I was lying in bed at midnite as a 19 year old on June 7th '84 and this local Boston station played it for the first time and I really did not know what 2 make of it, after listening 2 1999 for the better part of 2 years before this single, I knew that this man is a true genius and that as a fan that we were about 2 go on a ride that will not soon b4gotten!!

I don't remember

I remember very clearly.

It was back when MTV used to do special video premiers and there was actual hype for it. It was several months before the album and before I ever heard it on the radio.

Since I was already a fan, I had the VCR ready and must have watched it 15 times in a row. I was totally mesmerized with every thing about it.

I am with the AmericanDream, it confirmed that this dude that had already blown me away with his prior albums was truly something special.


LAter

Yes I do remember clearly.
I was at home and watching top 40 on the Dutch television.
Prince hits me right away, its was like a wake up call.
Since that day I stayed foot and his music made me stronger in the rougness days
And made me happy and gaves me joy in dancing on his music.

It's one of those moments I'll never forget - was summers day in my car and I thought what the f*** !! - I don't think I ever thought of pop music the same way, awesome!

i was amazed and listened 2 it over and over again. Everything about that song from the opening riff just blew me away!

I saw the video first and on my first day as part of the Prince community, it was the second video I saw out of a whole bunch I found.
It followed "Little Red Corvette," which I LOVED. Because that was the Prince I knew at the end of the Purple Rain film in that finale number

I didn't really get the song at first because it wasn't your typical pop song. I'd heard nothing like it before and didn't know what to think of it.
I was very distracted by the fact that Prince was practically nude in the first 30 seconds of the video.


I was not prepared for that.


I stayed away from the video for days, but the song came back to me and wouldn't get out of my head. So I watched the video again and the song started to grow on me.
Now I love it

I've written about this very thing several times on here. In depth. So I''ll just say this time that yes, I VERY clearly remember the first time I heard this song.

yup. The Top Of The Pops debut sometime in June 1984. The presenter chick said something in the line of: This track is kinda weird, but so brilliant! (I could be wrong... twas so long ago)
[Edited 9/7/08 12:25pm]

yea i was in my bedroom i was about 12 i almost lost my mind i thought it was the greatest song ever back then we had new music wednesday and they kept braggin all day we got the new prince gonna debut 2nite at 7 honey i couldnt wait i was like a kid at xmas and i layed on my floor and anxiously awaited the new song and feel in love wit it the music was soo amazing

mrmarcus said:

Yep, I'm pretty sure that's the first time I heard it / saw it too! It was like Wow! who IS that?!!

ummm, no . i think i probably liked it .

I remember not thinking it was P. *Covers face with shame*

Yeah, I was getting in the car getting ready to drive somewhere and I remember it came on the radio and I was thinkin' that that was one FONKAY song!

No, I don't remember...all that I can remember is buying Prince's albums and listening to them from the beginning.

I never heard doves cry, but I heard them sing.

I was in the hospital the 1st time I saw the video, I remember being mezmerized by him getting out of that bathtub crawling towards the T.V. screen, It felt like he was singing just for me, and coming to get me!
[Edited 9/7/08 19:19pm]

Ohh yeah!, I was just a kid, but a big Prince fan, older brothers and cousins had the Prince and Time albums and I had borrowed them indefinitely.

When I heard that playing on the radio from the other side of the room, hairs stood on end, I KNEW it had to be Prince! I ran to the radio listened in rapture and waited till the disc jockey announced who it was just so that i knew for sure!
We take the early Prince sound for granted now, but back then, there was nothing else like it, it was bad ass funk! F U N K! I don’t care what any one says.
Back then I listened to the Barkays, Zap, Parliament, Gap Band and lots of other one album wonders of the day, but they were all old fashioned funk to everyone I knew compared to Mr. Prince and the Time. We were playing the hell out of 1999 and Controversy, it was new fresh out the oven funk.


I remember that day like it was yesterday. (I also remember the time I first heard him ruin 1999-the new master, ruined my childhood memories of that song forever more)

Mtv???? I love the choreography and that greenish outfit and hat...the best!!

I remember thinking my life will never be the same again and I was right. My life got even more in trouble when I realised that 1999 was by the same Prince!

This man IS (not was) a Musical GENIUS and anyone who says anything other than that is talkin oot there arse. nough said.

Yes, I do remember.
It was January of 1993. An italian TV channel aired the Tokyo concert from The Nude Tour, August 31th, 1990. That was the night I heard 'When doves cry' for the first time, live.
Loved it at once.

although i know my dad played it on the day i came home from the hospital when i was born, and played it throughout my childhood, i remember we were listening to all his old records on an autumnal monday night when i was about 10, and he said "this one's beautiful.." and played it to me. i played it over and over again, i was fascinated by it.it's still by favourite song of all time.

I was also 12 in '84 and heard it in my room on the radio. I don't remember any build up or special presentation - I didn't realize it was Prince at first (I was into 1999 but didn't have it yet) but I remember it standing out from everything else on the radio. I very soon realized it WAS Prince and that I had to get the record ASAP. My brother bought the single and then we bought the record together (we used to do that when we were kids - that was probably the last one...)

I'm 15 laying at home on a Saturday morning after breaking up with sweet gal and this video comes on the TV as a new release.
Lost for words is all I can say.
Who was this guy?
Where was the bass line?
So many questions and no answers then and there but I had to have this song.
I went out that day and bought the 12" and then I heard 17 Days. Immediately I was hooked as a Prince fan and I've never looked back..WOW - this song changed my life for ever for the better and some people still don't understand that

Yes, I believe they premiered it in the Detroit area also on June 7th '84.
I was 18 - senior in high school and in my brothers room waiting for the dj ( The Electrifying Mojo) to announce and play it and I recorded on a cassette.

I thought wow what a weird song and played it several times more. It took awhile to grow on me but that was when the whole next year was a purple blur with work and school.

Great memories.

In the USA for most people it should be Mtv, unless you didn't have cable back then.

blackguitaristz said:

Can you direct me to the thread? I'd like to read that.

I caught the last part of it on MTV one day, soon after I turned 14 years old. I was already a huge fan by this point, and was upset that I didn't hear the song from the start. At the end of the video (which is much different than the start of the video), the credits showed it was a song from a movie called Purple Rain. I thought, "Cool, Prince did a song for a movie!" When I caught it again, I was blown away by the song intro, and immediately fell in love with the whole song. After seeing the video a few times, it started to "dawn" on me (excuse the pun) that Prince was the movie, and that there were a lot more new songs. All summer long, it was all I ever talked about.

oh yeah, at my best friends house after school. We took a girl named roz who was an exchange student from germany ( and seemed like mars to kids from champaign illinois). After the video we were shellshocked even for hardened prince heads who still bumped "lets work"from our boomboxes. When his parents came home they looked at us and asked us what had happend, we couldnt describe. Shorty after i got my hands on an eyeliner pencil and some mascara.