All right you poloroids !
How many of you were prince fans Before Purple Rain?
I am a True Original Prince fan before Purple rain and i know there are alot of purple rain babies here.

As kids, the whole block where i grew up were basting Controversy, then 1999 along with Zapp, The Gap Band, & New wave stuff from Berlin & Yazz, very diverse group of kids i think

I've been a fan ever since my Mommy brought home the Prince album

So far It looks like I'm the baby.
I bought 1999 with my pocket-money savings a few months after it's release.
It was my only LP for 2 years.
It neary ended up seen transparent from all the plays
I was 10

I was first introduced to Prince via Purple Rain, but I was 4 at the time so I think that is excusable.

oh i was for sure.
from the beginning.
i wore out my first copy for "For You".

if I would have known him before PR I sure would have been a fan

I am a Prince fan before Purple Rain.

It started with "When doves cry".

I first got hooked on Prince when I heard "little red corvette". Shortly afterwards, a friend of mine (RIP) got me into his first album, so when Purple Rain came along, I was a die-hard fan.

Yes,it was the album ..For You that hooked me !

I'm getting old ...

My first exposure was Controversy, but when I heard Delirious I started saving my allowance and begging my mom to buy me 1999. In no time I was gathering my friends around to listen to the moans in Lady Cab Driver. It was as close as we were gonna get to porn until we found a random dirty magazine.

I was shaking my little tush to 1999 with my dollies when I was still in ribbons!! (next doors older sister had a brilliant record collection)

cant say I was a fan then, but when I heard Lady cab driver that was it... Hooked..

I got my first glimpse of the little fella when Purple rain came out.. and had an instant crush.. Micheal J posters came DOWN and Prince poster went up and stayed up!!

since the 1999 double LP ...
lets pretend we are married...

1999 was a huge album but only I knew the singles. But I was intrigued by this new funky looking band called "Prince" with black guys, white guys and hot white girls and this young androgenous looking kid of ambiguous race singing and playing guitar.




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[Edited 1/6/09 7:51am]

Controversy

Fan since 1979.... "I wanna be your lover" "Why you wann treat me so bad" ...."Sexy Dancer" ...etc....

right here... I'm a 1999 fan .. Lady Cab Driver did it for me..

My first two records were "I wanna be your lover" 45 and Elvis Gold

I was hooked when I got Dirty Mind and then Controversy within a couple of months from each other. Then I was certifiable by the time the 1999 triple threat hit.

For me, it was Dirty Mind and Controversy. I was watching late-night cable TV and they showed videos from both albums (the radio stations around here wouldn't touch anything from Dirty Mind ). I bought Controversy first, then then Dirty Mind soon after.

lewdew said:

Obviously many many fans if not, it hadn´t been there a movie.

going back to the Farrah album

I remember Soft and wet on the radio and purchased the "prince" album when it came out

I did become a fan with Purple Rain BUT I really liked 1999 when it was out. I consider that my "foundation" song with me becoming a Prince fan.

Me!

I have been a fan since Controversy...I was 11 years old.

I was hooked on Prince when 1999 was released, but didn't start to feel the impact two years later with the influx of the Purple Rain experience. It took me four years, though, to get into the collecting mode and went back to introduce myself to Four You, Prince, Dirty Mind and Controversy.

In fact, it was show and tell with music one day in elementary school, and all of us brought in our big records. The cool part was writing band names and "artists" on sheets of paper and sticking the names randomly on the backs, and we had to "guess" which band or artist we were.

We spun our vinyl for an afternoon (it was near the end of the school year in 1983) and had art class. We all had to draw our album covers. I brought in Jimmy Buffet's "Volcano" but I will never forget my friend Greg who brought in The Beatles "The White Album."

Funny thing, like most of us on his thread, we were either in grade school or in junior high or high school when Prince made his debut. And yes, based my age, I can't fathom that I was in third grade when For You was released, but since then it's been a great rollercoaster ride. I'm so glad I bought a ticket and continued to ride, even to this day.

'Prince'... its been a long time...

Do Me Baby is what got me.

Closely followed by International Lover.

He was singing about sexual stuff.

I wish i was a fan before Purple Rain.. I got the 1999album as a x-mas gift in dec of 83... i still thought that was the name of a band... I regret not enjoying the full build-up leading to Purple Rain... but hey, ever since When Doves Cry, which is still one of the most creative songs in the history of music..I've been a Prince fan for 25 years now... I have stuck with him through thick and thin. I won't repeat myself anymore about his 80 to 88 period... But hey that's how i feel in my heart... I just hope his next 2 albums are respectable.. i hope lotus flower rocks.. and MPLS funks!!!.....BOBBY