So Prince fans, young and old:
Here's your chance to share your memories of Prince's 1st two albums.
- How old were you when U 1st heard them?
- What were your impressions of the young Prince?
- Did you see any of those early performances?

First!

I was in Jr. High School when they came out. I had only heard the singles on the radio, so I thought Prince was a girl. I was SHOCKED the first time I saw him!
My friends and I would and make fun of him! (Hey, I was, like 12...)

I did like "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and "Uptown", but I would sneak over to my cousin Erin's house to listen to them. She had the 12" records.
I still wouldn't admit to liking him, tho.

I was 13 when I won the Prince album...within a month I owned, "For You."
"I wanna be your lover," is the first song I remember hearing, knowing that it was Prince, but I may have heard soft and wet...not knowing it was Prince...My first impression has carried my interest in Prince through every year ever since.

I wasn't born when For You came out but I was months old, maybe 7-8 months when "Prince" dropped so obviously, I can't tell you anything from that time. But I remember when I heard Soft & Wet and I Wanna Be Your Lover. I was 14 and it was off from The Hits/B-Sides collection. I heard pieces of IWBYL years back but not the whole thing and when I did, it was instant I also dug Soft and Wet too. I didn't get both of those CD's till I was 20 and I thought they were alright but I didn't appreciate them till 2005. For a new jack at the time, that was a fantastic debut.

Favorite songs from For You:
In Love
Soft and Wet
Just as Long as We're Together
My Love is Forever
So Blue

Favorite songs from Prince:
I Wanna Be Your Lover
Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad
Sexy Dancer
Bambi
Still Waiting
I Feel For You
It's Gonna Be Lonely
[Edited 3/7/08 11:16am]

One song that I still play a lot is "It's Gonna Be Lonely". I like that one!

I didn't get those albums till I was in college, when I "discovered" Prince. Then I got to hear what wasn't on the radio.

I was born when these albums came out. I was still very young. I remember how I heard them. One of my girlfriends brother was really into P and had made me recorded tapes of the albums. As soon as he handed them 2 me I ran upstairs 2 my bedroom and popped them into my 'sticker covered boom box' plugged n my headphones lay back on my bed and off I went..into another world..I was young. I remember hearing Soft and Wet,Bambi,I'm Yours and Just as long as we're together..They stand out 2 me..I must've lay there for a few hours that afternoon or more because 2 me the music I was hearing had taken me into another place,like a dream..I just felt in me this is what i'm gonna be listening to 4 awhile. Funny how fresh that day sticks w/me...Dang! I wish I still had those tapes. This started the Prince craze w/ myself and my friends April,Eric who had made me the copies and a few others in own neighborhood.
Thanks Eric..maybe your out there..? ( I just wanted to add that it was the summer b4 I went 2 Jr. High..so I must've been 12 yrs old.
[Edited 3/7/08 12:18pm]

chocolate1 said:[quote]So Prince fans, young and old:
Here's your chance to share your memories of Prince's 1st two albums.
- How old were you when U 1st heard them?
- What were your impressions of the young Prince?
- Did you see any of those early performances?

My fondest memories of the first two albums are being in junior high making out with the girls. Everyone loved Prince during this era.

chocolate1 said:

I bet the songs you play sound so good in your Camaro... Nice car!!!

Blackshowman said:

The black one hasn't come out yet (Jan. 2008). Have U seen my purple one?

I was a baby when these albumz were released,and my intro 2 Prince actually happened while I was snooping thru my older brothers' vinyl collection.I was 9,and was immediately intrigued by the Dirty Mind cover.It was love at 1st listen,and the next thing I knew I went 2 the Lovesexy show with that same brother and his then girlfriend! From there,I began 2 acquire all the albumz 4 myself.I'm not sure how old I was when I got For You r Prince,but I do remember hanging the coverz on my bedroom wall.My fave of the 2 is Prince,which remains 1 of my fave Prince albumz.Sexy Dancer is near and dear 2 my heart.I alwayz did,and still do,think that Prince is "adorable"and an incredible per4mer.Thanx 2 my older brothers' trusty VHS tapes,I'm able 2 view all those early per4mances.Great thread,chocolate1!

sexxydancer said:

Hello. How you wrote your memories..reminds me of how i felt. just wanted 2 say cuz i feel kindred w/u in your feelings. "immediately intriged" right on!

