I'm just curious... because over the past few days, I've recalled my earliest moments watching Prince perform and such... My earliest moment I think was seeing the video 4 "1999" when I was... I don't know, somewhere between 7-13. I knew that back then, he was called "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince". I thought that he fell out of favor in the industry due to the fact he was "Formerly Known as" Prince.

My first songs were "I Would Die 4 U/Baby I'm A Star". I thought it was a catchy set of songs from the 80's. I can barely touch on what I thought of him at the time... he was just there, I didn't get overally attached to him. In fact, I think his screaming got on my nerves, haha... and I thought 'Baby I'm A Star' was never going to end (you know that one part where they go thru the music 3x w/o him singing anything but 'we are a star')...

Then I saw 'Purple Rain'- the 2nd hour... I perceived him as someone who wrote his own music, only really cared about him and refused to play anyone's music but his own. His character gave me a view of who I thought Prince was. Then came "the best 10-minutes of my life" when I saw him do the finale... I heard those 2 songs in a whole new light... and learned he was an incredible stage performer... he could really move... and since then, I've been spellbound and I've always wanted 2 find more, but I guess didnt have the resources and I wasn't pushed into it by my dad (who had me see that part of the movie in the first place).

A year passed... he made that AI appearance, which I kinda forgot about and thought he'd never do. I foresaw him as a man who knew how to work the stage & crowd and he didn't have to be announced, he was just there 2 do this thing. I saw him as arrogant and continued to do so and accepted him for that... I knew him as a songwriter/musician that had been there and done nearly everything and was apparently making a comeback (i thought anyway) as a class act.
I didn't really get to see him as a really skilled guitarist until 2/4/07, that was incredible... I still think it is.
The way I saw him b4 I got officially starstruck 2 months ago I'm not sure if I liked the impressions I got. I think when I first saw 1999, I thought he was gay. and a guy that was so out there... but I was young and stupid at the time, I didn't know any better. After PR, I instantly gained this respect for him and immediately accepted him for who he was.

I've kept that view to this day... but with each thing I learn, he just continues to amaze me with his endless palethora (that's how u spell it, right?) of skills. He's the perfect case where first impressions aren't correct... at a young age, I'd be unable to really understand him at all, which is why I didn't follow his lead until this year.
The only other impressions people have given me about him is that he did Purple Rain, he's an acquired taste... along those lines. And I didn't know he had been around this whole time until I first got started. (I didnt even know he started at age 18 back in the late 70's)

I wonder how others here originally saw him before diving into his world.

the first time i ever saw prince I was seven years old. VH1 was doing a special about him and I'm 99% sure that the video was "Kiss." I was seven and anything dancey and upbeat gets a seven year old hooked. And I thought he was cute (even as seven) thats my first impression and I've grown to love him more for the next 8 years. Some people say I'm too young to understand but when you've been listening to someone for 8 years although for some of them I didn't understand nearly as much as now, I know what I like.

SaraWright10 said:

good 4 u.

I knew he was good looking... but I think his overall presence and performance was what got me hooked into him... it wasn't until the start of my ongoing journey of 2-months that I agreed he was hot :sizzle:

He is the first man I ever referred 2 as "beautiful".

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

Same here. I also had never referred to a man as beautiful. He was the first. and will probably be the only!

The first time that I saw Prince was in 1992. I was 7 years old. I was watching MTV with my older sister and we saw the video for 7. I loved the song and I was jealous of Mayte because she was dancing with Prince, whom I thought was very cute. I forgot about Prince for many years. When I was 18, I watched Purple Rain on VH1 and after that I got Prince fever and I bought every Prince CD and single that that I could get my hands on

I was around 8 years old when I heard one of Prince's songs on the radio.
English is not my first language so at the time, I was only hearing sounds and imagining what he could say... The melody was funky, had so much rythm and his voice fitted perfectly in the genre of the song.
The effect of the song (sorry my memory is failing me, I forgot which one it was) was strong that's for sure, I felt intimidated, curious and It made me dance.
The discovery of Prince' music is a real "love affair" for me because I gradually had to learn English at school and it is only later that I understood the real meaning of his songs.
The understanding of his songs made a big impact on me,It taught me a lot about myself but I also appreciated his sensitivity and honesty.

I watched his videos when I was a teenager and that was another discovery too, seeing what he looked like (oh boy he looked good and still does), being in awe of his dancing skills, and of course his confidence blew me away!.
He taught me the definition of what an artist should be and also introduced me to artists he has been inspired from.

