I understand it was his first time on National television and he was nervous, but...

*cringe*

PS. Wasn't he 21? He said he was 19, but I could've sworn he was 21 :\

skipp3Rn3ls0n said:

I understand it was his first time on National television and he was nervous, but...

*cringe*

PS. Wasn't he 21? He said he was 19, but I could've sworn he was 21 :\

My favorite television performance of his ever. Those skin tight satin spandex pants, the slinging of the hair, the part where you wonder if he kissed Dez or just whispered something to him, the prancing across the stage, the fish pose with his hand on his hip while introducing the band, and the huge hoop earring in his right ear. It was his gayest performance ever and the first time I ever laid eyes on him. I loved it!

No, I hate the performane too. I hate his look back then, and the performance and interview were nothing special.

Yeah...it's one of those "cringe" moments!

How any of you could watch that performance and not tell

that Prince occasionally (ok ok, frequently) got it up

the butt, is beyond me.

Had Prince been just a tiny bit more scared than he was

on stage, his heart would burst, and the poor little girl

would have exploded and showered the viewing audience

with glitter, that's just how gay it was.

I loved that performance. Cringeworthy but delicious.

imago said:

How any of you could watch that performance and not tell

that Prince occasionally (ok ok, frequently) got it up

the butt, is beyond me.

Had Prince been just a tiny bit more scared than he was

on stage, his heart would burst, and the poor little girl

would have exploded and showered the viewing audience

with glitter, that's just how gay it was.

I loved that performance. Cringeworthy but delicious.

OMG!

imago said:

[Edited 1/22/12 20:46pm]

[Edited 1/22/12 20:47pm]

Jamzone333 said:

Prince was just so nervous. He was trying to be cool, but he had made it and I think he was even in shock that he was talking to Dick Clark on American Bandstand.

[Edited 1/22/12 20:47pm]

imago said:

How any of you could watch that performance and not tell

that Prince occasionally (ok ok, frequently) got it up

the butt, is beyond me.

Had Prince been just a tiny bit more scared than he was

on stage, his heart would burst, and the poor little girl

would have exploded and showered the viewing audience

with glitter, that's just how gay it was.

I loved that performance. Cringeworthy but delicious.

FunkySideEffects said:

imago said:

How any of you could watch that performance and not tell

that Prince occasionally (ok ok, frequently) got it up

the butt, is beyond me.

Had Prince been just a tiny bit more scared than he was

on stage, his heart would burst, and the poor little girl

would have exploded and showered the viewing audience

with glitter, that's just how gay it was.

I loved that performance. Cringeworthy but delicious.

Too true - if this were the very first performance to see of Prince one would question his sexuality. Why did he lie about his age though??

It's the first time I ever saw Prince and it stuck with me forever. First impressions are a motherfucker and I don't care what nobody or even Prince says himself, that bitch is gayer than a Donna Summer record.

Hard to watch but nothing tops the Beverly Theatre fiasco from August of '83...

I've heard conflicting stories about the Bandstand appearance. Pepe Willie says that Prince was totally nervous and unprepared for the spotlight. Dez however says it was all planned, adding that he thought it was a bad idea that made everyone look dumb...

Either way it's apparent he received some sort of "coaching" over the next few years, if nothing else you can tell this was before starting his dance lessons -- just look at the Solid Gold performace two years later

It was all mimed/lip synced, the band never played a note and Prince never sang a note. Not what i'd call a performance.

vainandy said:

skipp3Rn3ls0n said:

I understand it was his first time on National television and he was nervous, but...

*cringe*

PS. Wasn't he 21? He said he was 19, but I could've sworn he was 21 :\

My favorite television performance of his ever. Those skin tight satin spandex pants, the slinging of the hair, the part where you wonder if he kissed Dez or just whispered something to him, the prancing across the stage, the fish pose with his hand on his hip while introducing the band, and the huge hoop earring in his right ear. It was his gayest performance ever and the first time I ever laid eyes on him. I loved it!

I'm quite sure he actually whispered to Dez to "play" the guitar solo, as his guitar strap broke seconds before. Hence the nodding of Dez.

I love this performance.

But I am not that big a critic like some of you are.

Imo it was pretty cool, holding those fingers up as an answer. (we are talking about that 1979 or was it 1980 - performance?)...

What are you kidding me? This was an amazing performance and shows Prince at his very beginning.

Yes, he lip synched as did all performers/bands that were on AB back in the day.

And come on we all know that his not talking was part of the whole shroud of mystery he was creating for himself as an artist. This type of behaviour has been well documented. However, I truly do think he just didnt like talking back then so they used it their advantage.

I love it! As Dick Clark once said "the most difficult interview I ever did was with a young musician from Minneapolis, MN called Prince"

This interview/performance was pretty rare, there's no way you'd ever see Prince act like this again.

