Why was Prince "booed" at the Rolling Stones opening act performance?

I heard a bootleg of the October 11th (1981) show-- I'm NOT going to say WHERE I heard it (and I HOPE NO ONE ELSE WILL, because some things need to remain hush-hush)-- but I do want to discuss the content of the recording and the incident.

It is worth noting that Prince was not the ONLY opening act-- he is sandwiched between J Geils Band and George Thorogood, who as far as I know are two "white rock" bands that the Rolling Stones crowd was probably more familiar with.

Prince performs his songs without falsetto, which was not customary for him at the time. The guitars are turned way up, it sounds like he is trying to appeal to a "macho" crowd. By performing "Bambi" without falsetto, he sounds more like Mick Jagger.

But the audience is not that into it-- at the start of the second song, someone--presumably the taper, says "One more song, and that'll be ENOUGH for THIS band!" The second song is "When You Were Mine," another hard rocker with no falsetto. Then comes "Jack u Off," the taper yells, "LOOK AT ALL THE TRASH!"-- I guess the stage was being pelted. As the song ends, a loud chorus of "boo's" can be heard from the audience. Dez graciously thanks the crowd and continues playing. Prince seems to have disappeared-- there are no vocals at all during "Uptown," but a lot of lead guitar soloing (presumably by Dez). I think, at this point, Dez was the "seasoned veteran" of the band, while Prince was still new to rowdy audiences.

Prince returns to sing "Why You wanna Treat Me So Bad"-- and it's hard for me not to imagine the lyrics being addressed directly to the crowd-- but the taper yells, "ENOUGH!" someone next to taper in the audience continues booing, and the taper stops the tape. Clearly, the taper did not know that Prince bootlegs would one day be in high demand.

Again, I am discussing this only to shed light on the content of the performance and the audience's reaction. What was their problem with Prince? He had already proven himself to critics with the "Dirty Mind" album and tour-- but I guess this Rolling Stones crowd was a different circle altogether. They seem to have never heard of Prince. Were they THAT offended by the lyrics to "Jack U Off"? Did they have a problem with a black man in front of a multi-racial, multi-gendered band? Why such a hostile reaction? I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this.

maybe they didn't want to see his thong?

chuckecheese said:

I'd argue that.

Seriously though. I've heard the argument that the audiencs was more attuned to the "macho" image of the Stones and didn't have the patience for such a lady as ours. Of course, that argument's crap, because Jagger's the femmest thing since women were invented and any Stones fan with eyes or ears (and maybe even those with both!) can see that.

So to answer, I don't know.

Perhaps Prince was just an artist who was so different and unique at the time, with the possible acception of David Bowie from about 10 years earlier, that the audience didn't know what to make of this guy and his music. Maybe they were just hardcore fans who preferred the Stones' own brand of rock and blues style of playing. Prince could have been too much of a departure from their own kind of taste I suppose.

It is sort of curious though, because The Rolling Stones have always incorporated different styles of music throughout their whole recording carrear. They had even done some funk/dance influenced songs during the '70s as well. They also did punk style songs on their 'Some Girls' album released in 1978.

I wish I knew the reasons for their reaction as well.
[Edited 4/1/08 3:56am]

His opening slot on a Rolling Stones tour, where he was pelted with garbage by disco-hating hooligans, is now part of rock legend. "Don’t say that was because of me," he admonishes, wagging a finger. "That was the audience doing that. I’m sure wearing underwear and a trench coat didn’t help matters - but if you throw trash at anybody, it’s because you weren’t trained right at home." -Prince

This has been discussed to DEATH on this site. And I guess I can see why. I've posted about this on here several times. I remember vividly when this happened. Being out here in So. Cal, where these concerts were taking place, it was heavily advertised about the Stones. But it was never mentioned who the opening acts were. I liked the Stones and had wanted to go, but all of the best seats had been long gone. At this stage, I had no idea Prince was even on the bill. Anyway, about a day or so before the first concert out here, my girlfiend at the time, her father was going with some friends of his. So he was telling me who all was on the bill. That's when I learned that Prince was one of the opning acts. Her dad didn't know who Prince was. So I was telling him about Prince. At this stage, the single Controversy had been out and the album was to be released later that week. I clearly remember this cuz I had checked with the record stores on the release date of the album. Anyway. her father told me that he would make sure to keep his eye open for this Prince because the way I described him was interesting. Well, news broke out all over L.A. before the end of the first concert had even finished that Prince got the shit booed out of him. It was all over the radio. R&B stations were talking about it and of course rock stations were having a field day over it. KLOS, a legendary L.A. rock station which is still going strong, were actually playing bits and pieces of P's set. They were talking about how people were throwing things and how Bill Graham, the famous rock promoter came out on stage and basically cussed out the audience for doing this. It had gotten so much publicity that by the time for the next show, people were bring serious shit to throw at Prince. My girlfriend's father told me the next day what had happened. He said that P was onstage for like 20 minutes and everything seemed cool. He thought the band sounded good. And then he noticed that a few things started flying up on stage, but he didn't see where it was a big deal. People throw shit on stage all the time. But then it got a little more heavy and folks started booing. Then it just spreaded like wildfire and P just walked off stage. Leaving his band up there. I was so surprised that it happened and was let down that it went down like that. So by the next concert, P didn't even get through nearly as many songs as he did the first set, the boos were so strong. Folks now were throwing gallons of orange juice, shoes, whole chickens, the works. Yeah, it made big news out here in the newspapers, t.v. and the radio stations. The dj's on the rock stations were totally laughing, making fun of the situation. People were calling in saying that they had attended the shows and what they had thrown. It was a big circus. I saw then, first hand, on the bigotry and racism in this country and how it still existed. Even in the 80's out here in "liberal" California. I'll never forget that.

