It's funny as I look back at the "controversy" of Purple Rain. In the other thread where it was mentioned about songs Prince couldn't play anymore, I said something about him not doing "Computer Blue", since he hardly curse anymore in his shows, that hell wasn't even as much of a curse word as it used to be, then I thought about it, there wasn't a moment on PR except for "Darling Nikki" where it was really that daring. I'm guessing because Tipper and Al Gore had a problem with the lyrics mentioning masturbation and "grinding" that this is why it got the sticker but it's one of Prince's least cursive albums. I don't even think he said DAMN in any of the songs and besides from "hell" in "Computer Blue" but I guess it shows you how wild things were in the '80s that someone would dare do a song about a "girl masturbating with a magazine" when nowadays people think it's real tame right now. I understand it was all about censorship but I always thought those people were pushing it about it being detrimental to a young listener. Anyways, I just thought that was interesting. What y'all think about that time?

[Edited 6/1/11 13:38pm]

I did not know it had a sticker.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I did not know it had a sticker.

I think it did, I just know I was reading a magazine years ago while at school and noticed there was some kind of page with albums for sale and below "Purple Rain", it was listed "E" for explicit lyrics. So maybe that's what it was idk... but I could've sworn that some asses put a sticker on it. If not my apologies.

I've never seen a copy of Purple Rain with a parental label. Not even 1999 with its infamous "i sincerely wanna fuck the taste outta your mouth" line has ever had such a sticker, as far as i've seen.

=0P

Timmy84 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I did not know it had a sticker.

I think it did, I just know I was reading a magazine years ago while at school and noticed there was some kind of page with albums for sale and below "Purple Rain", it was listed "E" for explicit lyrics. So maybe that's what it was idk... but I could've sworn that some asses put a sticker on it. If not my apologies.

I do not think it did. Dirty Mind did IIRC. And then the first one that had the Black and White label was GB. Which also made little sense to me.

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Timmy84 said:

I think it did, I just know I was reading a magazine years ago while at school and noticed there was some kind of page with albums for sale and below "Purple Rain", it was listed "E" for explicit lyrics. So maybe that's what it was idk... but I could've sworn that some asses put a sticker on it. If not my apologies.

I do not think it did. Dirty Mind did IIRC. And then the first one that had the Black and White label was GB. Which also made little sense to me.

I see... lemme change the title. Thanks guys.

the thing that is funny to me is that the intro to "baby I'm a Star" has the F word backwards in it and that gets played on the radio all the time!

And that some people tried to say the end of Nikki was satanic! even when they were told what it said they said "it is about god coming and being fine but it is backwards and thus opposite. so it means he is not ok the devil is coming..." I told him (it was my mom's youth minister nut case) "wouldn't that mean the devil is going away? the opposite right?"

OnlyNDaUsa said:

the thing that is funny to me is that the intro to "baby I'm a Star" has the F word backwards in it and that gets played on the radio all the time!

And that some people tried to say the end of Nikki was satanic! even when they were told what it said they said "it is about god coming and being fine but it is backwards and thus opposite. so it means he is not ok the devil is coming..." I told him (it was my mom's youth minister nut case) "wouldn't that mean the devil is going away? the opposite right?"

Yeah that was funny. Obviously Prince was being humorous with it. In fact, I noticed Prince started "For You" backwards, anyone noticed that? So he had been backmasking for a while (the 12' of "Let's Work" also has backmasking).

Tipper and her crew started their whole show because of Purple Rain.

As you said, not because of the curse words, but because of the masterbatory material.

Timmy84 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

the thing that is funny to me is that the intro to "baby I'm a Star" has the F word backwards in it and that gets played on the radio all the time!

And that some people tried to say the end of Nikki was satanic! even when they were told what it said they said "it is about god coming and being fine but it is backwards and thus opposite. so it means he is not ok the devil is coming..." I told him (it was my mom's youth minister nut case) "wouldn't that mean the devil is going away? the opposite right?"

Yeah that was funny. Obviously Prince was being humorous with it. In fact, I noticed Prince started "For You" backwards, anyone noticed that? So he had been backmasking for a while (the 12' of "Let's Work" also has backmasking).

Yeah, he started his career backwards.. almost like he moonwalked onto the start of the album

But I was told by a huge fan of Prince that the song 'Darling Nikki' was the reason and the start of the explicit/parental advisory thing.

That's strange that the album that fostered the creation parental advisory stickers still doesn't have a parental advisory sticker. Even Emancipation has a PA sticker!

The stickers came after Purple Rain. It was one of about 10 albums to be singled out by Tipper Gore in 1985, who helped initiate the stickers.

motherfunka said:

The stickers came after Purple Rain. It was one of about 10 albums to be singled out by Tipper Gore in 1985, who helped initiate the stickers.

