showed me the vinyl and said 'I've never heard of these; The New Power Generation.' I told him it was Prince but he didn't believe me!