Now, don't throw bricks or tomatoes at me pls ...I actually did search the 'google custom search' beforehand and even asked in chat, no clarifications in either.

What is the difference between The Org and The Purple Army?

I am asking because some comments in threads will say stuff like 'looks like some of the Army has joined too.' And a YT post specifically comments 'for hardcore army members only'. Plus the obvous things like separate FB and twitter pages. So...stands to reason they are not one and the same? But why not? Shouldn't it be one Purple Army...marching for the same cause...supporting Prince/his music...? Seems like a bit of a divide, us vs them ...or is that just a observation of mine since returning to the org after wayyy too long.

Prince.org is a discussion forum on the Internet. It has existed for almost 20 years. "Purple Army" is just some dumbass expression that seems to have caught on recently, but it has nothing to do with how we here have referred to ourselves (we call ourselves "orgers", if anything). I can't really recall the term "Purple Army" having appeared here too often. Even the term "fams" appears here more often.

If someone were to refer to Prince fans as the "Purple Army", I'd be almost inclined to think that person has not been a Prince fan for a very long time.

[Edited 8/16/16 2:05am]

NorthC said:

Didn't Hannah Ford use that term once?

Like I've stated, someone that hasn't been a Prince fan for a very long time would use that term.

I know how long the org has been around, while I wasn't here at the beginning I was here over a decade ago Couldn't remember when I started hearing Purple Army start to be used. I dunno if I would go so far to call it stoopid or dumb. Londell even made the call to the #PurpleArmy when announcing to mark October 13th on the calendar for the upcoming tribute. So many celebrities have a name for their collective fans. I love fams/purple family and use that myself, but I don't have an aversion to the Purple Army. I like it specifically because it addresses the size...the amount of worldwide Prince fans where some people are clueless about it. Hopefully we will continue growing & recruiting new generations/fans so it continues on and on

THank you, always thought the term purple army was ridiculous, especially considering how anti war Prince was, I am sure he was not fond of it.

The definition of army isn't specific to the military.

' A large number of people or things,typically formed or organized for a particular purpose.

eg: An army of tourists.' Or in this case, people who support Prince.

leadline said:

THank you, always thought the term purple army was ridiculous, especially considering how anti war Prince was, I am sure he was not fond of it.

I agree with Novabreaker. I´ve never heard the term Purple Army being used by true Prince fans who´ve been into his music for a long time.

However, I disagree with what you said above because Prince DID indeed use the term "army" to describe his fans in one of his songs.

Lyrics from Letitgo ( on the Come album):

"4teen years and tears I've longed to sing my song
But a horse couldn't drag your ass to put me on
But now I've got an army and we're three million strong
This song will ring in your ears when we are gone"

Read more: Prince - Letitgo Lyrics | MetroLyrics

rogifan said:

I always figured Purple Army just meant the legions of Prince fans all over the world. I'm sure not every die hard fan is a member of the org.

I agree

KoolEaze said:

leadline said:

THank you, always thought the term purple army was ridiculous, especially considering how anti war Prince was, I am sure he was not fond of it.

I agree with Novabreaker. I´ve never heard the term Purple Army being used by true Prince fans who´ve been into his music for a long time.

However, I disagree with what you said above because Prince DID indeed use the term "army" to describe his fans in one of his songs.

Lyrics from Letitgo ( on the Come album):

"4teen years and tears I've longed to sing my song
But a horse couldn't drag your ass to put me on
But now I've got an army and we're three million strong
This song will ring in your ears when we are gone"

Read more: Prince - Letitgo Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Exactly, I don't think he was against the term. Fans...now there's a term he did not appreciate and took to clarify multiple times.

I've been a fan for almost 2 1/2 decades, but I disagree with people claiming what 'their' idea of what a true fan means (been into his music a long time, as stated) because that negates younger generations of fans who weren't around to enjoy his music then, but perhaps found themselves joining the fan at a later date. Not sure where this 'us above them' nonesense came from, but I don't think it has any place in a community of Prince supporters.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the first group of music fans to refer to themselves as an "army" Kiss fans? No knock against Kiss fans, I would just think Prince fans would prefer something slightly more original/unique.

Personally, I think someone came up with the term Prince's 'Purple Army' as nothing more than a cliquish marketing ploy in the same vein as Beyonce's 'Beyhive' or Lady Gaga's 'Lil' Monsters' or Justin Beiber's 'Beliebers'.

Prince's legions of fans exist far beyond any titles or trends.

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

There doesn't even exist a fan club or a website called "Purple Army", as far as I know.

Unless someone comes up with a fan club and / or a website called "Purple Army", and they become hugely popular, there's no reason to refer to Prince fans with that word.

