I'm just wondering for you male orgers if you could shead some light on something for me what it was like to be a Prince fan back in the day. I don't mean for this to sound like a offensive question because there is nothing malicious about it's intent but I'm just simply curious. When Prince first started out and he played with androgony, and people thought he was gay and well...he is just naturally effeminate (even though we know he is absoulutly NOT gay) did people assume you were gay or bisexual and you were a guy that liked Prince back in those times?

Krystal666 said:

YES.....but I never said I didn't like Prince. Even to this day. It still happens and I'm a fan since 1983. I'm 36 now. And that is one wife and four kids later.

xt1000 said:

Holy Shit!! I bought 1999 in 1983 and I have been obsessed ever since. I'm 36 now and Have one wife and four kids. I've have taken much abuse but have never faltered on my Prince obsession. Very strange we are living prallel lives.

You know, even though I know Prince has alot of gay male fans I actually can see him having alot of fans that are lesbians too. He is defiantly a type of man that gay women could be comfortable around and even really LIKE!

roanmairin said:

Erm.....No we are not.

I'm sure it was different for folks in their teens and college years. Hopefully someone from that age group can chime in this thread.

I was 7-12 during the major purple days (IMO 1980 - 1985).

Then it was more cool to dig Michael Jackson, and oh how the times have changed. Prince was innovative, but even his stuff wasn't easily dancable. I mean, how do you get your groove on to guitar music. I'm sure some did, but it was easier to dig Michael and Madonna then. And Prince was "such a gaylord" then, too. for the most part it was cool for me to dig a song, but it would have been social suicide for me to dig prince the entertainer.

He wasn't adrogynous, he was a faggot. Now, don't blast me for that, that was how he was generally seen. Ironically enough, Boy George was cool and accepted, but Prince, nah. He was too bi for the world. I guess.

Because of that it was somewhat difficult for someone of my age at the time to dig prince's music. Personally, I thought his tunes had more to say than Michael or Madonna, but that wasn't either here nor there for the times.

When purple rain hit and the movie thereafter...aww shit, it was on to be into prince. "that motherfucker still acted a little "odd" but at least he was fuckin that Appolonia bitch, and she was hot." -- That soon became the copout for diggin prince, he was into appolonia so he had to be cool, in an odd girlish kinda way.

Soon afterwards, the market became somewhat saturated with andogynous looking acts and prince seemed to fit right in with his odd ways of dress and behavior. By then, it was around 1985 or so and ATWIAD was dropping. It was easier to say you dug prince, but I still played it safe and included his name among others when asked which singers I liked.


Around 1986, I didn't give a care whether or not people thought digging prince was weird. Hell, all the better. I liked other artists, but at least I could say that Prince was still around in '86 when most early 80 acts had faded in obscurity.

Well wrote

My parents thought I was gay purely through my liking for Prince !!

I can see now why they would in some way, I ate, slept and breathed Prince. My bedroom was covered in Prince posters and I bought nothing but Prince music.

That was between the ages of 14 (when I first became a fan) and 18 !! However, I got more ridicule from school - but then I always thought that was schoolyard banter.

I did get a slap once because this guy who adored Chaka Khan wouldnt accept that Prince did "I Feel For You" on Dirty Mind years before !!

I never lied or denied or even hid being a Prince fan though.


I think Bros fans probably suffered more than Prince fans !!!!!
[Edited 2/24/06 14:54pm]

Well for me being a girl and becoming a fan during the /Diamond and Pearls era I guess it was a little bit different for me. I think it was pretty obvious to people at that time that Prince was into women but I wanna be your lover video...well I know I would have thought he was gay if that is all I knew of him.

But for me I guess girls just looked at me werid when I said I wanted to marry Prince when I grew up. They were like "Ewww but he's a girl" and "Omg no Krystal he's gay. You can't marry him"...they just didn't get it! I guess for me it was like I dont' know...I think it is eaiser/more accepted to be a girl that likes Prince than a guy that likes Prince. I'm sure some of you dudes out there got hell for it unfortuantly. God people can be SOOOO stupid sometimes.

Look up 8 posts, even 7. This shit has been done before. Lock it. Or move it to general discussion. It's is so gonna go of topic.....

