i don't buy the racism arguement.
i think as already suggested the crowd got restless cuz they just wanted 2 c the stones perform.
i also imagine the pants & stockings didn't go down very well. it could have been interpreted by the crowd as attention seeking...well he certainly got their attention, but sadly not 4 the right reasons

carlcranshaw said:

Yep.

lottielooloo1968 said:

YOU!

YOU!!!
You got it right on, and in just a couple of concise sentences, not a lota yada yada.....and for that i admire the hell out of you!!!!

I always wondered about Mark and his reaction to the shows. Besides a warm up gig at First Ave, THIS was Mark's first real gig with P. Man, what a way to start. Mark was probably like "Damn...what in the hell have I stepped into?!" He was only 18 years old. It was probably mind blowing for P and all of his band members to play to a crowd THAT size. Regardless of the reception. I tell ya, the first time I saw P in concert, it was on the Controversy tour in Feb 82 at the Santa Monica Civic. He and his band was so polished. So tight. They were so proffesional. The pacing of the show, the poise Prince showed. U could totally tell he was already a star. The place was jammed pack with many whites and blacks. Something that would always be the case at a Prince show. Out of all the times I've ever seen P, it's always been out here in L.A. Once on the Controversy tour, twice on the 1999 tour, 5 times on the Purple Rain tour, once on the Hit and Run, once on the Lovesexy, ect....he's always bridged that gap with everyone coming to see him. He was really like Sly Stone in that regard. Sly wasn't the first brother to have an inter-racial band, BUT he was the first who truly crossed over in the grand scale. P would definately later join that list.

It had nothing to do with racism.

It was about Prince looking half man - half woman, wearing suspenders (or stockings, what were they precisely?) and him singing in a high falsetto and appearing rather androgeneous.

If it had been the case of a (totally) white artist acting in the same way, he would still have been booed of the stage.

Seeking confrontation on base of so called 'racial issues' that weren't there in the first place, lkes the OP seems to do, i consider as cheap, useless shitstirrng. Its nothing more.
[Edited 4/8/08 16:55pm]

Riverpoet31 said:

-----
It was race and homophobia. People brought bags of garbage to throw on the stage. Who brings a bag of garbage to a concert? In addtion, In Living Color got the same treatment in the late 80's from Stones fans.

Imago said:

-----
Did I hear any N-word bombs during his performance? No.
Did I hear any Gay slurs during his performance? No.
=
Because you did not hear it does not mean it was not being said.

blackguitaristz said:

Speaking on terms of Prince's actual band ( my all time fave lineup of P's bands) I think the response made Prince HELLA ready for what he was to go on and later accomplish just a year or two later.

At the Pontiac Silver Dome Iggy was in all red plaid from head to toe (pants and matching short jacket). From where I sat he looked like a skinny Bay City Roller That's about the way he was received....they didn't get one song finished because of the noise....and walked right off. We were all there to see the stones....They were really popular at the time...at least in Michigan...The noise was unbearable....The crowd wanted the concert to start...forget Mr. Plaid I like to think Prince would have gone over a lot better....but I've never seen a crowd demand the main performance like they did at the Stones concert.

laurarichardson said:

At the beginning of the post, I qualified the statement...

"My comments will be based on actually being at that first show and what I personally saw and heard from my vantage point. "
(meaning the people I could hear and see based on my physical location in the venue)


And at the end, left room for other possibilities...

"Is it possible that there were some in attendance that had an issue with his race?
In a crowd of this size the percentages would say of course. "


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

reminds me of a time when the Divinyls came to town, opening for a bigger band
this was back in the '80s, long before their BIG hit
the lead singer was pelted with many things, including a beer bottle to the nose
problem was, the crowd didn't come to see the Divinyls
they came to see the main act
it wasn't that they had anything against female lead singers
or bands from Australia
no, the crowd was tired of waiting
the Divinyls had played one too many songs
they wanted the main act NOW!~

blackguitaristz said:

I am not trying 2 drudge up anything negative here..I really think that
the artists named are actually very valid. I love them all by the way,but They all did wear dance/prance/ sing do the same thing in their own way. So what was the difference in P doing it as well in his own way. check out the book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk It's a good example of said artists if u don't know.
&

laurarichardson said:

The people who smelt the fear on the first night came prepared on the second. Or at least, that was Dez's belief. Sounds like a bunch of losers.

If Living Colour got it too (never heard of it happening to them), they can be added to the list like Iggy Pop, The Charlatans, Journey. Can't see a racist or homophobic pattern there.

laurarichardson said:

Did he hear any anti RnB chants? No.
Did he hear anti stockings chants? No.
Did he hear the hatred of high heels? No.
Did he hear the crowd calling him a Martian? No.

Because you did not hear it does not mean it was not being said. It doesn't mean Prince is now suffering from martianphobia. In fact, so far there is nothing to point towards martianphobia.

Tamera1 said:

Thanx...I love all of the artists that I mentioned as well. Mick, Iggy and especially Johnny Thunders/New York Dolls are all top favorite performers of mine. Without question.

