independent and unofficial
Prince fan community
Welcome! Sign up or enter username and password to remember me
Forum jump
Forums > Prince: Music and More > How couldve the Love Symbol album been more successful?
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Page 4 of 5 <12345>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
Reply #90 posted 05/26/21 5:13am

PJMcGee

avatar

It's gotta be on YouTube.

The sexy motherOWW! version.
[Edited 5/26/21 5:14am]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #91 posted 05/26/21 5:18am

RODSERLING

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:



RODSERLING said:


funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

you might have had a point (though cant say i believe it really) if the video wasnt all about semi naked women.


not exactly putting their 'minds' on display....




Prince played the controveesy, but like Cream, it wasn't about sex at all. In the video by the way, he is constantly pushing back the girl, even closing his door to his nose. What he wants is to be loved " 2 the 9's Prince was misunderstood even by his own fans. Sorry u can't understand this, but that's the way it was intented toto, and the way it was written. [Edited 5/26/21 4:20am]


yeah youre right.


he never had sex with anyone.


all he wanted was to be loved in a pure and chaste way.



lol



That's not what I was saying.
Besides the line " Sexy motherfucker", not even sang by Prince by the way ( so he is clearly not assuming himself this vulgarity), the lyrics are about spirituality, that sex is not the most important thing to get along with a girl.

That's the very lesson he learned as early as Temptation, " Now I understood, love is more important than sex"

Prince was always fucking with listeners minds. That's his trademark, that's the very essence of what Lovesexy is, of the dual Gemini, and then as Lovesymbol he rreached an higher level of spirituality, which the culminating point was " WWelcome 2 the Dawn. You just accessed the Gold Experience ".

The same dawn that he talked about as early as the ending credits of Purple.
Rain.


He " Sings " Sexy MF in a way that makes the listener thinks it s about sex, just like " Fuck it" From Eamon's makes a casual listener not understanding the lyrics thinks it s a love song.

Now, read the lyrics, within each verse :
" "I wanna do 2 U, not your body ur mind u fool"

"See, this ain't about sex, it's all about love being in charge of this life and the next. Why all this cosmic talk? I just want you smarter than I ll ever be "

" I get hard if the wind blows your Cologne near me
But I can take it, cause I want the whole 9 ( cf Live 2 9's of course)
This ain't about the body, it's about the mind "
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #92 posted 05/26/21 7:07am

funkbabyandthe
babysitters

thats just sly seduction talk.

a man saying he doesnt want sex when he does?

hardly a novel playbook there.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #93 posted 05/26/21 7:46am

LoveGalore

RODSERLING said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:



RODSERLING said:


funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

you might have had a point (though cant say i believe it really) if the video wasnt all about semi naked women.


not exactly putting their 'minds' on display....




Prince played the controveesy, but like Cream, it wasn't about sex at all. In the video by the way, he is constantly pushing back the girl, even closing his door to his nose. What he wants is to be loved " 2 the 9's Prince was misunderstood even by his own fans. Sorry u can't understand this, but that's the way it was intented toto, and the way it was written. [Edited 5/26/21 4:20am]


yeah youre right.


he never had sex with anyone.


all he wanted was to be loved in a pure and chaste way.



lol



That's not what I was saying.
Besides the line " Sexy motherfucker", not even sang by Prince by the way ( so he is clearly not assuming himself this vulgarity), the lyrics are about spirituality, that sex is not the most important thing to get along with a girl.

That's the very lesson he learned as early as Temptation, " Now I understood, love is more important than sex"

Prince was always fucking with listeners minds. That's his trademark, that's the very essence of what Lovesexy is, of the dual Gemini, and then as Lovesymbol he rreached an higher level of spirituality, which the culminating point was " WWelcome 2 the Dawn. You just accessed the Gold Experience ".

The same dawn that he talked about as early as the ending credits of Purple.
Rain.


He " Sings " Sexy MF in a way that makes the listener thinks it s about sex, just like " Fuck it" From Eamon's makes a casual listener not understanding the lyrics thinks it s a love song.

