What was the reaction of your parents when they first heard the likes of "Darling Nikki" and "Erotic City" etc blasting through your bedroom door when you were young. Did they go ape shit or were they cool with it?

It’s a long story when it concerns my parents because I was partially raised by my grandmother on my mother’s side. She kept me every weekend, all summer long, and every holiday. In other words, the only reason I lived at home with my parents was to go to school. My grandmother lived on one side of town and my parents lived on another (in another school district). If school was out for any reason, I was at my grandmother’s house.

Anyway, my grandmother bought me all my records growing up to keep me entertained while I was staying with her. My stereo and all my records remained at her house and at home I had a boom box and homemade tapes that I had made off my stereo. The reason is, my father, who I have not spoken to since I graduated high school in 1985, is the most racist bastard I have ever seen in my entire life. If my records (which are 99 percent R&B) had been at home, he would have destroyed them. He was so racist that me and my siblings could be watching reruns of “Three’s Company” after school (a show that does not have one black person on it) and he would have a problem with that. Why? Because there would be commercials for black gospel albums during the show. He would come in and say “What are those niggers doing on that TV?” I would say “That is a commercial, we are watching Three’s Company”. He would make us turn off the TV until the commercial went off and turn it back on again when the show came back on.

Now that you know the background, now to the Prince part. When I first saw Prince on “American Bandstand”, I didn’t know what color he was and didn’t care. My grandmother bought me my first Prince album “Dirty Mind” and when she saw the album cover and the name “Prince”, she thought he was Freddie Prinze. I’m just telling you this so you can see how people can easily be fooled by race if it’s not a big issue to them. You’ll understand later when I get to my father’s reaction.

As far as my mother is concerned, she listened to radio period. Whether it was pop, R&B, or country, she listened to it all. However, that’s all she did was listen. She wasn’t into music enough to go out and buy the songs that she liked and she really didn’t know who sang which songs. All she knew was she liked the songs. She liked a few Prince songs such as “Controversy”, “1999”, and “When Doves Cry”. She really didn’t have a problem with Prince except for one time. She wanted me to make her a tape and she was looking through my records and came across the “Controversy” album because she liked the song. She threw an absolute fit when she read the song titles such as “Sexuality”, “Do Me, Baby” and especially “Jack U Off”. Other than the nastiness, she had no problem with Prince whatsoever and I never heard a bad word come out of her mouth about him once I became an adult.

Now for my father’s reaction. The only music he listened to was country and classical. He hated rock music because he considered it “white people’s nigger music”. As far as R&B music was concerned, his term was “nigger noise”. Anyway, one Saturday I was at home because I was going skating that evening which let out at 1 a.m. (too late for my grandmother to take me) and my mother was going to drive me and pick me up afterwards. That Saturday, Prince was scheduled to appear on “Solid Gold” and I was not going to miss that. I was telling my sister about it and she said “You know he will raise hell if he sees it”. I said “Fuck him, he won’t know what color Prince is. He’ll think he’s white”. Anyway, when the show came on, my father walked into the room right in the middle of Prince’s performance. He immediately said “What’s that nigger doing on that TV”. I said “He’s white”. He said “You dumb ass, you don’t know a nigger when you see one. Not only is he a nigger but he’s a queer also”. I thought to myself “Well, you can’t fool a racist bastard”.

Anyway, that’s my story if you bothered to read all of it. Hey, you asked.
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[Edited 7/20/06 8:51am]

goosebumps said:

That's an interesting story, sounds like you had a hard time with your dad.

I was looking through my mother's scrapbook and saw her marriage certificate. I noticed I was born 8 months later. I excitedly asked my mother "Mama, were you pregnant by another man before you were married!?" She said "No, you were born a month early". I said "Damn!".

The bastard's my real father though. I have his stubborness.....just in a totally opposite direction.

goosebumps said:

My wife can't stand the sight of her mother and she'd never seen her birth certificate before, so she sent for a copy of it from the registrars, she was so disapointed to find that her mother was indeed her mother! She was hoping to find another name on it.

DiscoballStallion said:

It sounds like she likes some of the music but just has a personal thing against Prince. Make her the compilation of religious Prince songs but don't tell her who the artist is. Let her play it over and over until she starts to love the songs. Then tell her it's Prince.

