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PrintableAgree with Emacipation and Betcha By Golly Wow. I think Right Back Here in my Arms would have made more noise. | |
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I don't think, at least i the early days he had much choice. Plus its hard to predict what will be hot and what is not. I guess looking at the American chart placings shows how successful each was . Soft and Wet - 92 (But he was pratically unknown and in the era of chart apartheid, its 12 placing in the Soul chart was better) . IWBYL - 11 after a long climb, this was a great single choice and its placing in a time when he still a relative unknown really opened doors and made him at least known - yet he was one in sea of voices (MJ was having #1s in comparison) and it was more a fluke, a discoey love song rather than a career establisher and hence why he pretty much disappeared chartwise until 1983. Even better was it was a #1 Soul hit and a big dance chart hit too. . Uptown - 5 Black chart, 5 Heatseekers (I read somewhere it got to #105 Pop) - A great song but backlash about song lyrics and the stranger than strange cover scared off narrow minded pop radio programmers and prudish types along with the chart apartheid still in force until late 1982. This was probably the best song to come off "THAT" album and only possibly When you were mine was another single, great as it is, a slow song in an era of BPM music - Uptown was a good choice. . Controversy - 70 (But #1 with Lets Work on Dance chart), this was a minor hit and again a Top 5 Black hit too - it was a good choice, very funky and lyrics that were coy but not nasty. Again racism of the times stopped it getting higher . 1999 - 45 first time out, that is right it hit #12 after LRC got to #6, the first time it struggled into the 40s. Again a good but not great 1st choice, but by late 82 things were changing, chart racism and chart myopia were disappearing - still Michael put out Thriller and that would overshadow anyother cross over artist - an iconic song and at a time where the Time was also hitting the black charts too. . When Doves Cry - 1 for 5 weeks and 7 weeks on the R&B chart - a perfect song choice and fed by hype, 1984 was Prince's year and this was what started an incredible run of success. Where marketing gets it right, the single fed the album, which fed the movie, whic fed the tour. MTV which helped the 1999 album was now right behind pushing Prince, Purple Rain and his proteges like Sheila E and the Time who were also having pop hits, plus Sheena and Chaka had big hits with Prince songs. . Raspberry Beret - 2, Prince tried to kill off any momentum with putting out an album as different as possible from Purple Rain, hordes of bad publicity and his weird choice not to do singles, also stopped this from being a #1 blockbuster. Still a #2 placing is good and it was a very accessible pop song. . Kiss - 1, the bad publicity of 84/85 died and Prince back to basic work - good song choice and great video helped to sell this memorable slice of purple pop to the chart audiences. Sadly the rest of Parade did not follow, Mountains as great a song as it was tanked in the 20s and nothing else really troubled the charts except Girls and Boys in the UK (But he was on tour). UTCM also destroyed the Prince brand in some ways. . Sign - 3, It did as well as it could, the song was quite morose but it was funky and and very well written, still U got the look and Housequake would have been better choices. I agree with Trivial Pursuit - Girlfriend was a hardcore fan song not a Joe Public one - whoever chose it as single 2, needs to be fired. U got the look may have been a #1 had it come out 1st or second. The fact ICNTTPOYM was #10 also meant that the album was full of hits. 1987 was a year of increasingly dancey music and the return of MJ, I am sure U got the look tanked at #2 because of MJ, had it been released in May it would reached #1 easily only possibly encountering Shitney for #1. George Michael and Terence Trent Darby were also dominating the charts in late 87 and along with hair metal acts like GNR. I got plenty good loving for ya baby | |
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Continuing on. . Alphabet Street - 8 or 10 (I always get confused) - good choice but by 88, his star was fading and he was seen as a bit old hat by young chart devotees getting into rap, hair metal and sugary pop like SAW and NKOTB . Batdance - 1 but it was carried by the hype and as the subsequent singles showed there was very little in the way of more singles off a movie soundtrack, Partyman was decent and got into the teens, AOO is dreadful syrup and Scandalous is better but for fans (Sex ballads did not sell then unless there were 4 guys bare chested with fades singing about sexing you down to a Johnny Gill beat!) . Thieves in the Temple - 6, great choice as most of GB is either too slight, too bombastic and overproduced. Thieves was a perfect and quite light pop song. . Gett Off - 21 or 