Now, read the lyrics, within each verse :
" "I wanna do 2 U, not your body ur mind u fool"

"See, this ain't about sex, it's all about love being in charge of this life and the next. Why all this cosmic talk? I just want you smarter than I ll ever be "

" I get hard if the wind blows your Cologne near me
But I can take it, cause I want the whole 9 ( cf Live 2 9's of course)
This ain't about the body, it's about the mind "


Levi isn't signing the chorus.

Stop with that myth. Prince lip syncs the line in the video too and you clowns made me go thru watching it to double check.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #94 posted 05/26/21 8:48am

RODSERLING

LoveGalore said:

RODSERLING said:



That's not what I was saying.
Besides the line " Sexy motherfucker", not even sang by Prince by the way ( so he is clearly not assuming himself this vulgarity), the lyrics are about spirituality, that sex is not the most important thing to get along with a girl.

That's the very lesson he learned as early as Temptation, " Now I understood, love is more important than sex"

Prince was always fucking with listeners minds. That's his trademark, that's the very essence of what Lovesexy is, of the dual Gemini, and then as Lovesymbol he rreached an higher level of spirituality, which the culminating point was " WWelcome 2 the Dawn. You just accessed the Gold Experience ".

The same dawn that he talked about as early as the ending credits of Purple.
Rain.


He " Sings " Sexy MF in a way that makes the listener thinks it s about sex, just like " Fuck it" From Eamon's makes a casual listener not understanding the lyrics thinks it s a love song.

Now, read the lyrics, within each verse :
" "I wanna do 2 U, not your body ur mind u fool"

"See, this ain't about sex, it's all about love being in charge of this life and the next. Why all this cosmic talk? I just want you smarter than I ll ever be "

" I get hard if the wind blows your Cologne near me
But I can take it, cause I want the whole 9 ( cf Live 2 9's of course)
This ain't about the body, it's about the mind "


Levi isn't signing the chorus.

Stop with that myth. Prince lip syncs the line in the video too and you clowns made me go thru watching it to double check.


You are the clown here, and a rather sad one, I m sorry.

Levi Seacer is singing the chorus, everybody knows it, it was never hidden.
He sings in an old micro, the Shure SM57. Levi also wrote that very line. It s also him singing it in concerts.
This is the same voice that is the lead singer of Exodus, just in case you thought it was Prince too.

What s funny is that some trolls here accused me of Being a false fan for years, because I supposedly diss him ( I never did, in the contrary), but the reality
is that some of you don't even understand/read Prince lyrics, constantly spit on his works and unique achievements, or even not recognize his voice.
If you want a voice comparison, again, this is Prince singing Sexy MF in the Purple Medley.

You are really talking BS : Just because Prince lipsynched the line in the video makes it Prince voice, when it s so obvious for the ears it s not his?

Look at the Gett Off video. Michael B is Lypsincing Prince's "Gett Off" Instead of him, Prince is Lypsincing the Rosie's " Come on" Instead of her... Not even talking, not even talking about Rosie's Cream at the beginning, lypsinced by Prince !
biggrin
[Edited 5/26/21 8:49am]
[Edited 5/26/21 8:51am]
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #95 posted 05/26/21 8:59am

dodger

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said:



Levi isn't signing the chorus.

Stop with that myth. Prince lip syncs the line in the video too and you clowns made me go thru watching it to double check.


You are the clown here, and a rather sad one, I m sorry.

Levi Seacer is singing the chorus, everybody knows it, it was never hidden.
He sings in an old micro, the Shure SM57. Levi also wrote that very line. It s also him singing it in concerts.
This is the same voice that is the lead singer of Exodus, just in case you thought it was Prince too.

What s funny is that some trolls here accused me of Being a false fan for years, because I supposedly diss him ( I never did, in the contrary), but the reality
is that some of you don't even understand/read Prince lyrics, constantly spit on his works and unique achievements, or even not recognize his voice.
If you want a voice comparison, again, this is Prince singing Sexy MF in the Purple Medley.