The filthy fifteen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMRC

AhPook said:

motherfunka said:

The stickers came after Purple Rain. It was one of about 10 albums to be singled out by Tipper Gore in 1985, who helped initiate the stickers.

The filthy fifteen:

#	Artist	Song title	Lyrical content
1	Prince	"Darling Nikki"	Sex
2	Sheena Easton	"Sugar Walls"	Sex
3	Judas Priest	"Eat Me Alive"	Sex
4	Vanity	"Strap on Robbie Baby"	Sex
5	Mötley Crüe	"Bastard"	Violence
6	AC/DC	"Let Me Put My Love into You"	Sex
7	Twisted Sister	"We're Not Gonna Take It"	Violence
8	Madonna	"Dress You Up"	Sex
9	W.A.S.P.	"Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)"	Sex/Language
10	Def Leppard	"High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)"	Drug and alcohol use
11	Mercyful Fate	"Into the Coven"	Occult
12	Black Sabbath	"Trashed"	Drug and alcohol use
13	Mary Jane Girls	"In My House"	Sex
14	Venom	"Possessed"	Occult
15	Cyndi Lauper	"She Bop"	Sex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMRC

Cool thanks for posting that. lol @ Cyndi Lauper's She Bop. I remember at the time not even knowing what the songs was about, until they made a big stink about it.

Revolution said:

Tipper and her crew started their whole show because of Purple Rain.

As you said, not because of the curse words, but because of the masterbatory material.

Yeah, this is what I heard too - that Purple Rain is pretty much the whole reason why cds have Parental Advisory stickers now.

AhPook said:

motherfunka said:

The stickers came after Purple Rain. It was one of about 10 albums to be singled out by Tipper Gore in 1985, who helped initiate the stickers.

The filthy fifteen:

#	Artist	Song title	Lyrical content
1	Prince	"Darling Nikki"	Sex
2	Sheena Easton	"Sugar Walls"	Sex
3	Judas Priest	"Eat Me Alive"	Sex
4	Vanity	"Strap on Robbie Baby"	Sex
5	Mötley Crüe	"Bastard"	Violence
6	AC/DC	"Let Me Put My Love into You"	Sex
7	Twisted Sister	"We're Not Gonna Take It"	Violence
8	Madonna	"Dress You Up"	Sex
9	W.A.S.P.	"Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)"	Sex/Language
10	Def Leppard	"High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)"	Drug and alcohol use
11	Mercyful Fate	"Into the Coven"	Occult
12	Black Sabbath	"Trashed"	Drug and alcohol use
13	Mary Jane Girls	"In My House"	Sex
14	Venom	"Possessed"	Occult
15	Cyndi Lauper	"She Bop"	Sex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PMRC

...Someone was talking about fucking like animals before Nine Inch Nails did?

A lot of really cool songs are on that list - Nikki, Sugar Walls ; Dress You Up; My House? That's a party mix right there.

just1lousydime said:

That's strange that the album that fostered the creation parental advisory stickers still doesn't have a parental advisory sticker. Even Emancipation has a PA sticker!

They didn't backtrack and put labels on any album. If that was the case, Millie Jackson's entire catalog would be marked.

daPrettyman said:

Tipper Gore is an idiot she though that her daughter would be messed up for life listening to Purple Rain because of Daring Nikki. Her daughter would actually have good taste in music if she allowed her to. Also it's a soundtrack to an R rated movie. What do you expect? controversy, 1999, heck even Dirty Mind didn't create such controversies.

aardvark15 said:

Tipper Gore is an idiot she though that her daughter would be messed up for life listening to Purple Rain because of Daring Nikki. Her daughter would actually have good taste in music if she allowed her to. Also it's a soundtrack to an R rated movie. What do you expect? controversy, 1999, heck even Dirty Mind didn't create such controversies.

Maybe I'm totally wrong in this but Ms. Gore was doing it to get attention for her husband Al lol...and to make a name for herself. Well she accomplished that. When I read about this years ago, I didn't trust what politrickans (of any party) had to say.

Timmy84 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

I did not know it had a sticker.

I think it did, I just know I was reading a magazine years ago while at school and noticed there was some kind of page with albums for sale and below "Purple Rain", it was listed "E" for explicit lyrics. So maybe that's what it was idk... but I could've sworn that some asses put a sticker on it. If not my apologies.

Back then I don't think any albums had stickers, Purple Rain was the album that started the crusade!

I actually don't really get on Tipper for what she did. She said she liked the music a lot, she was just shocked when she heard Darling Nikki.

She was not trying to ban music, just label it. Someone mentioned that the movie was rated R. Exactly. The album had no rating and that was what bothered her.

...and there is absolutely nothing wrong with albums having labels like that, imo.

I seem to recall that in the beginning a few of the stickered albums actually sold more than they might have done without it, as well.