It’s a long story when it concerns my parents because I was partially raised by my grandmother on my mother’s side. She kept me every weekend, all summer long, and every holiday. In other words, the only reason I lived at home with my parents was to go to school. My grandmother lived on one side of town and my parents lived on another (in another school district). If school was out for any reason, I was at my grandmother’s house.

Anyway, my grandmother bought me all my records growing up to keep me entertained while I was staying with her. My stereo and all my records remained at her house and at home I had a boom box and homemade tapes that I had made off my stereo. The reason is, my father, who I have not spoken to since I graduated high school in 1985, is the most racist bastard I have ever seen in my entire life. If my records (which are 99 percent R&B) had been at home, he would have destroyed them. He was so racist that me and my siblings could be watching reruns of “Three’s Company” after school (a show that does not have one black person on it) and he would have a problem with that. Why? Because there would be commercials for black gospel albums during the show. He would come in and say “What are those niggers doing on that TV?” I would say “That is a commercial, we are watching Three’s Company”. He would make us turn off the TV until the commercial went off and turn it back on again when the show came back on.

Now that you know the background, now to the Prince part. When I first saw Prince on “American Bandstand”, I didn’t know what color he was and didn’t care. My grandmother bought me my first Prince album “Dirty Mind” and when she saw the album cover and the name “Prince”, she thought he was Freddie Prinze. I’m just telling you this so you can see how people can easily be fooled by race if it’s not a big issue to them. You’ll understand later when I get to my father’s reaction.

As far as my mother is concerned, she listened to radio period. Whether it was pop, R&B, or country, she listened to it all. However, that’s all she did was listen. She wasn’t into music enough to go out and buy the songs that she liked and she really didn’t know who sang which songs. All she knew was she liked the songs. She liked a few Prince songs such as “Controversy”, “1999”, and “When Doves Cry”. She really didn’t have a problem with Prince except for one time. She wanted me to make her a tape and she was looking through my records and came across the “Controversy” album because she liked the song. She threw an absolute fit when she read the song titles such as “Sexuality”, “Do Me, Baby” and especially “Jack U Off”. Other than the nastiness, she had no problem with Prince whatsoever and I never heard a bad word come out of her mouth about him once I became an adult.

Now for my father’s reaction. The only music he listened to was country and classical. He hated rock music because he considered it “white people’s nigger music”. As far as R&B music was concerned, his term was “nigger noise”. Anyway, one Saturday I was at home because I was going skating that evening which let out at 1 a.m. (too late for my grandmother to take me) and my mother was going to drive me and pick me up afterwards. That Saturday, Prince was scheduled to appear on “Solid Gold” and I was not going to miss that. I was telling my sister about it and she said “You know he will raise hell if he sees it”. I said “Fuck him, he won’t know what color Prince is. He’ll think he’s white”. Anyway, when the show came on, my father walked into the room right in the middle of Prince’s performance. He immediately said “What’s that nigger doing on that TV”. I said “He’s white”. He said “You dumb ass, you don’t know a nigger when you see one. Not only is he a nigger but he’s a queer also”. I thought to myself “Well, you can’t fool a racist bastard”.

Anyway, that’s my story if you bothered to read all of it. Hey, you asked.
.
.
[Edited 7/20/06 8:51am]

What was the reaction of your parents when they first heard the likes of "Darling Nikki" and "Erotic City" etc blasting through your bedroom door when you were young. Did they go ape shit or were they cool with it?

goosebumps said:

I dont want to talk about that.....


My dad got over it (eventually...)

wendyrachel said:

Did they go mental?

goosebumps said:

I was singing the lyrics to Darling Nikki way before I even knew what Masturbating meant - and I just so happened to be walking past my dad in the kitchen at that Crucial point in the song - he nearly fell over with shock - 3 years later I nearly died of shame realising what Id done all those years ago

cringetime..

wendyrachel said:

The reason I metioned these 2 tunes in the thread was because I remember my parents initial reaction to these 2 in particular. My mam said do you know what he's saying?.....I went a bit red.....!

goosebumps said:

My mother was cool with it - my dad found it a bit weird!!!

Goosebumps - are you welsh? dont be offended by my asking - its just the way your phrasing your words (your probably from america and Ive just got it totally wrong)
You dont have to answer me if you dont want to - im not crazy or anything!!!!!

wendyrachel said:

I'm English. I've probably watched too many US sitcoms. ha, ha!

goosebumps said:

I thought you were welsh!!