You are really talking BS : Just because Prince lipsynched the line in the video makes it Prince voice, when it s so obvious for the ears it s not his?

Look at the Gett Off video. Michael B is Lypsincing Prince's "Gett Off" Instead of him, Prince is Lypsincing the Rosie's " Come on" Instead of her... Not even talking, not even talking about Rosie's Cream at the beginning, lypsinced by Prince !
biggrin
[Edited 5/26/21 8:49am]
[Edited 5/26/21 8:51am]


Levi is singing it on the record and in concert but he’s not singing on Exodus. That’s Sonny
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #96 posted 05/26/21 9:03am

RODSERLING

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

thats just sly seduction talk.


a man saying he doesnt want sex when he does?


hardly a novel playbook there.





He doesn't have sex in the video. He s only talking, teaching and preaching to his students (yes, in a bedroom) and also does some fun stuff like dancing and washing a car biggrin-D.

Again, he could bang 5 women in this video during 8 minutes, that wouldn't change the lyrics, that besides that infamous line, is obviously not about sex but about mind and spirituality.

I always assumed the chorus line was a voice in his head, that's not his (!), like the theory that every 3 seconds a man is thinking about sex, no matter what.
He really thinks what he is preaching, but he can't help thinking about sex.
That s the whole Temptation and Lovesexy dilemma, a story he told many times.

There are really a lot to talk about each song of that album.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #97 posted 05/26/21 9:04am

RODSERLING

dodger said:

RODSERLING said:



You are the clown here, and a rather sad one, I m sorry.

Levi Seacer is singing the chorus, everybody knows it, it was never hidden.
He sings in an old micro, the Shure SM57. Levi also wrote that very line. It s also him singing it in concerts.
This is the same voice that is the lead singer of Exodus, just in case you thought it was Prince too.

What s funny is that some trolls here accused me of Being a false fan for years, because I supposedly diss him ( I never did, in the contrary), but the reality
is that some of you don't even understand/read Prince lyrics, constantly spit on his works and unique achievements, or even not recognize his voice.
If you want a voice comparison, again, this is Prince singing Sexy MF in the Purple Medley.

You are really talking BS : Just because Prince lipsynched the line in the video makes it Prince voice, when it s so obvious for the ears it s not his?

Look at the Gett Off video. Michael B is Lypsincing Prince's "Gett Off" Instead of him, Prince is Lypsincing the Rosie's " Come on" Instead of her... Not even talking, not even talking about Rosie's Cream at the beginning, lypsinced by Prince !
biggrin
[Edited 5/26/21 8:49am]
[Edited 5/26/21 8:51am]


Levi is singing it on the record and in concert but he’s not singing on Exodus. That’s Sonny


Yes, that's completely true, I m sorry, my brain bugged.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #98 posted 05/26/21 9:29am

funkbabyandthe
babysitters

Rodserling you are right about the lyric, its just that prince was fairly contradictory about these things, and nothing turns women on more than that kind of chat lol so I'm not entirely convinced.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #99 posted 05/26/21 9:32am

LoveGalore

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said:



Levi isn't signing the chorus.

Stop with that myth. Prince lip syncs the line in the video too and you clowns made me go thru watching it to double check.


You are the clown here, and a rather sad one, I m sorry.

Levi Seacer is singing the chorus, everybody knows it, it was never hidden.
He sings in an old micro, the Shure SM57. Levi also wrote that very line. It s also him singing it in concerts.
This is the same voice that is the lead singer of Exodus, just in case you thought it was Prince too.

What s funny is that some trolls here accused me of Being a false fan for years, because I supposedly diss him ( I never did, in the contrary), but the reality
is that some of you don't even understand/read Prince lyrics, constantly spit on his works and unique achievements, or even not recognize his voice.
If you want a voice comparison, again, this is Prince singing Sexy MF in the Purple Medley.

You are really talking BS : Just because Prince lipsynched the line in the video makes it Prince voice, when it s so obvious for the ears it s not his?

