I wrote all this stuff on the peach and black boards last year, but it pretty much rings true now, brace yourself, its pretty long.

PART ONE 1991 - CREAM

I first got into Prince when I was 15. I was at a friends house and we were watching the Video Hits show, it was sometime in November 1991 and the video for Cream came on. I remember we talking about something and the TV was on in the background and I heard the "dinn dinnn!!" of the guitars and turned around and theres this guy dancing his ass off with all these beautiful girls and leering guys with guitars doing sexually provocative moves.
I was like who the heck is this and realised its really cool, turns out its Prince, the Purple Rain and Kiss guy. I had known of him since Little Red Corvette and kind of liked him in the Batman period songs, but when I heard this song, I was transfixed.

I just thought it was the greatest thing I ever heard, I loved the song, its beats and the level of musicality. Of course being 91, rap was taking over along with grunge and other marginal music, so this guy was at least close to true rock and roll. I also loved the fact he really was bridging the gap between white rock and black rap and soul.

I immediately bought the cassingle (Remember those) to Cream and then found Gett Off and Insatiable, later on I got a copy of Diamonds and Pearls and then the single, within 6 weeks I had 4 singles, Purple Rain and GB in addition to the ones I had. All were vinyl or cassettes. I did not have a CD player until 1993.

Then 1993 I finally got the hits/bsides (I didn't have much money then, as I was still young) and heard stuff like Dirty Mind and Controversy and like you guys was "What the hell" these are gems and they are just amazing. Another year I heard more of these albums and finally by 1995 I had started uni and lived near all the cool record shops in Dunedin New Zealand, I had a student loan advance and just bought everything I could see.

By mid 1995 I had his whole run in one form or another, excepting the boots and Exodus/Goldnigga, but I did have a copy of the Get Wild single. And that is how I got into Prince. The first album I bought as a fan was Come/Black Album as the Hits was just a complimation and I wasn't quite fully committed when Symbol came out.

I decided to add some more memories. ;D - PART 2 1983 -1998

I first heard of a song when I was about 7, I remember that the played "Little Red Corvette" was played a lot on our popular radio station then "Radio Avon" at a time when independent stations were starting to break away from the IYA and 3ZB mold. It was just a song, at 7 I liked lots of songs, but was hardly a fan. Unlike others, I did not know who the performer, I remember that, Beat It, The Pass the Dutchie Song and the ones by Cyndi Lauper.

I wanna be your lover was a huge hit here in 1980, it got to #3 and was apparently played all the time (The disco feel ensured it would hit, NZ was nuts about disco well into the 80s). I don't remember it, it was before my 4th birthday and I was way too young.

I next remember "When Doves Cry", but again it was a song, I was only 8 and thought it sounded a lot like an ad for a hardware shop called Guthrie Bowron, I even though it was the ad, but otherwise, it did not register with my Year 2 brain.

So its not until 1985 when Raspberry Beret came out, that I realised the guy singing the song was called Prince and I remember the video and thinking "What a weirdo". At this time I was in to Madonna and Michael Jackson, I loved the "Like a virgin" album, even if I had no idea what it was about.

I remember Kiss and Sign o the Times, as a kid I did not really follow singles just RTR Countdown (They had a Top 20 countdown each week) and only a few big singles hit here until 1988.

Then 1988, I am 12 I have discovered Terence Trent Darby and Kylie Minogue (Gay I know) amongst other artists and just remembering that I really like Alphabet Street, it was a cool song, but didn't make me a fan then, (of course now, all the songs and albums I have mentioned are gold, It was like I was just ignoring Prince's golden period when I was in a state of childlike ignorance). Yet I though Bobby Brown who was huge then would have a more enduring career, showed what I knew then.

Being a child I kind of liked songs rather than artists except a few and was getting into to all the girlie pop, Tiffany, Roxette, Belinda Carlisle, Tori Amos, but finally 1989, I go totally into Rap and stay in that state into 1993, I like stuff like Ice T , NWA, Too short and by 1993 Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg (I go out of rap in 1996 -97, maybe thanks to Tupac dying and Scrap D). But in 1989 I buy a tape for Pump up the Jam and Young MC's Bust a move (Pump up the hits 89) and on it is "Partyman" and I am thinking that's a cool song and I like Batdance and I realise its this freaky dude who looks a bit like Michael Jackson, yeah another weird looking black guy who can really sing as if we don't have enough of them in the late 80s with MJ, TTD, Living Colour and now someone called Prince.

