What if you'd never seen the movie Purple Rain? How would you feel about Prince then? I mean i know there are a lot of fans here who were fans from before PR, but PR did introduce Prince to the masses. If it hadn't been for PR, many people may have never noticed him.

And secondly, doesn't PR influence our opinion of him a little bit too much, simply because of the autobiographical touches in the film? Just look at a thread like this (http://www.prince.org/msg/7/109230) about Prince being a jealous obsessive person. In Purple Rain, he IS jealous and obsessive towards Apollonia. But if we hadn't seen the PR, would we even discuss that subject?

What would life be like without Purple Rain?

I'd still be WAY into him

I know PR ain't autobiographical, they just like to say that. Take a look @ the mom in the film & you know how many liberties were taken

PR is a great thing to have on my boy, but without it there would be no GB & that would be great

I've never seen it...

though I've been a fan for over 13 years, have all the released albums and hundreds of unreleased tracks, plus the live DVD and two VHS tapes.

Funny huh?

I've always thought it's an embarrasing film.
And I'm his biggest fan around ...around my house,that is.


More or less like trying to watch Xanadu without blushing all the time
(just the thought of it)

Though I only saw it on TV so I'm still buying the new DVDs

So he would've had this catalogue:

For You
Prince
Dirty Mind
Controversy
1999
Around The World In A Day
Parade
Sign O The Times
The Black Album
Lovesexy
Batman
Graffiti Bridge
Diamonds and Pearls

Come
The Gold Experience
Chaos and Disorder
Emancipation
New Power Soul
RAVE Un2 The Joy Fantastic
The Rainbow Children
N.E.W.S.
Musicology

Yeah, I'd still be into him.

Heidi said:

I would not have been quite as fascinated as Prince, at least until the release of SOTT. I was only 12 during purple rain and only 15 or 16 during SOTT so his pseudo-philosophies and spiritual ponderings seemed much more profound than absurd or eccentric, so I think I would have still been fascinate by him, but not until SOTT.

What intriqued me about Prince, in addition to the persona he painted in Purple Rain, was how different his music was from everyone else's music. Truly unique.

i got into prince before ever seeing pr. i'd still be the same.

I have never seen Purple Rain and I have been a Prince-fan for 20 years. I have never seen him live, just listened to his music and seen some concerts from tv.

I have just been thinking about borrowing the Purple Rain-dvd from our library (where I work) so maybe I can tell my opinion of his jealousness after that but now as I haven't seen the film I'm just saying that maybe it's the character and not Prince himself that's jealous, who knows...

Sometimes I think it would've been better for him if Purple Rain hadn't been made, then people would come to know that he likes to have fun with music and isn't into making hits. Maybe they would stop calling Purple Rain his peak, as if it's something to be reached for again or something to be repeated. Purple Rain is really one album out of at least a dozen other great works of art by Prince.

Anyway, 1999 made me a fan -- he had me for life after that one no matter whether he followed it up with a Purple Rain or not.

PANDURITO said:

Did you just compare Xanadu to Purple Rain?

I vote to have your Org license permanently revoked.

to this day i hate the movie
i wish i'd never seen it
i just liked morris and jerome crackin one liners all of the movie

squirrelgrease said:

...and i like xanadu. it ain't as kick-ass as pr, tho'.

i was a fan b4 i saw the movie so it wouldn't amtter
but i guess i wouldn't like the album as much

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Now I've heard it all.
Gore Vidal is right

I think both the film and the album are overated. The album is good but nowhere near as good as Sign O' The Times, Lovesexy or Around The World In A Day, and some of his earlier stuff is a lot funkier and I find I am in the mood for it a lot more than Purple Rain. The film on the other hand is laughable, and I only brought because I am a completist. So I guess that if prince didn't make the Purple Rain movie there would be two less things that I didn't like about his work, because no Purple Rain would me no Graffiti Bridge!! Doesn't sound that bad really does it?

I think that Prince's popularity as a lot less to do with the Purple Rain movie and more to do with the fact that the man is a genius!

PANDURITO said:

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

...right click - save picture as...

@ the Kiss It pic!

//

Really though, Prince's influence extends beyond his adventures in zeitgeist.

My first exposure to Purple Rain the album was at least 12 months into being a fan, and the film, well I'd say 18 months, if not 2 years - it was not a factor in my fandom of the music - really.

I was a huge Prince fan long before "Purple Rain" ever came out. I loved the "Purple Rain" album also before I ever saw the movie.