I was a teenager when I got in2 Prince, but then, so was Prince!

Now, most of the "young'ns" here at the .Org were born way after the Purple Rain dried up and we saw any of the Signs O' Time.

? 4 the Young Peeps...what brought u 2 Prince?...was it ur parents? Ur uncle or aunt? Or was it the Parental Advisory label? (heh heh)

It's something I find simply fascinating...lemme know.

(I changed the title and some words here 4 the 20-somethings...)

(that's y there's this! )
[This message was edited Fri Jul 19 0:40:25 PDT 2002 by June7]

I really fell hard for "When Doves Cry" a few years ago, after hearing it on Vh1. I downloaded it and basically played it until my sisters nearly killed me.

I got back into him when I was a junior in high school because my best friend and I treated Prince like a big joke. We thought he was funny, esp. the way he was so candid about sex. She introduced me to "Little Red Corvette" (it was then that I realized 1999, a favorite song to be played at dances, was by none other than the Artist). By the way, she had heard about Prince from her older brother. I bought "Purple Rain" at Tower Records for 9.99 this year but didn't open it until nearly a year later. This was also the year I first read "Purple Reign" by Liz Jones.

My full-blown obssession began when I started college. I liked him well-enough, but after seeing "Purple Rain" in my American Popular Music class and discussing Prince in an intellectual manner with a respected professor, I began to really admire him and his music. That night I listened to "Purple Rain" for the first time, all the way through.

I eventually went on to write two final papers on the movie, for which I had to watch it countless times. I eventually began buying his albums, posters, vinyls, etc off of eBay (Santa Cruz can be somewhat of a mainstream vacuum). Here I am, 10 months later, still as crazy about him as I was when I first heard "When Doves Cry."

I could ably sing along to When Doves Cry and Raspberry Beret and Kiss and 1999 before I even knew who Prince was, because the songs were played so often on the radio as I was growing up.

I was 10 when Diamonds And Pearls came out, and its singles got very heavy rotation on the radio here in New Zealand.
Again, I knew the songs before I really knew the man.

This 'knowing the songs, but not knowing the man' continued until I saw him on Oprah in 1996, and that's when I finally started to learn about him, and began buying his albums.

So that's how it worked with me.

I dont call me teenager anymore (24years) but im one of us who found Prince's music quite late.
Like Natsume said, for us also it started first as a joke. He was so funny, especially the sex-thing. We mostly listened to Symbol-album and we were just laughing to some of the pop-opera stuff at the endpart of album... then at some point (pretty soon) i started to listen to the album at home with earphones and noticed that its not joke. Actually this sounds something which could be really good..

Then, next i borrowed SoTT and I was just amazed. It wasnt funny. It was just great pop music. Pretty soon i started buying albums, some of them took more time to open. Like Dirty Mind (which is one of my favourites) sounded really funny at first, when U listen to it around -94!

Unfortunately, my friends didnt follow. They still consider him as a joke somehow, but they do respect him also. Bcause of my lectures about his geniousness, i guess.

For few years i was totally fanatic about him, cause i was listening mostly to the 80's stuff, which was new to me. Slowly I started to realize that some of the 90's stuff is actually pretty poor. I almost lost my hope, but then came Rave Un2, which one i really liked (unlike most of U) and now the TRC.

Its funny to think that it started as a joke. But so it was, and i think thats the case with many of us younger fans.

I'm 18 and my first real Prince experience was the Gold video. I bought TGE, then Purple Rain, and after that I don't know, one after the other!
[This message was edited Thu Jul 18 8:37:16 PDT 2002 by calldapplwondery83]

I got into him through Miles Davis. My Dad's drummer lent me Miles' autobiography & I read it. Miles continually mentioned Prince saying how talented he thought he was & I thought 'if miles thinks hes good, he must be'.

Id heard Prince before & dug it but never really got into him. I was 8 when I first heard him playing Get Wild on top of the pops.

So any way, my Dad also told me about Prince & advised I got an album. I bought Parade first. Couldnt get into it for ages but eventually began to see his point. Bought Sign o the times after that & I was hooked.