I dont really think I got hell for it.

Some of my previous girlfriends around the 80's found it sexy too !!

carlpenn said:

That's what you get for not knowing which album it was on.

.

My first record I bought was 1999 in '83. To me Prince was the coolest of cool. I think his look was much more accepted then than it would be today. Guys wanted to be Prince and girls wanted to sleep with him.

langebleu said:

..Yeah, everybody knows I Feel For You was on "Controversy"...








please note this post was a lame attempt at humor...carry on...

I'm 39 but when I got into Prince he was just emerging with the albumn 1999. It was after Purple Rain that I became the fan that I am now.

I don't think people especially at this time thought about the Gay issue because Prince was the shit at this time...maybe as some of the commercial luster wore off around ARTWIAD then there were some questions

I think Price being effiminant has always hurt his ariplay somewhat and it certainly doesn't help him now on the charts anyhow in this ridiculous macho driven hip hop era. Black Sweat could be a hit but only if the young hip-hop generation endorsed it and doesn't appear that they can do that

How else to explain an artist like Pharell and Andre doing Prince music and succeeding but Prince can't seem to get Black Sweat played
[Edited 2/24/06 21:24pm]

Well, for me, it never bothered me at all that he wore the make-up or dressed like he did. I was like a Boy George fan. I thought it was "mysterious". Being just a teeny-bopper when I first came out, I had no clue what he was saying with the lyrics, etc., cuz I was WAAAAAY too interested in the music and such...

1nonly said:

Glad you got over the machismo crap. I know that most of the world today in the music biz is still run by men with the minds of adolescent boys, to whom the word "fag" is just an insult, etc., and it's still happening today, but in a different way.

ImYours said:

I remember in 1988 when I worked for the CA State gov't, and I would always argue with this one chollo about Prince, and one day he mentioned to me that if Prince wore clothing like The Time did, he would be more acceptable. I think it's too funny when these gangsta bitches try to think they act all cool and ishnit, but they really p*ssies deep down.

I didn't really cared. Just loved the music (still do).

ImYours said:

Shiit I feel gyped....all that flair and sass and the little fucker aint even gay.

roodboi said:

Now thats why I should not have a bottle of wine before posting threads !!!!! .....DOH !!!!

I was thinking 3 things at once.....Which any lady knows a man can only do 1 thing at a time.....lol

It was on 1999 right ????? .....


[Edited 2/25/06 16:21pm]

I caught some Hell for being a Prince fan in "public". After I got older the same MFs that was on me about Prince was listening to him too.

They would have thought I was gay whether I was into Prince or not.

It was an entirely different scene back then than it is now which is a rediculous thug look. Everyone that I knew that was into Prince was mostly black males and they loved Prince. Most of the black females I knew loved Prince but not near as much as the black males.

Most white people had never heard of him yet. I remember when Prince made his first appearance on "Solid Gold" which was a lot of white people's first exposure to Prince. Two white guys were talking in school Monday morning saying "did you see that faggot on Solid Gold Saturday night". Three black football players jumped up and were ready to kick some ass. By the time "Purple Rain" hit and Prince was everywhere, people never really talked about him because androgony was everywhere that year.

Krystal666 said:

Girl, what Prince are YOU talking about? Can't be Mr. Nelson. Because he's gay as hell. We already decided. Carry on..

ImYours said:

Actually, there's a reason for the quotes in what I typed. Believe me, that was the general consensus around where I lived in the early to mid 80's. That was not my thoughts...I thought dude was cool and mysterious. I dug that he never said anything and what little he did say was mysterious and different. His music spoke for him big time back then and most of the talk on him came from him not saying ANYTHING about it, leaving it open-ended. It was on purpose, of course, but folks not in the know didn't realize this and made it all to easy to label him as queer, a faggot, a gaylord, what have you. Me? I personally dug his style and his music. Nuff said. Oh, and I still do today. Dude's still a cool motherfucker.

He wasnt gay or androgenous. He just didnt give a fuck. He really listened, and payed close attention to his heart. It had nothing to do w/ homosexuality. People who said that kind of stuff were either ignorant or turned on/provoked and trying to deal w/ it. Remember when Tony Montana said " I always tell the truth. Even when I lie."? Thats Prince.