Look at the Gett Off video. Michael B is Lypsincing Prince's "Gett Off" Instead of him, Prince is Lypsincing the Rosie's " Come on" Instead of her... Not even talking, not even talking about Rosie's Cream at the beginning, lypsinced by Prince !
biggrin
[Edited 5/26/21 8:49am]
[Edited 5/26/21 8:51am]


I can't take you seriously now that you think Levi sings on Exodus. Lol.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #100 posted 05/26/21 12:53pm

SoulAlive

kingricefan said:

SoulAlive said:

kingricefan said: That line (“I’ll be naked with nothing but a smile on”) is from the song “Blue Light”,if I’m not mistaken biggrin but I agree with you,”Damn U” should have been promoted better.It is a superb song.

Oh, yes, you're right! Sorry for messing up the two songs. I was in a rush to get off the computer and get to making dinner. Being hungry does not promote great thinking. biggrin

lol

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #101 posted 05/26/21 1:53pm

RODSERLING

LoveGalore said:

RODSERLING said:



You are the clown here, and a rather sad one, I m sorry.

Levi Seacer is singing the chorus, everybody knows it, it was never hidden.
He sings in an old micro, the Shure SM57. Levi also wrote that very line. It s also him singing it in concerts.
This is the same voice that is the lead singer of Exodus, just in case you thought it was Prince too.

What s funny is that some trolls here accused me of Being a false fan for years, because I supposedly diss him ( I never did, in the contrary), but the reality
is that some of you don't even understand/read Prince lyrics, constantly spit on his works and unique achievements, or even not recognize his voice.
If you want a voice comparison, again, this is Prince singing Sexy MF in the Purple Medley.

You are really talking BS : Just because Prince lipsynched the line in the video makes it Prince voice, when it s so obvious for the ears it s not his?

Look at the Gett Off video. Michael B is Lypsincing Prince's "Gett Off" Instead of him, Prince is Lypsincing the Rosie's " Come on" Instead of her... Not even talking, not even talking about Rosie's Cream at the beginning, lypsinced by Prince !
biggrin
[Edited 5/26/21 8:49am]
[Edited 5/26/21 8:51am]


I can't take you seriously now that you think Levi sings on Exodus. Lol.


I absolutely don't think it, I was tired, my mind messed up.
But you still absolutely think Prince is singing this chorus line.
Keep on living in your beliefs, if that makes you happy.

Maybe one day you will discover the Purple Medley, then you will hear Prince voice singing that chorus line, and you will get to hear the difference for sure.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #102 posted 05/26/21 2:37pm

LoveGalore

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said:



I can't take you seriously now that you think Levi sings on Exodus. Lol.


I absolutely don't think it, I was tired, my mind messed up.
But you still absolutely think Prince is singing this chorus line.
Keep on living in your beliefs, if that makes you happy.

Maybe one day you will discover the Purple Medley, then you will hear Prince voice singing that chorus line, and you will get to hear the difference for sure.


You mean to tell me you can't even hear him singing it at the end of the actual album track where he's shouting it and the instruments stop and it's literally just his voice? Lord help your ears, Rod!
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #103 posted 05/26/21 6:44pm

Phase3

Thanks everyone for replying.and giving your feedback.
I have been listening to a lot of the tracks off this album past week and I believe it is in my top 5 favorite Prince albums.It brought back a lot of memories too.When I was maybe 7 years old I watched the 3 chains of gold film constantly.
I just wished this album bad been more successful for Prince.I know the lack of sells for this album ignited the fire with his war with Warner Bros.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #104 posted 05/26/21 7:42pm

runningbear

I would guess If Micheal Jackson or Madonna had released it , more albums would have sold

merf
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #105 posted 05/26/21 8:08pm

carmy

I think the album was a year too late .
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #106 posted 05/26/21 8:22pm

SoulAlive

Phase3 said:


I just wished this album bad been more successful for Prince.I know the lack of sells for this album ignited the fire with his war with Warner Bros.