One night I stayed at a friend and she had Purple Rain and Under the Cherry Moon tapes, we watched both films and I really enjoyed them. He is not the best actor of course but it is so nice to see him speaking, moving, reacting to things and people around him.
I had the chance to see him live for the first time in March and it was a dream come true.
I am just glad that I am still enjoying his music and that he stayed true to himself as an artist.

I never thought that someone that I don't know could give me so much happiness...

All the best, Suzie

I was born in 1971 and lived in Detroit City until 1983.

I heard 1999 and Little Red Corvette at age 12. I think that music hit me right around the time when most kids start developing their own sense of musical taste.

We didn't have MTV, so I didn't see what he looked like until I got the album almost a year later (I seriously got the album only months before Purple Rain came out, so 1983/1984 was a good time for me).

I thought he was supercool when I saw the 1999 picture . . . I kinda remember thinking that he was a tougher, cooler version of MJ (remember, I was 12). When we moved to a suburb, we had MTV and I finally saw the videos for those 2 songs, and I was hooked. He was just too cool for words.

Like I said, Purple Rain came out only a few months later, and the rest is history! He took the 1999 look and fine-tuned it ... I wish he would've hung on to that look for at least 1 more album after PR.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

He did - in fact, Prince fell out of favor about as much as anyone can. His record-label antics, coupled with his name change, Jehovah's Witnesses, and highly substandard output made him into a joke. (Dreamy, you don't have the albums I am mentioning).

He wasn't necessarily "blacklisted", because he still did TV appearances and occasionaly award shows, but after the name change, he was a novelty/nostalgia act. No one cared what he had to say, they only cared about what he HAD said in the past.


[Edited 4/18/07 16:32pm]

I can't remember the exact first time ever but I remember hearing Little Red Corvette and thinking they were singing "livin in a red corvette" Heh.

I remember that I knew of some male singer who had a really long "artist formerly known as" name and couldn't work out why someone would call themselves that lol I was only 8 or so..

I also remember being about nine and I was flicking through music channels when one channel was showing the Purple Rain movie. I think that was the first time I ever saw Prince. I remember his really quiet voice. I can't remember what scene it was but he was talking to Appolonia. It might have been the scene where they look at the cloud guitar in the shop.

I turned it off, but turned it back on later to see the love scene in full swing then quickly turned it off again! (innocent 9 yr old lol)

By the time i next turned it back on the credits were rolling.

I also remember in 2003, the person who would eventually win Australian Idol sung When Doves Cry and I remember thinking the song had interesting lyrics and was pretty catchy.

Se7en said:

Yeah, that's kind of feel that I got from him I think.

This came to me after I started the thread. I felt like Prince was always "around"... but I never acknowledged him. I felt like he was out of my reach... I guess that my mind wasn't developed enough to really understand him and I somehow knew that for me to like him as much as I do, I had to have the brain capacity to understand him.
Again, once I saw hour 2 of Purple Rain, I've checked into him and immediately began to see him thru a particular lens that said: he does whatever he does for a reason and nobody has the right to say anything against it. I thought he was arrogant, but I accepted that... it still made me admire him a great deal. I truly thought he was snobbish and such, but I didn't care. I accepted everything he was without a second thought. That's why I feel that he's not someone that grows on you... I immediately accepted everything I knew about him and that set the foundation for our "relationship", I guess u could say.

I'd heard two Prince songs on the radio back in tha day (I'm 40), during their original airplay ..Soft and Wet...and then a coupla yrs later I wanna be your lover..and really thoght nothin about how he looked..I just enjoyed those grooves..but when my mom's baby sister(I was 12, and she was 21) brought the album home..with the long haired sad look on the front..and him butt-nekkit on the back cover on a white horse, I thought he was gay..but it didnt matter..I still dug this dude and his music....

My first impression of Prince was not favorable. I remember I was 13 and saw the Little Red Corvette video back in '83. I remember shaking my head thinking how stupid and weird this guy looks and acts.

That just goes to show you the power of a masterpiece because a year later, with the same guy I thought was a weirdo and annoying, a lil ole song called When Doves Cry came on the radio and I was loving it. Then the video aired, and man oh man Prince was suddenly so sexy and intriguing to me. I'm like what changed a year later????

I was pulled right into Purple Rain mania from then on.

wonder505 said:

Yeah, life is funny like that.

