*some might not think this a mistake at all.

now i know prince was restless, and got bored fast.

but i wonder what mightve happened if he took the PR tour to europe and japan - maybe the preference in europe for the late 80s material would have been different if they had seen the 84 tour. and maybe if the SOTT tour went to the US, then they would have noticed the albums that were considered drop offs after purple rain, and the general consensus on his career would have shifted.

then again, all careers in music tend to have a big peak, and prince had his, and didnt really try to keep it going, like some might have. he ended it on a high, rather than ride it out for as long as he absolutely could. maybe this was another thing where he didnt want to be at the mercy of the audience - he wanted to end it before they could end it (ie before they got bored).

its weird though that the decision not to tour the US with SOTT is a famous move, generally thought to be a big career mistake. while the decision to end the PR tour in the US is not generally that well known, maybe cos the american consensus is still dominant, so to americans, it doesnt matter that he didnt take it anywhere else, as they didnt even notice lol

Sign O' The Times.
The public has a short attention span and bringing this tour to the US would have reinforced the genius of Prince, even without The Revolution.
I think he learned his lesson and brought the subsequent tour to the US and Japan (ignoring the US).

Definitely Sign O the Times. Because after the bomb of Under The Cherry Moon (despite the #1 "Kiss), and the almost instant alienation of new fans with Around the World In A Day (whicih was a drastic switch from something like 1999 which was only two albums earlier) he needed a new boost of public appeal. Bringing that album back to the U.S. and touring it would've been a much needed kick to his reputation and appeal in the U.S.

Different times, and Purple Rain was promoted by the film which wasn't as accessible in foreign markets. If he tours Europe with Purple Rain, I don't know if we get the Parade era or he spends as much time overseas. He doesn't have a true wold tour until Lovesexy. I mean, you could say he made a mistake by not taking 1999 to Europe too.

SOTT, half the concept was letting the film tour for him.

But then he really doesn't tour again in the US until Lovesexy 4 years later. My memory of that was he played smaller venues and didn't sell them out, but that's wrong. So I think he alienated some audiences, and could have been even bigger, but at that point, Prince is Prince. Everyone liked some Prince by then, even if you weren't buying the records or running to every one of his tours, he was one of those socially accepted artists that crossed over all audiences. But like I said, his fans didn't operate like other fans, they would skip records, and ignore phases then wait for him to come back to something we liked. Maybe tourin SOTT in the US changes that.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

Definetly the "S.O.T.T." tour. R&B radio played the title track, "Housequake" and "Slow Love" in decent rotation. "Adore" was heavily being played on the "quiet storm" late night shows too. MTV and VH-1 played the hit videos from the album and he did a kick a$$ performance at the 1987 MTV awards. The movie only played breifly in one theater in my area..(if you blinked, you missed it)..so the time would have been right to do a quick major city U.S. tour.

In the UK we got neither. Didn't harm him here at all though. However, I won't lie, I was a bit pissed off.

Without question SOTT. The record had revovered from the disatourous choice to release IIWYGF as the second single. U Got the Look and I Could Never Take the Place were both top ten singles. Very hard to do that after such a bad misfire. If Prince had decided to come back to the US and tour he couldve had another 3 or 4 top ten singles easy. SOTT actually couldve wound up being not just the most artistically successful,but also, the most commercially successful album of his career if not for those two bad choices.

[Edited 6/5/22 19:58pm]

[Edited 6/5/22 20:02pm]

I would contend that the Purple rain tour should have gone worldwide. This would really have cemented Prince`s position as a superstar and him touring sellout shows and quietly giving to charity would have done a lot to mitigate some of the bad press he was getting over the "We are the world" non contribution and Chick Huntsberry`s "Prince is an A#@hole" interview.

It would also have enabled him to tour Purple Rain and ATWIAD simultaneously an he would have made a lot of cash.

Ultimately though, the decision not to do so was Prince`s and I`m in no mood or position to second guess it because I`m not him

andrewm7new said:

chrisslope9 said:

the cross? really?

the obv singles to me (beyond the ones already released) would be:

play in the sunshine is the only one i think they should have released that didnt get released.

there were actually a lot of songs from SOTT released either as a or b sides.

starfish and coffee or hot thing would have been interesting singles. and then adore too.

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

"The Cross" never had single worthiness. Not in the least.

The bigger obvious singles were:

Housequake

Strange Relationship

Adore

If I Was Your Girlfriend (re-release)

Play In The Sunshine (UK only)

chrisslope9 said:

Not brining SOTT to the states was his biggest mistake, hands down. The album still had a couple singles (Strange Relationship and Housequake WITH VIDEOS...MTV was a necessity at the time!) & if he brought that incredible show stateside, it would solidified Prince as a major player again after the UTCM fiasco.

Instead he got bored, released the movie, which as great as it was, fizzled immediately, then the whole Black Album/Lovesexy thing...by the time he finally toured with Lovesexy he was considered a crazy has-been in the US. Us hardcores were still there...but he alienated a lot of US fans with Lovesexy.

RODSERLING said:

FrankieCoco1 said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

funkbabyandthebabysitters said:

RODSERLING said:

Exactly, I always thought The Cross was more like Nirvana than the usual Prince. Friends of mine who didn't like Prince, liked the Cross at the first listening.

The cross doesn't follow a pop song structure Pretty much every nirvana song does (ergo, prince did not invent grunge lol) The cross is also a bit dirgey Doesnt quite end satisfyingly Great album cut though and incredible live [Edited 6/8/22 10:53am]

Never said Prince invented grunge. Many hit songs don't follow a pop song structure.

[Edited 6/8/22 19:41pm]

SOTT in the USA should have HAPPENED