The record contract that Prince signed in 1992 was a mistake.It was based on unrealistic sales goals.I think they were assuming that every future Prince album would sell like D&P.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #107 posted 05/26/21 10:27pm

RODSERLING

runningbear said:

I would guess If Micheal Jackson or Madonna had released it , more albums would have sold



Michael Jackson singing My Name is Prince or Sexy MotherFucker would be priceless.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #108 posted 05/26/21 10:39pm

RODSERLING

SoulAlive said:

Phase3 said:


I just wished this album bad been more successful for Prince.I know the lack of sells for this album ignited the fire with his war with Warner Bros.



The record contract that Prince signed in 1992 was a mistake.It was based on unrealistic sales goals.I think they were assuming that every future Prince album would sell like D&P.


With the lot of promotion the album, it should have.
But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others.
Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years.

If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time.
If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #109 posted 05/27/21 6:14am

LoveGalore

RODSERLING said:

SoulAlive said:




The record contract that Prince signed in 1992 was a mistake.It was based on unrealistic sales goals.I think they were assuming that every future Prince album would sell like D&P.


With the lot of promotion the album, it should have.
But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others.
Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years.

If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time.
If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.


And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #110 posted 05/27/21 12:26pm

SoulAlive

LoveGalore said:

RODSERLING said:
With the lot of promotion the album, it should have. But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others. Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years. If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time. If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.
And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.

Yeah,Prince was the type of person who got bored really quickly.A few months after releasing an album,he was already onto the next project.That's why the 1992 record contract was never going to work.It was doomed from the start.Prince wasn't going to "milk" an album for two years and there's no way an artist can sell 5 million+ copies of an album when they're putting out a new one every year.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #111 posted 05/27/21 1:42pm

RODSERLING

LoveGalore said:

RODSERLING said:



With the lot of promotion the album, it should have.
But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others.
Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years.

If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time.
If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.


And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.


I agree, I never said Prince marketing plans were the best, in the contrary.
MJs albums cost a lot too. In fact, even an album such as Dangerous or History cost such a lot in promotion it s even debatable if they made such money than that, and to whom?

Anybody in 1991/1992 with 3 hits would sold easily 10 millions worldwide. With 4 huge hits, D&P achieved 7 millions in 30 years.
Dangerous achieved 32 millions with no less than 9 singles, 4 millions tickets sold in tour, and costly music videos.
Nirvana only needed 4 singles to sell 25 millions with Never mind and cheap music videos.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #112 posted 05/27/21 2:17pm

runningbear

Assume it would have sold many more millions if Meryl Streep would have performed the role portrayed by Kirsty Allie.

merf
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #113 posted 05/27/21 2:57pm

RODSERLING

SoulAlive said:



LoveGalore said:


RODSERLING said:
With the lot of promotion the album, it should have. But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others. Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years. If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time. If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.

And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.


Yeah,Prince was the type of person who got bored really quickly.A few months after releasing an album,he was already onto the next project.That's why the 1992 record contract was never going to work.It was doomed from the start.Prince wasn't going to "milk" an album for two years and there's no way an artist can sell 5 million+ copies of an album when they're putting out a new one every year.



Prince wanted big numbers, and quick.
But not to the price of his artistic integrity.
He could have "milked" Purple Rain for two years, releasing two more singles, and an European tour, and sell it to 35 millions worldwide.

He preferred to fuck this with releasing ArAround the world in a day when Purple Rain was still in the top 10.

He was upset with the commercial failure of Parade/UTCM?
He disbanded the Revolution and went solo again.

He thought Lovesexy was his new Purple Rain : it didn't work, and went to Batman.
Graffiti Bridge using old tracks was a flop?
He changed his formula, started from scratch and went popular again.
Lovesymbol was a flop?
He went solo again with Come.

Then he tried to have big numbers quick, releasing a triple album to go multi platinum, he fucked the RIAA with the tickets sales of Musicology to go multi platinum again, he wanted to sue the UK charts because his 3.5 millions of Planet Earth counted for zero copies, he released two albums the same day that went into the top ten...

But it's true that besides a few exceptions ( D&P, Lovesymbol, Emancipation, Musicology), he never played the game.

