eyewishuheaven said:

BobGeorge909 said:

[Edited 6/30/07 10:46am]

GangstaFam said:

Same exact moment for me. But I was about 10.

I am from the Netherlands and my first Prince-experience was when Purple Rain became a hit in our country.

I was pretty young then, about 11, and i wasnt allready into buying music. But i remember loving the passion in his deliverance, and when the video was played on TV i was 'immitating' it with my little sister, playing air guitar during the solo

Another moment i remember was seeing the video of Raspberry Beret for the first time, i did found it a bit weird and scary i remember, especially these people with horse or goat-hoofs dancing in the video. Nonetheless it did draw my attention.

The year after (1986) i liked watching the video's of Kiss and especially Girls and Boys, i guess it was the arrangement to the latter song (the strange saxsound from Eric Leeds, the eerie synths) and the surrealistic humor of the video that gave me an excited feel.

But the moment i really 'turned over' to Prince was when Sign of the Times appeared. I was like 13 years old then and when i heard the title track for the first time i was amazed by the brilliance of it, just a programmed beat, some bass and bluesy guitar. It just 'worked'. Next to that it was nice to hear Prince in his normal register, i remember before that his use of falsetto was always a bit of a turn off for me (it still is until this day, to be honest). I mean: i was surprised by the fullness of his normal voice, and the soulness he could express with it.

Then things went fast: i often turned on my radio to find out if could hear more songs of the album. And i remember being very impressed especially with hearing If I was your girlfriend and The Cross for the first time.
A few weeks later i did find a mispriced Sign of the Times at the record department at my warehouse. It was labelled the price for a single album, while it was of course a more expensive double album.
I took a change, brought the Vinyl-set to the counter, and the person behind it indeed did fall into it. So i bought Sign of the Times for the price of a single Vinyl album

Sign of the Times was the first vinyl album i bought, it was also the first album i played on the recordplayer i had taken over from my older sister. It did stay in there for months and months. And when i think about it now, the first Prince album i bought is probably still my favourite Prince album of all times.

I like to ad some moments that made me realisize how genious he is.

Shortly after discovering Sign of the Times i dived into his back catalogue. I remember feeling attracted to Around the World in a day, because of the colourfull cover. So that was my second Prince album i bought, on casette by the way.

As soon as the title track came on i thought, these guys can not only do sober, rhytmic stuff (like the demo-sounding tracks on Sign) but also weird, psychedelic but playfull psychedelica. It made me think this guy was in some kind of "Beatles category" and not just a funk-rocker.

While i was impressed with his more colourfull, psychedelic material the album that really 'nailed' it for me was Parade, the third Prince album i bought.
As soon as the manic beat and the orchestra of Christopher Traceys Parade kicked in, i was drawn into that album. Again he was doing psychedelic, beatlesque material, but it was much more lean and eerie then the songs on Around the world in a day. And it didnt end there: it seems like this guy was capable of handling every kind of style in a playfull, creative way: the steel drums on New Position, The orchestrated 'chaos' of Life can be so nice, european music from the interbellum (Under the cherry Moon and Do U Lie) and the biggest surprise for me, the closing track: Sometimes it snows in april. I remember being very surprised that Prince was capable of delivering such a sober, intimate 'folky' track that differed so much from the more bombastic sounds of the material he was known for.

I have always been a bit sceptical about the 1999 and Purple Rain-Prince. His image and the way he sounded around this time always gave me the feeling that before 1985 was a bit of 'lump' funk-rocker, often a bit to campy for his own good, trying to impress people with bombast and guitar-hysteria instead of with intelligence, and subtle, layered music.

In the years i have come back a bit from that. I mean, i didnt buy Purple Rain on CD untill the mid-nineties. I did buy 1999, Dirty Mind and Controversy a few years before that. It made me realise that Prince was allready 'more' then a megalomaniac, more then 'just' a funk-rocker between 1981 and 1984. I especially digged his attempts at the more weird, experimental tracks he recorded during those years: When you were mine (a perfect new-wave song by a black funk-rocker, wow!), Annie Christian (an early echo of the psychedelic, beatlesque material he brought us later), Automatic (in essence more 'Kraftwerk', then Earth, wind and fire.. if you know what i mean).

So, in retrospect i discovered that Princes material which he became a megastar with wasn't always as 'lump' and one-dimensional as i made it out to be. On the other hand, my appreciation for Princes music still is the biggest when it comes to the material he delivered between 1985 and 1988. It sounds in the first place like a musician 'pur sang' who feels free from the restraints of becoming a megastar, trying to please both his black fans and the mainstream market. It feels like with the succes of Purple Rain something fell of his shoulders, and he finally realised that making inspired, creative, innovative music, exploring all kinds of styles, and doing brilliant things with those, is who he IS as a musician: a colourblind one, appreciating the hard funk from James Brow and George Clinton, and at the same time being open to the melodic and harmonic greatness of the Beatles, the sophisticated delicateness of Joni Mitchell, filming a movie in France and at the same time using the musical heritage of that country to express himself musically, using strings and orchestra in his music in no way any other black artist has done before him (thanks to Clare Fisher here!). Not using those sounds to simply 'smooth' up a tune, but using orchestra as a way to create interesting, daring arrangements.
Just like the Beatles or The Beach Boys did in the past.

To sum it up: Prince was allready great when he bridged the gap between 'white' pop/rock and 'black' funk and soul between 1981 and 1984, but IMO he did really lift off into brilliance at the moment he 'freed' himselve from his role of becoming a black rockstar among a main audience, and he realised that selfexpression is not about color and status, but about freedom and following your muse.

When I heard Computer Blue, I know I was dealing with a "different" type of Musician.


When I heard "Kiss" and in comparison to the stuff on Purple Rain, and ATWIAD and 1999, it sounded nothing like it, I knew it was genius.

I was between 12-14 when all this happened.