Okay, by now y'all must know that I am the Community Relations Manager at Barnes & Noble. We play "in-store" music that labels pay to have played overhead. It changes every month... sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

Because of this, I am able to hear all kinds of music that I normally wouldn't. If I'm quick enough, I get to "claim" that disc when its run its course (before another employee claims it!). My CD collection definately has not suffered from this practice, and I've got some great discs as a result.

So it's now May. We've got the new list of things to play... we've NEVER had Prince in the store... but, we do now!

Well, it's not Prince's latest cd being played overhead... (man, I wish). It's on a Joni Mitchell tribute disc that features "A Case of U". There's other artists on there like Bjork, James Taylor, Annie Lennox, Elvis Costello, k.d. lang among others...

Anyway, every sixth disc, on track number six, I get to hear Prince at work singin' Joni's song.

Makes me smile.

cool
nice piano work on there too

Cool story! Thanx 4 sharing.

In a grocery store in my neighbourhood I've heard "Little Red Corvette" and "Let's Go Crazy". Everytime I hear a Prince song - I sing along , well not obviously of course Then after that I feel all pumped up

Great story!I heard KISS in a clothing store just after i'd bought a couple of p's dvd's.Couldnn't leave until it had finished!I've never heard a p song in the shops b4.Fantastic!

I heard Musicology (the song) when it came out loudly in a fashion shop.
In this little towm where I live in they use to play Purple Rain, Kiss, D&P When Doves Cry in a grocery shop.

The best song was at christmas, when a fashion shop played the long version of Another lonely christmas really loud. The doors were open, so you could hear it the whole street (don't know the english term for Fußgängerzone, germish me..)

My favorite moment like this was walking into an HMV just outside Toronto the day The Gold Experience was released and hearing Now blaring in the store after I'd been listening to it on crappy-bootleg for the previous 18 months.

I heard Beautiful, Loved and Blessed at Ikea in Croydon last weekend.

June7 said:

I love hearing a brand new Prince song for the first time out in the public domain thogh this rarely happens now. Last time I can remember was when The Greatest Romance was coming out and I was in a Spar. This was at a time when most of us fans had tuned out of Prince so it was a nice surprise as I didn't even know there was a new album due.
I got a heads up about Musicology playing on the radio from my brother in law so I tuned in and got my first listen of that in the car but that wasn't a completly random episode and I had already heard the beat on the front page of the prince site.

Oh I just remembered when I went into the record store on the look out for Ultimate I accidently picked up 3121 the day before it was due to be released and they were playing Love while I was in there. Didn't like the sound of it though. It sounded over produced on first listen so I had those Lovesexy album cover slightly embarrased prince fan feelings when I went up to buy the cd.
[Edited 5/2/07 8:17am]

Since we're getting all nostalgic, let me add one.

A few years back I was at The CityWalk in Universal Studios, in Los Angeles. It's a huge spattering of hip stores and restaurants with giant screens filling up the main court (kinda like Times Square in New York, only much, much smaller!). Anyway, spent the day at Universal Studios with the kids, and was cruising thru the shops and they were pumping "So Far, So Pleased" by Prince and Gwen Stefani all over the plaza... it was pretty cool - and loud. (Which is, of course, the best way to hear Prince being played!)

I work for a certain big box retailer, they have their own radio station playing on the overhead daily. During the past year they have added alot of Prince music into rotation, At first I was really surprised, because they can be known to be pretty puritanical, if you know what I mean. During my shifts they play at least 3 different Prince songs daily. Songs I've heard... Let's go crazy, when doves cry, raspberry beret, u got the look, diamonds and pearls, kiss, I could never take the place of your man (short version), I would die 4 u,betcha by golly wow, and lately here, black sweat! When I first heard it, I was pretty surprised because for their conservatism, I wouldn't think that song would be played, the other are pretty "safe" songs. My ringtone is Black Sweat so every time it comes on sometimes twice a day lately, I think it's my cell phone and try to answer it!

My daughter works for Starbucks, and as an "in-store" play, they were pumpin' "3121" when it was released. She said she thought of me every time that disc came on!

Last Friday I was at Applebee's having a margarita...don't ask...anyway... they actually played "Alphabet Street", the full version. Another time, same Applebee's they played "Glamorous Life", again, full version.


I loved it

June7 said:

LOL! That's so cute!

Don't you just love it when people hear Prince and instinctively think of you? One of the reasons I got such a kick out of his Superbowl performance was because I knew every last one of my EX's...no matter where they were or who they were with...were thinking of ME that night!

SexyBeautifulOne said:

So true...the same goes in my family, too!!