I definitely saw him as weird when I was "young and stupid" and I vaguely knew who he was... but I guess at the age I was, I had no comprehension of the person he really was... the person I see now when I look at him.

The first time I saw Prince I just thought he was FINE!

I fell in love with Prince from the 1st moment I saw him.

That he was really nasty and off-limits. My mom wouldn't let me have a 1999 cassette because of a segment she saw on the 700 Club saying how nasty Prince and his music was. I believe there were other artists that appeared in this segment saying how "dirty" Prince was.....Huey Lewis? I'm not sure. I was 10 or 11 at the time.
[Edited 4/25/07 18:43pm]

I saw the Diamonds and Pearls video in '91, so I was about 9 years old. I didn't know who he was, or anything about him, but I loved the video. The song was pretty, and I liked the overall look of it. The image of Prince waving strands of pearls in front of his cute face stuck in my mind. That night, I had a dream about it.

It wasn't until 4 years later that I really took notice of him, and became a fan. He was so naughty, and I was so sheltered. He was just what I needed. I think...

I was about 7 when Dirty Mind came out. My mother loved Prince at the time so I was exposed to that album and I saw the album cover from "Prince" the one with Bambi on it. I loved his sound, the funk and the way he looked. I have been hooked ever since.I am 36 now; who would have thought he'd still be jamming so strong and fresh.

The 1st time i saw prince that i can remember was CREAM. Although i'd heard othersongs b4 and of course loved them.I must have been 12-14 and i was in love. All i could think is (I WANNA DANCE WITH HIM). I love 2 dance and he rocked my world!

the first album i listened to was purple rain. i heard the music before i saw the movie, the music blew me away, and i seriously thought he was gonna save music. the movie topped things off too

First time I seen him was when MTV first came on the scene!! I knew some of the music from what I heard from radio but seeing the performace on MTV blew me away.

wow... I declared this thread dead a while ago...

It's strange, though.
With some of the songs I heard b4 I became a faithful follower of his Greatness, I sometimes hear them and I can't identify them with Prince the way I know him now.
I heard them and think "they're Prince songs"... that's it, plain and simple.

Luckily this only applies 2 2 songs: 1999 and I Would Die 4 U
I get a completely diff. vibe from those songs sometimes. That was from a time when I thought Prince was a guy who had no last name (like Madonna or Jewel, haha)... I dunno how I foresaw him. He was just... there... with no "emotional" attachment to him whatsoever.

I guess that was from a more simpler time for me when music was just something I listen to to pass the time. I didn't think of the singers so much as the song itself.

But I feel like I put Prince on a whole new pedestal. I think of his music as 3 or even 4 dimensional. I listen to it cuz I like the music, because there's genius behind its writing, getting to know Prince as a person and him connecting the message to the song to me. I keep so much in mind when I listen to his material and it just flat out amazes me. I don't know why I think the way I do with him... he's just special.

Watching the When Doves Cry video on TV and thought it was the theme song to a hardware company called Guthrie Bowron. 1985 (I was just turned 9) the Raspberry Beret video, I got Prince mania and thought it was brilliant and spent all my pocket money on the single, but it got smashed a few weeks later. I didn't become serious until he released Cream in 1991 though.

While we were living in Africa/Zimbabwe ['85-ish I think?], my best girlfriend of the time called me and told me I HAD to come over and listen to her new record IMMEDIATELY.

I shoved on my little jelly shoes and sped down the street, a few blocks over and knocked on her door. She answered it- blonde, teased[a' la Madonna]/tousled hair- and shoved the cover in my face excitedly. I remember looking at the picture of Prince on the motor bike and thinking he looked vaguely familiar and completely amazing. His pose was TOTALLY masculine, but there was something soft about him/it too. He also had really cool makeup and an excellent, outrageous outfit on. There were also HUNDREDS of gorgeous flowers all over the album artwork!

Now I look at it and think "Very clever female-focused marketing!" but then it was just like "AMAZING!"

I was even more amazed/knocked out when my friend began playing the album. 'When Doves Cry' was first. It was TOTALLY different than all the other stuff on the radio... It felt really honest and fresh somehow. We listened to that song like 3 or 4 times. I remember finding more and more sounds on it as we went along and being absolutely THRILLED to hear something so interesting and different.

I think I thought (I was maybe 8 at the time?)... I'd like to meet this chap someday.