It needed more cowbell IMO!

• Prince - all vocals and instruments, except where noted
• Michael B. - drums
• Sonny T. - bass guitar
• Tommy Barbarella - keyboards
• Mr. Hayes - keyboards

Basic tracking took place on 2 January 1993 at Paisley Park Studios in Chanhassen, Minnesota

When the album was released, many fans expressed frustration that there were significant overdubs, erasing the 'raw' feeling of the original (Endorphinmachine has become a common reference point for fans hearing new material live before hearing a studio version - songs such as Zannalee and Fury were also overdubbed in their released studio versions).

-PrinceVault

Yeah, the singles from 'TGE' didn't really flow out like assumingly planned.

Too bad, cuz there were some explainations in the lyrics, too.

"Endorphinmachine", for me, was saying -try something new-

Like in the next *single*, "Dolphin".

Again, it was more about the situation

Sadly, the next single to represent was "I Hate U"

Jokes aside, I think it is a pretty good song.

funkaholic1972 said:

It needed more cowbell IMO!

cow bells

I love this track in all its iterations. Cow bell, no cow bell, I don't care either way, it rocks.

I remember when the dance troupe from Glam Slam Ulysses performed to this song on the Arsenio Hall show back in 1993. I had it recorded on a VHS tape, and that's the only way I could hear the studio version for 2 years, as TGE didn't come out until 1995.

luv4u said:

funkaholic1972 said:

It needed more cowbell IMO!

cow bells

nayroo2002 said:

Yeah, the singles from 'TGE' didn't really flow out like assumingly planned.

Too bad, cuz there were some explainations in the lyrics, too.

"Endorphinmachine", for me, was saying -try something new-

Like in the next *single*, "Dolphin".

Again, it was more about the situation

Sadly, the next single to represent was "I Hate U"

Why "sadly" ?

I Hate U had a lot of hit potential and if I recall correctly went all the way up to nr.12 in the Billboard pop charts. Many of my friends who weren´t into Prince absolutely LOVED that song, especially the remix version. I think with proper promotion and less tension between Prince and WB that song could´ve been a huge hit after TMBGITW and also a nice contrast to that syrupy song.

Fans loved I Hate U , too. Too bad he only played it as part of a medley during the 95 tour.

Unlike some of the more cryptic, esoteric and highly personal songs of his 90s to 00s songs this was a song with lyrics that many non-fans and casual listeners could relate to, and many RnB listeners really liked it, too.

Why do you dislike it? I´m just curious.

i dont know man...it wasnt rock enough to be rock back in the day when grunge..Nirvana..Soundgarden etc. etc. ruled the charts......too sterile, and not really RnB either in the heyday of mid 90s RnB craze.....he coulda put 18 n Over on the album or Acknowledge Me to give it a bit more oooomphff, nahmean? to give the album more of an RnB feel, or release a rawer sounding version........but the album version kinda meh.

KoolEaze said:

Why do you dislike it? I´m just curious.

I don't.

Eye it.

6.26.1994 @ the Shrine Auditorium LA
VH-1 Honors
1. Interactive
2. Endorphinmachine

Why is there spermatozoa in the title?

Eye almost lost my mind when that live joint came on. I said to myself, yea, he's back.

SchlomoThaHomo said:

I remember when the dance troupe from Glam Slam Ulysses performed to this song on the Arsenio Hall show back in 1993. I had it recorded on a VHS tape, and that's the only way I could hear the studio version for 2 years, as TGE didn't come out until 1995.

You should put that performance on YouTube. I want to see that.

[Edited 10/1/21 10:41am]

scififilmnerd said:

SchlomoThaHomo said:

I remember when the dance troupe from Glam Slam Ulysses performed to this song on the Arsenio Hall show back in 1993. I had it recorded on a VHS tape, and that's the only way I could hear the studio version for 2 years, as TGE didn't come out until 1995.

You should put that performance on YouTube. I want to see that.

[Edited 10/1/21 10:41am]

It's long gone unfortunately. I would love to see it again myself. I believe a lot of choreography was re-used for the VH1 Honors performance in 1994.

i like endorphin machine, it has a good riff.

but its really just a sort of slightly dusty, sluggish kind of 70s rock track, with some badly written lyrics. cool chorus, but the verses and the rap section arent brilliant.

prince trying to sound like grunge would have been dumb, but he could have taken some ideas from it, like the stones took ideas from punk in the late 70s, and made his own thing. it should have been harder, a bit tougher, more ferocious. the production is a bit muddy?

endorphin machine is not much more than a good solid rocker in the wider picture of prince rock songs ultimately.

interactive is similar in a sense, really good funky rocker, but marred by dumb, sort of inane lyrics.

both are very lenny kravitz actually.

a lot of chaos and disorder songs are similar actually. they have this sort of bashed out quality to them, which i guess was princes idea of what a rock band should sound like, but prince just bashing songs out has never been very good. yeah he worked quickly on a lot of songs, but these sound like he didnt put much care into them, as if he thought that spontaneity would be enough, or that was his way of recording as a 'proper band'.

[Edited 10/2/21 2:42am]

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

i like endorphin machine, it has a good riff.

but its really just a sort of slightly dusty, sluggish kind of 70s rock track, with some badly written lyrics. cool chorus, but the verses and the rap section arent brilliant.

prince trying to sound like grunge would have been dumb, but he could have taken some ideas from it, like the stones took ideas from punk in the late 70s, and made his own thing. it should have been harder, a bit tougher, more ferocious. the production is a bit muddy?

endorphin machine is not much more than a good solid rocker in the wider picture of prince rock songs ultimately.

interactive is similar in a sense, really good funky rocker, but marred by dumb, sort of inane lyrics.

both are very lenny kravitz actually.

a lot of chaos and disorder songs are similar actually. they have this sort of bashed out quality to them, which i guess was princes idea of what a rock band should sound like, but prince just bashing songs out has never been very good. yeah he worked quickly on a lot of songs, but these sound like he didnt put much care into them, as if he thought that spontaneity would be enough, or that was his way of recording as a 'proper band'.

[Edited 10/2/21 2:42am]

You are really on a mission, aren'tcha?

nayroo2002 said:

Yeah, the singles from 'TGE' didn't really flow out like assumingly planned.

Too bad, cuz there were some explainations in the lyrics, too.

"Endorphinmachine", for me, was saying -try something new-

Like in the next *single*, "Dolphin".

Again, it was more about the situation

Sadly, the next single to represent was "I Hate U"

This album took waaayyyy too long to come out (like 2 years) and by then Prince had obviously grown a bit tired of it. But he still did a fair amount of promotion behind it.

I consider this to be the last of Prince's run of greatness. (Mostly it's 1980-1988, but extending it to 1995 to include the NPG stuff is more than fair).

Everything that came after TGE, (IMO), was a decline.

prince lost something after he left WB.

but who knows, maybe that wd have happened anyway.