I've been wondering about this for a while.
Remember when Prince was booed off the stage when he opened for the Rolling Stones back in 1980?
How do you think that affected him? Do you think it might have changed the direction his music took or his stage attire?

I've heard stories and all I can gather is that it was a rough experience for Prince, the rejection he suffered in face of the Stones fans.
To think, if things didn't go array, could he be a completely different person now?

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I don't think it changed his direction at all, after all the fans had come to see The Stones and knew very little of Prince and didn't take kindly to his dress or lyrics( the irony is i bet some of those who did barack him adore him now

Yeh I was wondering about this too, especially after listening to Pop Life an awful lot and hearing an excerpt from that experience in the song, Im sure you can hear someone shouting 'go the fuck home' at Prince not nice at all, suppose it made him a stronger person though.

where was the 1980 concert please

He's experienced a lot of negative stuff in his early years... his peeps have talked of racism when touring in the bus days, death threats... etc. and I'm sure he'd been heckled and boo'd before that incident.

He's a hardened veteran of the hard edge of showbiz.

ritaw said:

LA

bex23 said:

If you are referring to the crowd noise sampled in 'Pop Life', it is not a recording of either of the two nights he played as support to the Stones. It is simply a sample from a sound effects library tape.

Some people have jumped to the mistaken conclusion that it's from a Prince performance.
.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

It was 1981

Other threads discussing this:

http://prince.org/msg/7/155664

http://prince.org/msg/7/143921

http://prince.org/msg/7/174996

langebleu said:

i'm sure i saw the stones at Wembley in 1981 - don't remember the support or even if there was one

ritaw said:

The Wembley concert was 1982, supportacts: 'George Thorogood Blues Band' and 'The J. Geils Band' (actually they were better at the time than the Stones ).

Btw at the Rolling Stones concert in Detroit (1981) Iggy Pop was the support act and he got a lot of booing too. (not as bad as Prince in LA though according to the stories).

roverlo said:

yes you're right it was 82 can't remember much about it (had just come back from Africa and went straight there - bit of a culture shock.

Garrybaldy said:

and of course he's been laughing all the way to the bank since - good for him

langebleu said:

Thanks for posting those. It gives me a little more information about the whole thing.
But you guys didn't answer my question (well, one or two of u did). Do you think that had any impact on him? Did he change anything about himself to avoid another incident like that? Is that reason why he dropped the trenchcoat/bikini underwear combo and picked up that purple jacket and button jeans? Or was it just time for a change after that?

I wonder if he contemplated giving the performing altogether after getting pelted with garbage... that couldn't have been good for his psyche.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

I suspect it didn't change anything about him because it was not such a remarkable or traumatic incident to him. There's probably been much worse that hasn't been written about.

http://www.thedailyswarm....hollywood/

$3121.00 if you wanted to see Prince in Hollywood with dinner !!!! although i think a free jam session was included later

You've gotta be kidding, you must not remember the old Prince, He didn't give a f@#k about being booed, he didn't give a darn about anything That's the Prince I fell in love with!

wlcm2thdwn said:

Then how come he didn't want to go to the 2nd show?
Sounded to me like he was running scared.
Just a thought.

DreamyPopRoyalty said:

According to Dez's account of the episode, the band received a hostile reception from part of the crowd on the Friday night. Prince quit the stage part way through the set, forcing the rest of the band to curtail the set. The hostility of some of the audience was turned on the promoter when he admonished them for their behaviour.

Following lengthy discussions, Prince returned from Minneapolis (to where he had flown immediately after the show) and the band played a complete set on the Sunday night, even though they faced similar behaviour (if not worse)to the previous show). However, Dez is adamant that the band stuck to their guns, and the suggestion (as subsequently reported by some) that they were booed off stage once again is entirely wrong.
.

Ok...

I've got a feeling I'm only gonna get the answers I'm looking for if I go straight to the source.

It feels like everyone's saying "he just brushed it off and kept making more music. It didn't affect him at all."

I find that kinda hard to believe... but it wouldn't be the first time Prince has surprised me quite like this.

Prince has had his hair ripped out by crazed fans and had blood running down so... and I think getting heckled onstage had probably happened before as well.

Actually even lately, someone threw a glowstick that hit right at him while he played piano in London...

Remember the '91 Rio concert where the audience heckled him in spanish, calling him "maricon" and such...

At his very first autograph signing appearance, he had to deal with the shocked female fans all disappointed at how tiny he was.

Its rough being a star.

ufoclub said:

I tried to warn ya, it's hard 2b a star. true

ufoclub said:

It didn't hit him

langebleu said:

I think I jumped to this conclusion because it refers to it in the inlay booklet for the hits/B-sides.

langebleu said:

that's why I said "right at him" instead of "hit him"

Awww, that sucks! (I don't think I've heard this one before...)