Tamera1 said:

chocolate1 said:

I was 16 when "For You" was out and 17 when "Prince" came out. At the time, I actually liked "Soft and Wet" better than the songs off of the "Prince" album, but I still really liked both. And since I was a teenaged girl, I was more into Prince because I was in the "OH, MY GOD, HE'S SO FINE!" stage more than being critical of what he was putting out. Other than the performance on American Bandstand, I did not see any of the early concerts.
[Edited 3/7/08 13:02pm]

And thanx 2 a dear friend here,I'm also able 2 c lotz of showz that I could only otherwise dream about.U know who u r!

NuPwr319 said:

I almost forgot about that! (Maybe I was trying to block it out! ) I was not really into Prince, but I watched American Bandstand every week. I think that's the first time I ever saw him perform!
It was just too much for my Jr. High School mind to comprehend! He wouldn't even talk!!!!

sexxydancer said:

back 2 yaz*

Also,Great thread..and I think it's bout that time 2 take a minute and play one of your favorite P song real loud. "Did Somebody say dance..."

Tamera1 said:

...putting the needle on Sexy Dancer...

sexxydancer said:

I hear yaz..I played D.M.S.R. the 1 from 1999. I haven't cranked that in a while. "..It's time 2 fix your clock..Vanity 6 is so sweet..Now ya'll take a bite of my purple rock.."

Tamera1 said:

Now, now... we're saving DIRTY MIND/1999 for the next "Memories" thread!

chocolate1 said:

Sry. I got carried away. Goes 2 show U made a Great thread!

I didn't know who Prince was until Controversy came out. i was major into buying 45s then. But it was 1999 and the Time's earlier albums which I borrowed from my father which got me hooked. I had to be 14ish. Then we got Purple Rain...and wow. But once in awhile I would hear a record on the radio.. I thought sounded like Prince... but at the same time I was like...naaaa... its not on one of my dad's albums.

OK... I was a little dense back then. I would only play tracks I had already heard on the albums and never ever considered flipping to a B-side. I'm not going to say how long it was before I even knew I we had 17 days and Erotic City on 12"!
Just around the time ATWIAD came out... I was watching Music videos and they went on a Prince marathon... and one of the first ones they showed was 'I Wanna Be Your Lover'. I was like.... THAT WAS PRINCE SINGING THAT! and the video looks kinda old .. and...

1+ 1= 2

He must have made albums before Controversy!

So I went to a major chain record shop... and not the local joe I bought all my 45s from dropped my whole allowance and left with AWTIAD, Dirty Mind and Prince.... i got For You a while later.

I was a few days from my 2nd birthday when For You came out and it wasn't released in New Zealand until 1984, but Prince was released in January 1980 when I was 3 and a half heading towards 3 and 3 quarters. I first heard both albums in 1992, when after the Cream craze, I decided I needed every note he had commited to tape. I liked the songs then but didn't really go nuts over them until 1994 and 1995, the peak of my Prince obsession, by then I had both on record and tape, but never CD as CD copies in New Zealand are imports for these two albums, as you may notice For You wasn't really known outside the US until Dirty Mind in most places and even Purple Rain in the case of here.
I though the image on the For You sleeve was so great that I sketched it onto a binder cover in my Form 7 year (Grade 12) in 1994. There was something kinky about that bed and guitar....

I was 12-13 years old, playing 1999 over and over and over again. I guess I was naive enough to think that no other album (even by Prince) could compare, so I didn't bother with his other stuff right away. I knew of "Controversy," "Sexuality," "I Wanna Be Your Lover," and maybe "Dirty Mind" and "Uptown." But it wasn't until 1984-1985 when I started making money from doing odd jobs that I finally started buying his earlier albums. I got Controversy first -- played it to death, then Dirty Mind. I think bought For You next, followed closely by Prince. I thought the opening song, "For You" was especially cool, but did not like "In Love" at all -- I think the sound of it surprised me compared to what I knew of him from the later albums. I liked most everything else, especially "Baby." The Prince album was much easier for me to digest. Loved the first two songs, especially. But "Bambi" was the real shocker. I couldn't wait to share it with my brother, "Listen, this is Prince on guitar!!" Anyway, that's about all I can remember for now. I bought the rest of the '80s albums on the day of release.