20something, a poor choice as the song was too full on and a bit too x rated for chart land, plus its overproduced and ruined by terrible rapping. Cream would have been a better choice, poppy and catchy and a Prince song made for casual fans and attracting new ones like me. The fact it still hit #1 is a sign of what a perfect single it would have been. Willing and Able was a good single choice too. . Sexy MF/My name is Prince - 60s/36 - Both were awful choices, he may have got some attention for the song title, but America in 92 was becoming either desensitised to music with lots of swearing or were just disgusted, still its better than the the overproduced cringe fest that is My name is Prince, over produced, too hypey, bad lyrics and some of the worst rapping and lyrics in history. Seven should have been the first single followed by Love 2 the 9s or something. . Pink Cashmere - Did it even chart - very bland ballad that had little memorability in the funked up and grungified early/mid 90s. Peach not mush better, a basic pop song but may have done well in right markets. . Most Beautiful girl - Great song choice and beautiful ballad - did well after bad publicity on name change. . Letitgo - good single choice and only obvious pop song on that album - rest way too dark or dirty, agin by 1994 Prince was a spent force and record company barneys meant little interest by either party in promotion - had they this would have been a Top 10 hit easily. . Afterwards he was no longer having hits - Eye Hate u was not a good single choice - too deep for chart people, I think Now or 319 would have been better, loud and funky party starters (People loved party songs in 95). . Chaos and Disorder, nothing in that album was single worthy - hence no one bothered promoting it rightfully. . Emancipation - Sex in Summer or Damned if eye do should have been first single choices. Holy River is a great song - but not a chart, party or suitable song in the year of the Macarena! . The One was decent I guess as the rest of that album had nothing. . Vault and Crystal Ball were more for fans. . Greatest Romance was a bad single choice, Hot wit u, Undisputed or So Far so pleased would have been better. . TRC to CI - nothing singleworthy on any of those albums, except maybe Supercute or Underneath the Cream to urban markets. . Musicology - ICPC may have been better first single. . 3121 - Black sweat should have been single 1 and then 3121 as second single, TAC as the 3rd (2 upbeat numbers, then a ballad) . Guitar was a good choice on a patchy album. . I have no real issues with albums after that, Prince was a cult artist after 2007 and what he put out as single hardly mattered as 100 - 500k fans would buy pretty much every album that came out. . Still I think Clouds should have been first single of AOA, Anotherlove off PLE and Stare off Phase 2. I got plenty good loving for ya baby | |
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Problem is that Sexy MF, did hit high in UK and Europe, but look at the positions week to week and you will see like most 90s Prince songs there, they were released high and dropped quickly, these songs went like 20, 7, 5, 19, 38, 70 and then gone. The songs peaked fast or they were "ligged" placed into the charts high and when people have heard it a few times, they get bored and moved on. . The novely of "come here baby, you sexy motherf***a" wears off at lightening pace. To me a real hit is a song that peaks in the Top 20, spends at least a month with 5 places of it's peak and spends at least 10 or 12 weeks inside the Top 40, not songs that hit #1 and drop out of the charts 5 weeks later and in the UK and Europe there are a lot of those. You can get #1 hits that don't even go silver, while a #7 hit can go platinum solely as it was #7 for 4 weeks and 5 more weeks in the Top 10. Little Red Corvette only got to #6 in the USA, but it went like 17, 12, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 12 etc compare that to Batdance which was like 32, 20, 11, 3, 1, 1, 6, 12, 19, 36, 75 and gone etc (Not actual but its run was close to that). . I wanna be your lover was a platinum hit as it spent over 20 weeks in the chart and took like 13 weeks to reach its #11 peak and spent 9 weeks in the Top 20. It never went to #1 or anything, but it was a steady seller through the Fall of 1979 through to early Spring 1980. That song just gained miles! . Whereas I noticed in the USA, many songs that peak in the 51 - 100 often spend several weeks bobbing around in that area rather than shooting up and then down, its like sex, a long pleasurable groove before climax is better than wham bam thank you maam! I got plenty good loving for ya baby | |
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Anything after 1987 I wasn't crazy about. | |
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It s Prince who chose Girlfriend, as explained in the liner notes of the SOTT SDE. He thought this would be a hit because it was a first time a love song said that kind of thing The lack of music video didn't help neither. |
