squirrelgrease said:

I liked how all the song titles had their own individual font.

I was a high school student in my kitchen washing the dinner dishes, I changed the radio station to WBLS(NYC) and heard this guitar screeching sound and then it was over....I knew it was Prince. I caught the tail end of Let's Go Crazy and couldn't wait to hear it from the begining.

My first LP. I was in 2nd grade. At the time my parents didn't have much money. I had my cheap little kmart record player, the box kind with a handle on it. I had just started spending my allowance on 45's. I had the 45's of When Doves Cry, Let's Go Crazy, I Would Die 4 U and Purple Rain, along with many others of the time like Billy Ocean's "Loverboy", ray Parker Jr's "Ghostbusters", Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop", Tina Turner's "Better Be Good To Me", etc. My mom would go shopping while I was in school, and I would give her a list of records to look for and my allowance. I didn't realize at the time 45's had a shelf life, so that particular day she couldn't find any of the ones I wanted. I came home from school and there on my bed was this big shiny album cover. Prince.. in all his fabulousness. I was only 7, so you can imagine at the time that such a small thing was such a big surprise to me. My mom said "well none of the records you wanted were there, so I added a couple dollars and got you this instead. This is the one you wanted right?'
My music obsession was solidified that day. That was the first time I ever had an album of my own, and one I had to play from start to finish. The 45's had all the edit versions, so it felt like an extra treat to hear the uncut versions of all the hits. songs like The Beautiful Ones, Computer Blue, and Darling Nikki were a whole new world to me. I was too young to understand what Darling Nikki was about. I had no idea that the weird thing at the end of Darling Nikki was a backwards message. I just knew my ears and my soul *felt* this music.
Happy Birthday! and sorry something tragic had to happen on that day to detract attention from the power of this great album.

I was 13, in my mums's Land Rover outside the back of Coles Supermarket. I had just bought it on cassette and heard it for the first time and have since spent thousands of dollars trying to recreate the feeling I got from that moment without success

LIBRA said:

I remember it. Well. I was 9 years old when I heard "When Doves Cry" it was totally awesome. Even though I liked 1999 album better than "Purple Rain" hope I don't upset anybody over that. It is still one of the best albums ever.

I will never forget that day! I cut school to go to the movies with my friends to see Purple Rain! I was 14 years old!
Funny- when I saw Appolonia's beautiful long hair I decided to grow my hair long too - and it's been that way ever since! LOL
I was already a HUGE fan - I began listening to Prince at age 9 in 1979. I just watched the amazing interview on PBS.org with Tavis Smiley and MAN it is good to hear the MAN speak! Michael may have been the King RIP dear Michael!), But my heart belongs to PRINCE!!

[Edited 7/10/09 11:55am]
[Edited 7/10/09 11:56am]

How many of y'all had this joint? I had 6.....
[Edited 7/10/09 21:45pm]

and so the anniversary came and went, and we as prince fans celebrated in our own way, and then that was that. a landmark album deserving commemorating, and ignored yet again by prince. no remaster, re-release, nothing.

why does he suck so much? because you know wb would have done it. why oh why does he suck so much? WHY?

i listened to "sign of the times" yesterday, and it's virtually unlistenable, it is mastered so abysmally. as is "1999."

sigh.

It was the day after my birthday so I was still ona good note and "Purple Rain" made it even better,so much that I had to learn how to play it on my guitar before I learned anything else.

ZombieKitten said:

You and me both. I was 5 when Purple Rain was released back in '84 though.

shakalakaboom said:

I have come to the sad conclusion (years ago, really) that Prince doesnt give a shit about his fans. He couldnt care less. This is why I refuse to spend a dime on anything that he has to offer. Ive spent thousands on albums, downloads, concert tickets, DVDs, music club dues, and all sorts of stuff but NO MORE. The last cd I bought was 3121 and the last time I saw him in concert was the Musicology Tour. Ive seen him 6x in concert. Im 30 years old now. I have enough of his work and enough memories from shows to last a lifetime. He is such an ASSHOLE.

YAY!!!

shakalakaboom said:

we can't win... we get "live" recordings with added embellishments and re-recorded (re-mastered?) vocals etc and we complain. We don't get re-mastered old albums and we complain. Bear in mind 1999 is 26 years, SOTT 22 ... They were probably high tech at the time (except the demos that made their way in on SOTT).

Why would Prince spend time and effort on old albums when he probably has a few new ideas rumbling round his brain?

harveya said:

The thing that bugs me most is that PR was a landmark achievement, yet the mainstream media didn't even blink...granted, MJ's passing overshadowed it, but still....when are folks who aren't huge fans of P going to start celebrating his talents? We all know that if P passes on, he won't get a tenth of the coverage or the love outside of his fan base.....

OW! That's why I love him. He's truly timeless. This stuff could be released NOW and still be as effective as it apparently (i wasn't born till 5 yrs later ) was back then.
Party on Partyman!

I first saw the movie at my aunt’s house when I was eight or nine (198?), and was intrigued, aroused and enchanted by what I saw/heard that day. At some point, I saw the video for “When Doves Cry” at a Circuit City in Augusta, GA, in the show room and fell in LOVE! Though the Batman soundtrack and Diamonds and Pearls were the first Prince albums I ever heard in their entirety, the magic of the Purple Rain tracks (and The Time’s amazing hits) started it all!

I'm with the idea of a special edition re-release. Remastered only if it can be improved upon.

my first memory of purple rain was five years ago when I was 20, it was the summer of 2004 and I just fell in love with Prince and his music when I heard hime sing 'Sweet thing' by Chaka Chan at his acoustic musicololy unplugged show on MTV. He just blue me away and from that moment everything in my life was just Prince. Funny enough that same month they had just released purple rain on DVD. I bought it, took it home and enjoyed every moment of it all summer long. Its hard to imagine that I was born in 1984 and that it took me so long to discover a genious like prince. Purple rain is now a soundtrack for the summer of 2004 for me but I wish I cud have seen it back in earlier days.