Atty said:

Yewdale said:

I find it heartening that new generations of fans come along and discover this amazing catalogue of music. Excellent choice of first album to go for btw

[Edited 5/25/16 2:32am]

Thanks, I am probably one of the younger ones on here and with his music so hard to get unless you pay for it, I kinda put it off a bit.

I knew SOTT was one of his most critically acclaimed based off reviews I read so I went for that.

I know I signed up after he died but I truly loved his music before that, honest!

I lurked on this site for years before I signed up, and then for years afterwards. Doesn't make me any more or less of a fan than people who've been on here a zillion years and made 10,000 posts, or people who signed up last week. Same for you. You obviously know your stuff and have great taste in music, so who cares

1987 was when I decided that he was to be my all-time favourite. SOTT was the album that made me realize this guy really don't give a fuck about rules, or genre. It was the album which finally convinced fans that there's no going back to the Purple Rain sound and he's just gonna go forward with it. So I was like, OK... I need to follow this guy closely and get front row seats.

kristy said:

Wow! Iam loving y'all stories! Keep the purple party going!

Kudos to the OP of this thread. It's great to hear all about when people came onboard. I particularly like reading about people who got in to Prince around the same time as I did (83) because I think 'yeah, so you were in your room listening to 1999 at the same time as I was and discovering him for the first time' , but also the fans who are just discovering him in the last year or two. Reading some of the enthusiasm coming through from newer fans makes me think Prince's legacy is in good hands going forward.

whatever year this was broadcast...'87? of course i knew of everything before, but this performance flipped my fucking wig and had me at record stores for day of release and travelling all over the midwest for shows for the last 30 years...

1987

My birthday present that year was a Sony Walkman, I went to the record store with my big brother to buy my first cassette. Thanks to him I knew of Prince and Purple Rain, but it was Sign O the Times that made me a fan. After listening to the cassette a couple hundred times, I went back to all his releases before that and discovered SO much great Prince music I had never heard before. Since then I could not wait for the next release, and the next one, and the next...

1987 I knew Prince was my favourite artist. When I saw the Lovesexy concert in Dortmund on TV I was deeply impressed and heard many songs I did not know at the time. I started to buy all his records. The year 1995 personally I enjoyed the most being a Prince fan.

1984 with Purple Rain

kristy said:

What year did you say yep iam really into this man named prince? Not just when you first heard or saw him but, said i think iam a life long listener. Well prince music always been around me thanks to my dad so it's kinda hard for me, prince just always been in the house

I believe it was 1982. It was the Controversy album and he was on the cover Right On! Magazine. At the time, I was a hard core Michael Jackson fan, but what sealed the deal with me switching to Prince was the excellent fan club at the time. MJ's was so dysfunctional, but the Prince Family at that time was spot on with their correspondance and timeliness of product delivery. I guess I owe it to those who loved Prince so much for converting me over....lol.

kristy said:

1995/1996 simply becuz....

Exodus

The Gold Experience

Chaos and Disorder

Emancipation

Girl 6 Soundtrack

...and they all get the most play in my home....

1983. I was 12 and saw some dude with a thin mustache playing Little Red Corvette on Solid Gold. I had never seen nor heard anything like it. The song exploded immediately after that and I was hooked.

1981. Fell in love from the first beat. Do Me, Baby was the first song from Prince that really hit me in an emotional way. Been a fan since and he never left my rotation. The day before he died, the last P joint I spun was When Doves Scream.

1988. Lovesexy.

Lovesexy is the one, til my day is done!

.

Kaledoscopic, surround-sound, mutant elephant trumpets in the background of Eye No, the perfect Alphabet Street, and on and on.

.

I already liked Prince a lot, but this was when I saw he was on a whole 'nother planet.

1984. When I saw Prince crawling on the floor in the 'When doves cry' video. Lawd ham mercy He was coming at me and I knew I was hooked.

2008 when i listened to him for the very first time.

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

I was a 14-year-old, junior high school eighth-grader, who loved the bottom-heavy R&B groove "Soft and Wet" from 1978's "For You." Been down with Prince ever since! I think the albums that cemented by love in those early years were "Prince" and "Dirty Mind."

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

1984. When I saw Prince crawling on the floor in the 'When doves cry' video. Lawd ham mercy He was coming at me and I knew I was hooked.

I know what you mean!

Summer of "1979" What a wonderful time~

My Prince year was 1984. I heard WDC on the radio and was hooked!

kristy said:

What year did you say yep iam really into this man named prince? Not just when you first heard or saw him but, said i think iam a life long listener. Well prince music always been around me thanks to my dad so it's kinda hard for me, prince just always been in the house

1985 after ATWIAD.
got hooked in 84 with Purple Rain but it was the release of ATWIAD, how different it was to PR that made me stand up and go WOW! i was 15 and PRB was born

endiadj said:

1983 when little red corvette was on loop basically in mtv. saw this hot dude in heels singing about my fav car( or so i thought) and that was it.

i thought it was about horses and cars lol. i was 13

morningsong said:

There was a long courtship, started dating in '78, got exclusive in '80, got engaged in '81, made a life commitment by '82, had a couple of breakups, went our separate ways, but they never lasted long, I always came back, gave up trying to leave by '98, he could do whatever he wanted after that I didn't care I knew I was here to stay.

Love this.

for me - 1980.(I wrote more on this on my "facebook tribute" to Prince that 1st weekend right after he had passed)

.
I had known of Prince's earlier hits - "I wanna be your lover" & "sexy dancer" - but nothing prepared me for DIRTY MIND. that album has SO MUCH ATTITUDE. the word "raw" has often been used to describe this album.. but rightfully so.

.
the songs are hard-driving funk & new wave. Prince put all his cards on the table.. & dared you to follow him & keep up with him. Prince could have taken the "easy way out" & made another album similar to the 1st 2 he had made.. but he really took off with DIRTY MIND. had he not made DIRTY MIND, there wouldn't have been any Purple Rain, no PARADE.. or none of the other brilliant music he made for most of the 1980s.

.
so for me, the summer of '80 is when I jumped on board - very enthusiastically. I am proud to say that I was a "hard-core" Prince fan before he "made it big" with Purple Rain..

1991, I was a freshmen in HS. I was always a prince fan since 1982(Very young one), 6ut i was just listening to stuff on the radio or what my mom had. I think the D and P record sealed the deal with me. OMG i remem6er the MTV premiere of GETT OFF and i was like, OMG Prince is rapping!! I gave him mad props for trying. If u watch that musicology video, he is the splitting image of how I was lol!!

Thru the years, I had loved little red corvette, seen the movie Purple Rain 5 times with my family and got my first Purple rain record at age eight for my 6irthday. 1991-1995 was def my favorite Prince ERA. I do love all of his music, 6ut the early to mid 90s was special to me.

I kinda fell off during the times of 2002-2007 and I really dont know why! smh

[Edited 5/27/16 11:06am]