Many of Prince's fans developed during the late 70s mid-80's, before many of you were born. I'm curious as to when you became a Prince fan and why? Especially with all this talk about his new music.

I'm 15 years old and i got into Prince when Musicology was released. The title track was released as a single here in Australia, and it got me curious, so i bought the album. I thought it was alright, and a few weeks later i bought the hits/b-sides and i have been hooked ever since. There is an emotional and intellectual depth in Prince's music that you don't find with many other artists. People tell me maybe i'm a bit obsessed with him, but i know what i like. I have even recently started ordering hard to find cd-s from overseas and have every intention of finishing my collection. Anyway, i hope this answered your question.

I was a sophomore in high school, so that'd be when I was 16 or so (I'm 20 now). I got Purple Rain (the album) and Van Halen's first album as part of a 2 for $20 deal just because I felt like getting into some new stuff. Later on, I got Emancipation and a couple of other CDs as part of this "3 $9.99 CDs for $18" thing at a local wrecka stow (in fact, I've gotten all of his albums at a used/discounted price except for NEWS. That must've been karma.). While I loved, Purple Rain, Emancipation was the proof to me that he was more than a 1-album wonder (yeah, I know, a lot of people don't like it, and it took forever to grow on me). I thought it was some stunningly made music that covered a lot of ground ove rhte 3 hours span. Sure, not all of it was good, but there was a sincere and determined - and hungry - craftsmanship to it that I found charming. Purple Rain also grew on me quickly around this time period, and I couldn't get enough. A year after those purchases, I was RAIDING the local music shops' used bins to find anything I could get my hands on, then filled in the gaps (Crystal Ball, The Black Album) from Amazon.

I'll be 21 in a couple weeks.. The first exposure I had to him was around 3-4th grade ('94 or so). I remember seeing all those advertisements for VH-1 they were called "Movies that Rock" or something like that.. Well one time I was watching tv and one of my mom's friends was over who was in her early 20s. She got all excited beacuse they advertised Purple Rain to be on and was all OOHHH I have to record it! So she asked if I had ever seen it and I told her no. She made me watch it with her and told me I'd reallly like it. She was right! I went and bought the cd new from the record store. It was the first one I ever bought with my own money. I didn't buy the Hits 1/2 until around '99, then bought Musicology when it came out, along with almost every album he's ever made soon after.

I'm 19. 1st exposure was from The Hits 1 and immediately fell in love with the last few songs Thieves, Diamonds, and 7. A few years later we went on a road trip with this same friends and he brought along Crystal Ball, Emancipation, Beautiful Experience, and Girl 6. This music is what made me love him, but because of its explicit nature, I didn't get any of his music until I turned 18 last year(I had a super strict mother).

i'm clueless about composing music. i'm just a fan. i grew up with commercial music for clubs, you know? more like rnb, hip hop club music...all that. i saw a t.v thing with a prince video, in 2003?... it was gangsta glam...rollerskates reminded me of happy days and my childhood, this was when i was 19, a time after discovering how unique and different i am to everybody i have ever met or known because of my wild life..and the song was really cool. later i found out that many artists made prince songs, covers and what not, researching the net, reading about him. he's funky. Good Love.
like those who posted here before me, every prince album i purchased has a wild story of it's own, but i never bought anything via internet....yet!
prince is one compact place for me, and his music is personal, easy for me to relate to.
[Edited 1/22/06 2:15am]

This thread is great, I love to hear of new converts and how they got a taste for the magic. Good on y'all.

I first became "aware" of Prince and his music around 1995... I really liked "Gold" and I rented the album out from my local library (I was about 12 at the time and couldn't afford to buy it). I really loved it... and I felt kinda naughty-school-boy-ish listening to Pussy Control. I remember turning down the volume when I heard my mother coming upstairs. My parents just thought Prince was plain weird back then - they've since been better educated.

I remember buying "Betcha By Golly Wow" when it came out... more because I liked Prince than the actual song... I couldn't afford a triple-disc album though, so Emancipation was a no-go for me.

It was when The Greatest Romance was released when I became a big fan. They used to play that song and it's mixes on Radio 2 all the time. Literally everyday. That was the song and Rave was the album which made me want to buy the rest of his back catalogue. It was also the song which stopped my parents calling him a "poor mans Michael Jackson."

This is why I have such a hard time accepting a lot of the Rave-bashing on this board... I guess this album especially has a lot of happy memories attatched to it for me.

when i saw the alphabet street video on tv so i was 6 when i noticed him

it was exiting for me to discover old albums one at a time mostly from market stalls on casette and listen to them always looking for more

You guys are so sweet....its really touching hearing you express feelings i had back in 82'

Well I don't consider myself young... I'm 32. And I've been a Prince fan for over 10 years now. But I came to appreciate his music just when he was declining commercially.