I only discovered his musical talent really with becoming a fan in 1991 and finding out more about him and realising he was streets ahead of all these other guys although TTD/Sananda Maitreya comes close. Anyway 1990 is not a good year for me, 1st year of high school and I am in to pop rubbish like Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer " /> amongst the others (Best song for me was Justify my Love, that thing is just strange but very catchy). Graffiti Bridge the album came out and I thought it was boring, Thieves sounded like Mariah Carey or some other bombastic pop/dance nonsense of that period. I am heartbroken when MV are revealed as fakes. Any interest I had in Prince is gone by early 91.

1991 still sees me listening to pop and dance and a bit of rap, I particularly like saccharine act Color Me Badd and C and C music factory, Snap and all that type of stuff. I remember Gett Off, thinking its okay, but then I first see Cream in early November 1991 and it all comes together. Its Prince and its great, then I realise CMB are not going anywhere, Hammer now sounds terrible (2 legit to quit was self indulgent as), MJ is okay but releases albums too slowly, but I am 15 now and a teenager and need some artist to kind of worship.

Prince ticks the boxes, he's funky, can sing, great dancer, super talented, funny and can write catchy songs and I realise I am endlessly fascinated, plus Cream the song, has just zapped my synapses and it starts.

Needless to say, when you are a child you think differently, but you grow up too. I think a lot of us did get hooked during hit albums like Diamonds and Pearls, but just for something like that to hit the mass media can spark more than a few people "digging it just because its a hit" - What Prince said about the response to Purple Rain, but you will always get those too, who are introduced, through a hit song or album and then dig deeper and decide they like what they see.

It took me about a year to go from a guy loving Prince because he had a couple of cool hits and songs, to someone who liked most of his output and studied his evolution well since For You. That's why Captain and MC you shouldn't be ashamed, yes you got in late, but at least you got in, and look what happened, now you dig all of his classic stuff and indie type stuff like Dirty Mind too. I mean I f I had never heard Cream and Partyman, I would never have discovered the nugget that is Dirty Mind.

A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon with Diamonds and Pearls and again Musicology and 3121 surprisingly bought a lot of new fans and I think here, one person even got into Prince through Lotusflow3r, I mean that's amazing, also a lot of the genuine oldies we have now, got in through Purple Rain, which was like the biggest thing ever!

On the org, one guy said he got in when For You came out and we were all like "Wow you are the original fan" as after that, 1999 is the entry point for the next major group of fans. I would say Purple Rain probably expanded his fan base the most, but most of the shallow and fair-weather ones would have been scared off by ATWIAD, whereas the masses who got into Prince through D and P have probably endured at least until the Newpowersoul period.

That album even took me off Prince between about 1998 and 2005, it was just wack.

But in 05 with Musicology and SST I was back with a vengeance and after seeing my first Prince concert 2 years ago and spending over a thousand bucks flying to Australia to go to a Prince, party I have never regretted it and now my crazy Prince fandom has landed me some cool friends who know who they are and I enter my 23rd year of being a big fan.

Giovanni777 said:

Byron said:

I was actually trying to find India ...

Some of my friends in High School were HUGE Prince fans. I couldn't STAND him. I mean, I liked the music but his attitude really turned me off. I saw his reluctance to join "We Are The World" as a sign of self-importance, and his mediocre offering for "Live Aid" a confirmation of it.

But I really liked Sheila E. Mind you I was not in tune with the music scene so I did not know that she was a protege. I just knew that I liked The Glamorous Life alot, and when Love Bizarre came out and I was told of the fact that it was a Prince song, it opened the door for me.

By the time Lovesexy came out, I was warming up to him. My friends made me mix tapes and I was listening to music from Parade a lot.

Then I was coerced to go see the Lovesexy concert, and it BLEW MY MIND.

Have been a hardcore fan ever since.

I saw him on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in early 1980 performing "I Wanna Be Your Lover"! Initially I thought that he was a Prick because he acted like he didn't want to talk when Dick Clark was trying to interview him after his performance. That was many songs ago!

GiggityGoo said:

Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death over the years, but whilst doing the dishes this morning my mind wandered all over the place, and a chain of thoughts led me to remember how I finally drank the Purple Kool-Aid...

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I was in 10th grade when "1999" came out. I had never heard of Prince before that. Then I was out of high school and about to enter college when "Purple Rain" took the world by storm. But I wasn't really a fan. I knew the songs, but just casually.

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Then, in the summer of 1987, a friend of mine named Sam sat me down and made me listen to "Sign 'O' The Times". And I mean he made me LISTEN. Something clicked, and I never looked back.

.