On the hand Prince was not a great performer until later on down the line. In one of the other post I remember reading that Dez and Dre were working the crowd at an early show. So in the begin P had to learn some things and maybe those jeers actually helped him in the long run?

blackguitaristz said:

Good Lord.







Live chickens or grocery store chickens?

Hi,

Is there an audio file of the show floating around the web ?

I would like my ears to witness that !

Thanks

Prévôté

chuckecheese said:

Exactly. Although some people always want to make it about race.

duggalolly said:

a rolling stone gathers no moss.

It was very much about race. The majority of white people, not just Rolling Stones fans, didn't even know who the hell Prince was until "Little Red Corvette" in 1982. Just look at so many of the answers on the "When did you first get into Prince" threads right here on the org.

Disco had a multiracial audience but after disco's death, the majority of white people listened to pop/rock stations and the majority of black people listened to R&B/funk stations. Prince was played on pop radio in 1979 because the disco era was still going on. Some of the white people may have remembered Prince from the disco era but not many because Prince wasn't a huge star like Donna Summer. After disco's death in 1979 though, Prince was played on strictly R&B radio and a lot of white rock fans absolutely hated and despised anything remotely resembling disco, which was funk at the time. The whole "disco sucks" movement was started by white rock fans who were racist and homophobic. I never heard any black folks running around talking about "disco sucks" until the shit hop era took over and shit hop itself is a very homophobic genre. Also, in 1980 and on up into 1981 or 1982, a lot of the rock fans were calling any black group disco. Just look how many folks think that songs like The Gap Band's "Burn Rubber" or The Dazz Band's "Let It Whip" were disco songs recorded in 1979. Hell, some of them even make it onto disco compilations for sale.

The reason he was booed off that stage is because he is black and possibly gay. Two types of people that a gang of hicks absolutely hate more than anything else in the world, even though Mick Jagger could be perceived as gay also.

viewaskew said:

Yeah and u know what? I'm one of those motherfuckers that's making it about race.

vainandy said:

I have argued in the past against the popular belief that 'white rock' fans hatred of disco was due to their racism and homophobia. I mean first off, rock music basically came out of the blues and rock acts like The Rolling Stones had spoke about their own love of the blues and of the many black music artists who inspired them from day one. I am sure that most Stones fans were also aware of this as well. Another big reason I say that this was not so(the racism and homophobia) was because of hearing different rock artists, such as Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter, who played with both Steely Dan and The Dobbie Brothers, saying that disco had none of the real drive and creativity that rock music had. He even stated how thankful he was to Springsteen for saving rock and roll music from the overwhelming saturation of disco that had taken over the radio and popular music in general for the past few years.

So I have never fully accepted that racism and homophobia was the absolute reason for 'white rock' fans intense dislike of disco. I think they felt it did not have any of the real drive and passion that rock music had throughout the sixties and early seventies. And this is my take on the entire subject.
[Edited 4/2/08 4:52am]

just listened to this, muthafuckers

DecaturStone said:

Seen any of the shows from the Dirty Mind tour? Guess not.

blackguitaristz said:

Congratulations. Way to waste your time as a bitter, vulgar imbecile. Good on you!

Hooray for Racial Harmony & Progress in 2008!

Snap said:

Actually I haven't only what I have read. Rub it in why don't you

viewaskew said:

Hey viewaskew,...u truly think I give a shit about u calling me some childish bullshit that has no validity? Wake up, u immature fantasy living pu%#@. For u to even suggesst that it WASN'T about race gave your ass away from the jump. So PLEASE, save your phony ass sounding bullshit with this Racial Harmony mess. That doesn't even belong in the same sentence with anything that u say. U think you're fooling folks on here just because you're on a black man's site? I can see right through u, player. U ain't fooling nobody. Anybody to post the shit that u first posted is racist. Only a racist at heart would think that shit and post that shit. But u thought u were being slick, coming sideways with it. Trying to be coy and sarcastic: "Yeah , some people wanna make it about race." Or whatever nonsense u said. It was all about race. Understand view, I can careless if you're a racist. And I personally can give a shit about u. BUT don't think u can say some off handed racist shit by trying to be cavlier and expect to not get called out by it.

For the same reason the Pet Shop Boys would get boo'd at a Tom Petty Concert.

blackguitaristz said:

I've always wondered if viewaskew was a racist or not. I got my answer. I haven't even heard any of the shows and it was obvious it was all fueled by racism and homophobia. It's sad as hell cause shit like this is STILL happening today and we are nowhere near seeing that end if ever. God bless Prince for going through that. I don't know if I could even be there nearly as long as he was.

duggalolly said:

acually I wouldn't want to listen to the tape, it would bring me to tears to think that our Princey was booed onstage

metallicjigolo said:

When did Prince say that?

blackguitaristz said:

AMEN,AMEN,AMEN

I think in the long run P got the last laugh. All the rock and rollers that talked mess about him in 81 were jockin' his purple jockstrap when "Let's Go Crazy" hit the airwaves. "Wow!!..I didn't know he could play guitar like that..I'm gonna get all his records!!"

..And my reaction was like.."yeah whatever".

SPYZFAN1 said:

Mine too. But u have SEVERAL cats on this site that's just like this right now.

You know that's right!..just let them stay lost B.

blackguitaristz said:

So he is a racist because he sees things in a different way from you're own opinion of the situation? It reads to me that you are the one who is really ignorant and intolerate of people who happen not to agree or share your same point of view of certain things.
[Edited 4/2/08 21:49pm]

PurpleJam said:

Ignorant? Yeah right...whatever. Is that the best u can come up with? Apparently so. Very weak to boot..Here's a hint purplejam and all others...When u ATTEMPT to retaliate, (and attempt is definately the key word here) at least have your comebacks on a novice level.