But I got to say as far as cringeworthy interviews go... have you seen the Charlotte Roche interview? ...not that it was really P's fault.

I believe it was deliberate. The "gay" antics, the weird, reserved responses. Prince was completely going for the whole "mysterious" thing (was he black or white, straight or gay?). It ultimately made him just look like an idiot, but he (fortunately) got better at creating the mysterious persona with his next record.

TheDigitalGardener said:

It was all mimed/lip synced, the band never played a note and Prince never sang a note. Not what i'd call a performance.

The interview part of "Bandstand" was a little awkward since Prince barely spoke, but I liked the performance, especially "Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad".

Nobody ever really performed "live" on Bandstand as long as I can remember. They all played along to and/or lip-synced to pre-recorded tracks, even when band would have their gear onstage, none of it was turned on. It was the same way when Prince was on "Solid Gold", I don't think there were many "live" performances on that show. Some people played live on Soul Train in the 70s, but most people lip synched there, too.

I remember that Monday morning in school.. P's debut on Bandstand was the only thing we talked about all day. Everything vainandy said was right...

"IS HE GAY"?.."DID HE KISS THE GUITAR PLAYER?"..."WHY DOES HE HAVE A EARRING IN HIS RIGHT EAR?".."I DIDN'T KNOW HE COULD PLAY GUITAR??!!.

And it worked..because everyone at school (black and white/male and female) spoke about him and LIKED him.

Truly one of my favorite P TV moments.

SPYZFAN1 said:

I remember that Monday morning in school.. P's debut on Bandstand was the only thing we talked about all day. Everything vainandy said was right...

"IS HE GAY"?.."DID HE KISS THE GUITAR PLAYER?"..."WHY DOES HE HAVE A EARRING IN HIS RIGHT EAR?".."I DIDN'T KNOW HE COULD PLAY GUITAR??!!.

And it worked..because everyone at school (black and white/male and female) spoke about him and LIKED him.

Truly one of my favorite P TV moments.

It was the first time I ever saw him and those first impressions with all that bold "in your face" gayness with the "fuck you if you don't like it" attitude definitely helped my little gay 7th grade ass to cope with things. Before, when I had thought gay, I thought of a nerdy ballet lesson taking, classical music listening sissy, but here this queen was with this funky ass disco/funk as his first song and kick ass hard rock as his second song on the show and it just shattered those weak stereotypes. And if that wasn't enough, there was not only that earring in the right ear, but a big ass hoop so you couldn't miss it. It was like sending a message...."here it is and fuck you if you don't like it". That performance stuck with me forever.

He was just acting like a freak to be different and get attention. It has worked for Lady GaGa. Anyway good that he refined his public persona as he went along.

But yes of course it was a largely calculated 'act'.

I seen this too when VH1 came on at the time they did those marathons and I thought it was strange but cool how Prince did that mysterious persona. The time did the same thing when they debut on Soul Train around 1982 or something and act that mysterious act when Don interview Morris Day. I said, Prince surely train them well.

Nah I dug it especially for Prince's wardrobe and behavior.

FunkiestOne said:

He was just acting like a freak to be different and get attention. It has worked for Lady GaGa. Anyway good that he refined his public persona as he went along.

But yes of course it was a largely calculated 'act'.

It's interesting to read when people say that because I never got that impression; I always thought it was genuine nerves and extreme shyness.

When I was a teenager I was like that and literally wouldn't talk to people unless I had absolutely no choice; I'd just nod or shake my head. So honestly it seemed pretty legit to me. Put an already shy person in a situation like that and yeah they might go mute on you and start holding up fingers instead lol.

skipp3Rn3ls0n said:

I understand it was his first time on National television and he was nervous, but...

*cringe*

PS. Wasn't he 21? He said he was 19, but I could've sworn he was 21 :\

Dick Clark was a bit of a dick. That comment about P's music not sounding like something from Minneapolis was so condescending! I don't know whether that effected the interview or not, maybe it did.

BTW - you're correct - he was 21. I read somewhere that his early handlers had told him to shave a few years off his age to make him more appealing to the teen age market.

No.

Dave1992 said:

vainandy said:

My favorite television performance of his ever. Those skin tight satin spandex pants, the slinging of the hair, the part where you wonder if he kissed Dez or just whispered something to him, the prancing across the stage, the fish pose with his hand on his hip while introducing the band, and the huge hoop earring in his right ear. It was his gayest performance ever and the first time I ever laid eyes on him. I loved it!

I'm quite sure he actually whispered to Dez to "play" the guitar solo, as his guitar strap broke seconds before. Hence the nodding of Dez.

This. I actually find this performance hard to watch because of that unfortunate occurrence. As a guitar player myself, seeing that guitar drop is like watching a friend accidentally drive off a cliff.