TheFman said:

skywalker 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.

I'm not "the guy", I'm databank, THE databank. And who would you be? There's no such thing as THE Rodserling, just Rodserling (and, by the way, it's spelled RoseDarling not Rodserling).

So who's lolling now?

I,too,think that "Sleep Around" could have been a major hit for Prince.Should have been the album's first single.

Actual chart hits? The 90's charts were fairly bought up. I think something like Beautiful Strange could have regained him a bit of street cred amongst the tastemakers, who were still kind of a thing back then.

It's weird how a song like Face Down that was laughed at for not being the right kind of rapping that week now just sounds good.

RODSERLING said:

TheFman said:

No way.

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

Hum, from what song are you talking about, better covered by...U2?!

The Cross.
P's version as it is wouldnt have been a bigger hit than IIWYG. But at that time, when U2 couldn't do anything wrong, they could have made a hit out of it.
Not saying that i wanted that to happen or that nobody else could have made a hit out of it. My main point just being that i never believe it would have been a Prince-hit.

Right Back Here In My Arms

Love- I think he missed a big opportunity by not putting this one out as a single

Future Soul Song

Supercute

fabriziovenerandi said:

Supercute

This song came to mind for me as well.

Sleep Around definitely had hit potential.

RODSERLING said:

skywalker said:

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.

You compare Sleep Around With GM's stuff from 1996? Seriously ? . Il Come from France and musical tastes were similar in thé club hits. French touch were all over thé place!

Definitely. 1998 George Michael's "Outside." "Star People" a bit as well.

jaawwnn said:

Actual chart hits? The 90's charts were fairly bought up. I think something like Beautiful Strange could have regained him a bit of street cred amongst the tastemakers, who were still kind of a thing back then.

It's weird how a song like Face Down that was laughed at for not being the right kind of rapping that week now just sounds good.

Yes a thousand times to this. It perplexes me that people think charts are/were based on actual quality or even popularity/requests.

TheFman said:

skywalker said:

jaawwnn said:

Actual chart hits? The 90's charts were fairly bought up. I think something like Beautiful Strange could have regained him a bit of street cred amongst the tastemakers, who were still kind of a thing back then.

It's weird how a song like Face Down that was laughed at for not being the right kind of rapping that week now just sounds good.

Yes a thousand times to this. It perplexes me that people think charts are/were based on actual quality or even popularity/requests.

There were a few surprises, good and bad, for the labels, but usually what sold what what was heavily promoted, which just required budget and good PR people to get the song/video played.

.

On a sidenote, a friend of mine who never cared for Prince, R&B or hip-hop, but was more into techno, punk and that sort of radical indie stuff, once saw the FB video back in 2010, and commented that she liked it a lot and that it reminded her of the Beastie Boys. I was quite surprised. Sometimes Prince songs went popular outside of his target audience. I remember indie rock and brit pop fans I knew diggin' Peach back then, and an indie rock/brit pop reviewer praising DWD in a 1996 magazine. Many a time, I met people who knew only the hits and didn't care for Prince who would trip on whatever post-WB music I'd play them while fans were bitching about it here.

.

skywalker said:

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.

and now dead ..they can make money again

databank said:

RODSERLING said:

databank said:

There were a few surprises, good and bad, for the labels, but usually what sold what what was heavily promoted, which just required budget and good PR people to get the song/video played.

.

On a sidenote, a friend of mine who never cared for Prince, R&B or hip-hop, but was more into techno, punk and that sort of radical indie stuff, once saw the FB video back in 2010, and commented that she liked it a lot and that it reminded her of the Beastie Boys. I was quite surprised. Sometimes Prince songs went popular outside of his target audience. I remember indie rock and brit pop fans I knew diggin' Peach back then, and an indie rock/brit pop reviewer praising DWD in a 1996 magazine. Many a time, I met people who knew only the hits and didn't care for Prince who would trip on whatever post-WB music I'd play them while fans were bitching about it here.

.

What IS the "FB video" and "DWD"?

