jonylawson said:

im 39 now-id look a bit of a prick now wouldnt i going to "fan"meet ups etc

Don't be silly, you enjoy getting pissed don't you?

2000, 18 years old.

I became what I would describe as a proper fan when I was old enough to go out and buy his shit with my own money, so age 16 onwards, but I guess my "fandom" peaked around 1990-95 (ish) when I was going to a lot of his shows and spending large sums on rare shit.

TheDigitalGardener said:

I became what I would describe as a proper fan when I was old enough to go out and buy his shit with my own money, so age 16 onwards, but I guess my "fandom" peaked around 1990-95 (ish) when I was going to a lot of his shows and spending large sums on rare shit.

A few months before came out, I saved up 2 weeks of allowance just to buy a longbox CD of Parade. Not that I owned a fucking cd player, I intended on jacking my brother's when he wasn't around. When my mom caught wind of that, she made me return it.

I ended up getting the symbol album on tape when it came out. I remember being a "fan" of his "music" since at least Batman, though. I think Prince had to've earnt a bunch of young fans by being attached to Batman, actually.

Spinlight said:

TheDigitalGardener said:

I became what I would describe as a proper fan when I was old enough to go out and buy his shit with my own money, so age 16 onwards, but I guess my "fandom" peaked around 1990-95 (ish) when I was going to a lot of his shows and spending large sums on rare shit.

I remember being a "fan" of his "music" since at least Batman, though. I think Prince had to've earnt a bunch of young fans by being attached to Batman, actually.

I remember going to see Batman at the cinema specifically to hear the Prince songs, as super hero movies were not my thing at all. I just wanted to see how they had been incorporated into the various scenes.

I listened to prince's music basically non stop from the 2nd album up until sign "o". My love for his music was at its peek around the 1999/ Purple Rain era. It was a exciting time back then. His music was so fresh and different. This was a guy the freaks could relate to. If your a prince fan and you were around back then, you are lucky.

A couple years ago i discovered the boots. When i heard wonderful ass, in a dark room, extraloveable, ect, i Re-realised why i loved prince's music so much. The guy is one of the best, ever.

[Edited 4/4/12 16:14pm]

When I discovered him - 1986, 16 years old. 87 was also just mind blowing.

Loving Prince in the 80s when he was a supernatural force..it was just so incredible. There was just nobody like him.

TheDigitalGardener said:

I became what I would describe as a proper fan when I was old enough to go out and buy his shit with my own money, so age 16 onwards, but I guess my "fandom" peaked around 1990-95 (ish) when I was going to a lot of his shows and spending large sums on rare shit.

Snap.

Became a 'proper' fan around 1990, very quickly (accidentally) stumbled on bootleg versions of the Black Album & Small Club & the rest was history!

i would say it was at its peak in 1987 with the release of sign o the times when i was 19 but it hasnt ever really went away....i got married and had kids and jobs and all the other stuff that happens in life that can occupy your mind and most of your time...but my love for his music has never really left me...he is always the first artist i look for when i am checking out whats happening in the music world...

.

i even flew all the way from glasgow to minneapolis on 2 days notice myself to be at one of his week long celebrations at paisley park in 2001...a once in a lifetime chance to get inside paisley park and i actually got to meet him and i was a nervous wreck shaking his hand ....his music has been the soundtrack to my life and always will be....

I think it peaked in 1993.

And slowly went downwards until about 1999 when it dropped like a lead baloon.

I mean, obviously, I'm still a fan, but I've been genuinely far more excited about several other musical act's releases the past few years than anything Prince was cooking up. Not because, I don't like Prince, but just because he's been so damned inconsistent with quality that I don't look forward to his releases with much anticipation anymore.

20Ten!

SO not that long I guess?

