i was wondering, do you think that prince has ever bought a bootleg of his own material? im aware that he records almost every note he plays i.e rehersals, aftershows and concerts but do u think that he has ever aquired a bootleg purley out of interest (e.g to get an idea of the audience standpoint, or to read the sleeve notes etc...). i wonder if he laughs when tracks are named incorrectly. personally i think that he has aquired bootlegs in the past. im not sure if he would still do it. i would suggest that he himself is the creator of some bootleg cd's.

i think his favourite bootleg is 'Small Club'.

I think he has. He confessed that when he was younger he used to collect "every note James Brown played" and spend a lot of money on bootlegs.

Around the time of the Black Album back in 88 there were press reports in the UK of Prince wearing a disguise going around Carnaby Street in the UK asking stores if they had any bootleg copies of it ... dont know if he actually brought one or not though ???


Love Pochacco

Pochacco said:

yes i heard he did that as well. however, i heard that the album he was inquiring about was 'chaos and disorder'!!

According to the clerk at the local used store in town Prince walked in one day and took all the boots of his that they had in stock and told them that if they sold them again he would go after them legally.

The clerk swore that Prince actually went into the store himself.

I found this out after I asked what happened to all the Prince boots.

lovemachine said:

well if the store clerk had put the cd's on the top shelf, then p wouldnt of caught a glimpse of them!! just kidding.

howcomeudontcallme said:

Ouch!

That was funny!

lenny kravitz once walked into the famed "revolution records" in nyc and confiscated his own stuff. truly unpresidented. it's been captured on the "are you gonna go my way" video...

on the prince tip, it was once debated as to whether or not he had a hand in secretly releasing some of his stuff. i even once heard the manager of glam slam minni. acuse (in a friendly way) prince's manager of knowing all about some of it (especially "small club")...

personally, i've always thought that bootlegs were one of best things to happen to his career. in the late 80's they were instrumental in creating a HUGE underground fanbase. and whether he wants to admit it or not, that fanbase really helped him through some of the rough times...

also, i feel that, as the times have changed, so have the fans. you don't hear about "outtake" bootlegs too much any more, or a demand for them. perhaps this is due to support for the npgmc. true that there are still many live ones coming out, but in all honesty, they are relatively harmless. back in '93, prince (then tafkap) himself told concert goers to "next time bring a tape recorder". well, they is...