He wanted big numbers, but he should have had more than one life to promote everything he wanted to release in such a short amount of time.

We are talking about a guy who sold quickly 15 millions of Purple Rain, had already recorded ATWIAD when he performed a 2 millions tickets-tour, then shot a movie the month after, after having recorded Parade. When UTCM was released, he was already deep into SOTT.

What happened in two years of Prince life worth a decade of any artist. Who could handle that, and why?

Not even talking about the albums he made for his protegees...

Still, most of the so called fans here are still trashing him for his wonderful work in the 90's.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #114 posted 05/27/21 3:19pm

srodaz

Take out the segues and add Love and Sex SOTT version from the Vault and re release. That ballad rock Aerosmithy sound was huge around that time and would have been a huge hit.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #115 posted 05/27/21 3:57pm

LoveGalore

RODSERLING said:

SoulAlive said:



LoveGalore said:


RODSERLING said:
With the lot of promotion the album, it should have. But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others. Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years. If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time. If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.

And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.


Yeah,Prince was the type of person who got bored really quickly.A few months after releasing an album,he was already onto the next project.That's why the 1992 record contract was never going to work.It was doomed from the start.Prince wasn't going to "milk" an album for two years and there's no way an artist can sell 5 million+ copies of an album when they're putting out a new one every year.



Prince wanted big numbers, and quick.
But not to the price of his artistic integrity.
He could have "milked" Purple Rain for two years, releasing two more singles, and an European tour, and sell it to 35 millions worldwide.

He preferred to fuck this with releasing ArAround the world in a day when Purple Rain was still in the top 10.

He was upset with the commercial failure of Parade/UTCM?
He disbanded the Revolution and went solo again.

He thought Lovesexy was his new Purple Rain : it didn't work, and went to Batman.
Graffiti Bridge using old tracks was a flop?
He changed his formula, started from scratch and went popular again.
Lovesymbol was a flop?
He went solo again with Come.

Then he tried to have big numbers quick, releasing a triple album to go multi platinum, he fucked the RIAA with the tickets sales of Musicology to go multi platinum again, he wanted to sue the UK charts because his 3.5 millions of Planet Earth counted for zero copies, he released two albums the same day that went into the top ten...

But it's true that besides a few exceptions ( D&P, Lovesymbol, Emancipation, Musicology), he never played the game.

He wanted big numbers, but he should have had more than one life to promote everything he wanted to release in such a short amount of time.

We are talking about a guy who sold quickly 15 millions of Purple Rain, had already recorded ATWIAD when he performed a 2 millions tickets-tour, then shot a movie the month after, after having recorded Parade. When UTCM was released, he was already deep into SOTT.

What happened in two years of Prince life worth a decade of any artist. Who could handle that, and why?

Not even talking about the albums he made for his protegees...

Still, most of the so called fans here are still trashing him for his wonderful work in the 90's.


Well it's good that he had the talent and prowess and motivation because he fully intended to do at least one album a year like his heroes did. The market had already shifted away from that by the late 70s.

One could argue that Prince's marketability would've remained extremely high like the PR era if he had funneled more material to other artists and stuck to a schedule that mirrored other successful artists of the time. It would make other people happy too because maybe he'd have taken less chances on the really out there stuff like Temptation, Life Can Be So Nice, and other non-favs.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #116 posted 05/27/21 5:58pm

SoulAlive

RODSERLING said:

SoulAlive said:



LoveGalore said:


RODSERLING said:
With the lot of promotion the album, it should have. But like it was said in the Prince lawyer statement when the contract was signed, Prince sold the same amount of albums than MJ at the time, even talking about singles sales if you add the tracks he wrote for others. Prince s albums sold quietly, but he released one every year, while MJ released one every four years. If you add the sales of SOTT, Lovesexy, Batman and Graffiti bridge, you have the Bad sales at the time. If you add the sales of 1999, Purple Rain, ATWIAD and Parade, you have the Thriller sales.