For that matter, the term is obviously derived from "KISS Army", which is a fan club for KISS with very active members that put together meetings regularly and have run dozens of websites. They've actively promoted KISS for decades. If I've understood correctly, defending the band from the people who hated them was a big part of being a KISS fan back in the day, and that's most likely one of the reasons they came up with the "militant" association.

I'm pretty happy just calling myself "a Prince fan", because I'm, you know, an adult and fine with liking Prince's music a whole lot.

KoolEaze said:

leadline said:

THank you, always thought the term purple army was ridiculous, especially considering how anti war Prince was, I am sure he was not fond of it.

I agree with Novabreaker. I´ve never heard the term Purple Army being used by true Prince fans who´ve been into his music for a long time.

However, I disagree with what you said above because Prince DID indeed use the term "army" to describe his fans in one of his songs.

Lyrics from Letitgo ( on the Come album):

"4teen years and tears I've longed to sing my song
But a horse couldn't drag your ass to put me on
But now I've got an army and we're three million strong
This song will ring in your ears when we are gone"

Read more: Prince - Letitgo Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Thanks Kool, forgot about that line.

I'm sure I only noticed it being used for the first time around early 2014 (the UK hit and run shows with 3rd Eye Girl).

It's a symptom of these days of social media hastags I think.

"Prince fans" does me just fine as a description.

EDIT: or am I getting that muddled up with #PrinceArmy

[Edited 8/18/16 7:35am]

novabrkr said:

jayspud said:

novabrkr said:

There doesn't even exist a fan club or a website called "Purple Army", as far as I know.

Unless someone comes up with a fan club and / or a website called "Purple Army", and they become hugely popular, there's no reason to refer to Prince fans with that word.

For that matter, the term is obviously derived from "KISS Army", which is a fan club for KISS with very active members that put together meetings regularly and have run dozens of websites. They've actively promoted KISS for decades. If I've understood correctly, defending the band from the people who hated them was a big part of being a KISS fan back in the day, and that's most likely one of the reasons they came up with the "militant" association.

I'm pretty happy just calling myself "a Prince fan", because I'm, you know, an adult and fine with liking Prince's music a whole lot.

I think I'm still a HouseQuaker at heart, have never used the term Orger. Purple Army or Prince Army is huge on other social media. The Prince Army, for example, has over 30,000 members making it much...much bigger than the Org.

The OP's original comments strongly implied that people should just stop posting here. I found it rather disrespectful, considering how long this site has been up and how long the regulars have contributed to the threads here.

I admit that I wasn't aware the "Prince Army" page had gotten so many likes recently. However, the Facebook format not really suited for discussion in the same manner as it is handled on "traditional" discussion forums.

In any case, the expression is borrowed from KISS, and I agree with the previous poster that Prince fansites should be a bit more original with their approach.

novabrkr said:

jayspud said:

novabrkr said: I think I'm still a HouseQuaker at heart, have never used the term Orger. Purple Army or Prince Army is huge on other social media. The Prince Army, for example, has over 30,000 members making it much...much bigger than the Org.

The OP's original comments strongly implied that people should just stop posting here. I found it rather disrespectful, considering how long this site has been up and how long the regulars have contributed to the threads here.

I admit that I wasn't aware the "Prince Army" page had gotten so many likes recently. However, the Facebook format not really suited for discussion in the same manner as it is handled on "traditional" discussion forums.

In any case, the expression is borrowed from KISS, and I agree with the previous poster that Prince fansites should be a bit more original with their approach.

Absolutely, there is room for all sites. I first started posting on Alt.Music.Prince back in the day. There are many hundreds of sites dedicated to Prince on facebook. I think you're right that the discussion format is different here and things remain on the front page lonegr than they would on facebook. I would however probably state that Facebook tends to be more positive that the Org generally.

Regarding originality obviously Housequake, the Org aren't particularl original, the content is the main thing. Certainly Princevault leads the way in this. I think the term was just a way to describe the followers of Prince especiallly during the HitnRun Shows, it proved popular and is very widely used on Twitter and Facebook. If truth be told, I really think the Prince world might benefit from another very popular discussion forum such as Housequake or the Org, a little spreading out might not be a bad thing.

rogifan said:

I always figured Purple Army just meant the legions of Prince fans all over the world. I'm sure not every die hard fan is a member of the org.

I know his manager used the term so I'm sure he was aware of it. I'm cool with this place (clearly or why be here) but I'd rather be associated with the purple army than the org tbh given the outside perception and the shenanigans of late.

LuxLove said:

rogifan said:

I always figured Purple Army just meant the legions of Prince fans all over the world. I'm sure not every die hard fan is a member of the org.

