Gett Off when I first heard it. During my first hearing, on the radio, it was only when I heard the words 'Paisley crib' that I realised who I was listening to.

RitaQoS said:

I'd say Bob George was a surprise! Gett Off was different, but for me it was not a big surprise.

Oops, the whole thing i typed seemed to get lost, when i did push the 'post' button..

In short here was what i was trying to say at first.. lol

The song: Sometimes it snows in april

The reason: at the moment when i first heard it i only owned Sign, ATWIAD and Parade, and the general impression those records gave me Prince songs are often about genre-blending, creative use of sounds and rhythems and a somewhat 'theatratical' delivery.
When i first heard 'Sometimes it snows in april' i thought: wow, i didnt know he is capable of delivering this kind of songs too! I mean, it was totally acoustic, still a bit theatrical in the vocal delivery, but much more introspective then most of his material.
When i later bought his earlier records i discovered he has done this kind of folky, singer-songwriter stuff from the beginning (crazy you and so blue on the For You album), i also discovered he was influenced by Joni Mitchells music. But when i heard Sometimes it snows in april for the first time, it was indeed a really fresh, and exciting experience.

The whole "Come" album, it was a little too graphic for me even from Prince!

I think Prince has tried and tried to sound streetwise, and fallen flat on his face nearly all the time (probably one of the reasons I like him).

The one any only time I think he lead the way in sound, fashion and style was when he released "When Doves Cry". The whole world lapped it up.

SquirrelMeat said:

Kiss?
Sexy MF?
Cream?
1999?
Batdance?
Pussy control....

housequake

"Wedding Feast", anyone?

My Name is Prince.

I really thought it was shocking at the time, and a real surprise. It just sounds cheesey now !

Everywhere from TRC. Just because by the time I'd heard it I had over 20 prince albums, so to hear a new genre style from prince, and a different use from his horn players, really blew me away. Still love this song!

ufoclub said:

I'm always surprised at what he does next! Thats one of the reasons I love him, but 3 Chains of Gold shocked the pantr off me
I was like 'when did Prince meet Queen'?

Most of the 3121 album, especially 3121 itself. The first time I heard it, it sounded a little strange.

surely 'what's my name' even borders on being 'Public Enemy' at times!

I'm Yours, 'cause the rest of the album is totally different.

Lol, funkyhead, makes me think about Dance On, the fast guitarriff near the end is almost speedmetal.

Next to that, there's a reggae / ska-ish like bridge in the song Crystal Ball that sounds very much like a Police-riff.

I just love those little 'surprises'

Right The Wrong

I was just sorta going


Is this Country Funk?

When I first heard "Joint 2 Joint" from "Emancipation" I was like then then !!!

Strollin' was a departure from the normal Prince sound and When The Lights Go Down. Both were pleasant surprises WTLGD is still one of my all time favorites.

Big Tall Wall really surprised me

P2daP said:

it's straight up modern country like Garth Brooks.

Segue.

like most of the emancipation cd

"My Name is Prince" really surprised me at first. I loved it but I never thought he would try to mimic rap, which I know he disdained. He even sampled and looped himself for that song and subsequent music. Plus I wasnt used to hearing him sound so openly braggadocious.

Black Sweat. Good god this surprised me... in a good way. Favorite Prince song ever

when I bought the hits I was a new fan at the time so, all of the discoy stuff (soft and wet, I feel for you, I wanna be your lover...) really shocked me. I was like what? no way? this is him? I've come to appreciate it all since but still I was very very shocked.
Solo....was a big shock...impressed....but shocked non the less.
then after that I'd have to say courtin' time shocked me alot cause I'd never heard that from him b4 and I quite liked it.
the truth album shocked me...cause there was just no warning for that...didn't see it coming.
seems most if not all of my shocking moments were pleasent shockings

"Bambi"

Ufoclub, Right the Wrong is definitely not straigt country like Garth Brooks, it is a modernized Big Band-style song akin a lot to Duke Ellington.

I often get irritated to see people labelling that song as country, when its has not a single country element in it, it has probably to do with the 'redneck voice' at the beginning, musically speaking this is transformed Big Band jazz.

The Same December on Chaos and Disorder is also sometimes labelled as country, which is totally wrong also, its Princes take on Southern Rock als performed by the likes of the Allman brothers, a kind of band that mixes blues and rock and roll.

Prince has never released a straight 'country song' in any way, its often about people confusing southern and boogiesh elements with country, well, that isnt country. But when i must go for the most obvious example, its Purple Rain, in essence that song has the chords and structure of a country song, therer are also quit a lot of country-artists, who covered that song in a very country-like style. For comparison material: listen to the country-rock ballad 'Take me with U' from the Jayhawks.

Definitely Gett Off for me.
When I first heard it on the radio it just sounded so utterly and completely off the wall and different to everything he'd done before.
A complete change of style which has lasted to date - that modern hip hop sound had never been done by him before then imo.