SquirrelMeat said:

Like I've posted a few times, I specifically remember clear as day, right after the first show had ended, on KLOS, a prominent rock station out here in L.A., that's all they were talking about. Was what happenened while P was on stage. They were taking calls from folks. That carried on untill the next show. In between, folks were telling the dj's what they were going to bring to the second show. They were coming armed and ready. Now to tell it all, many of the people who had been to the first show and who were going to the second, had never even heard of Prince. Because some of the callers were making fun of his name. I clearly remember one of the dj's actually sounding as if he were sticking up for P by saying something like "Well, we have the band named Queen, so the name Prince isn't that bad. " . To me, yeah, many of them, especially for the second show, seemed like it was just for fun. Something extra to do at the show. To get in on the act, as it were. And as far as Living Colour; I attended THAT show, also held at The Coliseum out here in Los Angeles. As I stated before, it was Living Colour, Guns N'Roses and the Stones. Did Living Colour get booed at this gig? No...not at all. To be honest, they got a better reception than GNR did. Like I also mentioned earlier, Vernon did take time to speak on Axl's use of the N word and even then, no one booed. Actually, some folks cheered Vernon's speech.

blackguitaristz said:

Back then, a black artist couldn't be a rocker, even though white teens idolized Jimi Hendrix. It's funny. Nowadays everybody listens to everything, but back then, if an artist got tagged with a label, that was it.
Prince was good in 1981, but great in 1984. He so dramatically raised the level of his game that he seemed almost like a different artist--if you just heard "I Wanna Be Your Lover" and then heard "Let's Go Crazy" or "When Doves Cry", you may not make the connection that it was the same person.

You made mention in another thread, and it's been said many times in interviews that Prince had a relentless work ethic. The man took whatever natural talent he was given, and honed it to such a degree that no one can take the stage from him if he doesn't wanna let it go.

Of course it was racism for him to be booed off that stage. But if you look at the Superbowl performances of both the Stones and Prince 25 years later, everybody knows the story.

Prince could pick up every role in the Stones and probably do it better. Mick Jagger isn't gonna play lead guitar any time this century, nor is Keith gonna sing.

Though I did get a kick at seeing Ron Wood play Prince's guitar at an aftershow, five years after Prince was booed.

Ron knew what time it was!

Alasseon said:

[ This is truly an interesting conversation... I love all the responses that are discussing the issue at hand, very insightful. How I wish I was at that concert, but I was only 16, and there was just no way my parents would let me near that shit... But, keep in mind that the conversation must remain on topic, no flaming and baiting - not that that's happening now, just a "heads-up" so that the thread can remain open. Thanks, you guys, for keeping this on point. ]

June7 said:

I can certainly dig it.....June, I love the little blue sirens. That's hella cool!

Yep. The pop/rock fans. The R&B/funk fans had been well aware of Prince for years. I used to love rubbing their face in it the year of "Purple Rain" because a lot of them were the same ones that used to talk about me like a dog for listening to that "jungle music" (funk or music by black artists that white folks weren't into unless it was crossover). A bitch like me never forgets.

Alasseon said: Prince could pick up every role in the Stones and probably do it better. Mick Jagger isn't gonna play lead guitar any time this century, nor is Keith gonna sing.

These two videos show otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...uB-5xICOWo

http://www.youtube.com/wa...4B2lJgeuFc
[Edited 4/9/08 16:00pm]

vainandy said:

Haha! Vain, u crazy as hell!

carlcranshaw said:

http://www.youtube.com/wa...uB-5xICOWo

http://www.youtube.com/wa...Fc[/quote]
That's a hella statement, ain't it? That shit is the stone truth too. No pun intended.

To say it's 100% racism would be wrong to say. I've been to many concerts where the opening act was booed off the stage. But I do wonder how many of those people who did boo prince ended up buying the purple rain album 3 years later.

kpowers said:

I bet loads! And how many people do they tell "I was a fan way back in 81!"

kpowers said:

I don't think that anyone should really find any sort of fault with people who later became fans of Prince when the 'Purple Rain' album came out. They were clearly not aware of his abilities back in '81, due to their great unfamiliarity with his music. I think that its also possible that they thought Prince may have been doing some kind of outrageous spoof routine because of the type of stage attire he was dressed in, as to just pass the time before The Stones came on to perform. But of course Prince and his band were indeed there to actually play real music for the audience. But again, perhaps his outlandish attire threw them for such a loop and it just gave them the entire wrong idea on what he was really all about.
[Edited 4/10/08 4:15am]

If Prince was dressing like that then and got booed offstage like Iggy Pop did, it's almost like the Stones booked really edgy bands to play before them and that's not really their genre to my knowlege...seems a bit like a set up Though I'm sure it was great exposure to open 4 the Stones crowds...what good is it if you don't get to play....bummer

carlcranshaw said:

Not to beat a dead horse, but Mick wasn't really playing "lead guitar" and dammit, he looks like someone familiar with that coat on...
I gotta give credit to Keith. He sings better than he looks.

As for the Stones, it's pretty amazing they've endured all these years. They've outlived (as a band) all of their contemporaries, right? Any other bands from their era that are still together?

Mick yells, Prince sings. Keith sounds like a cross between Bob Dylan and Tom Petty with a cold. That was mean.....sorry