NDRU said:

Timmy84 said:

I think it did, I just know I was reading a magazine years ago while at school and noticed there was some kind of page with albums for sale and below "Purple Rain", it was listed "E" for explicit lyrics. So maybe that's what it was idk... but I could've sworn that some asses put a sticker on it. If not my apologies.

Back then I don't think any albums had stickers, Purple Rain was the album that started the crusade!

I actually don't really get on Tipper for what she did. She said she liked the music a lot, she was just shocked when she heard Darling Nikki.

She was not trying to ban music, just label it. Someone mentioned that the movie was rated R. Exactly. The album had no rating and that was what bothered her.

a few had warnings on them.

Revolution said:

Tipper and her crew started their whole show because of Purple Rain.

As you said, not because of the curse words, but because of the masterbatory material.

Knowing that she was doing the same thing herself...

ecstasy said:

Revolution said:

Tipper and her crew started their whole show because of Purple Rain.

As you said, not because of the curse words, but because of the masterbatory material.

Knowing that she was doing the same thing herself...

first speculation.

second so what most people do things they would not want to hear sung about.

also the rating of the movie has nothing to do with the content of the album. So that argument is really kind of poorly thought out.

Japha11 said:

Timmy84 said:

Yeah that was funny. Obviously Prince was being humorous with it. In fact, I noticed Prince started "For You" backwards, anyone noticed that? So he had been backmasking for a while (the 12' of "Let's Work" also has backmasking).

Yeah, he started his career backwards.. almost like he moonwalked onto the start of the album

But I was told by a huge fan of Prince that the song 'Darling Nikki' was the reason and the start of the explicit/parental advisory thing.

Yeah Tipper heard her daughter listening to the album:Darling Nikki more specifically and heard the word masturbate, then she went all up in arms... like Tipper never did it.

Timmy84 said:

It's funny as I look back at the "controversy" of Purple Rain. In the other thread where it was mentioned about songs Prince couldn't play anymore, I said something about him not doing "Computer Blue", since he hardly curse anymore in his shows, that hell wasn't even as much of a curse word as it used to be, then I thought about it, there wasn't a moment on PR except for "Darling Nikki" where it was really that daring. I'm guessing because Tipper and Al Gore had a problem with the lyrics mentioning masturbation and "grinding" that this is why it got the sticker but it's one of Prince's least cursive albums. I don't even think he said DAMN in any of the songs and besides from "hell" in "Computer Blue" but I guess it shows you how wild things were in the '80s that someone would dare do a song about a "girl masturbating with a magazine" when nowadays people think it's real tame right now. I understand it was all about censorship but I always thought those people were pushing it about it being detrimental to a young listener. Anyways, I just thought that was interesting. What y'all think about that time?

I've talked about this before, with a lot of Prince's 1980's music did not have a lot of cursing,

He might have cursed a lot in concerts but not on albums/songs. The more explicity words I didn't hear from him till 1990's

Nothing on Purple Rain has words kids can't listen to. Even the B sides are pretty clean except 4 Erotic City

Timmy84 said:

but it's one of Prince's least cursive albums.

[Edited 6/1/11 13:38pm]

the warnings arent just about swearing when they get stuck on albums, its about the subject matter also. the controversy with purple rain was all about darling nikki's subject matter, not about swearing.

http://www.freedomforum.o...ntID=13870

Tipper Gore, the wife of then-Sen. Al Gore, bought Prince's smash-hit album "Purple Rain," which contained a song called "Darling Nicky."

After hearing the song's allusions to masturbation, sex and one-night stands, Tipper Gore gathered a group of Washington wives and formed the Parents Music Resource Group, Nuzum said.

"The PMRC met with the Senate in summer 1985 with a list of many demands, one of them being the parental advisory sticker," Nuzum added, "and by 1990 the sticker graced albums [such as] Twisted Sister and 2 Live Crew."

"There were incidents [in which] that sticker (was used) as a de facto obscenity standard," he said.

OldFriends4Sale said:

http://www.freedomforum.o...ntID=13870

Tipper Gore, the wife of then-Sen. Al Gore, bought Prince's smash-hit album "Purple Rain," which contained a song called "Darling Nicky."

After hearing the song's allusions to masturbation, sex and one-night stands, Tipper Gore gathered a group of Washington wives and formed the Parents Music Resource Group, Nuzum said.

"The PMRC met with the Senate in summer 1985 with a list of many demands, one of them being the parental advisory sticker," Nuzum added, "and by 1990 the sticker graced albums [such as] Twisted Sister and 2 Live Crew."

"There were incidents [in which] that sticker (was used) as a de facto obscenity standard," he said.

i watched some of the hearings it was funny to hear them reading the lyrics to Prince songs. He made the list a few times. Not only was he in 3 of the dirty 15 but Jack U Off and Sister also made the testimony. And who can for get the greatness of Frank Zappa testifying!