FD not FB, sorry, I mistyped, maybe because she wrote her comment... on FB

DWD you should know

databank said:

RODSERLING said:

databank said:

FD not FB, sorry, I mistyped, maybe because she wrote her comment... on FB

DWD you should know

I think you are confusing With HTG

HTG is unreleased, how could it have been a hit?

'Buried 90s/00s gems that could've been massive chart hits for Prince' between 1980 and 1995

The record / single market changed dramatically. So to have a hit for Prince after 1996 would have been very difficult

What are 'hits' in my opinion but not massive:

Gold

Eye hate U

The One

Musicology

Guitar

Black Sweat

What could have been hits

Crimson and Clover

Clouds

Screwdriver

Breakdown

Fixurelifeup

Rock N Roll Love Affair

Hardrocklover

Baltimore

[Edited 11/21/18 9:34am]

[Edited 11/21/18 9:34am]

databank said:

WB could have made this a Take Me With U type of hit.

MattyJam said:

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.

RODSERLING said:

rdhull said:

RODSERLING said:

TheFman said:

The Cross.
P's version as it is wouldnt have been a bigger hit than IIWYG. But at that time, when U2 couldn't do anything wrong, they could have made a hit out of it.
Not saying that i wanted that to happen or that nobody else could have made a hit out of it. My main point just being that i never believe it would have been a Prince-hit.

I Can t agree. The Cross has âged very well. Friends of mine who Can t stand Prince, When I put The Cross, It s like an instant classic and It gives them more emotion than any other Prince tracks. . Thé Cross doesn t contain any Prince s musical or vocal gimmicks, that as fan we all love, but that thé rest of the World Really dislike and find campy.

Were you born before the radio ? Because there's no way "The Cross" would have get airplay
with the first whole minute under 20 dB. People would have gotten the impression their radio wasn't working.
This is music business ABC, not to mention charts were bought and sold.

Maybe, surely you ré right, U2 or Usher would have made It a better hit by their name only, but Prince s version IS great in itself, and sounds better than most of his well known catalogue to casual listeners. . Why It wasn t released just After thé SOTT single IS beyond me, It would have been huge in Europe contrary to U GOT thé look and ICNTTPOYM who are now éven forgotten hits in thé Usa

"U Got The Look" is far from being forgotten.
It's #10 on YT, making it de de facto SOTT only relevant single,
still from a business point of view. It was also made for the radio, it sounds totally out of place on the album.
Now we're used to it, but that doesn't negate the audible fact. Nothing sounds like "U Got The Look" on the whole SOTT album.

databank said:

NorthC said:

databank said:

It was basically The Police's Every Breath You Take, so yeah it could have worked.

No, because shit hopper Puff Daddy had already ruined that Police classic. God, what a fucking awful time for music those late 1990s were. Shit hoppers fucking over great songs with their fucking samples. An idiot called Genuwine (or whatever) even did a remake of When Doves Cry. There was a bunch of stupid girls (TLC?) who did a cover of If I Was Your Girlfriend, totally ignoring that the song loses all its meaning when it's sung by a woman. And if you don't realize that, you're not a Prince fan and you should stay the fuck away from his music. But that's the way it is. There will always be idiots and there will always be bad music.

TLC and Genuwine did some really cool shit, though.

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]

FLMS/W = No, too plodding for radio

.

WUGWUD = No, vocal defines lackluster

.

TOUWC = Yes, definitely. Anybody remember the bootleg video with a couple of kids messing around in their living room? Release and heavily promote that video interpersed with Prince concert footage. Plus a radio push. Shoulda, coulda, woulda been a nice hit.

.

D4M = Maybe. It would've needed good promotion that pitched it as a partially comic, tounge-in-cheeck song.

bboy87 said:

Right Back Here In My Arms

Love- I think he missed a big opportunity by not putting this one out as a single

Future Soul Song

RBHIMA = Yes, but timing would've been tough. A good potential single release, but I think the death of their son meant that sustained, upbeat promotion wasn't possible.

.

Love = Yes. Should've been a heavily promoted single.

.

FSS = Not really. It's a decent song, but it's too slow and odd for radio when it was released. Possibly could've had an interesting video on YT.

fabriziovenerandi said:

Supercute

Seconded. Although it's more like a potential minor hit.