GIRLS & BOYS

Should have been the second US single

Perfect follow up to Kiss

Would have kept Parade floating in the top 20

Instead Mountains destroyed Parade's success

Oh, and I love Mountains

But it's not a follow up to Kiss

dodger07 said:

MattyJam said:

Watch this performance - his last ever on Top of the Pops, and tell me the guy wasn't just oozing utter coolness from every pour:

https://www.youtube.com/w...xI6grS5igp

[Edited 10/3/25 17:59pm]

The Jason Nevins remix got so much radio play here in Liverpool and even heard it in the clubs a bit, I thought it was going to be a hit.

It was #9 on the UK pre-release airplay chart for 3 straight weeks. They botched the release of the single and album though.

TheBigBang said:

MattyJam said:

Watch this performance - his last ever on Top of the Pops, and tell me the guy wasn't just oozing utter coolness from every pour:

https://www.youtube.com/w...xI6grS5igp

[Edited 10/3/25 17:59pm]

The entire album, including this single and every other aspect involved in its promotion, was such a contrivance that it was never going to be anything other than what it was. So far off the mark, that Prince himself felt the need to try and correct it by releasing a different version of Rave shortly afterward.

It was always part of the deal with Arista that he would be able to release his own special edition.

ShellyMcG said:

MattyJam said:

Absolutely. Add Man O War, Friend Lover Sister Mother/Wife, I Love U But I Don't Trust U Anymore, Damn U, Sweet Baby to that list. Just exquisite balladry. I recall having a debate on an MJ board with someone who claimed they were a Prince fan, who said that Prince was terrible at writing ballads. I couldn't believe it, as to me, he was one of the finest balladeers of all time. [Edited 10/7/25 10:38am]

I think MJ was fantastic at writing uptempo pop songs. I'd go as far as to say that I think he was probably the best at it. But I just can't take his ballads seriously at all. It's just not convincing. They don't do anything for me. The Lady In My Life and Break Of Dawn are two exceptions. Amazing songs. But for the most part, as good as MJ was at some things, he couldn't hold a candle to Prince when it came to romantic and/or sexual ballads. Then again, I don't think anybody else could either.

I really struggle to think of anyone who could do ballads like Prince. And I actually think he got better with them over time. The stuff on Emancipation beats most (but not all) of his 80s ballads for me

leecaldon said:

For me, Do Me Baby is one of the greatest songs ever written and easily in my top 5 songs of all time. But aside from that and maybe one or two others, I think Prince's 90s ballads kick the shit out of his 80s ballads. Insatiable, Damn U, Somebody's Somebody, Shhh, Eye Hate U, etc. If most other artists came out with any one of those songs it would be considered their signature song. But for Prince, because he had so many of them, they're just seen as "another song".

DotsofU said:

Yeah do we know what happened with G&B? Did WB block the US release? Was it Prince?

ShellyMcG said:

leecaldon said:

I really struggle to think of anyone who could do ballads like Prince. And I actually think he got better with them over time. The stuff on Emancipation beats most (but not all) of his 80s ballads for me

For me, Do Me Baby is one of the greatest songs ever written and easily in my top 5 songs of all time. But aside from that and maybe one or two others, I think Prince's 90s ballads kick the shit out of his 80s ballads. Insatiable, Damn U, Somebody's Somebody, Shhh, Eye Hate U, etc. If most other artists came out with any one of those songs it would be considered their signature song. But for Prince, because he had so many of them, they're just seen as "another song".

Absolutely agree.

databank said:

DotsofU said:

GIRLS & BOYS

Should have been the second US single

Perfect follow up to Kiss

Would have kept Parade floating in the top 20

Instead Mountains destroyed Parade's success

Oh, and I love Mountains

But it's not a follow up to Kiss

Yeah do we know what happened with G&B? Did WB block the US release? Was it Prince?

From what I've read this one was solely Prince's decision to put Mountains out in the US. A great song, and love that it's a W&L composition - regardless, G&B sounds absolutely nothing like what's out there, not then and certainly not now.

DotsofU said:

GIRLS & BOYS

Should have been the second US single

Perfect follow up to Kiss

Would have kept Parade floating in the top 20

Instead Mountains destroyed Parade's success

Oh, and I love Mountains

But it's not a follow up to Kiss

While I agree that G&B would been a better 2nd single. I think the sub-par movie bombing at the box office is what killed Parade.

Poplife88 said:

DotsofU said:

GIRLS & BOYS

Should have been the second US single

Perfect follow up to Kiss

Would have kept Parade floating in the top 20

Instead Mountains destroyed Parade's success

Oh, and I love Mountains

But it's not a follow up to Kiss

While I agree that G&B would been a better 2nd single. I think the sub-par movie bombing at the box office is what killed Parade.

Sub-par? WHAT?

AHAHAHHAHA - Just kidding

You make a great point

homesquid said:

"Black Sweat"

One hundred percent. And even a good video for once!

ICNTTPOYM 💯

boomshaka said:

databank said:

DotsofU said: Yeah do we know what happened with G&B? Did WB block the US release? Was it Prince?

From what I've read this one was solely Prince's decision to put Mountains out in the US. A great song, and love that it's a W&L composition - regardless, G&B sounds absolutely nothing like what's out there, not then and certainly not now.

Yeah but Mountains was also released in Europe and the rest of the world, so it wasn't a matter of it being released in place of G&B. G&B, on the other hand, was released exclusively in Europe (i.e. not in the US, Canada, Japan Australia, NZ or anywhere else).

But it's awkward because on the other hand a music video was made for it, so I can't help suspecting a global release was considered at some point.

That said, G&B also has a very cheap cover art, that's not in line with the Parade design (not to mention having Erotic City as the 12'' b-side instead of some Parade-era material), so it may also suggest that the release was put together by WB Europe without much, if any involvement from Prince.

Yet, the song did really well in Europe, so it definitely had commercial appeal.

I'd love to see this mystery solved.