Later I began to find out that he plays all these instruments, amazingly well & writes hundreds of great songs. Hes a huge inspiration to my own music now. My goal is to play & write like that

God bless

Lewis

I watched Purple Rain on TV about ten years ago and then I started to like Prince, also a relative of mine was also a big Prince fan and he used to let me watch Prince videos whenever I visited and would show me all these cool picture records. But I sorta forgot about Prince untill last summer when we went to this bar where they were playing loads of 80's music and Prince was played a lot. Then all these songs got stuck in my head so I began to buy his CDs and checking out his websites.

I asked the same question to a girl at a recent show who appeared younger than many of the attendees. (She was 26). I've found out that the O-+-> album was the one that got her interested.

Prince's artistry WILL trnscend generations as long as there are people who want something different and appreciate music as an art. Even non-believers don't dispute his genuine talent.

herbthe4 said:

Game on to you. Get in there.

GoldiesParade said:

I gave it a shot. I'm 35. It was just a coincidence that she happened to be beautiful. Really.

I got into Prince because my older brother (12 years older) listened to him, and liked him. That's how I was exposed. I got hooked on his Purple Rain tape about 3 years ago, and went out and bought The Hits - 1. Less than a year later, I went to my first concert...I've been hooked.

But not to fam status, mind you.

herbthe4 said:

Well done you dirty bastard.

GoldiesParade said:

hey, she was much older than Mayte. I learned from the master.

herbthe4 said:

He picked Mayte up at a concert, I see your plan now. Wise man.

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

Sure now Battier. We believe you.

We know you've got a sand dollar tucked away in a special place to give to Prince when the time is right.

i liked his voice when he spoke. but then after watching the interview again, i relazied i was putting someone's else sound to his mouth. i went to the library and took out his cds and started downloading his songs.

at age 13 or 14, i became really interested at the idea of producing,composing music. due to my lack of resoruces and money and connections, i tried to search the internet for some clues on production,etc. i kept finding a site about prince and the 2 producers janets works with. at the time, i didn't know who they were but that's the only site about production i could find. that site also gave some address,etc.

Prince had always been around and I always enjoyed his music whenever it came on the radio or MTV or whatever. He always stood out in my mind. I also graduated high school 1999 (making me 21 and not a teenager but from looking at the other posts I think it's okay) so I got to hear that song ALOT at school assemblies. I wanted to buy an album for the longest time but didn't know which one to buy because there are just so many.

Finally I bought the Hits 1 and 2, both of those CDs have helped me through many a late night paper writing marathon, and became interested in hearing more of what he's done. Those two Cds have served as sort of a sampler set for me and I am proud to say that my collection has since expanded.

As a side note, the first naked male bum I ever saw was Prince's when he wore those assless pants at the MTV Video Music Awards. Talk about making an impression!

It's funny really, cuz the 1st time I heard Prince, I thought he was a girl, it was from the song "I Wanna B Ur Lover", and he says "I wanna be ur mother and ur sister 2", naturally I thought, k...how nice.

Then I saw the album cover (it was my sister's), and I went...uh..hmm, there's something wrong with this boy! But I loved the groove! I was hooked, but not hardcore.

I really got in2 him when 1999 came out. I was a junior in High School, and "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" were getting heavy rotation on MTV. It was so raw. I loved the overcoat, the dance moves! I was hooked, but not hardcore.

Then in 1984, we got "Purple Rain" in the cinema. I had already heard the song "When Doves Cry" from the radio, and I was floored! I loved it! Then the movie hit, and 4get about it...I was hooked, and I was hardcore!

I've been a "Prince-Fam" ever since.

I don't have any sand-dollars, nor have I been 2 any celebrations, or 2 Minneapolis 4 that matter, but I have invested a great deal of time and money on my music collection, and I have been inspired by his writings and style. More so in the past, not so much by what he's been doing now. I'd like 2 see him return 2 the radio, like it was when I was younger, but I'm okay that I have him on my cd player.

So far, so pleased...it's been a fun ride.