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Purplegarden said:
Problem is that Sexy MF, did hit high in UK and Europe, but look at the positions week to week and you will see like most 90s Prince songs there, they were released high and dropped quickly, these songs went like 20, 7, 5, 19, 38, 70 and then gone. The songs peaked fast or they were "ligged" placed into the charts high and when people have heard it a few times, they get bored and moved on. . The novely of "come here baby, you sexy motherf***a" wears off at lightening pace. To me a real hit is a song that peaks in the Top 20, spends at least a month with 5 places of it's peak and spends at least 10 or 12 weeks inside the Top 40, not songs that hit #1 and drop out of the charts 5 weeks later and in the UK and Europe there are a lot of those. You can get #1 hits that don't even go silver, while a #7 hit can go platinum solely as it was #7 for 4 weeks and 5 more weeks in the Top 10. Little Red Corvette only got to #6 in the USA, but it went like 17, 12, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 8, 8, 9, 12 etc compare that to Batdance which was like 32, 20, 11, 3, 1, 1, 6, 12, 19, 36, 75 and gone etc (Not actual but its run was close to that). . I wanna be your lover was a platinum hit as it spent over 20 weeks in the chart and took like 13 weeks to reach its #11 peak and spent 9 weeks in the Top 20. It never went to #1 or anything, but it was a steady seller through the Fall of 1979 through to early Spring 1980. That song just gained miles! . Whereas I noticed in the USA, many songs that peak in the 51 - 100 often spend several weeks bobbing around in that area rather than shooting up and then down, its like sex, a long pleasurable groove before climax is better than wham bam thank you maam! Prince almost never had such an enduring hit you describe, outside the USA. Sexy MF was one of the best selling single of Prince in Europe. It s the 10th best selling Prince single in UK ( 130.000 copies), outselling SOTT, U Got the Look, Alphabet Street, Cream, Raspberry Beret... If you want to talk about the UK only, of course, which is not the only country outside the USA. Look at some other countries chartrun : https://hitparade.ch/song...xy-MF-2482 . In Switzerland, Sexy MF did 14 weeks in the top 20, hitting 3 weeks in the top 10. That s an enduring hit. In the Eurochart, Sexy MF peaked at #8, stayed in the top 10 for two weeks and 13 weeks in the top 40. This is no MJ or Madonna feat, but that fits perfectly your definition of a hit. Its chartrun is similar to Who Is It. [Edited 1/31/21 20:55pm] |
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Sorry not that familiar with Euro charts being a New Zealander I only really know NZ, Australia, USA and UK. So that is my ignorance there. In all those places Sexy MF either tanked or rose and dropped quickly like a pocket rocket. . In New Zealand, we had some crazy chart placings - I wanna be your lover was a #3 hit in 1980 and spent 22 weeks in the chart, yet Purple Rain tanked at #25 and spent just 2 weeks in the chart (Our chart only had 40 or 50 places), Alphabet Street was #1 but dropped to #17 the next week and out of the charts after just 5 weeks. Cream just got to #15, yet Gett Off was #4. I got plenty good loving for ya baby | |
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It was notable because this was the first time he'd released cover versions, it was part of the marketing in interviews and reviews. The choice I think was an attempt to replicate the success of TMBGITW. I think that was a mistake, but just saying that was the reasoning. | |
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Purplegarden said: Sorry not that familiar with Euro charts being a New Zealander I only really know NZ, Australia, USA and UK. So that is my ignorance there. In all those places Sexy MF either tanked or rose and dropped quickly like a pocket rocket. . In New Zealand, we had some crazy chart placings - I wanna be your lover was a #3 hit in 1980 and spent 22 weeks in the chart, yet Purple Rain tanked at #25 and spent just 2 weeks in the chart (Our chart only had 40 or 50 places), Alphabet Street was #1 but dropped to #17 the next week and out of the charts after just 5 weeks. Cream just got to #15, yet Gett Off was #4. Like I said, the timing of Sexy MF was really a commercial mistake. D&P had already 5/6 singles, it was a great success in Australia( and everywhere it was 2 or 3 platinum). Since there was no album to go with Sexy MF, and since it was coupled with Strollin, people must have thought this was a single from D&P and chose instead to buy the album(!). Despite this confusion, In Australia, Sexy MF was #5 for two weeks, spent 2 other weeks in the top 10, and 5 other weeks in the top 40. So that's quite a successful chartrun. In NZ, Sexy MF was #6 and stayed like two months in the top 40. So that was a success with the circumstances that didn't help. Sexy MF was also the 7 th single