Seen as I was born in 1980 I missed out on being a prince fan when he was at his peak in the 80s. Was was it like for any older prince fans around this time it must have been amazing do you have any memories from the period you lucky sods?
[Edited 7/4/08 9:06am]

rolling said:

It was like 2004 only w/o the internet.

skywalker said:

but Better.
[Edited 7/4/08 9:34am]

I became a fan during the Purple Rain era. It was beyond cool, not because the music was amazing but because I've never seen anyone like Prince before. So after Purple Rain dropped, part of the fun was going to the record store and finding out more about who he was in terms of his music, and discovering all his earlier work, which, as you can imagine blew me away.

and skywalker is right, I came back in the fold in 2004 during the Musicology era and when the NPGMC was still up and spent time re-discovering all the music I missed between 92 and 2004.
[Edited 7/4/08 9:37am]

I love that I am able to connect those amazing albums with really significant times in my life. I can't be truly objective about any of those albums, as there's always some form of nostalgia attached to each one, which is a good thing.

But as far as being a fan goes, it was kind of the same as now, but with fewer albums to talk about. There were a lot of people in '85 or '86 who were fans of the "old Prince" but not the new, a lot of talk about how he had lost his edge or his talent, and how he wasn't keeping his fan base. Also, I always found that I had to defend my being a fan a lot, not that it was so difficult to do or a bad thing.

It was wonderful - new songs from his back catalogue to discover and all the projects and protegees he had going meant something new was happening all the time.

However the media ridiculed him as they do now - so you had to be a bit tough if you was a Prince fan.
Mostly though it was a fun ride - you never knew what he was going to do next or what musical direction he would take. Like the last post said - similar to 2004 and now.

It was like being a member of an exclusive club that everyone joined and all others wanted to dismantle.

It was great because it was only me who went to watch Purple Rain and then Sign 'o' the times in the cinema in my teenage years. I was ribbed in school for not liking the usual then, maybe for loving something different. Then the same people were asking me to do copies of Diamonds and Pearls for them years after... I didn't cos it was against my religion. The house of Prince!!.

No really the 80's were great. He was fresh, new and sooo sexy... I look forward to more and more. It's funny cos my daughter asked me the other week, 'Mum, What are you gonna do when prince dies?'. I can never answer that type of question but the way he lives compared to mine, I'll be first to go.

Then I'll be up there waiting for him!!!!!

vjh said:

One of the things that us older fans experienced which younger ones never will are the B-SIDES and Extended Remixes!
I remember getting my allowance and going to the record store every week just to see if another 12" dropped! If one had, all my friends and I would sit around and listen to it over and over again. We would discuss the new sounds and instrumentations as well as any hidden meanings, etc. Being a Prince fan during a time when he was so prolific was absolutely amazing - we were downright spoiled.

I wish Id been there I really do the only thing I can equate to what it must of been like was back in the 90s when oasis just took off who I was a big fan off and they were everywhere youd walk down the street everywhere was playing oasis you,d see all the lads with those oasis haircuts there where new stories everyday in the paper. Was it like that in the 80s with prince???

You can't imagine. There was nobody like Prince and there is no one today that I can even use to compare to him.

rolling said:

Over in the UK in the 80's when Prince came out with the single Sign of the Time's everyone was in shock no one though he could produce a song like that and when we saw the video with the words going across the screen ...it was like wow he wrote that! that shit is deep

Dayclear said:

Yep, I feel the same way!

It was such an exciting time. He was raw, nasty and so damn talented. He spoke of love for one another and accepting people for who they are.
[Edited 7/4/08 12:02pm]

I have been a fan before purple rain, but after purple rain all hell broke loose and it was Prince-Mania all over the globe. Back then he was truly a trendsetter with his music and fashion style. I remember almost every girl (myself included) would wear the prince-inspired lace gloves and lingerie to his concerts and in the club.
For me he was the sexiest man alive at the time. Prince was one of the first artists, if not the first who provoked with his sexy lyrics and behavior to the point that they invented the parental advisory sticker. Compared to what he was like back then, he is truly boring now. Understandably he had to adjust his behavior, because he is a mature man now and not the provocative young man that he used to be. But even to this day he doesn't look or act like the typical 50-year old.

Well at least we have the memories, young people today don't have anything, what a shame.

Compared to what he was like back then. I would give my last penny to see him in the black thong and mac again!!.

He gave us freedom and most of all a voice to women who want more from a man cos God only knows, he sings a good voice on how a man should treat a woman when it comes to matters of the heart. Shame his marriages didn't work out, I would love just 2 minutes with the man.







I wanna make u love me

Bishop31 said:

Co-sgin with both of you!

We were spoiled.
Every year incredibly great new music guaranteed!
Like nothing you ever heard,plus you would be blown away every year with b-sides side projects, songs given to young starlets.....
We never imagined it would ever end, always hoping to live to see the dawn.

rolling said:

It was like the same feeling I had rooting for the New York Giants even before they signed # 56 LT from North Carolina and having everyone laugh at you for backing a loser, then watching them win the superbowl in 86 and 90. Everyone laughed at me for being a Prince fan in the early days. Some even said The Time was much better after watching them as an opening act for him on tour (seriously). Then I was vindicated when When Doves Cry was being played on every radio station twice every hour for a month and having them sing along with it. The reactions to the movie were even crazier. Everyone laughing and dancing along with Morris when Prince sang Baby I'm A Star. They couldn't deny that the man was a musical genius so they found every other reason to pick on him. The Grammy's ignored him and critics jumped on him for his clothes and his hair. I loved it because I knew that they were just bitter and that I was right for jumping on the bandwagon way before the commercial success; all the old fans felt a kinship because of that .

I became a fan at age 12 in 1984, a time in which being "a star" still entailed having... well... talent as well as a certain mastery of aesthetic. Prince had it all -- the raw talent, the look, the inner fire, a certain mythology and mystique, and a savvy for exploiting the trends of the time. And he was an uncanny axis point for sooo many communities: Black and white, rock 'n' rollers and R&B fans, gay and straight, male and female, inner city and suburban, perverts and the pious (because Prince flirted with religious themes), new school and old school (because he hearkened back to JB, Little Richard and Jimi) all could find something in Prince to capture, if not hold onto, their attention!

And part of what set Prince apart from other very good musicians of whom I was a fan was his utter unpredictability. 1984 had TONS of good music, but Prince was so weird, so experimental, that you just never knew what he'd come up with next... yet strangely it all was so darned captivating that many people I knew actually joked that Prince had possibly sold his soul to the devil a la Robert Johnson in exchange for the golden touch. When a pretty little yella boy in high heels and a bikini from friggin' Minneapolis can make grown heterosexual men swoon, something is awry.

In retrospect, I think part of the magic back then came by way of the fact I was an adolescent. That is always an electric time. But having Prince come along at just the right moment was really something I'll never forget... nonplussed as I am by him now.
[Edited 7/4/08 16:49pm]

Awesome, especially living in Minneapolis in 1983 when "Purple Rain" was being filmed, and reading about the shoot all the time in the local papers. It was also cool to watch Prince's popularity really take off after he had been just sort of this crazy underground guy that you and your friends liked.

rolling said:

it was great even though if you were a guy people thought you were gay