In high school I was mostly into rock/classic rock. Zeppelin, Beatles, etc. I have every Queen album except hot space. And like most rockers from a small souther town I had real contempt for r and b, pop... pretty much everything that didn't feature a white boy playing power chords.

Anyway, in college my musical tastes started changing, but not drastically. Got into "alternative" and more whimisical stuff... such as They Might Be Giants. Then one weekend...

I was the sound guy for this play the university theater group was performing. The play was "Buried Child", a drama by... Stoppard? Anyway, one of the leads was this huge Prince fan. This would have been about 1993 or so. He loved Prince and wasn't shy about letting anyone know it. The director's wife was pregnant at the time, and we used to joke about what they should name him. Since alot of the action occured in a corn field, and since the lead was obsessed with Prince, we settled on the name for the new kid to be "Owwaah! Corn."

OK, so one night before a tech rehersal, after warmups, I decided to suprise the cast. I purchased the Hits 1/2 and started spinning a few tracks. I think I played Kiss, and then the lead actor asked me to play "7", which I did. What happened next was amazing... it was like that night club in Grafitti Bridge. The whole cast and crew got out on stage and started dancing without a care in the world. Everyone was smiling and laughing... I'll never forget it. And from that moment on I was a Prince fan. The first proper album I bought was the Symbol Album, since it had 7 on it, then D&P, and then on to the older stuff.

So though I subsequently bought every album, and love just about all of them, I am a "modern" fan in that I don't have much use for revisiting the old stuff. I first grew to love him for his post 80's music, and that continues today. I love Emancipation, TRC, and this new single TAC. I also love the 80's stuff, but it's not what I listen to regularly... with the possible exception of SOTT.

This is indeed a great thread. I'm floored by the intelligent answers. Not an airhead in the group. This speak volumes about the depth of Prince's artistry.

I think the first time I became aware of Prince was in '93/'94 at the age of 12. Back then my parents and I didnot have MTV or any other music channel, but there was a half an hour long show on TV that showed some music clips ("hit clip" was the name of the show). And someday it showed "My name is Prince" and although I liked the song very much I was shocked by Prince's outward appearance.
I considered buying the 0(+> -Album but when I read the title list and discovered "Sexy M.F." on it I was a little bit scared and so I didn't buy it.
Next time I heard something from Prince was "The most beautiful Girl in the world" (again on "HitClip"). I bought the Single and though I liked it I forgot about it after some time.

Around '98 I was all in to Hiphop but sometimes I got a little bit bored from that kind of music. So I searched for something new which I finally found in Bootsy Collins' Straight outta P University. I didn't know what "funk" was but I did know that I liked it very much. The next "funk"-record I bought was then the 0(+> Album (after all that Gangsta Rap stuff I wasn't scared of a title like "Sexy M.F." any more ). I must say it simply blew me away. First I liked only the Hiphop influenced songs like "My Name is Prince", "Sexy M.F." but I quickly started to like the other ones as well.
I think my next Album was "Crystal Ball"(which was just released at this time) then "NPS", "Emancipation" and "Rave". After that there was no holding back and I got them all

Until today 0(+> is one of my favourites.

Sorry if I mixed up some of the dates.

This may be a little overboard, but I am absolutely captivated by your answers. I became a fan in 1984 and it is so beautiful and amazing how Prince has inspired you and others across generations. This is so uplifting especially after all the negative posts about his new stuff.

prettymansson said:

that's what i thought also!

great thread.

well,my mom was a Prince fan.I didnt even know she was until i found "come" in storage and tried 2 listen 2 it.Than when I was about 8 I watched Purple Rain...I was SO amazed.I remember I looked 4 the movie everywhere but no 1 sold it or either they were lying 2 me b/c I was 2 young 2 be watching that kind of movie.So I ended up renting it from Blockbuster every week than I finally saved enough money 2 buy it than I went crazy and I started buying anything and everything that had Prince's name on it

I'm 18 years old, became a fan at 16 years old when I saw him come through Birmingham, AL for his Musicology tour. I became interested in him after seeing his Grammy 2004 performance with Beyonce, and then the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performances. After I saw him live, I never turned back. I've been a fan ever since.

I think I've done pretty good for myself! Most people I talk to would think I've been a fan for years...

I just have to say thanks to you young folks for such a refreshing thread.