in less than a year, with no interesting b-side for the fans to buy. This was by the way a better choice than 7, that for some reason I can't explain flopped everywhere outside the USA and didn't help the album to climb on the charts neither. Sexy MF wasn't such a flop in the US neither : it sold 120.000 copies in the US, that is to say the same amount than Insatiable that peaked at #43 and 20k more than Money Don't Matter 2nite that peaked in the 20s IIRC. Moreover, the VHS of SexyMF was certified Gold with sales in excess of 50.000 copies, so financially it made money for sure ( and they didn't have to pay payola for the airplay!). And last but not least, it peaked at #10 of the global charts, that compiled every continent chart sales : http://www.mediatraffic.d...0-1992.htm [Edited 2/1/21 10:19am] |
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The timing of Sexy MF was perfect, because it was played on the D&P tour and it was released when the tour was going on, which became a promo tour for the  album as it went on. So everybody who went to the concerts and heard the song could immediately buy the single. It hit #4 in Holland and had a lot of airplay. One could say that the timing of the album was bad, because if was released months after the tour when the buzz had died down.If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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The timing between D&P and Lovesymbol was certainly bad indeed.
Sexy MF also had lot of airplay in France when he died. It was one of the 5/6 songs that were the most broadcast. That resulted in the song to renter at #45 after he died in the single charts. [Edited 2/1/21 10:37am] |
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Sexy MF is a great lead single to these ears, it was just too soon after D&P. If he was looking for hits he should have waited another year. Sorry but the entire world didn't and doesn't want Prince all day every day. | |
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My bad, I was not thinking - 1991 was the year of the sex jam. Some of those songs were pretty good too. Then again 92 was a sexy year too - even Bobby Brown's "humpin around". . At the same time, I still would have put Cream out first as it was so commercial it was not true and Gett Off was a deeper cut. . PS All of you - I love Sexy MF, Gett Off and Cream - those songs made me the fan I am now, I had a huge fight with my mother over Sexy MF - because our news had a moral panic bulletin about how it was obscene and they used that filthy F word and she decided I could not buy it - but I did anyway! It was probably that publicity that sold the song, along with the video single (I did not buy as I had limited pocket money - so just got the cassingle and the 12 inch of which I still have. . Come to think about it, whenever the news had some bulletin on about a rap or dance song being obscene or whatever - it became a huge hit here, i remember panics over Justify my love (Because of a few tits), Baby got back, Doggystyle, Ice Cube and Bodycount. It was forbidden fruit being dangled, if something was being banned or called out for being nasty - it piqued my interest. [Edited 2/2/21 9:27am] I got plenty good loving for ya baby | |
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herb4 said:
Gett Off sold the same amount (500.000 copies) in the USA than Cream that was #1. Billboard hot 100 was a mix between airplay ( that were low for Gett Off) and sales ( that were pretty high). |
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Purplegarden said:
My bad, I was not thinking - 1991 was the year of the sex jam. Some of those songs were pretty good too. Then again 92 was a sexy year too - even Bobby Brown's "humpin around". . At the same time, I still would have put Cream out first as it was so commercial it was not true and Gett Off was a deeper cut. . PS All of you - I love Sexy MF, Gett Off and Cream - those songs made me the fan I am now, I had a huge fight with my mother over Sexy MF - because our news had a moral panic bulletin about how it was obscene and they used that filthy F word and she decided I could not buy it - but I did anyway! It was probably that publicity that sold the song, along with the video single (I did not buy as I had limited pocket money - so just got the cassingle and the 12 inch of which I still have. . Come to think about it, whenever the news had some bulletin on about a rap or dance song being obscene or whatever - it became a huge hit here, i remember panics over Justify my love (Because of a few tits), Baby got back, Doggystyle, Ice Cube and Bodycount. It was forbidden fruit being dangled, if something was being banned or called out for being nasty - it piqued my interest. [Edited 2/2/21 9:27am] It's been like that ever since Elvis started shaking his pelvis. If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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The greatest romance was the weakest lead single in my opinion. It is a shame that it was the only "proper" single for the rave album (commercially released in concrete form). A stronger choice would have been Hot with U or Baby knows (both with guests) I can even imagine a world where the first single was "strange but true" with a techy CG animated video like they did years later for "Box of Chocolates." That would have been all Prince and nothing like anything around at the time. TGRES or Manowar seemed like safe choices for 1999 and didnt realy encourage much engagement in my opinion. The TGRES remixes barely get a listen in my house and actually make the song sound less appealing. My opinion only | |
