How does this happen?? I went out with my girlfriend tonight -- she's quite a bit younger than I... and our conversation turned to music. I started telling her about a musician that I really liked (I haven't played any Prince music around her up to this point). I asked her to guess who it was. I started mentioning songs: "Little Red Corvette" -- she shook her head no -- "1999" -- no -- "When Doves Cry," "Purple Rain" -- no -- so I asked, "You mean to tell me you've never heard of the movie, Purple Rain? -- she said no -- so I continued... "Kiss" -- she said, "yeah, i've heard that song, I think" -- I asked, "with a man singing in a high-pitched voice?" -- she wasn't sure.

SO... how do you live in the United States for more than 20-years now and have never heard of Prince or any of the above songs??

Nevertheless... just think of this great opportunity I have to introduce her to the musical-flavorific world of Prince.

yeah, most of my daughter's friends...they're are like 8 and 9 years old.

I wouldn't let her play with any sharp instruments.....seriously.

i haven't met anyone who is THAT clueless about prince, though i did used to work with someone who had never heard of david bowie.

Make that everyone I'm surrounded by. Save for one.

They're 18+ years old and have never heard of Prince, much less a song. NEVER HEARD of David Bowie, Queen, Guns N' Roses...I could give you a laundry list.

I would try to innoculate them with musical taste, but it seems they enjoy being completely ignorant. So I get frustrated and don' even try.

i'd venture to guess that a lot of the kiddos haven't...

older people will know him, thanks to all his "scandals" (reponsibility for parental guidance stickering & the like)...

Most Radio station Jock's in the UK....

Most DJ's in the UK who play the clubs...

So mostly people who no fuck all about music anyhoos... no harm done then.

Nah, not really but I remember this one time in 1985, when Bruce Springsteen was the hottest thing going. A bunch of us flew up from Houston to Dallas for his show at the Cotton Bowl.

I was walking through the airport when I heard a 40-something businessman on the phone tell his wife, "My plane was full of people going to see some guy named Bruce Bopstein".

Bruce Bopstein? LMFAO, I haven't stopped laughing yet.

True story:

I was at the bank here in DC and the teller was trying to flirt with me by saying he wished he was taller (I'm 5'9") and i said well at least your not as short as Prince. He said Who's Prince? I said "The singer"... You know Purple Rain...

Nothing...

Well no, but I once met a girl from Minneapolis who didn't know Prince was from Minneapolis as well.

"Oh, Prince is from Minneapolis? Cool."

In a casual conversation earlier this year, I was telling a girl at work that I was a big Prince fan and she was like "Oh, Prince, yeah he's cool" blah blah blah. I sometimes play some Prince stuff at work (usually some of the newer stuff) and everytime I tell her it's Prince she says something like "It's OK, but I prefer the old Prince" - which is fair enough...

Anyway, a few days later I told her I couldn't work one particular night because I was going to see "Purple Rain" on the big screen. She replied "Purple Rain?? What's that?"... I had to explain the whole thing about it being Prince movie like the 8-Mile of the 1980s etc, etc. So then I started listing other songs like "Kiss", "Raspberry Beret", "Little Red Corvette" etc - she didn't know any of them!!

I just found it funny that someone in their early 30s who claimed to like the old Prince didn't know didly-squat about him.

Maybe she was a closet "For You" fan and loved it so much she vowed never to listen to him again

The lil country ass girl on American Idol.