I've been rolling with Prince for 24 years, but I refuse to become old and jaded. I see each album as a new adventure in the Prince saga.

19
fan since i could remember...he was my first crush @ like...6?
my sister loved him thruout the purple rain era, and that was 2 years b4 i was born, so she was still kinda rollin with it..and she had th PR tape and ATWIAD tape and passed them down 2 me..

always loved him, but was always into poppy things (spice girls and the like)
not realizing that a lot of stuff that i listened to was somehow linked to him (whether it be directly, or just the sound or a sample) and musicology was was roped me back in

i wasn't too hot with the 90s music, only a bit...but i love prince, never gunna stop either

just listening to his music from back in the day helped me realize what else was around back then, and slowly just kept getting more into older music...now it's all i listen to - don't like new music too much

I have been a fan since 1983. I love hearing how the younger generations are discovering Prince! I actually feel proud. I don't think that there are many artists who have been around 20 plus years and are still gaining new (young) fans.
[Edited 1/22/06 15:23pm]

I'm seventeen and have loved him since I was little. I watched Purple Rain when it was on Vh1 and then I loved it when he was on the Muppet Show. I really didn't go crazy though until the summer of 2004 when Purple Rain came out on dvd. Since then I've gone completely purple. I love him and all his music. I can't get enough of it!

uptown26 said:

we've been fans 23 years!

i'm the youngest in my family so everything my older siblings listened too, i took a interest to. My sister was crazy about Prince during his "diamonds and pearls" era so i took an interest and brought his hits/ b-sides cd when it was released. i knew must of the songs already and from then on, just kept on listening....

17

I was watching vh1 classics in like 2003, waiting for Michael Jackson's Rock With You video to come on but When Doves Cry came on first. I thought P was cute so I decided to watch the whole vid, of course the ending won me over. I'm not sure when I started looking for his albums but it took me a while because I had the MJ fever, still do But before that my previous memories were only: thinking Prince was gay and the time I was flipping through the channels and Prince was being asked who would win in a fight between him and Michael Jackson, and P started laughing then I turned the channel because back then I could give two shits less about either one of them, but I do remember thinking Michael would kick Prince's ass

Im 20 years old and my Prince fandom evolved in 3 major phases

1994- My mother and I loved "The Most Beautiful Girl.." and this was my intro to Prince

1999-I discover that my brother owns the Hits 1&2, so I insist he copy them for me. Casual listener--->becomes fan

2000- I bought Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic of all albums (and loved it!!).
Then I began finding so many more albums of his, and I was enjoying all of them. Before I knew it Im losing hours searching the web for rare songs and videos, and swimming in Prince cds! I loved it (and still do).
Fan--->becomes crazy fam

nilegettolrahc said:

Yeah, isn't that cool!!! And 3121 is coming out on my 23rd anniverary of being a Prince fan. I became a fan March 21, 1983 when I saw his 1999 tour show in NY.

I'm 19yrs old and I've been a prince fanatic for 5yrs. When I was just a lil boy my parents used to REALLY be into church. We went like 24/7 everyday all day. Then news broke out that our pastor was actually a con artist and they stopped goin'. It was then that I remember hearing secular music 4 the 1st time. My earliest memory of it was in the early 90's when Prince and the NPG made Diamonds and Pearls and then the Symbol album. My dad used 2 play those 2 albums ALL the damn time when I was little. Then 1 day, 5yrs ago, I was goin through our old cds and cassette tapes and I found the Symbol album. I listened 2 it and it brought back SO many childhood memories. Then I found other Prince cds and I listened 2 them and when I did, I fell in love with them.Since then I've become a pretty hardcore Prince fan--and I shall always be 1, until the day I die.

I'm 22. There is a chain of recrd shops in Britain called Fopp, it's a decent enough record store, but crucially it sells 'classic' albums for a fiver a go. I used to go straight to the back of the shop with about £20 or £30 a week and just buy up old albums, i started with my roots, white indie rock, but quickly started to expand into other genres. I remember I had to make a choice between two Bob Dylan albums, and couldnt make my mind up. I plumped for Blonde on Blonde, but the copy I had picked up was cracked so I went for the one behind, which was actually a copy of Purple Rain. For some reason, I went for that instead and, it went from there to the point where I own almost everything.

I'm 21. I was always aware of Prince, and songs like "1999" and "Purple Rain", but never decided to check him out until I was 19, in 2004. A friend of mine just couldn't stop raving about him, which got me slightly interested, but then that Grammys performance was what did it for me. I immediately dove head first, buying up all the Prince I could afford, joining the NPGMC, and going to both shows he did in Toronto (plus that Much More Music interview!).