i was just wondering why this great single wasn't a hit in the usa when it went top ten in most of europe?...it peaked at number 2 in airplay over here in the uk and was on the charts for months so what happened in america?...missing out on one of his best singles..

if they hadn't taken the guts out of it (ie, the guitar solo) for the single edit, then it might have done something.


as it is, the single version completely misses the climax/point of the song.

that and the video sucked.

plus, he promoted the album several months (even a year) in advance, and months afterward. when the album/singles were out..... nada.

WB did not promote the album. It never had a chance...

there was a video?? i never even saw it
this was also right after grunge had taken over the airwaves, and frankly, that was the most '80s sounding song on the album.

chookalana said:

neither did Prince. well, he did. but he stopped 6 months before it came out. and started up again about 3 months after.

MendesCity said:

Yeah, the video was cheesarific...they actually played it fairly frequently on VH-1 for a while that year when he was the "artist of the month" - this was the same month that he had the L4OA special on VH-1 (I think that's what it was called?).

I've never been a fan of Gold, the song. The lyrics are beyond corny, even for Prince -- and it just sounds so cookie cutter anthem, ya know? Before this album came out I read an interview where Prince was saying how great that song was, and when I finally got to hear it, I was quite disappointed. Oh well.

Plus, like all of the songs on that album (and all of the songs from that time period) it's got Tommy Cheesarella on cheeseboards....ick.

I like "Gold" a lot. One of my favorite guitar solos.

cause the songs shit

It didn't do well cuz it was garbage.

This song was so not a hit in Europe. it did well in the UK only, never got any attention in other countries, even in Holland and Switzerland where almost every P's singles charted.
Plus it's really corny and sounds like a bad song from the 80's

never felt like they pushed any singles off that album after the most beautiful girl in the world...

was a great record though...

It was top 30 in Holland and Belgium december 95; # 25 in the Dutch top 40 and about the same position in Belgium .

well that's not exactly a top ten hit, and did it stay long on those charts??
if you check other european charts you'll see it never had any kind of success...
just saying...

blackboab said:

#2 in Airplay doesn't mean anything. It hit #15 for about a week, then divebombed out of the chart. I actually like it, at least the album version anyway. the B-Side was pretty sweet though.

It was a stunner, a classic song. It didn't sell, because that was the time Prince lost a lot of his credibility because of the slave stuff.

Remember, the Great I Hate U stiffed too.

Marrk said:

Actually Gold got to no.10 in the UK and was in the top 75 for nine weeks. Not too bad, eh?!

Cloudbuster said:

I'll bet a fiver on it!

Marrk said:

Then check the British Hit Singles book. The fiver is mine!

Cloudbuster said:

BAH!

The song would have maybe hit if it had been promoted and had been produced low-fi.

gold is the kind of song i think is great just because of the memories i have: the 1995 european tour shows ended with gold and when u left the hall, the pa was playing the "nananananananananaaaaa" ending of the song. Very unreal and almost hypnotising, well for as long as it lasted, because u had to be on your way to the aftershow by then..!!

Also don't forget Prince himself had long been neglecting America at that point. Look at his history of touring in the states and it is extremely limited since the Purple Rain tour. A little bit on the Parade tour, a little bit on the Lovesexy tour, a little bit on the Symbol tour..... I think this has added up a bit to why his record sales dropped so much in the states. He favored overseas at some point and neglected the states, and there was no Gold Experience tour here. This neglect of the live aspect of P in the states definitely contributed to his fall from the top of the charts. WB cann't be blamed too much for lack of promoting those records. I worked at record stores in that time frame and there was promotion, but no follow up. No tours, no tv appearances, etc. So a lot of the blame falls on Prince himself, or his advisors who said he couldn't do well touring in the states. He should've at least been pimpin' theatres on tour at that point just to keep visiblity up and the phasers on stun!

Stormbringer

Gold was the final straw with Prince and Warner Brothers .

The album was caught up in the middle of the old guard WB (Prince's backers) and the new guard at WB.They regulated Prince to the Black/Urban music division of WB right after the D&P album.As a result Prince's releases became ballads to draw in the R&B crowd starting with Symbol.

WB then wanted Prince to release a Greatest Hit package to draw in the R&B buyers .Prince wanted to release an EP of Come,Papa,Race, & Space in the summer of 93.WB won that battle with the Greatest Hits package released in 93.

Fast forward to Gold .Prince was pissed because of the TMBGITW situation and refused to release Gold .This impasse lasted until the promise of a release from the WB contract if Black Album was released.

Prince was tripping, WB was tripping.
WB refused to promote Gold and endgame.

LOST ALBUM !
[This message was edited Tue Apr 13 19:19:41 2004 by muleFunk]

I hate the song and I hate most of the album too.

Most of the 90s stuff was terrible.

theblueangel said:

"it's got Tommy Cheesarella on cheeseboards....ick."
I was begining to think that no one understood me!!! Tommy was crap!

Gold was a good song. It did have cheesy lyrics but i thought it was a great song. I have to say that I thought I Hate U was the worst choice of first single for the Gold Experience. I still dont really like this song now, but back then to release a ballad to prommote the album was a disaster waiting to happen. IMHO the singles after TMBGITW should hve been Dolphin, Endorphin Machine & Gold. For me thy're the standout tracks on the album.