I know his manager used the term so I'm sure he was aware of it. I'm cool with this place (clearly or why be here) but I'd rather be associated with the purple army than the org tbh given the outside perception and the shenanigans of late.

It's interesting you say that. I have met people and that probably includes me that are happy to use the term Purple Ar,y or Prince Army but feel reluctant to identify as being an Orger, I not really sure why that is but it is.

novabrkr said:

jayspud said:

novabrkr said: I think I'm still a HouseQuaker at heart, have never used the term Orger. Purple Army or Prince Army is huge on other social media. The Prince Army, for example, has over 30,000 members making it much...much bigger than the Org.

The OP's original comments strongly implied that people should just stop posting here. I found it rather disrespectful, considering how long this site has been up and how long the regulars have contributed to the threads here.

I admit that I wasn't aware the "Prince Army" page had gotten so many likes recently. However, the Facebook format not really suited for discussion in the same manner as it is handled on "traditional" discussion forums.

In any case, the expression is borrowed from KISS, and I agree with the previous poster that Prince fansites should be a bit more original with their approach.

You are saying OPs comments strongly implied that people should stop posting here and that it was disrespectful. I am the 'original poster of this thread. Maybe U should go back and re-read that original inquiry because nowhere in that post did I say people should stop posting anywhere. I simply am curious as the division between the Org and the Purple Army. That's it. That's all. Not sure how that was disrespectful...

LuxLove said:

rogifan said:

I always figured Purple Army just meant the legions of Prince fans all over the world. I'm sure not every die hard fan is a member of the org.

I know his manager used the term so I'm sure he was aware of it. I'm cool with this place (clearly or why be here) but I'd rather be associated with the purple army than the org tbh given the outside perception and the shenanigans of late.

I share some of those sentiments too. Not solely with the seemingly apparent The Org/Purple Army division, but there also seems attitude of some of the, um, long standing 'orgers' that comes off quite negatively. Another 'us vs them' feeling which again, I wish it wasn't the case. I still maintain it should be 'one man, one army' <legion, overall group of supporters>. United. An actual sense of community.

.

Positivitiy YES

Have U had your plus sign 2 day?

jayspud said:

novabrkr said:

There doesn't even exist a fan club or a website called "Purple Army", as far as I know.

Unless someone comes up with a fan club and / or a website called "Purple Army", and they become hugely popular, there's no reason to refer to Prince fans with that word.

For that matter, the term is obviously derived from "KISS Army", which is a fan club for KISS with very active members that put together meetings regularly and have run dozens of websites. They've actively promoted KISS for decades. If I've understood correctly, defending the band from the people who hated them was a big part of being a KISS fan back in the day, and that's most likely one of the reasons they came up with the "militant" association.

I'm pretty happy just calling myself "a Prince fan", because I'm, you know, an adult and fine with liking Prince's music a whole lot.

I think I'm still a HouseQuaker at heart, have never used the term Orger. Purple Army or Prince Army is huge on other social media. The Prince Army, for example, has over 30,000 members making it much...much bigger than the Org.

I like being a member of the org <the negativity around here aside> but I wouldn't ever say 'Orger' just sounds strange, no one would have a clue what that means

But I'd proudly state I'm part of the Purple Army though. Ain't no clarification needed.

jayspud said:

novabrkr said:

The OP's original comments strongly implied that people should just stop posting here. I found it rather disrespectful, considering how long this site has been up and how long the regulars have contributed to the threads here.

I admit that I wasn't aware the "Prince Army" page had gotten so many likes recently. However, the Facebook format not really suited for discussion in the same manner as it is handled on "traditional" discussion forums.

In any case, the expression is borrowed from KISS, and I agree with the previous poster that Prince fansites should be a bit more original with their approach.

Absolutely, there is room for all sites. I first started posting on Alt.Music.Prince back in the day. There are many hundreds of sites dedicated to Prince on facebook. I think you're right that the discussion format is different here and things remain on the front page lonegr than they would on facebook. I would however probably state that Facebook tends to be more positive that the Org generally.

Regarding originality obviously Housequake, the Org aren't particularl original, the content is the main thing. Certainly Princevault leads the way in this. I think the term was just a way to describe the followers of Prince especiallly during the HitnRun Shows, it proved popular and is very widely used on Twitter and Facebook. If truth be told, I really think the Prince world might benefit from another very popular discussion forum such as Housequake or the Org, a little spreading out might not be a bad thing.

I so agree with your sentiments here! Having something 'catchy' on social media catches the eyes, and hopefully interest of new people. Spreading out, can also inspire new people to join in, which is never at bad thing at all We want his music and legacy to live on, and bringing more people in is definitely how to do that.

And FB does seem more positive than here. Sorry that this place has such an obvious 'air' about it