I always knew about him, especially in 2009 when I saw him on Ellen. But I was not interested enough...FOR some reason. Because that 'Crimson & Clover' cover blew me away. (This was around the time MJ was in the news, and I was more interested on Michael Jackson & This Is It)

Then I remember someone on YouTube posted a '20Ten Review' and I just checked it out, because I was bored. Haha. I still don't know why I decided to watch that video...lol

For each song she reviewed, I listened to it right after she finished. (At that time the whole album was on YouTube). I was MIND BLOWN! I never heard anything like 'Beginning Endlessly/Future Soul Song/ OR Walk In Sand'. SO I begin searching for some other songs, and became immediately intrigued about how much music he had. Also his talk about sex & God in his songs. Two topics I always became intrigued by..lol

My friend Chrissy, found out I was becoming really interested, and she shared with me loads of songs she thought I would like. She is a major fan, and seen him 4 times, and knew more than I did of course. Haha. She sent me: Housequake, If I Was Your Girlfriend, Starfish & Coffee. All of those songs sounded so different. I was amazed at his vocals on: "Housequake/If I Was Your Girlfriend" The gender manipulation thing had me in question!

Nevertheless, I really became so interested in him. I watched the BET awards, when they honored him, and then started to understand he was a huge artist who had a special light about him I never payed attention to.

I watched him perform on Leno back in 2001; playing "The Everlasting Now" AND WAS OUT OF MY MIND! I never saw anything like that before. I kept rewinding it, because it was so damn good.

I decided to look up the song 'The Everlasting NOW' and found out it was on an album called 'The Rainbow Children'..Since I could not buy it, ANYWHERE. I looked everywhere!!! I had to download it..lol. I put it on my ipod, and decided to take a walk in the park while listening to it wholly for the first time.

I could not believe the themes and sounds I was hearing. I was kind of mad that the first song was soo good, I couldn't seem to skip to 'Muse 2 The Pharaoh'..Hahaha

Lets just say I did not make it back home from the park later than I planned. 2 Hours Delayed..lol

It started with his seemingly most controversial album 'The Rainbow Children'...lol

I have been hooked ever since! Constantly I'm finding out new material. I am spending some moneyyy ON this guy. But; the results pay off instantly.

I have so far to go with him musically though..AND so the peak is NOW. I don't think it will die anytime soon.

Spinlight said:

I think Prince had to've earnt a bunch of young fans by being attached to Batman, actually.

Yeah, totally. As a kid, Tim Burton's Batman was my favourite movie. I watched it religiously even before I really knew who Prince was. For many years, all I knew of Prince was that he was the dude who did the songs in Batman. My father even bought me the Prince Batman album thinking it was the Danny Elfman score. When we found out it wasn't, we returned it haha! (back in the days when you could return CDs ). Later in my teens when I did start getting into Prince, I guess a lot of the subconscious magnetism to his music stemmed from being such a Batman fan as a child.

Around 1988, I guess!

What a phenomenal sequence of albums it was:

1999 (1982)

Purple Rain (1984)

ATWIAD (1985)

Parade (1986)

SOTT (1987)

Lovesexy (1988)

toejam said:

in 2006 i was 23 years when i become a Prince fam! i saw the Video Black Sweat and i was completely funked up!

funkomatic said:

Around 1988, I guess!

What a phenomenal sequence of albums it was:

1999 (1982)

Purple Rain (1984)

ATWIAD (1985)

Parade (1986)

SOTT (1987)

Lovesexy (1988)

SometimesIwonder said:

1994/1995 I was 18/19 & every waking moment of my life was Prince filled. Lol The folders I ruined at college drawing symbols!!!

And presently, I suppose. Seeing him live last summer was like being given an injection of the world's most potent & pleasurable drug. The high I had seeing him perform live again, u would not believe. He took me to the moon & left me there! ha ha I feel like one of the many poor heroin addicts I see where I live, going to get their methadone at the chemist. Lol, this place is like my methadone, a quick fix until I am lucky enough to witness Prince making Live magic once more

Sounds like me, 1995 I was at University (Ist year and 1st year away from home). In a city with lots of old record shops closing down as CD's came in. Unlimited student loan cash, bought all his back catalog, magazines, vinyl anything with Prince or symbol on it. Like you all my lecture notes, folders and even a test or two had a symbol on it.

