Talk:The Black Album (Prince album)

Fair use rationale for Image:Prince Black Album 25677 pressing.jpeg
Image:Prince Black Album 25677 pressing.jpeg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot 20:02, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Alleged bad ecstasy trip
In accordance with WP:BLP policy, I removed the following text from the speculative section about reasons for the albums withdrawal because it asserts, without citing reliable source, that Prince used Ecstasy and had a certain experience, both of which are potentially libelous claims.

A bad trip experienced by the artist while using the drug ecstasy convinced him that the album was evil or represented an ominous portent, although technically speaking this is misleading as ecstasy is not hallucinogenic.

This material was restored by User:Furrykef in Dec. 2006 after having been removed by User:75.21.218.237 in June 2006. It had been in the article since its creation by User:Mcsweet in April 2005.

I replaced it with a more benign, but still inappropriately uncited claim:

Prince became convinced that the album was evil or represented an ominous portent.

In either case, but especially the first one, a reliable source would need to assert that such a claim has been made by someone. Left alone, it just looks like you've attempted to distance yourself from your own libel by saying it's "rumors and hearsay" originating by unidentified others. That's not good enough. Please assume it is false and do not add the material back in until reliable sources that this (and other speculative explanations for the album's withdrawal) can be found. −mjb (talk) 20:09, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Allegations by Dr. Fink
I removed the following text from the article because it asserts, without citing reliable sources, that Dr. Fink made extraordinary, damaging claims about Prince. It is potentially libelous to both Dr. Fink and Prince.

''In 2001, however, his long time keyboard player Dr. Fink told then-Internet radio host Ernest L Sewell IV, of The Ernest Experience Radio Show, that Prince said he saw the devil. According to Fink, Prince was paranoid due to drugs, and instead of seeing God, as is sometimes claimed by drug users, he had, in fact, thought he saw Satan. Prince told his bodyguard Gilbert Davison this, and Gilbert in turn related it to Fink and possibly other band members. It was this hallucination that had Prince running scared and decided to ditch releasing the album. He even asked for the cassettes of the album back from the band members that are routinely given to them to learn the songs by ear. Fink had later expressed discontent in that he wished he hadn't given it back, or at least made a copy of it for his own personal use.''

Please assume it is false and do not add the material back in until reliable sources can be found. I also made minor copy edits to the text (capitalizing Internet, rephrasing the 2nd sentence to make more sense, and replacing a couple of "he" pronouns with "Prince"). The original text was added by User:Ernestsewell a year ago. —mjb (talk) 19:16, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Allegations by Eric Leeds
I removed another instance of the "bad Ecstasy trip" hearsay that was added today by MaJic:

However, in a 1997 radio interview, former band member Eric Leeds revealed that the withdrawal was made due to Prince having a bad experience with Ecstasy.

Again, just like with the 2001 Dr. Fink allegations, this is not permissible on Wikipedia.

1. Eric Leeds may not have said that. You provided no evidence that he did. Without verifiable sources, Wikipedia can't report that Eric Leeds said potentially damaging things about Prince; that's potentially damaging to Mr. Leeds.

2. Even if he did say it, that doesn't make it a fact that was "revealed". Rather, it's an assertion that was made by someone other than Prince. It shouldn't be presented as if it were a counterpoint to all the other rumors.

As it stands, the material violates WP:BLP policies. Please assume it is false and do not add the material back in until reliable sources can be found. —mjb (talk) 03:00, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

How do I know that I am looking at the album cover and not just a random black square?
what I said — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.75.251.224 (talk) 20:49, 15 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Let me know if you found the answer ;) warpozio (talk) 21:28, 15 December 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned references in The Black Album (Prince album)
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of The Black Album (Prince album)'s orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "p4k": From Camille (unreleased Prince album):  From Around the World in a Day:  

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 10:02, 2 February 2017 (UTC)

The Black Album as a Bootleg
Okay, it has been nearly 30 years since the so-called "legitimate" release of The Black Album. I get it. However, I am unclear from the article as to whether the November 22, 1994, release by Warner Bros. Records was made with or without Prince's blessing. If not, an argument could be made that this major-label album release is a bootleg recording just like any other. In any case, in the intervening years between 1987 and 1994, The Black Album was a celebrated bootleg album that sold a reported half million copies, an unheard-of figure before or since. I remember the album being discussed more than once in The Village Voice, where for example purchasers moved from merely having a copy of The Black Album to discussing the quality of their copy. To boil all of this down to a single sentence in the article does a disservice to this history. Shocking Blue (talk) 16:22, 25 May 2023 (UTC)