Hi everyone. I know most of us here were just fans (myself included) who didn't know Prince personally in his life and only knew him through the music. Being a fan that long and reading up on him and listening to his music and reading his lyrics I didn't think I knew him by any means but it offered a glimps into his psyche via the initmate nature of his lyrics...I felt at times I just "got" Prince.

In light of his painkiller usage it has made me question if I was ever really accurate in my assumptions. I don't wanna say I feel betrayed in light of the shocking news, however, I feel like I am dissapointed and doubtful of my own ability to judge someone accuratley.

I really had no idea of Prince's struggle with addiction and it doesn't make me respect and admire him any less or love his music any less. I guess I just feel embarrassed now that all these years I had a certain idea or fantasy of who he really was and now I realise it's hard to really know anyone especially if the only way you know them is through their art.

Does anyone else feel this way? This has been a confusing, shocking, grieving time for myself. I didn't expect Prince's passing to affect me so deeply emotionally and conjure up so many memories and feelings. He has been my "fantasy crush" since puberty and I guess maybe I'm grieving for the loss of the fantasy as well as the man. I don't know.

Wait... did anyone think they knew him, much less really knew him?

I feel like I knew him. But I know I really didn't. In fact, I don't think he let many people know him deeply. We all might have our ideas of who he really is, but we actually don't know shit.

Only Prince ever really knew Prince, so it seems. Fans only scratched his service. That would be normal.

[Edited 6/23/16 3:25am]

I think in the end Prince just wanted to be known for his music.

I know what you mean, in light of what happened with him, I sort of feel the same way.

I have always felt I never knew or understood who he was. He was unpredictable. It made life interesting. Don't judge him for taking the painkillers though.

As for being an addict all these years, I was just watching some of his live performances from 2010 onwards. IF he has been addicted (as in out of control, not for managing pain) all these years, he did a damn good job of holding it all together. It is hard to watch him and imagine he was in excruciating pain or drugged up. He was exceptional.

E.g.

Mainsquare Arras juillet 2010 - the year he had his hip op (according to Sheila I think).

You can't judge someone accurately unless you really get to know them in person. Even then it is hard. People always surprise you. I surprise myself.

Been hang out in the org too long to really answer that question. I knew I didn't know jack but then I thought I knew everything. This man is a mystery still, who else does that, that's what amuses me right now.

His death shows us that no one really fully knew him.. he shared the bits and pieces that he wanted to share with the public, but thats everyone's nature to a certain extent.. at the end of the day he was a human being like the rest of us...

Krystalkisses said:

Hi everyone. I know most of us here were just fans (myself included) who didn't know Prince personally in his life and only knew him through the music. Being a fan that long and reading up on him and listening to his music and reading his lyrics I didn't think I knew him by any means but it offered a glimps into his psyche via the initmate nature of his lyrics...I felt at times I just "got" Prince.

In light of his painkiller usage it has made me question if I was ever really accurate in my assumptions. I don't wanna say I feel betrayed in light of the shocking news, however, I feel like I am dissapointed and doubtful of my own ability to judge someone accuratley.

I really had no idea of Prince's struggle with addiction and it doesn't make me respect and admire him any less or love his music any less. I guess I just feel embarrassed now that all these years I had a certain idea or fantasy of who he really was and now I realise it's hard to really know anyone especially if the only way you know them is through their art.

Does anyone else feel this way? This has been a confusing, shocking, grieving time for myself. I didn't expect Prince's passing to affect me so deeply emotionally and conjure up so many memories and feelings. He has been my "fantasy crush" since puberty and I guess maybe I'm grieving for the loss of the fantasy as well as the man. I don't know.

Using painkillers for actual pain relief, then becoming addicted as a result is not the same as recreational drug use. This man was not a drug addict in the recreational sense.

Personally never met the bloke

-

Loved his artisrty/music/poetry

-

As a human being - as I never met him - then no, never really "knew" him

-

Did you ever personally meet him/spend time with him outside of experiencing his shows, listening to his music?

-

We dig the idea/poetry/music/persona of Prince...

-

And we can take that idea...and make it our own...

-

Not replicate...not imitate...not copy...

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Simply incorporate that idea into ourselves...

-

It ain't over!

and that's why when you live life in complete shunning of idolizing human beings, you finally "get" it. If you really think you know anyone anywhere with a public "persona", think again. You know NO one. You probably don't really know people that are close to you, totally. I feel like, only God really knows the real me. I'm good with that. So I have my opinions about Prince. I have no idea if they are right or wrong.

Ive been digging on Prince for 30 years so I think I knew him just a lil bit

cindyt said:

and that's why when you live life in complete shunning of idolizing human beings, you finally "get" it. If you really think you know anyone anywhere with a public "persona", think again. You know NO one. You probably don't really know people that are close to you, totally. I feel like, only God really knows the real me. I'm good with that. So I have my opinions about Prince. I have no idea if they are right or wrong.

I don't even know myself...let alone anyone else!

I totally feel like I knew him. I knew his most noble and beautiful side. And you got a sense of his spirit from what he sang about and his general attitude towards life.

Yes I didn't know what is favorite TV shows or movies were, but I could say that about a lot of my friends and I knew Prince a lot better than i do some of my friends and many of my aquaintances.

sonshine said:

Seriously none of us "knew" Prince. Not the real person. Nor should we think we deserve to know all the details of their private lives. No one should be so emotionally invested in a complete stranger to feel betrayed by them. I admit I was shocked and devastated when the drug talk started. But that very quickly changed to compassion and empathy for his very real, very personal struggles. And I am probably a bit defensive when it comes to his detractors because no one has the right to judge. I'm sorry the OP feels disappointed. But I think it would be more useful to examine why one would feel personally offended by the things we have learned since his passing. I admired and adored the man (even admit to my own fantasy crush for him) but I never held him to a higher standard than the rest of us. This is the problem with hero worship. It's unrealistic to place god-like qualities on another human being.