And how much do the individual marketing endeavors cost? Stretching one wildly successful album over five years will always be the more cost effective effort. Prince never allowed an album to come to it's maturity within its own era. The D&P/Symbol scenario and PR/ATWIAD scenario are great examples since there was so much needless overlap and confusion.


Yeah,Prince was the type of person who got bored really quickly.A few months after releasing an album,he was already onto the next project.That's why the 1992 record contract was never going to work.It was doomed from the start.Prince wasn't going to "milk" an album for two years and there's no way an artist can sell 5 million+ copies of an album when they're putting out a new one every year.



Prince wanted big numbers, and quick.
But not to the price of his artistic integrity.
He could have "milked" Purple Rain for two years, releasing two more singles, and an European tour, and sell it to 35 millions worldwide.

He preferred to fuck this with releasing ArAround the world in a day when Purple Rain was still in the top 10.

He was upset with the commercial failure of Parade/UTCM?
He disbanded the Revolution and went solo again.

He thought Lovesexy was his new Purple Rain : it didn't work, and went to Batman.
Graffiti Bridge using old tracks was a flop?
He changed his formula, started from scratch and went popular again.
Lovesymbol was a flop?
He went solo again with Come.

Then he tried to have big numbers quick, releasing a triple album to go multi platinum, he fucked the RIAA with the tickets sales of Musicology to go multi platinum again, he wanted to sue the UK charts because his 3.5 millions of Planet Earth counted for zero copies, he released two albums the same day that went into the top ten...

But it's true that besides a few exceptions ( D&P, Lovesymbol, Emancipation, Musicology), he never played the game.

He wanted big numbers, but he should have had more than one life to promote everything he wanted to release in such a short amount of time.

We are talking about a guy who sold quickly 15 millions of Purple Rain, had already recorded ATWIAD when he performed a 2 millions tickets-tour, then shot a movie the month after, after having recorded Parade. When UTCM was released, he was already deep into SOTT.

What happened in two years of Prince life worth a decade of any artist. Who could handle that, and why?

Not even talking about the albums he made for his protegees...

Still, most of the so called fans here are still trashing him for his wonderful work in the 90's.



Other big artists in the 80s were able to have big-selling albums because they kept a “gap” between their releases.It created a lot of hype and anticipation.When a new MJ or Madonna album came out,it was an EVENT.If you flood the market and release albums very fast,the excitement level won’t be the same.

Of course,Prince didn’t care about this.He simply wanted to release as much music as he wanted.Nothing wrong with that,but this is exactly why the 1992 contract was a mistake.He wasn’t willing to play the game.He wasn’t going to cut back on his releases.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #117 posted 05/27/21 6:00pm

jfenster

Its tired the way people criticize his music like they know better than him
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #118 posted 05/27/21 8:50pm

homesquid

avatar

I still really really like the album and think it's better than it's predecessor but there are no songs that ranked with "Cream" and "D&P" in pure commercial appeal. "MNIP" was an awful single choice. The first proper single should have been "7" after the "Sexy MF" advance teaser. I diagree with others about "The Morning Papers". It was single material but by the time it was released Prince had lost interest and didn't really promote it. "The Max" could have been a club hit. "Blue Light" would have been a good pick as a single.

  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Reply #119 posted 05/27/21 9:41pm

RODSERLING

homesquid said:

I still really really like the album and think it's better than it's predecessor but there are no songs that ranked with "Cream" and "D&P" in pure commercial appeal. "MNIP" was an awful single choice. The first proper single should have been "7" after the "Sexy MF" advance teaser. I diagree with others about "The Morning Papers". It was single material but by the time it was released Prince had lost interest and didn't really promote it. "The Max" could have been a club hit. "Blue Light" would have been a good pick as a single.



Very good idea, since 7 was a flop outside the US, it would have killed the album right from the start.
  - E-mail - orgNote - Report post to moderator
Page 4 of 5 <12345>
  New topic   Printable     (Log in to 'subscribe' to this topic)
« Previous topic  Next topic »
Forums > Prince: Music and More > How couldve the Love Symbol album been more successful?