There is so much hurt, guilt, and pain in these stories



Prince, we sacraficed for you!

First I went hmmmmm, then WOW.

Mine was pretty funny. I'd landed a bunch of coupons to a music store because of the grades I'd earned in high school (it was really cool -- do schools still do that?) and was eager to blow all my cash on records. They were still records, back then. CDs were just beginning to gain popularity.

So, I hit the record store with my dad. He knew I was a big Prince fan, and probably had seen the cover before. He knew I was straight and into girls. I was cool with the whole Prince androgyny thing -- even had a friend back then who patterned himself after Prince (clothes, hair, makeup, everything).

But, when you're there and picking up that great, big album for the first time. And, your dad is standing right next to you, it feels a little weird...

Luckily, I bought a number of records that day, so Lovesexy got sandwiched between "Introducing the Hardline," "Bad" (LL) and a few other LPs.

Weeks before it was released, the press had already mentioned that Prince was nude on the cover. When I entered the record store, I was expecting it to be wrapped in brown paper to cover it up. When I picked it up, I told the clerk (who was a friend of mine)....."What the hell is the point him posing nude if he's not going to show his dick. Hell, he might as well have his clothes on because you can't see a damn thing.".

vainandy said:

I bought the cd months ago actually, the inner circle thingy w/e was chipped so i was already pissed (though i replaced jewel cases with some other cd of mine). Then i put it on my computer and saw that there was one track....i was like "WTF?!?" then read the cd and it said "songs are in a continuous sequence." So then i went to bearshare and downloaded the individual songs.

Well, I don't have a interesting story about the first time I purchased Lovesexy, but I did make a point to seek out a wrecka sto in Firenze on my honeymoon (and first trip overseas), for the sole reason that I could finally get the German tracked version, and finally 'emancipate' myself from the "Songs in a continuous sequence" chains on the US version, and listen to "Lovesexy" without having to fast forward to 22:42 or whatever it is/was!

Um I don't remember purchasing it...but oddly enough I do remember being a kid and finding it at the library after I had read about it but never having listened to it I was curious...it sounded like...perfect Prince pop...I can't describe it but I remember I was quite taken with it! Dancing all over my bedroom.

i was out of town (in houston) and i did not think it was out yet. but when i got back to El Paso i stoped by a record shop. and there was a sign that said you had to ask for it at the counter... so i did. and the cute girl said "we keep it back hear becase he his naked" and i looked at it and said "yeah he sure is"

I heard the album was banned in some stores in the US,it was something we
in Europe couldn't understand..or was it sooo shocking???

A day be4 it's release a newspaper put in a big picture and I thought;
is this what all the fuss is about!!

It was my first album I bought on CD and also on vinyl,it was my intention 2 keep on buying all P-albums on both,CD 4 the better quality and LP 4 the bigger cover.It didn't last..
I didn't like the fact the CD was one-track.

I know some of my friends found the cover ridicilous and made jokes..but I didn't care,I was so in2 Prince..they just didn't get it

Still one of my absolute fav,great songs,great sound...this IS Prince!!!

I first experienced Lovesexy 3 years ago, at christmastime. I found my copy at the nearest record store and when I put this on my disc changer, after hearing Dance On, I was mildly disappointed and immediately took the CD out. A week later, i put it on again and I was pretty mindblown by the whole album. I mean, whatever Prince was going through back in 1988, might've been something a little bit special. It isn't one of my favorite albums by P, nor is it one of his best albums, but it was a great album. My fave tracks were Glam Slam, When 2 R In Love, and Anna Steisa.

I bought it at Kmart, and the record kept making the needle bounce and skip because of the bassline on "I Know". So I exchanged it, and the new one didn't skip.

I bought my Lovesexy album from a place called Rock and Soul.. it's right across the street from Macy's in NY... i didn't even know that the album was coming out that day... i saw a big crowd looking in the window and people was buggin out saying all type of crazy shit.. so i approached the crowd to see what was going on and low and behold the whole window was wallpapered with the cover of the album... yo i lost my breath i was like damn my boy has lost his mind.. and i walked in the store and bought it.... i was kinda asahmed to show my family the cover when i got home..

Never had I had so many funny looks in my life. I bought it in 2003 and all I could do was stare at the cover..then I bought it and still quite satisfied

Well, the first time I picked it up was from the library (I think it was on tape). But I doubt it that the library personnel hadn't become used to it already by then. When I finally bought it as an original copy for myself (I just had the tape copy for ages) I was already a grown man, and buying an album with a cover picture like the one on LoveSexy was no big deal.

I don't understand why Americans had such a problem with the cover.I still do think it was really pure than shocking, as U can't see nothing.I even think U have 2 B perverse 2 imagine what U can't see.4 me it's just a sexual maniac speculation.I just wonder 1 thing: If people imagine the worst, is that because their twisted minds are able 2 think about it, so maybe they R the most perverse.(?)

i stole it.

Even though I bought ATWIAD, Parade, and SOTT the day they came out, I waited on Lovesexy. I was 18 and my friends ripped me enough as it was just for liking Prince, let alone buying an album with him naked on the cover. So I waited I think like a week or so. After hearing Anna Stesia on the radio, I was like, I HAVE to get that. Went to the record shop walked around the Prince section like 20 times, then finally picked it up, along with another record and put LS on the bottom. Go to the clerk, he rings up the 1st one, then got to Lovesexy, looked at me and laughed HARD outloud. I was like, ok, please just ring the thing up. He said no problem...its a great album...but we both agreed he should've done a different cover. He said he'd seen people do the same thing as me...walking up and down the asiles but a lot of them chickened out. He said it was like buying porn or condoms. But one thing it definitely weeded out the true fans from the posers.
However, I think it, no question, hurt the sales of an otherwise good album. I am no prude, and I understand that it reflected the mood of the album for you, but damn Prince, I don't want to see you NAKED! Chalk another one up for Prince's brilliant career moves .

lefrenchfam said:

oh lawd.
I bought lovesexy twice. First on tape in America where I got a few looks.
Then in 1993 on CD, in GERMANY and got the same kind of stares.

The 80's in America were a very conservative time. I mean, they started labeling records with "Explicit lyrics" stickers becuase Prince said "Masturbating". But I didn't find Europe to be that much more liberated, other than drugs, porsutitution, gambling, drinking, gay rights, and overall governmental policies.



[Edited 5/27/06 16:01pm]

Jackeblu said:

It did hurt the album sales. But I think it's one of the most brilliant album covers every. I mean, who else with Princes..erm..exposure would have done something like that?

The only thing better than the store clerks reaction was mine when I put the record on. I said he's lost his mind. I loved it.

I bought it on cassette from the local record store. No problem at all.

I did find buying the following album slightly embarrassing (I assume the other eight people who bought it did too):



True story.
[Edited 5/28/06 5:55am]

JudasSmile said:

My Beauty???

I honestly don't remember. It was probably at a mall record store. And I bought the cassette. I remember being excited about it...
That's about it.

jerseykrs said:

How 'bout for a 14 year old suburban white girl?
That tour was actually my first all ages show at First Avenue.

Cheek said:

Guess who bought it too

Online though
That album only sold about 500 copies and was the reason for the demise of Creation Records in 2000. (Oasis had to go out and find themseslves a new label)

PANDURITO said:

Cheek said:

Hey! If it wasn't for me he'd had only sold 499!

I was a great fan of the Dexys

PANDURITO said:

Come On Eileen!