Remeber when Purple Medley and Gold Experience came out and I got the Get Wild single. I even have a letter dated April 26 1995, telling me to focus on my studies and that "Symbol albums can wait" from my mother of course.

Later in the year one of my dorm mates slipped a Graffiti Bridge poster under my door, 8ft long one (My mother threw it out grrrr!!!!!!!). There was even a poster of a symbol guitar on my door. I got a goth into Prince by playing Dirty Mind for him and even wanted a jeweller to make me up a symbol pendant.

Yeah I was pretty obsessed.

EyeJester7, my story is very similar to yours haha

Last year around March or April I recall being at work and hearing "1999" on the radio station the department next to me was playing. At the time the song sounded familiar, but I could not place a title or name on it. I thought positive that it was Prince, and I asked the prep cook who it was, and he told me that it was Prince.

At that point I had been acquainted with his commercial hits (e.g. "Little Red Corvette", "Kiss", "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "Diamonds and Pearls"), but obviously not acquainted well with the man and artist himself. I said to myself, this sound is so darn catchy! I have to check it out!

So later that week I visited allmusic.com and typed "Prince" in the search engine and boy was I swept away at his discography page. I didn't realize how much musical output this brother has! So it was around May last year I bought the album "1999", then the next month "Purple Rain", then "Parade" the next month and I just got hooked. His musical output and its quality is just insane!!! Like someone else had said I bought an album every month, and as of now I only have about eight of his studio albums to collect.

I am 21 now, and I just got into him last year, so I reckon you could say right now it is at its peak, or for the last year or so. The last 12 months I have listened to little other than Prince, David Bowie, Van Halen (Sammy and Dave!), and U2. Been back on a "1999" kick as of late.

I became a Prince fan in 1981 when Controversy and The Time came out. Where I grew up, I would hear "Controversy" and "Cool" on the radio ALL OF THE TIME. In '81, I was about 10 years old. I became a collector and true fan when Paisley Park records hit in 1985. I remember always wanting to go to the record store to look for the Paisley Park logo on cassette tapes or 7" and 12" records (that's how I knew a new Prince-related release was out). Something about that logo got me hooked. Back then, we had a chain of record stores called "Record Bar", and my dad would say that I always went out and got drunk at the "Record Bar". Those were the days!!!!

SEXUALCHOCOLATE said:

I LOVE the fact that there are quite a few young fans on here.it gives me faith his legacy is still in tact!

Me too! It's nice to know that there are fans who are of a similar age to me.

1987 till 1995 or something. Before Prince it was Janet.

But after hearing IIWYG, I was hooked. I still remember the radio I heard this song, the room I was...so you can see what big impression it made.

Bought Sign "O" the times on vinyl and after that I bought everything with the name Prince on it

Lovesexy was the first time I saw him live.

Janet was and is still high on my list, by the way.

graffiti bridge, age 13, was the first album i bought and it took about 7 years of obsession to absorb all his earlier material and keep up with the new. went to 3 concerts between and jam of the year so that was the peak i guess. those aol days actually exposed me to other artists i would explore in college. and by 2000 i became pretty busy with other things, and didn't have a computer, so am real ignorant of the digital years.

i have suspected that prince appeals to people most as their astrality is unfolding, interesting.

coreysamson said:

EyeJester7, my story is very similar to yours haha

Last year around March or April I recall being at work and hearing "1999" on the radio station the department next to me was playing. At the time the song sounded familiar, but I could not place a title or name on it. I thought positive that it was Prince, and I asked the prep cook who it was, and he told me that it was Prince.

At that point I had been acquainted with his commercial hits (e.g. "Little Red Corvette", "Kiss", "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "Diamonds and Pearls"), but obviously not acquainted well with the man and artist himself. I said to myself, this sound is so darn catchy! I have to check it out!