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andrewm7 said: The greatest romance was the weakest lead single in my opinion. It is a shame that it was the only "proper" single for the rave album (commercially released in concrete form). A stronger choice would have been Hot with U or Baby knows (both with guests) I can even imagine a world where the first single was "strange but true" with a techy CG animated video like they did years later for "Box of Chocolates." That would have been all Prince and nothing like anything around at the time. TGRES or Manowar seemed like safe choices for 1999 and didnt realy encourage much engagement in my opinion. The TGRES remixes barely get a listen in my house and actually make the song sound less appealing. My opinion only Maybe Hot Wit U would have cracked the top 40, but surely not the top 10. There was not a huge hit to pick from that album, that s the problem. |
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lavendardrummachine said:
Because that referred to the quote " Gett Off - 21 or 20 something- poor choice of a single" So that implied that its relatively low peak position in the charts proves it wasn' t a good choice. While it worked very well. But again, it was a real mistake to release it months before the album, because the success and momentum of Gett Off didn't benefit to D&P directly. That s why despite 5 top 40 hits ( ok, Insatiable was only #43 or something), it sold "only" 3 millions in the US. |
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I see several of y'all complaining about some of the slow songs being released as lead singles and while some of them may be great songs, I agree. A slow song should never be a lead single. However.....look at the era in which he released slow songs as lead singles and you'll see why. It was the 1990s and the majority of what was on R&B radio at that time was either slow or midtempo. Hell, why do you think I bitch about that decade all the time? I hate that decade with a passion. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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MJ opened History's lead single with Scream, an uptempo.
And it topped the rnb charts [Edited 2/4/21 6:16am] |
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vainandy said: I see several of y'all complaining about some of the slow songs being released as lead singles and while some of them may be great songs, I agree. A slow song should never be a lead single. However.....look at the era in which he released slow songs as lead singles and you'll see why. It was the 1990s and the majority of what was on R&B radio at that time was either slow or midtempo. Hell, why do you think I bitch about that decade all the time? I hate that decade with a passion. I think the only time that a slow first single worked was with “I Hate U”.I really think that’s the best track on TGE and under different circumstances,would have became a major hit single. | |
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Get Off Letitgo (Pheromone or Loose) Betcha By Golly Wow Greatest Romance  I'm afraid of Americans. I'm afraid of the world. | |
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spacedolphin said: Get Off Letitgo (Pheromone or Loose) Betcha By Golly Wow Greatest Romance Yes, I would have chose Lose. With its pre- Prodigy sound like, it would have been huge in Europe, a top ten for sure, and Prince would have been considered again ahead of its time. Space was a good second single. It could have done well in Europe too, with a proper promotion. I never understood the point in releasing Let It Go as the lead single, it was not as groundbreaking than Lose, and it flopped in the US. It would have been a good 3rd single though. [Edited 2/5/21 3:19am] |
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Nobody was interested in Come, not Prince, not WB, not the general public. Nothing from that album would have been a hit. If you take any of this seriously, you're a bigger fool than I am. | |
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Sorry, it's the Hodgkin's talking. |
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And I praised him for it at the time too because uptempo jams by mainstream R&B artists had become rare by then. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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