I'll never forget it, here in the UK it was premiered on Radio 1 during the time when anything by P was a BIG DEAL!. So this had come off the back of all the P. Rain hype, Raspberry Beret and Kiss were still super fresh in everyone's mind and he'd conquered the UK in 86' on the Parade tour.
When I first heard it I was floored!, I mean literally floored, staring at my speakers open mouthed!. I was expecting either something complex production wise as per Parade or back to the funk of 1999. How wrong I was!, i'd never heard anything this tight before, the lyrics screamed quality, the music screamed genius and so did the production. This was unlike ANYTHING out at the time and I adored it!. When did you first hear it and what were your thoughts, did you love it or not?.

Its was ahead of its time, no doubt. The music was different, the lyrics were daring. It was dark, it was funky, it was straight forward, in your face truth!
Great song!

Absolutely loved it. Thought it was astounding. This was the final piece of the Prince puzzle as far as I was concerned. From here on in I was hooked.

I first heard this song on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 show when it made its debut. Needless to say, I was blown away ! Enough that to date, it is still my number one Prince song of all time.

a monday morning in 1987, getting ready 4 school, listening to Radio 1, brushing my teeth in the bathroom, and suddenly this comes on... a broad toothpaste foam filled grin stretches across my face, (the same grin i had when i first saw him at Wembley Arena the previous summer, albeit without the foamy mouth) and i think the same thought i had that night,

"no doubt about it, this man is a bold, maveric, genius, at the top of his game"

the very very first time: I thought what a monotoneus song,

it was in early 1987 IIRC..... maybe april?

but very very soon I loved it absolutely,

Prince's soft "deep" voice, the drums, and the guitar, beautiful lyrics too... wow just brilliant.

The first time I heard it...(roughly 3-4 years ago)...I thought it was boring, and especially felt that it never really went anywhere. In fact, the entire album had me thinking..."what is the fuss over this?" it took quite some time to get the vibe of both it and the album itself...minus a few tracks.
=0P

I remember it being early 87 around late Feb early March and thinking this is way diiferent than Parade. I was totally hooked by the sound that Prince had going at that time. My all time favorite Prince Album. I loved the mystery of the single cover because everyone thought that was Prince when it was Cat.

I remember thinking or saying out loud "grandma, stop stepping on the floor boards you're causing static!" to which she kept doing it intentionally. I still have the recording to prove it!

I wasn't blown away the first time i heard it back in 87,but you never were on first listen, but you knew it was brilliant if you know what i mean.
It just took a few listens to realize how uniquely great it was, and the way Prince used to reinvent himself musically and style wise was inspired.
You just never knew what your gonna get next, which made him so fresh and ahead of the game...good times

I thought he had penned yet another amazing opening line.

The man could really grab you by the shirt collar.

funkyhead said:

Totally agree! I was 15 at the time and had been a fan since I first heard "When Doves Cry". The momentum he had in the UK at this point was mammoth! I'm pretty sure I was in the car on the way to school when I heard it on Radio1....I bunked most of my lessons that day, as I couldn't concentrate and went in to our school music center instead, I was feeling that inspired.

This minimilast, dark sound was quite new at the time - TTD's Wishing Well was in a similar vein. I loved it

I also heard it on the radio in my bedroom one morning early '87 while getting ready for school! I remember my heart racing, my ears popping wide open, hanging off every line. I remember especially loving the stripped back production and the little guitar licks and then the kinda bluesy guitar bit at the end nd me going - wow, so THIS is where he's going (it wasn't, in retrospect, but the song's still kick-arse).

And then there was that award show performance (grammy's?) - that just blew the world away!!!

First 7 or nine beats of the introduction and I was sold.
It spoke wonders of what was about to come in the rest of the song.
Lyrics also absolutely blew me away.

I remember I was in the dentist waiting room.....if he'd been ready my jaw was wide!!!

I was thinking it was amazing, like nothing else around at the time.

Still stands the test of time for me.

I can't remember the first time hearing it, but I vividly remember when I first saw the video. It fitted the song perfectly.
No distractions in the video, just the lyrics and bare sound.

Too long ago to remember what I thought about it the first time I heard it, but the opening guitar riff live ROCKS!!!

Didn't know (Purple Rain for example) or like (DMSR, 1999) much about Prince when I heard this song on the radio in the late eighties and I just thought: wow, what an unique song - the beat, guitar, lyrics immediately got me !!

It took another year or so until the concert-film came out. And I went to see it just because if the title-song ! And this movie was my "initiation" into Prince-music.

Joyinrepatition said:

Cat!

I need you to rap!

Your lips!

Around my D**k!

That evening, I was working with kids, we were in a big bus coming back from who knows where and the song came on the radio, I only heard bits of it since the kids were making so much noise, I was astonished by what I heard and didn't really understood it, since the next time I heard it...

I actually really liked it when I first heard it; video is lame, but the song had an amazing message and loved the beat.

yep, absolutely loved it! I was 15 had been totally
immersed in ATWIAD & Parade. I was totally ready for
the new Prince single & I remember slappin that 12"
on the turntable and just taking it all in.
The beat, funky bass hook, & how it sounds all empty
and echoing. The way he builds a kind of quiet tension
in the choruses until he's pleading oh whyyyyy.
oh yeah I was all over it. I loved it.
And trying to figure out the cover. Is it him?/it's not him
Did he shave his whole body?
After Parade & The Revolution growing to 10 members,
he breaks them up and then releases this sparse stripped
down song. and yeah it was a little haunting back then.
"Sign O The Times mess with your mind, hurry be4 it's too late".
And then the b-side is a long workout jam, like a band, but
it's all just him!?!?!!
I listened to those two sides and I was like:

One other funny thing is that I remember playing SOTT that day
and saying to my mom: This is the new Prince song, he split up
his band and made this song by himself. To which she replied:
yeah, I can tell.

I remember first hearing this song in early 87" and thinking to myself, this song is pretty deep even for Prince...the lyrics, the subject matter, the production was clearly ahead of its time. Like someone mentioned, u stare at the 12in cover wondering is it him, or is it Cat? At 15 years of age, I didn't want to believe my favorite artist Prince went out like that! To this day, do we really know who that was on the front cover? lol

I remember thinking it was kind of bland for an opening single and hoping the upcoming album was going to be better. I bought the 12 Inch though and loved the B Side "La La La He He Hee".

I was like "damn".

17 years old and Prince had me really thinking about LIFE.

The lyrics of this song are relevant today as it was yesterday.

Riding in the car with my partner.
I thought it would be an R&B #1 and a Pop Top Five but not #1.
I thought it was brilliant and hoped it wasn't the best song on the album. It isn't.

Genesia said:

Right!

The first time you heard it, you knew you weren't going to forget the opening line.
As with 'Controversy,' 'Little Red Corvette,' 'When Doves Cry,' . . . .

I came on Prince.org and stated that P had lost it and was just following trends...and I said that maybe he should get a producer and I said he was no longer King and I said he can only cut it live now and someone else said ...that he was burned out at 30. Of course I was right it never sold anything like Madonna or MJ and I have not listened to a album since.

Only paraphrasing the haters....hehehehehehh

Tis as good as anything on MPLSound.

I remember hearing it and liking it right away. I also remember getting the whole album and listening to it and thinking this is the best Prince album ever. I still think that today. Oddly enough, I recently started listening to the whole cd again. I generally listen to the past 10 year output and the pass hits. But lately, I'm turning to listening to complete cds from the WB years.