Does anyone agree that Don't Be Cruel has the weakest album cuts? "Take It Slow" anyone, while the album cuts to Guy get played more than the singles "Piece of My Love" "You Can Call Me Crazy" and "Goodbye Love."

Here's the rundown. Interesting that each album had 5 official singles.

Heart Break
Singles:
1. If It Isn't Love
2. You're Not My Kind of Girl
3. Can You Stand the Rain
4. Crucial
5. N.E. Heart Break

That's the Way We're Livin'
Where It All Started
Superlady
Competition
I'm Coming Home
Boys to Men (later remixed and released as a single for their hits compilation)

Don't Be Cruel
Singles:
1. Don't Be Cruel
2. My Prerogative
3. Roni
4. Every Little Step
5. Rock Wit'cha

I'll Be Good to You
Take It Slow
All Day All Night
I Really Love You Girl

In Effect Mode
Singles:
1. Nite and Day
2. Off On Your Own (Girl)
3. Rescue Me
4. Killing Me Softly
5. If I'm Not Your Lover

Oooh This Love Is So
Naturally Mine
Just a Taste of Lovin'
(Noche y Dia)

Guy
Singles:
1. Groove Me
2. 'Round and 'Round (Merry Go 'Round of Love)
3. Teddy's Jam
4. I Like
5. Spend the Night

Don't Clap... Just Dance (12" single only)
You Can Call Me Crazy
Piece of My Love
Goodbye Love
My Business

Adisa said:

Hmm on second thought I need to reconsider your original post.
1. Sales wise Guy was as successful as all hot R&B acts during that time which is between the 2-3 million range: N.E., Keith Sweat, Al B. Tevin, Jodeci, BBD, and Johnny Gill etc. All of them sold with the 2-3 million range, and none of them had crossover success. So what Guy did sales wise isn't earth shattering.

2. I don't remeber Bobby having a lot of cross-over success, but DBC sold like 5 million the first year, I think. Sure "My Prerogative" reached Number 1 on the pop chart and that is a huge deal given that he's a Black male solo artist. How many Black male solo artists had a pop number 1 hit in the 80s? But I don't remember him having a lot of crossover success either.

Adisa said:

Guy singles never crossed over to the pop charts except Let's Chill which didn't even reach the top 40 and I Like and Wanna Get With You the lower half of the pop charts.

NE, Bobby and Al. all had multiple top 5-10 pop hits.

Adisa said:

Every single one of those acts you named had at least one top-10 pop hit (Keith has 4, Tevin has 3, Johnny & BBD have 2) except Guy.


Were you in the US at that time? Because I can't even believe you're serious. For a brief moment in time, Bobby Brown was really the hottest thing in popular music, not just R&B.


Let's see, off the top of my head: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, Billy Ocean...

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Yeah, I looked it up. Here are the relevant peaks for the four on the Billboard 200 album chart and Hot 100 singles chart:

In Effect Mode #20
Nite and Day #7

Heart Break #12
If It Isn't Love #7

Don't Be Cruel #1
Don't Be Cruel #8
My Prerogative #1
Roni #3
Every Little Step #3
Rock Wit'cha #7

Guy #27
I Like #70

AlexdeParis said:[quote]

Adisa said:

Gotcha on the first point.

The second point, I'd hardly say that Bobby was ever the hottest thing in pop music, especially in the late 80s. Not even for a brief moment. Most still know him as the dude that Whitney married, and that's because Whitney was a true pop icon. I think TTD had more pop appeal and a greater pop following than Bobby. But that's just my opinion.

Actually the top R&B album of 1988 was this one:



followed by this one:



Then I believe the other albums you listed follow that in some way along with Michael Jackson's Bad and Prince's Lovesexy.

728huey said:

But both those albums came out in 1987, yeah it was late '87.

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, Faith came out in what...October? and Bad came out in August

bboy87 said:

And Baby Tonight in June!

bboy87 said:

Yeah Faith came out in October and Bad was definitely August. August 25th I believe.

Yeah, ^^ everything y'all said. Which is why I wouldn't say that Bobby was ever at any point the hottest thing in pop music. Unless of course if you believe that you are the hottest based on having a number 1 pop single. Bobby was hugely successful and it was Black people buying his records. He didn't have the crossover sales of Whitney, Michael, Prince, TTD, Milli Vanilli , or Janet. I bet even hip-hoppers Run DMC and Beastie Boys had more Whites buying their lp's than Bobby had buying his. But I'm just speculating though. And yes, I remember Black ladies were all over George Michael's lp, too, and this was on HEAVY rotation on my local R&B stations.

Adisa said:

At least we can agree on that. While Don't Be Cruel was released in mid-1988, it was the biggest-selling album of 1989 in the U.S. and it certainly wasn't just Black people buying it.

Adisa said:

What are you talking about, omg you stay postin as if you know what you are talking bout HE WAS BILLBOARD TOP SELLING ARTIST OF 89, that is a fact, he was headline a tour that sold out stadiums, his own tour was selling out all over, he played Wembley STADIUM 8 fuckin tymes in a row. Like if you are the TOP SELLING ARTIST of the yr, you crossed over. You dont have billboard top 1, 2,3,3 singles charted and say you didn't cross over.

AlexdeParis said:

Exactly, 89 bobby was red hot, he was allover MTV when it wasn't too man yacts on MTV shit, MTV was trying to get this guy on as much as possible, i still remember it was abig deal when he hosted Yo for a whole week, you know how hot Bobby was he gave that white bou he did SHe Aint worth it a #1 single.

AlexdeParis said:

Yep.

qvgangsta18 said:

Fuck off, bitch!

Bobby was indeed big business in both pop and R&B between 1988 and 1989.

Timmy84 said:

Possibly the fourth largest rnb male act after MJ, Prince and Luther during those two or three years.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

And he smoked up all his money.

DesireeNevermind said:

Unfortunately.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I love "Nite and Day" His entire album is great.

JackieBlue said:

I have it on CD

vainandy said:

We usually have similiar tastes,but I gotta disagree with you here

'Don't Be Cruel' is my least favorite of the four.You really should check out Guy's album and Al B.Sure's album.

SoulAlive said:

Well you know Andy. I'm not surprised by his response. I could see why he liked just Bobby's.

Bobby's "My Prerogative" and "Don't Be Cruel" had kind of a Minneapolis type vibe to them. I absolutely hated "Tenderoni" and "Rock Withcha" though.

With the exception of "Teddy's Jam", Guy had some horrible stuff and Al B. Sure was just as dull, maybe even duller. They both had that late 1980s "mellow" sound to them. Not really sexy slow jams like the 1970s and early 1980s, just late 1980s type slow songs that you just "listen to" and nothing else. Late 1980s slow songs (on up to the present) just don't have a sexy feel to them. They actually sound and make me feel "lonely" when I hear them. I only like the type of slow jams that make me wanna pull somebody's dick out at 3:00 a.m. and go to work.

vainandy said: