Some acts have managed to craft hit songs after their record label demanded they do so. Like I've read Prince came up with 'U Got the Look' after WB said Sign o' the Times needed another hit on it. Mariah & JD delivered 'We Belong Together' after LA Reid wanted a hit on that Mimi album.

Who else has delivered a hit on demand like that? And is it just luck? If these ppl can make songs like this under the gun, why not do it all the time? Or, how often do acts fail to deliver a hit after being told to do so?

fuck you.

Despite the absence of replies.

As for who else, I think that recent New Yorker article mentioned that when Springsteen wrote "Dancing in the Dark" he didn't want to include it on Born in the USA because it was too poppy. Or something along those lines.

"We Belong Together" is an interesting case, because the song takes one hooky 4-chord progression and manages to create three distinct song sections out of it by varying the melody, pulling drums in and out, and changing the chord voicings--but it's still just the 4 chords, all the way through.

From a songwriting perspective, it's a pretty nifty trick, but the danger is in too much simplicity. A whole album like that would be pretty banal stuff. But for the one song, it's a catchy progression, and they milked the hell out of it.

like, a hit is so simple
that they feel it won't be a hit
so they refrain from doin' them more
and think the more artsy stuff would be appreciated
just a theory

life always offers you a 2nd chance...it's called tomorrow. use it wisely

talking about "Go See The Doctor" on Unsung

(sometimes it slipped my mind, how much that song was referenced in the 1990s)

>like, a hit is so simple
>that they feel it won't be a hit
>so they refrain from doin' them more
>and think the more artsy stuff would be appreciated
>just a theory


he made it a point not to make stuff that was
super radio friendly after "faith."

he wanted to be taken seriously as an artist,
not as a pop heartthrob.




still made great music.
but it was intentionally more difficult to digest.

The record-label wanted a hit for the album and they supposedly knocked it out in five minutes and it became a big hit all over europe (apprently only reached 61 in the US but it's still one of their most famous songs.

As for the other issues, just because the formula works one time doesn't mean it works the next. Just like reunions. Also, one should maybe view songwriting as "problem-solving"; maybe you already find the for *you* perfect solution to the problem so when you follow the formula the next time, you must settle for the second best solution; maybe a chord-progression that's similar but not so strong or a melody that is reminiscent of the hit but since you can't write the exact same song twice, you must change it a little which very likely leads to an inferior solution-a problem you obviously didn't have the first time when the formula was fresh.

Also, in the album-era especially, not everyone actually wanted hits (see Zeppelin who refused to release singles in the UK and still became mega); having hits can actually work *against* your brand. You might want to be viewed as a serious album-artist and attract that type of audience and the hits attract teeny-boppers instead which will lead to less interest from the original core crowd and since the pop-audiences taste is more fickle, there might not be an audience at all after a while...

>Also, in the album-era especially, not everyone actually
>wanted hits (see Zeppelin who refused to release singles in
>the UK and still became mega); having hits can actually work
>*against* your brand. You might want to be viewed as a serious
>album-artist and attract that type of audience and the hits
>attract teeny-boppers instead which will lead to less interest
>from the original core crowd and since the pop-audiences taste
>is more fickle, there might not be an audience at all after a
>while...





not to mention the fact
that artists sometimes get bored with themselves, i think.


like they'll write a song,
and feel like it just sounds like something they've done before
so they'll shelve it.


i can see that happening.


hell, i find myself not liking to repeat the same stories around people
b/c i get bored listening to myself repeat myself.
so i try to create something to say that i feel might be interesting to whoever is listening
without retreading the same ground too often.





this is one of the reasons i can't imagine being a politician.
b/c you develop this list of talking points,
and you refine it until it works,

and then you just keep hitting the same beats over and over and over again.
all the time. just driving home the exact same points until it sinks in.


you deliver the same point,
to new audiences, and you always have to act like it's still exciting.


i mean, even if you know how to say what the people want to hear,
how do you convince yourself to keep saying it over and over again,
even after you're sick of it?


but to bring it back to music,
i think some artists just don't hit the same marks over and over again
b/c they'd get bored with it.

there's a reason MJ restricted his J5 material to that same medley he did
at every concert once he became an adult.

he probably hated those damn songs
by the time he hit puberty. lol





i know prince gets bored with his material.
like once he writes it and releases it, he's pretty much sick of it.
so sometimes, he won't promote the album like he should b/c its old news to him.


boring.


i think that's got to be a part of why artists
don't always hit the marks that they could.

do you remember that song on "rave un2 the joy fantastic?"
the name of it was "undisputed."

the tune starts off all disjointed (weird drum pattern, ugly chords, jarring vocal distortion)
then, out of nowhere, when he gets to the bridge of this disjointed song,
he adds a few layers of synthesizers to the existing track
and makes it sound like an exceptionally pop friendly song.

and while the song sounds pretty,
he says..."heavy rotation... never made my world go 'round.
commercialization of the music is what brought it down."

then he goes into this mozart influenced,
baroque interlude with a harpsichord just so he can show off.


then he intentionally goes back to making the song sound disjointed again.
again... it sounds like the most un-pop song you can imagine.




why would prince do this?
why did he intentionally spit in the face of convention?
why did he intentionally tease you with a radio friendly record?
why didn't build the entire song around that musical idea?

because he's prince. he's stubborn.
prince decided that the public will get a record they want to hear from prince
when he feels like releasing it, and not a minute before.

to quote the song again, "i don't follow trends. they just follow me."






so yeah. he released "the most beautiful girl in the world" to start off his new career
because he wanted to snub warner bros. it was a fuck you.



he did it again when he went on the PR campaign to do musicology.
he showed up to do "purple rain" with beyonce at the grammys b/c
he wanted to make nice and get back in the game.
he released an album that's not too weird,
and had something that could get radio play.


he followed that up with 3121, which contained "black sweat,"
a song that fit right in on 106 & park.


my point is, prince can release music that regular people want to hear
whenever he feels like shitting it out.



i'm not saying he can whip out an album like "purple rain" any time he wants.
he can't just get back to the place he was at in 1984. that was lightning in a bottle.
timing is everything.




but he can make palatable, radio friendly songs
whenever he gets the urge.




why doesn't he do this all the time?
idunno.


he's prince.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pork_and_Beans_%28song%29#Writing_and_inspiration

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