Ok, here's the thing. I grew up in the era where Britney Spears and all the chessy boy bands were in. Don't get me wrong..I actually liked Britney Spears and N'Sync (I was a little kid...sue me, but as it hit the 2000s, i grew tired of the bubblegum pop songs. Britney Spears didn't have the same effect on me...so I discovered Christina Aguilera who is so overrated. And then, I heard of Purple Rain. It was playing on VH1 and I wanted to check it out but I missed it. So I bought the tape...and I fell in love with the Purple One. His music was different...a little bit rock, a little bit of funk..you get it. And his voice was different. It had a soft but hard touch to it..I can't really explain. And of course, I was drawn to his falsetto. I fell in love with all the songs in Purple Rain and downloaded all the songs on it. I listened to my parents CD, Musicology and Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic. I discovered Parade and 1999. Eventually I discovered his associates..Sheila E., the Time, Wendy & Lisa. I fell in love with all of them. Am I the only post-80's baby who feels like a missed out on some good music? There was so many good music back then..even hip-hop wasn't so bad then. But I cringe at modern hip-hop because all it talks about is getting shot, getting high,etc. And music...music rarely means anything to me today. Well, thank goodness for Alicia Keys and Ne-Yo but besides them...

The Purple Rain era was amazing.


Michael Jackson can be faulted for many weird personal excesses, but his contribution to the excitement stirring in the music industry can't be refuted. Lagging record sales pre-Thriller totally picked up afterwords. Folks were excited about music again.

The buzz unfortunately also came with a great deal of glam. It wasn't so much about talent back then as it was about whether or not you had a gimmick--the flashier the better.

This was the environment Prince exploded onto the music scene with. He was just as raunchy (and more) than Madonna, just as much a showman as MJ, just as much a perfectionist as Springsteen, and so much more.

The unique thing about this period is that Prince was doing and trying things that nobody else...at least no big name musicians had tried--fuzing jazz, dance, funk, rock, classical and anything else in between into his music.
There was NOTHING out there at the time that sounded like ATWIAD, Parade, SOTT and LoveSexy. When you bought a Prince album, you simply couldn't confuse it with anything else. He was amazing.

With each record, he seemed to reinvent himself musically. With each record came a new look, and new buzz, and tons of b-sides and maxi-singles. And each album dropped no more than a year's time after the previous one.

Prince albums used to be real events.



I do miss those days.

Fortunately music can be a part of your today...I sit here this morning listening to an Oldies rock station...where many of the songs were released during the early 60's...and I hadn't been born yet...

Finding music that makes you happy is enough to fill a lifetime...Fortunately, I was 18 when The movie, "Purple Rain," was the talk of the town...and it was a great musical era, for me...especially carrying the great feeling from the 70's Disco and Motown groups...as well as the great Rock-n-Roll being released at that time...

And still, I look forward to listening to music from the 40's and 50's....along with anything great that will be released in the upcomming decade...

83-84 were good times (and i image 80-83 but I was too young) but by '85 there was already a backlash and by '86 prince was already "out". 1987 was spent trying to explain to friends why SOTT was a great album, late 1987 was all about hunting down the black album and related boots..and then it was all downhill starting with the Lovesexy cover,.. the tour was fun tho.

The 90s were a mess with a few pockets of brilliance but I cant shake the pain of trying to defend embarrassing forays into rap and hip hop and... .shudder... "Grafitti Bridge"

The '00s - a few interesting tours but overall -meh
[Edited 8/12/08 8:47am]

dmariearies said:

Aww Dont Bii Sad. Im Sure Every Young Person Who Likes Prince, That Wasnt Around 2 See The Purple Reign, Wishes They Had....I Know I Do.

Yeah, I know how you feel dmariearies. I'm a post-80s baby myself [born 1990] and I find it amazing how music has turned to mostly shite, and how "successful" some "artists" have become.

Britney Spears didn't have the same effect on me...so I discovered Christina Aguilera who is so overrated.


I meant to say underrated...the girl can sing way better than Britney Spears.

dmariearies said:

I feel the exact same way...i was born in the early 90's and disn't really discover prince's music until I was 15. Before then I knew who he was, I had just never really heard any of his songs. One day I was sitting in the car with my dad and he asked me "have you ever heard of prince?" and i said yes but i had never heard any of his music. My dad then popped in the Purple Rain CD and i absolutely fell in LOVE with it! After that, I remember going to stores and hunting down every prince album I could find...i then discovered Dirty Mind, Controversy, 1999, SOTT, Gold Experience... Prince's work just captures everything about music that I love! I just wish I could've been around to witness the whole purple rain era...

I expeirienced the Purple Rain era and it was amazing. I wish everyone on this board could have been there for it. Hell, I wonder all the time about what it must have been like to expeirience Led Zep's heydey. Well, I was around but I was just a tot.

Imago said:

The senior citizen alert just went off...