To clarify, I didn't say I felt disapointed in Prince or anything but disapointed in myself in my ability to get a good sense of someone.

No.

For 37 years...I just really KNEW him through his music.

^

I know Prince the artist, not Prince the person. I believe that while they are the same, Prince the person only gave us a glimpse into his real life. I am finding out mre about Prince the person, and that is cool. What is interesting to me is to see the growth and changes that he made and see how that changed his music.

Connected said:

Personally never met the bloke

-

Loved his artisrty/music/poetry

-

As a human being - as I never met him - then no, never really "knew" him

-

Did you ever personally meet him/spend time with him outside of experiencing his shows, listening to his music?

-

We dig the idea/poetry/music/persona of Prince...

-

And we can take that idea...and make it our own...

-

Not replicate...not imitate...not copy...

-

Simply incorporate that idea into ourselves...

-

It ain't over!

No I never personally knew him. The only times I saw him in person were at his concerts and Paisley Park. Yes I loved the Prince persona, whatever I knew about Prince I knew from reading about him, stories from people who have met him, his music, lyrics, ect.....so no I never thought I knew him in an intimate sense...more like I thought I understood him in what he was saying in his music...and honestly from biographies I thought he was a fascinating study in psychology really, I thought he was such a complex individual...

Now however I guess I am realizing how little I did actually know...to be honest I wasn't following Prince's work for the last six or seven years....but his death really made me very sad as a fan...it brought me back to my childhood when I first developed a huge crush on him...he became a fantasy in my formative years and his unfortunate death "reminded" me how I felt about him as a young girl )(and in my 20s there was a period then too when I was a huge fan)...I don't know maybe men would find this hard to understand but that first huge crush as a girl feels kinda special. Maybe someone to project your romantic fantasies and feelings on at a crtitical time in development...I was just wondering if anyone else could relate that is all.

I don't really get the question. I'm just a fan, I only knew of him what he put out there for public consumption. & that was a LOT - so I guess I feel like I knew little bits of him, whatever little bits he was feeling when he recorded this or that... whatever he conveyed on stage... & it's all "true" in a sense, but really KNEW him knew him? No, I never thought that. The circumstances of his death don't change that. We all have "stuff", & we were never meant to know things about him that ran that deep, so deep the people who ACTUALLY knew him & were in his presence didn't even know.

Wow. Listening to Prince for over 30 years, of course we know Prince. So much of himself he put in his music. His lyrics. His whole being was in it. His music changed with him, his energy, his beliefs. Of course we don't know everything. But as Prince, everybody is entitled to having secrets, a private life that you can keep to yourself if you want to.

Krystalkisses said:

Connected said:

Personally never met the bloke

-

Loved his artisrty/music/poetry

-

As a human being - as I never met him - then no, never really "knew" him

-

Did you ever personally meet him/spend time with him outside of experiencing his shows, listening to his music?

-

We dig the idea/poetry/music/persona of Prince...

-

And we can take that idea...and make it our own...

-

Not replicate...not imitate...not copy...

-

Simply incorporate that idea into ourselves...

-

It ain't over!

No I never personally knew him. The only times I saw him in person were at his concerts and Paisley Park. Yes I loved the Prince persona, whatever I knew about Prince I knew from reading about him, stories from people who have met him, his music, lyrics, ect.....so no I never thought I knew him in an intimate sense...more like I thought I understood him in what he was saying in his music...and honestly from biographies I thought he was a fascinating study in psychology really, I thought he was such a complex individual...

Now however I guess I am realizing how little I did actually know...to be honest I wasn't following Prince's work for the last six or seven years....but his death really made me very sad as a fan...it brought me back to my childhood when I first developed a huge crush on him...he became a fantasy in my formative years and his unfortunate death "reminded" me how I felt about him as a young girl )(and in my 20s there was a period then too when I was a huge fan)...I don't know maybe men would find this hard to understand but that first huge crush as a girl feels kinda special. Maybe someone to project your romantic fantasies and feelings on at a crtitical time in development...I was just wondering if anyone else could relate that is all.

I totally get this

-

I had a school reunion last week with friends I haven't seen for 10yrs...which came about due to Prince's passing

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Even now as 40 somethings we all appreciated just how much his music and style and approach to life...shaped us as individuals

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Reflecting on our reunion...it amazes me, the impact he had on how we see the world through this "purple filter"...and that we "get it" when others don't

-

Prince definitely has sculpted a perspective of how I see the world...as much as my family & friends

-

In fact, arguably he molded me moreso...because he opened my mind to the reality of being individual and free-minded, by thinking of living without the imposed boundaries we sometimes restrict ourselves by.

Actually I think we all knew him.

To know someone's art, is to know the artist.

When Prince had something to say, he said it through song.

If you truly listened, you knew him.

Militant said:

Actually I think we all knew him.

To know someone's art, is to know the artist.

When Prince had something to say, he said it through song.

If you truly listened, you knew him.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. But the one thing to keep in mind is that we only know people based upon our own perceptions of that person and the perception of the experiences with that person. Those perceptions of the person and the experiences are competely you. We can only know those things they share with us, and even that knowing of what they share with us is our own perception of it, therefore ourselves. Those we are closest to, we only know the bits and pieces they share with us, and those bits and pieces are colored by our own perception of what is shared. I cannot know what it is to be you. I cannot know every thought, every emotion, every sensation you experience, therefore I can never fully know you, only my perception of who I think you are. But I do know who it is to be me, perceiving you, and therefore I know who you are as myself. Does that make sense?