That would have to be the moment I first saw his fine ass! I was a just a fan before that. (Mojo made sure of that!)

Seeing him caused the obession. I can't even remember which picture it was, I just know his eyes locked me up and threw away the key!

The night Purple Rain opened - I liked Prince's music before that, but had never actually bought any. I got to the movie early - they played the whole soundtrack before the movie started. Then I watched the movie. A friend of mine had bought the soundtrack and promised to give it to me in a couple of weeks. For the whole week, the music was just going through my head until I couldn't wait anymore - instead of waiting a few more days for my friend to give me their copy, I had to just go buy it. I've been hooked ever since, buying every release, including most maxi-singles, the day it became available (except for the stupid WMA only content at the latest incarnation of NPGMC - I have all prior NPGMC content).

i have always been a fam since he 1st hit the scene but what really got me was my very 1st concert. i had seen him the 1st time on tv singing Dirty Mind wearing nothing but a speedo and a trench coat.I was in the 8th grade and my cousin took me to see the Triple Threat Tour - Prince, The Time & Vanity 6. I was a mess after that.

it didn't start till after i heard Purple Rain. i'd hear Little Red Corvette, When Doves Cry, and Let's Go Crazy on the radio all the time. and i was in love with the song 1999 since i was a little kid, but i didn't know who sang it till i was like 10. I really got obsessed with Prince around November 2003. (yea i'm what u'd still call a newbie). anyways, i was on thanksgiving break and i was down in Nashville visiting family. We went shopping at Best Buy, and i bought Prince's Greatest Hits (as seen on TV). i really only bought it to hear Rassberry Beret and Kiss. That night in my hotel room, i listened to the cd as i was falling asleep. i heard the lyric in Alphebet Street
"I'm gonna put her in the backseat and drive her... to Tennessee." i sat bolt upright in the bed like OMG. I heard the scream to Gett Off and thought "what the hell is this?" well i listend. and then i heard Cream. and i listened harder. i didn't know what was going on.
The next morning on my way to breakfast i listened to Gett Off again, and i swear to God, i've never felt that high in my life. i heard him say
"Let me show u baby i'm a talented boy." and that was IT.
the rest, as they say...is history.

Christopher said:

that is hilarious! Yes, I'd definitely say if you thought New Power Soul was the best cd ever, you were officially obsessed (although to be honest with you, when I first heard it, I thought it was his best album since 'Come'). I really enjpyed reading all of your responses. It never ceases to amaze me how many different ways/times in his career that Prince has gained new die-hard, obsessed fans. But what surprised me was that no one talked about the magazine 'Controversy'. When I placed my first subscription order to Controversy magazine I think that action officially proclaimed that I was obsessed. Any other 'Controversy' magazine subscribers out there??

-phunk

the moment i became a prince freak was when i decided 2 musicology...i found a site that had the whole album 2 listen 2 (plus a shit load of other prince albums) and i spent that whole night just groovin...get my mind blown to smithereens! it was incredible..i still remember the first time i heard i hate u and i literally sat @ the comp eyes bulged mouth open...or the first time i heard temptation...heart racin the whole time...or the first time i heard parade and strollin...snappin and relaxin..ahhh sweet memories..

I can't really pinpoint it, but it was sometime after going to the Lovesexy '88 concert in Worcester Mass-which was Heaven on Earth IMO- and my first listen to the Black Album. Hearing 'So, you found me...good, I'm glad..." and I was like 'This guy is the bravest MF on the planet. His scrapping of the release of the Black Album just after 300,000 copies had been sent out(mostly to Europe I think) was all part of his plan to bring us underground: to lure us to him, not him to us, to a place where he could have more freedom...boots baby!
I have been a diehard fan ever since.

Like others, it sort of happened over an extended period of time. I had taken a casual interest in Prince around 1998. I got The Hits 1 for Christmas because I liked the song "1999". I was also reading Miles Davis's autobiography and I was surprised to read that he loved Prince's music. So that's sort of how I started.

However, if there is one defining moment, I'd say it was listening to "Strange But True" for the first time. I'd never heard a song like that before! It was so futuristic, so emotionally powerful, so sophisitcated etc. It was everything I was looking for musically but didn't know it yet! I think from then on I considered myself more than a casual fan and now six years later I'm still just as hooked

I was 13yrs old I just moved and went to a new school I met a die hard Prince fan who recorded a tape of dirty mind that was it I was hooked.

I remember buying I Wanna Be Your Lover and I was hooked. But I know I became obsessed when I was watching one of his videos at night and the next thing I knew the sun was coming up and I didn't even realize I had stayed up all night.

In 1984 I saw When doves cry video-i was 15 and was just starting think about sexuality and there HE was:my total sexual fantasy and more..i´m still on that trip.P is a wonderfull person -a true funk soldier.

Purple Rain got PUSHED into my ears in 84/5... didn't think of it either way, didn't love it, didn't hate...
Finally seen the movie and got the soundtrack...which I liked much better as an album...THEN I picked up ATWIAD..didn't hear Raspberry Beret yet, just picked it up on the merit of Purple Rain.
What a surprise...altho I was only 10 or 11, it was still impressive, but did YET quite get it...
Then I remember the eve of my 12th birthday I'm ready for bed and they premiere KISS on the radio and i think THAT was THE moment..Parade was a TRIP..but STILL not quite got the whole Prince thing. .by the time Sign O The Times came out I was beyond obsessed. It was truly that album that did it.. Then Lovesexy, and THEN I got a hold of a cassette of The Black Album followed by the rest of the circulating boots.. the old albums, it all kinda sewed in the deal and really mapped out this Prince thing for me and here I am 20 some years later STILL anticipating EACH release..
And the cool thing about Prince is when I get one of his albums I KNOW I am gonna LOVE it!!!!

ufoclub said:

..um....I 1st bcame a fan when I saw da "Little Red Corvette" video on Solid Gold.I bought everything he did.After the Gold Experience I stopped.But I still dig dat old stuff.

Just something about seeing the "Little Red Corvette" video -- his style, music, power, funkiness, etc. After that, I got 1999 and played it over and over and over and... I was hooked at that moment, and collected everything I could for years.

Well I can't remember the exact moment but growing up in the Twin Cities you kinda grow up on Prince so I already loved his songs on the radio...then I don't know why but I bought Purple Rain when I was twelve because I liked the singles off of it I heard on the radio. After I listened to the whole album I was like this is the best music I ever heard! Some of it I recognized from the radio but I liked every single song on the album!!! So I really wanted to see the movie so I rented it and then I was like I have been a huge Prince fan ever since!!