Snap said:

I just both the cd a month ago. I really like "Baby", there is something intriguing/foreshadowing in this joint. Soft and Wet I just adore.

Around '87/'88, where I come from we only had two official wreckastows.
I had PR, ATWIAD and SOTT on tape and my allowance wasn't that big. I would allready spend it on every music magazine that came out and I had bought my first album, Dirty Mind (special offer!) in Barcelona, that being '87.
I loved my tapes but this album had made me a lot more hungry...

I knew Prince, For You and Controversy existed. snooping through those huge lovely album covers had something magical.
I didn't know what music would be on these 3 albums but I would look at the cover of "Prince" and it was love at first sight. That would be my next one!

I must have driven my mom nuts asking her to buy it for me. Every time we passed this shop "Disco Dancer" I would run in for some minutes and look at the album covers.
His were in front of the holder, you could see them through the door.
The albumcover was just calling me


My birthday was coming up and I asked my mom if "Prince" could be my birthday present. Okay

We went to "Disco dancer" ..... they didn't have it anymore .
It had been there for ages and at this critical point they didn't have it anymore? Impossible.

But thank god we had the other wreckastow!
I felt like Charly finding the gold wrap in his Willy Wonka bar
I got 15 in '88, what a cool birthday present.
The long instrumental parts in some songs, Why you wanna treat me so bad, wow, the guitarpart, awesome. Just in love with every single second on this album.
I remember my mom tapping with a broomstick on the ceiling...

After that I did save my money for some time and bought For You in BCN, they just had so many more albums, singles, extended versions, omg, extended versions

The starter For You with his voice singing like angels in my ear. Just as long as we're together, the synthesizer and the instrumental part...mmmmm. The love and despair of Baby... , the guitar. I'm yours had something rebellious, something heavy, I loved it all.

Because I bought these albums during the time I was listening heavily to ATWIAD and SOTT I realised this man was constantly changing, every year seemed like another year, another feeling. Prince and For You seemed such a long time ago but so familiar.

These albums are so relaxing and so smooth in the ears, they are still cool to listen to, they will not bore that easily.

Although, For You was more innocent, Prince was a lot more daring, funky funky, sexy dancer.

I think I was only 2 when "For You" came out. I don't remember the first time I heard this album, but "Crazy You" was our wedding song

when i was 9 years old i heard this song called i wanna b ur lover but didn't know who it was by. the only thing i knew was that it was a cool song. fast forward 2 1984 and my love of his music was infectious that i went and grabbed all of his past albums with the xception of prince. my mother bought it 4 me for my birthday later that year

the for you album i really like as it presents a statement 2 the world with the powerful ending of i'm yours..hello world my name is prince ya better recognize!!!

when i finally got the prince album..as soon as i heard i wanna b ur lover, my eyes went wide cause this was my childhood yo!!! but i can tell that the production was getting better, the hooks were getting stronger. another great evolution in the making ...bambi blew me through the roof with the same vein I'm yours held me in. the funk of sexy dancer ..

in a way since i came on board during purple rain, its a little sad 2 not been a part of it from the beginning ..

i was 11 when 4 U came out, i remember spending the night at my cousins and my cousin ray would play soft and wet on the drums while the record played. i wanna be your lover hit me in the gut, i would hear it on AM pop radio and i was going through my first major crush...ahhhh Gayle Walker, 6th grade she was so fine LOL.

Gayle should be divorced by now and the last of her kids should be gettin ready to get the hell out of her house, should i look her up?. I aint shy like the song says anymore LOL

At 15 I remember hearing "Soft and wet" on the radio and really liking it. I didn't get the "For You" album and never heard the whole thing until I was in college. I bought the "Prince" album when it came out. They played several of the songs on the radio all the time. I remember thinking how unusaul the song "Still Waiting" was. U really never heard a young man lament his lack of love like that. He was so emotionally open.