Where were you when you first heard it ? What were your feelings and thoughts ?


I was 12 sitting on my front porch and all of a sudden I heard this distinct sound coming from a boom box the kids had outside-I was forever changed by the music Ahh! The memories

I love memories threads.

I first heard the song when I was around 13, during the whole year 1999/Prince "1999" craze. I saw the video on BET during a Throwback friday and I just remember being encapulated by Prince's look. The alluring wasy he rose out of the misty bathtub and then donned that pretty gold paisley suit. And his voice was amazing. I still get chills to this day when I hear WDC. It's the JAM!

i was about 13, maybe 14, watching MTV (y'know, back when they played videos)
i caught the last half of the video and saw the credits mention the movie Purple Rain
i thought, how cool, he did a song for a movie
loved the song, and sat there waiting for the video to come on again
yeah, i was in for a shock when i learned he not only did a song for the movie
but instead was the movie
no doubt what my mission was from then on...
see the movie!!

guarinigirl2000 said:

That bathtub scene still does things to me

Snap said:

That is simply a great memory Snap Nice to have a mission

I've talked about this a few times on here in the past. I had been 15 for less than two months when this song was first released in May of 84. The odd thing about it was that every time I heard it, I always came in when 3/4 of the song had already played. Everytime I would get into the car and I turned on the radio, the song would be on, usually in the same spot. No matter who I was with. If I was with my mother or with my friends who were old enough to drive, didn't matter. I could never catch the song from the beginning. This happened around 7 times in a row. I had already known from the folks in the shipping department at my beloved Tower Records for a good 3 weeks when the sigle was going to drop. But radio had already been bumping it and it still wasn't quite time for the release yet. I remember being in the car with one of my friends saying that this was the new prince song. He didn't believe it was Prince. And he was a fan like I was. I was like "Yeah man, that's P. Can't u tell? Just listen to it. Who else could sound like that?" What was throwing him off was that P was singing in his baritone voice. I knew better. I was like "Listen to the harmonies...That's Prince. And then when P did go into his falsetto, I was like "There! Now who in the hell else is that?! Of course it's Prince!". I could tell from the music it was P. Mind u, I still hadn't heard the intro. Finally I caught the song from the beginning on the radio and I fucking lost my mind. Never had I been this hyped up about a brand new song. When I heard P's guitar lead opening up, I broke my neck grabbing my own guitar, trying to learn what I heard him just do. Finally, when I called on the day it was supposed to be released, and they told me they would have to hold me a copy cuz the 45 was flying out the door. I got the 45, which was on purple wax. I was stoked to Kingdom Come. I wore that out, learning the guitar run in the intro. I had to wait untill the album was to come out cuz I could tell P had another guitar solo that was fading out on the 45 mix.

blackguitaristz said:

That purple 45 was the bomb back in the day. That intro to WDC is still the best I've ever heard-thanks for sharing Blackguitaristz

It was weird too cuz we were about to get out of school for summer vacation. We had less than a month. But that whole time other kids kept telling me and my girlfriend, seperately, on how much this song reminded them of us. It was the weirdest thing. A few people would tell me and then when I saw my girlfriend, she would say "Chris, people keep telling me that this song reminds them of you and I". I would be like "Yeah, I'm told that too." Very strange. A short time later, I went to the premire of the film at Mann's Chinese and the day that we all were standing in line to but tickets, I got interviewed by the local news station. And then at the premire, I actually got to talk to Dez and got his autograph on the Silver ticket inside the theatre before the film showed. I'm in the footage on the 20th special edition dvd of PR as well.

blackguitaristz said:

That memory has to be the best I've ever heard

blackguitaristz said:

I wrote a thread about me at the premire and meeting Dez over on his website about 3 years ago. I go into detail about what all had happened. The thread is called "84 Purple Rain Premire". Very, very cosmic day and evening.

I have such a bad memory that I don't remember what I was doing
where I was or anything, I never remember.

(I've tried to learn how to absorb things so I could remember,
like when I went to my first and only Prince concert, I still don't
remember much, except with the feeling of coming away from it
remembering that I enjoyed it and was proud of my brother
and wished him a good life.)