The funny thing is, that friend turned out to be a backstabbing liar and I haven't spoken to him in over 2 decades. But he brought something wonderful into my life, a treasure trove of music that has provided me with endless hours of enjoyment.

.

Life is funny like that.

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So how did you guys get into Prince? Was he a referral like me? Or were you lucky enough to "get it" on your own?

the 1st encounter was when the 45 of When Doves Cry was bought home...i took it,flipped it,and played the b-side...my ears was like ...time passed...i went into Norman's Records to look around and out of the corner of my eye was the brightest black and white album cover that i ever saw...asked the owner "Is That Prince?"...he says "Yep"...i walk up to the counter and passed my money to him...It's been a Purple Ride ever since...it never really goes away, does it?

1991,I was 16 and into glam rock like Guns n roses,they were my favourite,now i can listen to that stuff. Im watching mtv and i see Gett Off,im thinking hey this aint a bad beat without paying too much attention and then the guitar solo came in and that was it for me. I went out and bought diamonds... and never looked back. Whenever i hear that guitar solo even now i think its just brilliant,especially since the song is so funky. Rockhardinafunkyplace

Actually through my Mom. SHE WAS BORN IN THE EARLY 70'S. Prince came out in the late 70's. My mom listened to him from the beginning. She told me how she once owned a Prince cassette tape with his famous songs from Purple Rain and etc.. When she moved out of the house she losted all her Prince tapes in the move. She manage to somehow keep her Musicology CD. (Which I don't think is all that much of a good album) next to princes Purple Rain, I mean.

She played alot of Prince when I was little.

[Edited 3/3/14 10:38am]

a local radio station used to play these runs of Prince songs mixed snippets, that included everything up to 1999 (PR wasn't out) I knew Conroversy/1999 Prince. They also would mix in the Time, Vanity 6

and the way they would do it sounded like something forbidden. It wasn't always the same pieces.

That's when I DISCOVERED Prince. And really began buy any previous albums 45s proteges etc and after that when Purple Rain came out they continued with their mixes including B sides Sugar Walls etc

Was jilted by my dad on SATURDAY morning and caught American bandstand. I had seen the move Grease and they had that Bandstand like show on that so I watched it... now I do not remember SEEING him preform so it may have just been a song of his...but I was like I like this--and I knew my parents would not approve.

So some time later I won a 45 and i saw "Prince" so i picked it...(I think it was IWBYL b/w Baby) then I got the controversy lp. My brother was making a big deal about the last song... i had NO IDEA what it meant. But he told on me. My mom took it to our preacher and he called me out in church... they ended up with an album burn. But ironically my dad did not let us go. he said that was a step too far.

Back in the days when I was a blinkered rock purist, if you'd have asked me what I thought of Prince, I'd have said something like 'he's a slightly less weird, less good version of Michael Jackson' or 'isn't that perv who had his rib removed so that he could blow himself?' or 'dated eighties synth crap'.

But despite al that, I was already really taken by a few of his songs. I adored the 'yeah yeah yeah yeeaah' refrain of Alphabet Street when I was about 7, and I recall digging 'Gold' when I heard it being played on the radio in the local barber shop in 1995. Later on, I remember being deeply touched by the lyric of When Doves Cry (even though I still thought the music was eighties synth crap).

Wind forward a few years. I was channel surfing one Saturday morning, and came across the Purple Rain video. It wasn't the first time I heard it, but right then I was absolutely spellbound. Perhaps the guitar refrain really got to me. Or was it the shot of Billy Sparks nodding his head in awe? No matter, later that day I went out and bought the PR soundtrack on CD. I bought a greatest hits collection of the Cars in the same transaction. I know not why. The Cars were quickly put to one side for a long time (but in an odd bit of serendipity, my interest in that group was re-ignited years later by seeing Prince cover 'Let's Go' at an o2 aftershow).

Back to PR, it took me a couple of listens to get past those synths, but the flashes of guitar brilliance kept me coming back for more. Within a couple of days I had a bad case of the Purple fever, and set about buying up the back catalogue as quickly as I could. Must have had SOTT on nearly constantly during my last year of university.

The best thing about discovering Prince is that there is always more to discover. Once I had all of the 'classic albums', I discovered the amazing b -sides. And then later I discovered the 12 inch versions of the b-sides. And then I found that the less celebrated albums were also packed with amazing stuff. And then I started tracking down the 'vault' material, and was amazed to hear stuff even better than the 'classic albums'. Right now I'm getting into his protégé groups and live videos.

Then of course there are the live shows. Having seen him six times, I'd definitely say those six shows are in the top 10 best shows I've ever seen, and m ay even make up the whole top three. Every time has been an ecstatic, unique experience where you never quite know what will happen next. It's the closest I've ever been to a religious experience.