So later that week I visited allmusic.com and typed "Prince" in the search engine and boy was I swept away at his discography page. I didn't realize how much musical output this brother has! So it was around May last year I bought the album "1999", then the next month "Purple Rain", then "Parade" the next month and I just got hooked. His musical output and its quality is just insane!!! Like someone else had said I bought an album every month, and as of now I only have about eight of his studio albums to collect.

I am 21 now, and I just got into him last year, so I reckon you could say right now it is at its peak, or for the last year or so. The last 12 months I have listened to little other than Prince, David Bowie, Van Halen (Sammy and Dave!), and U2. Been back on a "1999" kick as of late.

coreysamson said:

EyeJester7, my story is very similar to yours haha

Last year around March or April I recall being at work and hearing "1999" on the radio station the department next to me was playing. At the time the song sounded familiar, but I could not place a title or name on it. I thought positive that it was Prince, and I asked the prep cook who it was, and he told me that it was Prince.

At that point I had been acquainted with his commercial hits (e.g. "Little Red Corvette", "Kiss", "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "Diamonds and Pearls"), but obviously not acquainted well with the man and artist himself. I said to myself, this sound is so darn catchy! I have to check it out!

So later that week I visited allmusic.com and typed "Prince" in the search engine and boy was I swept away at his discography page. I didn't realize how much musical output this brother has! So it was around May last year I bought the album "1999", then the next month "Purple Rain", then "Parade" the next month and I just got hooked. His musical output and its quality is just insane!!! Like someone else had said I bought an album every month, and as of now I only have about eight of his studio albums to collect.

I am 21 now, and I just got into him last year, so I reckon you could say right now it is at its peak, or for the last year or so. The last 12 months I have listened to little other than Prince, David Bowie, Van Halen (Sammy and Dave!), and U2. Been back on a "1999" kick as of late.

Really? Go figures!! I think that's pretty awesome!

Your story is pretty fantastic in how you discovered through one of his old songs. I know the feeling of discovering material you haven't heard before. With Prince, you just don't know what to expect! It's so awesome!! I am now in the process of just collecting most of his live performances. I got a longgg way to go!

He's So natural and awesome on CD, but LIVE he's supernatural. He almost seems possessed, and captured by the magnitude of the atmosphere of the stage. He just brings it, and very rarely he has NOT delivered it LIVE. For the most part, he takes it by storm, and I just want to see as much material possible live..

It's such a RIDE..I can't wait to work my catalog UP to pretty much everything he released. YES.. I am serious about his work. I'm Hardcore!

AND WHY NOT? It's good material! Haha

And if it's not, I still am on the ride!

Purple love amour is what I'm in it for..And I show it!

The reason that we're cool is because we're from the old school and we know it!! LOL

i was a fan, a big big fan, since early 1988. but my fandom reached an absolute fever pitch

in 1994 when the whole come/gold era rolled into town and new tracks were being shipped

to radiostations without anyone knowing if they would ever end up on an official release or

what prince's next move would be. all you knew was that he had these incredible new cuts,

a whole new 'don't fuck with me' attitude and was playing incredible live shows chuck full of

new and vibrant material.

when i watched the video premiere of dolphin, i think that was the exact moment that my

fandom reached it's apex. i spent the entire afternoon rewinding that tape over and over

and over and over again.

then radio 3FM played 4 or 5 tracks off the "million dollar dat tape" and i listend to them on

my walkman, on my way to school, at school, during dinner at home, during homework, in

bed at night, heck even in the bath.

spent a lot of my pocketmoney on cassette tape bootlegs of his glam slam shows from '94

and was just in utter bliss the whole time.

i wouldn't say it's my favorit era tho it's one of my favorits but there was just something

about prince and his music at that time that swept a lot of fans into a frenzy. me included.

Spinlight said:

1992-1999, from the ages of 10-17.

this