All I remember is that I've always liked this song and it made me think,
and that was the sad reality of my family life.
I loved the vibe to the overall feel of this song, sort of raw and made
me think of animal instincts... (go figure)

nurseV said:

Thanx. Like I mentioned, I have talked a little bit about it a few times on here before, but over on Dez's site, I went all out cuz it actually involved Dez. I know the premire is off topic from the thread being about WDC but it was all in such a short time frame from each other.

It was the first Prince song I ever heard and it was the one that made me a huge fan back then .

This is one of the few tracks that I DON'T have a very memorable moment for!

As far as I can remember, I saw Purple Rain on video around '86 which was when I was starting to get into Prince (my sister was well into him at this stage and the host of the video evening).

I think I was so taken by the film and the other tracks in the film that When Doves cry never had the impact on me like it seems to have had everyone else.

If I'd heard it just as an audio from the single or album first then maybe, but as part of the film, it seemed to be overshadowed by the other tracks - especially those in the film that are performed live on stage.

When Doves cry has always just been that track that played over the montage!!!

I was in the hospital, the first time I saw the video, I had heard the song before but this was my first time really seeing him. I was mesmerized, I had never seen anyone that sexy when he climbed out of that tub all wet and was singing to the camera (me), Lawd ham mercy!

[Edited 4/12/08 19:32pm]
[Edited 4/12/08 19:33pm]

wow...this thread is hilarious because I was just thinking about this I would say Wends. It was unusually cool here in DC and rainy.... and as I was driving this song came on the radio....and it was a similar day (feeling - cool an rainy) back in 84 when I 1st heard the song

It took me back my HS days in 1984 when me and my boys piled into a car heading out one Friday evening. We were music heads and one of my boys said have ya'll heard the new Prince cut? Its sick!

Just as he finished saying it that joint came on the radio and we were all blown away. I think what really hit me was the fact that I had never heard anything like that song before. In fact I haven't heard anything like that since. Prince really matured so quickly musically from Dirty Mind to PR and vocally also. His vocal delivery of that song was perfect.

That thing was just so funky and new and fresh...and it still sounds that way today. What a great record
[Edited 4/12/08 19:28pm]

Ya'll are going to laugh, but I did not like this song when it first came out. Whenever I heard "When Doves Cry" on the radio, I would think to myself, "Eww, there's that weird song again!" But the more I heard the song, the more I liked it. Now I love it.

when i was like 5 or something.

InsatiableCream said:

Dayclear said:

That pic does things to me

nurseV said:

i can listen to that song for a straight hour and not get bored.
or play the video.

This was the first Prince song I ever heard, I was eleven or twelve and first saw the video on TV . Later, we would constantly listen to the 45 with a friend of mine. A few weeks later I also saw the ( comparatively old ) video for 1999 on Solid Gold.From then on , I was hooked, until he came out with Parade. From then on , I didn´t really listen much to Prince but got hooked again when a friend of mine made a mixtape for me which opened my eyes again.

This was the first Prince song I ever heard, I was eleven or twelve and first saw the video on TV . Later, we would constantly listen to the 45 with a friend of mine. A few weeks later I also saw the ( comparatively old ) video for 1999 on Solid Gold.From then on , I was hooked, until he came out with Parade. From then on , I didn´t really listen much to Prince but got hooked again when a friend of mine made a mixtape for me which opened my eyes again.

I was seventeen, on the edge of eighteen probably...I watched mtv everyday...Prince was adorable in the video...and all I wished I could do is walk around with a rose petal basket dropping floweres before Prince as he walked...Prince has sometimes been like a punk to me...but mostly a King.

SIRTONY said:

Me too. This is my favorite track of his and 2nd favorite song by anyone.
I don't have any story to tell because I just heard the song last year. But it IS the one that convinced me that this guy is good.

omg! back in the day, grabbing a pillow as he climbed out the baff...of course there was some peeping


[Edited 4/13/08 13:03pm]

Ginuine brought it to my attention so i always remembered the original was done by Prince (this was when i was around 6 or 7 - in the 90's) ...werent really feelin Prince's version it until i got a bit older then this year became a huge fan of his and this is now one of my favourite song's of his, can listen to it back-2-back it never gets boring

lottielooloo1968 said:

OMG!!!! That is so it!!!! Naughty Lottie

I was like 14 and I remember feeling completly enthrawled and completly fell into deep fan love with the man. I hadn't ever seen anything like that. I loved it. I loved the face with the tear (later painting it on my wall)and the clothes and everything about it. I thought it was beautiful and it still is.