...you weren't going to dig all of Prince's music?

For me, having started my experience during the Lovesexy/Batman era, the first sense of something not living upto par was with Emancipation; however, it was only until Newpower Soul that the realisation was more fully upon me. It was a tough pill to swallow, I have to admit.

What about you?

It was probably started with his protoges, TC Ellis and Ingrid Chavez. Then later, it became NPS. I just can't stomach those projects.

For me, it had to be when "Come", was released. I cannot stand that album!!

I think the first time I looked sideways at an album was ATWIAD. I love it now, but at the time, Prince was heavy into R&B and pop. ATWIAD was a total change, and it took getting used to. Oddly, I loved Parade. Graffiti Bridge slowed it down for me, as did D&P, but I loved .

So it went in waves, but the first time? Probably ATWAID. I was 17 and thinking "WTF IS THIS?!" But I listened over and over and over, and tried to get into it. Over time I did. But I thought one some level...wow, he won't always stay the same.

1979.

Hmmmm....hard to say, because, generally, I do LOVE all of his music. However, that damn Kamasutra sits out there.

The music is his art...and I appreciate it.

I don't dig all of my other artists' music anyway...
so there was never a point of realization for me with Prince's music.
To me, it's reality by default that I won't like all his music

Well, I didn't become a Prince fan until I was in college (1987), so there were things I didn't like before I started deciding what I did like.

When I heard "My Name Is Prince" for the first time....

Anji said:

When "The Time" album was released and I heard "After Hi School". That's the ONE Prince style song that I'm not crazy about, same vibe as on "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man", or even "Jack U Off" to some degree (although that song was extremely instrumental toward developing his persona). Well written songs, catchy tunes, just not a style Prince has sold me on, yet.

1991

When I saw the cover of Lovesexy and said WTF?

For me it was Grafiti Bridge.

"Shake" by The Time is on that CD and I think that was the first time, I started skipping certain songs.

For me it was the moment I played the "God" instrumental that came with the Hits album.

I just cannot physically take that track. I have never heard it all the way through. I have tried several times to play it. My boyfriend even sat on me and tried to play it. I dumped his ass on the floor and left the room.

I just hate it. I can't stand it. It was like Prince went on a drunked bender, screamed into a microphone for 4 minutes and set it to music,

It's one of those tracks that makes me say, "If Prince didn't have that plump, jiggly, booty, I'd throw the record in the trash."

But I like most of his other music. 98%.

From the beginning. there are songs I don't like on each album.

The Artist era, but later on grew to love it

have to concur with ernest, ATWIAD. in hindsight it was quite a ballsy curveball that i think liberated Prince from the prison of "follow-up" and "expectation" (something MJ has not been able to do). at the time, i didn't appreciate it. but i immediately dug Pop Life, Paisley Park, Tangerine and Raspberry Beret and its B-side. the rest had to grow on me

JayJai said:

Yup, I agree... There are many other artists that I love and sometimes not all of their music does it for me. Prince just happens to have a lot more albums than they do. More opportunities to bomb or to thrill.

datdude said:

You mean "Tamourine", not "Tangerine" ? haha

I loved "Paisley Park", and "Pop Life" and "America". I HATED "Temptation", the title track, and "Condition of the Heart". "The Ladder" was okay. "Raspeberry Beret" was the first song our radio stations started to play.

I remember buying the cassette, and it was the first time I saw one of the clear see-thru cassettes with a clear case, opposed to a translucent one. I LOVED that. Very techy at the time.

guarinigirl2000 said:

I remember WANTING to like that at first, but it was so screechy and whiney, it really took me a while. There are still a couple of blurps in there that almost make me embarrassed to hear it.

Diamonds and Pearls (album) was when I really felt things were changing for me.

The moment I first heard his voice.

I was rocking out to the 1999 album before running off to catch my elementary school bus. Prince was the bomb. I knew that much.
[Edited 5/11/09 21:35pm]

I knew it from the first album I got, Parade. I was disappointed that the album didn't sound like all the Prince songs I had heard on MTV and the radio or even "Kiss", which is why I asked Mom for the album in the first place (I was 7 at the time). I must say, I liked the album but I didn't love it. It took years for that to happen.
[Edited 5/11/09 21:43pm]

GetAwayFromMe said:

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Graffiti Bridge... something not quite secure about this construction.

it was the same for me...when Lovesexy came out, though this is still one of my favs. things definitely changed inbetween SOTT and Lovesexy. After Lovesexy, it got weirder, and when "My name is Prince" came out, I became more concerned. But, like many of y'all, I have stuck with him ever since

I loved the Batman album, I think Graffiti Bridge made me realize something about Prince's output..., Prince's songs were great, (I LOOOOVE the remix of Thieves In The Temple), but not those songs by The Time, those were really bad,

Emancipation was my 1st big major disappointment, the album was born to make... really? Too sterile, sugary, and plastic production, I was so disappointed.

Come is great, I have no idea why some fans dislike this great album.....Come = a 9/10 "masterpiece", if only the album had included Lovesign and maybe Interactive too... then Come would have been a 10/10 album imo.!!!

thedance said:

When Emancipation was released at first I was happy because he was finally free to make music the way HE wanted to and not be a SLAVE to the corporate music assholes.

Then I pressed play...

and I was like, "Somebody make his punk-ass sign a frikkin' contract!!!"