wow, 20 years old, where'd that go?!. I first heard the UK premiere on Simon Bates Radio 1 show [UK] and i had never felt that way about a new Prince song since. There was NOTHING else like it around, the lyrics, the stripped down music, the voice, the emotion. WOW. Of course i taped it and played it to death. How about you?.

funkyhead said:

i thought... OMG Prince has a new song! and then i thought... people really need to hear this... so i played it for everyone i knew and they were like OK ENOUGH!

i don't remember hearing it on the radio!

i bought the single the day it came out, and i think it was around then that i didn't listen to radio anymore, i just watched videos (back when you actually had tv stations that PLAYED videos).

i don't remember anything from SOTT getting much airplay at all until the 'u got the look' single came out.

i never even saw the video for SOTT until years later.

well i got the 12" as soon as i could and drove home like a mad man and put it on... i was blown away. it gave me a queasy feeling like i was losing my balance that it was moving in time and space. my arms felt thicker. and all i could do was stand there and let it play over and over.

*ran the spell check*
[Edited 3/1/07 10:55am]

One of the UK radio stations played Sign O The Times on the day of the London bombings July 05. I remember being in my office reception when it came on after the news had come through. That song became something else for me when it was completely summed up with that depressed resignation (Oh Why? Sign o the times...)
[Edited 3/1/07 12:00pm]
[Edited 3/1/07 12:01pm]

Wet.

I also heard the debut of SOTT on the Simon Bates show all those ears ago I was a young kid sat alone in an empty house - we had just bought a new house and my dad had asked me to sit in it all day, no furniture or anything, just waiting for services to be connected etc. all i had was one of them old radio's with batteries, no tape etc. I heard SOTT echo around the empty shell....WOW!!!! I remember Simon Bates going on about the reference to AIDS (big disease with a little name) and how daring it was as it was a while before even AIDS became big news. Something tells me he played it twice as he was that impressed...don't think i could forget hearing it that first time if i tried.


(p.s.) I've been a member of this site for ages yet this is my first post, despite so many times spent thinking to myself 'Say something!!!' Strange how an early memory can trigger you off!!! I'll probably not shut up now!

Oh...I also remember the radio debut of Gold, although I'd already heard the song on the album hundreds of times, it came on the radio, I started singing merrily and.....I smashed my car, complete write off!!! Not likely to forget that either am i?

I didn't like it, but I never like anything of his the first time I hear it



Smooches;)

I was in the back seat with my best friend and my brother and we had just seen "Nightmare on Elm Street 3". The song was so weird and unique and I was like "Was that Prince?" because it was such a different sound for him. And my friend who knew how rabid a fan I was was ragging on me because he had heard the song before I did and of course it was Prince.

I instantly liked and was moved by the song.

Anx said:

they play them; just when everyone is sleeping

SlamGlam said:

do you remember the 12" cover and being afraid to be turned on just in case it WAS Prince's legs!!!, then you'd flip the B isde and I think it was Lalala hee hee hee? , DAYUM!.

Doctorfunk said:

Cool story, go on start a thread, i dare ya!.

the first time i heard it was on the radio -- i believe i tuned in at the right time to hear the DJ intro the new Prince song, then i heard the whole thing. i was VERY excited about the new song -- Prince was getting serious again, finally! and hopefully people would take him seriously. i loved the percussive synth echo effect and how stripped down the sound was. i couldn't wait to hear it again. when i got away to the record store that week, the 12" was already there! before then, i seem to remember the 12" singles being released quite awhile after the single release. i took it home and played it to death just like every other thing Prince was ever even slightly associated with during the 80s.

i felt the same way when i first heard these other Prince songs on the radio: "When Doves Cry," "Alphabet Street," "Thieves in the Temple," and "Gett Off" -- i always get excited when Prince takes off in bold new directions.

funkyhead said:

That's the very 1st song that hit the radio here, 'La,La,La,He,He,He'. Was damn awesome .. that was right after his movie "Under the Cherry Moon" and Prince back then had this knack of out doing himself from previous works, which is what he did when he put out SOTT, cause sure I loved Parade, but gracious! , when SOTT hit.

My first impression was;this sounds mature and serious...
and I loved it!!It was such a new sound and so different from what we
heard on the radio that time.
Timeless song.

funkyhead said:

Exactly the same experience.

Like I needed to listen to it again, about 150 times. I didn't know it was him, it sounded so different....

Well I didn't hear it one the radio to being with. My mother bought the album when it came out, and it was amazing. But then again I expected him to come out with something amazing since up to that point I felt he did with every album.

And plus, by the time this was all over the radio, I felt it was so far ahead of everything else that was on at that time. Whitney, Janet, New Edition, etc. had nothing on my hero.

I was about 14 then, had the radio in the bathroom as I showered when the song began. I had no idea it was prince since it sounded so different. It sounded like such a downer song, but that was it's purpose. It reminded me of the glum of industry, toxic waste dumps, and fucked up situations in general, it just put me in this really odd feeling against these things. It was great.

I remember hearing it on KISS or WBLS here in NYC when I was a teenager living in the projects in Brooklyn .... I was glued to the speaker and was like Damn... he's done it again

I thought "Oh shit, Prince fell off because you can't dance to that shit" because the dance craze was huge then. I said the same thing when I heard Alphabet Street.

12 years old..in the car with my mom...SOTT comes on and I almost cause my mon to drive off the road. I remember loving it but thinking it was kind of depressing at the same time!

I bought the 7-inch as soon as it was out. I started trying to write my name in the same font on all my school binders, locker.

peace

I wasn't a fan in 87, so the first time I heard it on the radio was in 1996. A local station was having "Emancipation Day", in honor of the new album, so they played Prince and Prince-related songs ALL DAY! (I used up 4 cassette tapes recording off the radio that day )

I was having a great time hearing a bunch of older songs I'd never heard before (because I was a pretty new fan at that time). When SOTT came on, I was instatly intrigued, because the music was so deliberate. I knew he had something important to say, and I hung on every word. As a 14 year old kid, I found this song very powerful, and kind of sad. 10+ years later, I appreciate it even more, especially since it is still very relevant.

Like a lot of people were saying, it was very different. I heard the music first and then his voice which gave me chills.It was so simple, I loved it.

i don't remember hearing the song on the radio but when my mom got me the album later that year, i remembered that when i heard SOTT, it sounded very familiar to me so i'm sure i heard it but it was probably a case of me not realizing it was prince. i was only 8 then . tell you the truth, the one time i do remember hearing the song on the radio was in 2003 or 2004 and it sounded great. it's still a great song and it should be played on the radio as much as When Doves Cry and Kiss are today.

Hmmm, I don't think I ever heard the song on the radio, but I loved it from the first time I heard it and I still love it to this day. The song says so very much and is still relevant today.

I was rather underwhelmed by it. Thought it a bit boring at first.


But a friend of mine loved it so he kept playing it (a recording he made on his stereo from the radio debute) and I grew to love it.

The radio station in Birmingham (Kix 106) played alot of Prince and alot of remixes and extended versions other stations didn't. I heard Hot Thing on the radio about a month after I heard SOTT and totally tripped out.

Then a month later "If I was Ur Girlfriend". I finally had a friend make a tape of SOTT for me and I wore it out before having to by my own cassette.