The other brilliant thing about discovering Prince was that it blew the doors wide open on my music listening habits. Before Prince, my musical diet was strictly 'classic' rock, which may explain my former aversion to synths. As far as I was concerned, if a song wasn't played by long hatred, guitar thrusting white boys, it wasn't worth a damn. After getting into Prince, I dug deep into soul and funk, jazz, blues and even female singers.

Yes, I know that being a Prince fan can be infuriating, and for good reasons. And I don't think anyone here would say that everything he has ever done is good. Overall though, I think that his music is a gift that keeps on giving.The promise of experiencing new kinds of brilliance keeps me on the trail of new songs, and I can;t think of any other entertainer who I would stand in the freezing cold for six hours to see, on two consecutive Sundays!

Nowadays, I realise that he is far less weird and far more creative than MJ ever was. When I hear When Doves Cry, far from being eighties synth crape. I hear a masterclass of how to use combine space and air light textures with a heavy subject in pop music. And in hindsight, I'm sure Prince was too busy working and banging fine women to have ever had the time to sit around blowing himself.

[Edited 3/3/14 16:03pm]

In the early 80s I was listening to the radio in my parents living room with the headphones on and then on came a song called "Cool" - which I thought - pardon the irony - was the coolest thing I had ever heard. It was similar to the first time I heard "Cars" by Gary Newman. So I kept looking for ways to record this song or buy the record, etc.

Then not much later I heard the song "1999" on the radio and thought THAT was the coolest thing I had ever heard. When I did a little research and found out the same person was creating both Cool and 1999 my mind was offically blown and been a hardcore fan ever since.

eyeamvictor said:

It was 2008 and I was 17. I was curious because I'd always been such a huge Michael Jackson fan since the age of five, and I'd always hear comparisons so I was curious. So I torrented his discography . However I've bought most of his albums during the subsequent years. I used to be the biggest MJ fan and up to that point he was 99% of my musical experience, but since then Prince has just taken over so much. Today he's by far my favourite artist.

Mj is awesome,my story is much the same as yours,I was a big MJ fan until I heard Gett off when i was 16. I still love Mj cos he was my childhood idol of idols and i still buy all Mj albums when they come out.

Double Post

[Edited 3/17/14 5:32am]

Bambi82 said:

I was born in '82 so I don't have a great story about how I've been a fan since FY or DM, but Prince was one of those people that were just always there. I remember being 5 and listening to my parents argue because my mom wanted to play Thriller and my Dad wanted to Play Purple Rain.. two albums that were played all the time, depending on who was home. Over the years I would watch Prince on MTV and loved pretty much every single, but I was never allowed to buy the albums so it was much later before I was able to go back and really listen to his catalog. I don't remember for sure what year it was but it seems like I was around 10 when I first saw Purple Rain on TV and I loved it and have been a(n even bigger) fan since. I have gone back and listened to everything over the years but have only recently tried to track down all the old concert footage. It's fun watching them all and imagining I was there but I wish I had been older and had been able to live it as it was happening..

OnlyNDaUsa said:

artist76 said:

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Was jilted by my dad on SATURDAY morning and caught American bandstand. I had seen the move Grease and they had that Bandstand like show on that so I watched it... now I do not remember SEEING him preform so it may have just been a song of his...but I was like I like this--and I knew my parents would not approve.

So some time later I won a 45 and i saw "Prince" so i picked it...(I think it was IWBYL b/w Baby) then I got the controversy lp. My brother was making a big deal about the last song... i had NO IDEA what it meant. But he told on me. My mom took it to our preacher and he called me out in church... they ended up with an album burn. But ironically my dad did not let us go. he said that was a step too far.

People still burned "immoral" albums in the 80s???

Really! I bet being called out in front of the congregation and having your album burned really helped you grow in your spirituality.

I got into Prince with a former co-worker who liked Prince but, wasn't Hard-Core. That "relationship" didn't turn into anything. She was "out of my league" yeah, I said it but, trying to get to know her I got to know Prince and let's say that I've LOVED P's music a lot longer then I "liked" her ... LoL

Emancipation Era was when I was struck by the purple lightning ...

I got into Prince with a former co-worker who liked Prince but, wasn't Hard-Core. That "relationship" didn't turn into anything. She was "out of my league" yeah, I said it but, trying to get to know her I got to know Prince and let's say that I've LOVED P's music a lot longer then I "liked" her ... LoL

Emancipation Era was when I was struck by the purple lightning ...