This may seem like an obvious "yes", but let me preface it by saying this.

I'm brand new to this site, and I can tell just by lurking through threads and such that I am one of the youngest people here. I'm only 20 years old, and I didn't start listening to Prince until I was 18, and to be more specific I would say December of 2013 (I know, I'm a noob compared to most of you guys out there). There are several reasons for why I held off on Prince for such a long time, mainly because I'm a music obsessive (just about every genre under the sun, experimental or not, I enjoy), and most of the music forums and fans that I discussed with hardly ever mentioned him outside Purple Rain. It seemed to me like most people I talked to were more concerned with a new Swans LP than anything by Prince. Therefore, after spending years listening to so much other music, I decided that Prince's catalog was a worthy one to listen to. Little did I know that he was about to take over my entire life.

Never before has an musician taken my mind off everything else. It's kind of insane. I don't mean to ramble but I'm the kind of person that always needs to be listening to anything and everything, but I became one track minded from first listen. When he died, it intensified that reaction and now only recently can I get back on track listening to anything that isn't by him.

My question is this: for those of you that listen to a lot of new music or music in general, did you struggle with not being able to get off of his catalog for the weeks following his death? I understand that when a musician dies it is only natural to go back and listen to them but I also know that Prince fans tend to be music fans, and that means they listen to a lot of different stuff. Sorry for the long post but I love his music so much and it's hard to find anywhere that even seems to give a passing mention to his huge body of amazing work.

-J

I started listening to Prince in the early 80's...he's always been one of my favorites...no one is above what he accomplished in my opinion......I love all kinda music but, Prince will always be special to me...I'm glad you are on this discovery path....enjoy the ride...

Nope I listen to my other music, but Prince is and will always be my No 1, been listening to 1999 today

First of all, welcome to the site. You are in great company Prince's music catalog is quite absorbing; there are so many genres and moods to fall into, so I can completely understand where you are coming from.

I became ob-sessed with his music back in 1991/1992 when Diamonds & Pearls came out. Though I should probably be grateful my mom wasn't paying attention to the lyrics I was listening to at the time.

The following years, I collected and listened to ALL of his CDs - until I was robbed. Twice. (having replenished my collection, and then robbed again was a thorn in my side. Wasn't as aggressive of rebuilding again $$$ wise - except for my faves. Then I spent 6 years working at sea so kind of out of the loop for some time.

Now, it's like my initial head over heels feelings about Prince and the music have all returned. I have been completely absorbed with all things Prince, working to rebuild that collection for the third time~ and until just this past week I hadn't listened to anything else. I think in time balance will come. For now I am enjoying rediscovering and discovering the man and the music.

I love to hear when young people like yourself become Prince fans after getting exposed to more than a song or two. His music should never die, which means the young generations have to play it forward! Anyway, I totally get where you are coming from about listening to only Prince after his death. I have gotten 40 to 50 CDs/album downloads each year for the past 45 years from a wide range of artists, so I typically paly a lot of types of music over a give week. Some of my most anticipated releases have been during the past couple of months (i.e., Corrine Bailey Rae, Maxwell, Radiohead, Brandy Clark, etc), and I have not given them any time, even the ones I have downloaded. I have just gravitated to revisit almost all of my Prince CDs, downloading the ones that were on cassette, and buying and palying his newest stuff. It seems so much more rewarding to listen to any of his selections than anyone else right now, no matter how good they may be. I don't have any sense of when things might bet back to my palette of music, but I am not sensing it will be anytime soon. I hope you spread the word among your friends about Prince. Have you converted any of them?

gandorb said:

I love to hear when young people like yourself become Prince fans after getting exposed to more than a song or two. His music should never die, which means the young generations have to play it forward! Anyway, I totally get where you are coming from about listening to only Prince after his death. I have gotten 40 to 50 CDs/album downloads each year for the past 45 years from a wide range of artists, so I typically paly a lot of types of music over a give week. Some of my most anticipated releases have been during the past couple of months (i.e., Corrine Bailey Rae, Maxwell, Radiohead, Brandy Clark, etc), and I have not given them any time, even the ones I have downloaded. I have just gravitated to revisit almost all of my Prince CDs, downloading the ones that were on cassette, and buying and palying his newest stuff. It seems so much more rewarding to listen to any of his selections than anyone else right now, no matter how good they may be. I don't have any sense of when things might bet back to my palette of music, but I am not sensing it will be anytime soon. I hope you spread the word among your friends about Prince. Have you converted any of them?

I agree with everything you said. I am always so happy to hear when younger people becone Prince fans too, and like you mentioned do hope that his music gets shared amongst friends to pass it on! And same about being absorbed by Prince every day. And not seeing an end in sight soon either.

ForeverPaisley said:

gandorb said:

I love to hear when young people like yourself become Prince fans after getting exposed to more than a song or two. His music should never die, which means the young generations have to play it forward! Anyway, I totally get where you are coming from about listening to only Prince after his death. I have gotten 40 to 50 CDs/album downloads each year for the past 45 years from a wide range of artists, so I typically paly a lot of types of music over a give week. Some of my most anticipated releases have been during the past couple of months (i.e., Corrine Bailey Rae, Maxwell, Radiohead, Brandy Clark, etc), and I have not given them any time, even the ones I have downloaded. I have just gravitated to revisit almost all of my Prince CDs, downloading the ones that were on cassette, and buying and palying his newest stuff. It seems so much more rewarding to listen to any of his selections than anyone else right now, no matter how good they may be. I don't have any sense of when things might bet back to my palette of music, but I am not sensing it will be anytime soon. I hope you spread the word among your friends about Prince. Have you converted any of them?

I agree with everything you said. I am always so happy to hear when younger people becone Prince fans too, and like you mentioned do hope that his music gets shared amongst friends to pass it on! And same about being absorbed by Prince every day. And not seeing an end in sight soon either.

nice not to be alone in this.

gandorb said:

ForeverPaisley said:

I agree with everything you said. I am always so happy to hear when younger people becone Prince fans too, and like you mentioned do hope that his music gets shared amongst friends to pass it on! And same about being absorbed by Prince every day. And not seeing an end in sight soon either.

nice not to be alone in this.

You are in good company. I think most of us can relate to this sentiment. And even though it's still so crushing every time reality slaps me in the face to remind me that he is no longer with us, I think celebrating him, celebrating everything he stood for and accomplished during his lifetime, and the music he has left for us to enjoy and share with each other!

I am the complete opposite!! i just COULDNT listen to Prince music for about a month to 6 weeks after he died!! To me it just felt weird to do so, plus if I did, it would all start a huge waterfall of tears!! I preferred to listen to all other music EXCEPT Prince for a quite a while afterwards, and I have been a fan since the late 80s!! Its only the past 4 weeks or so that I have gotten back into the Purple Groove, so to speak, and I feel fine and strong enough now to lissten to him!!

jeffmillsionaire said:

This may seem like an obvious "yes", but let me preface it by saying this.

I'm brand new to this site, and I can tell just by lurking through threads and such that I am one of the youngest people here. I'm only 20 years old, and I didn't start listening to Prince until I was 18, and to be more specific I would say December of 2013 (I know, I'm a noob compared to most of you guys out there). There are several reasons for why I held off on Prince for such a long time, mainly because I'm a music obsessive (just about every genre under the sun, experimental or not, I enjoy), and most of the music forums and fans that I discussed with hardly ever mentioned him outside Purple Rain. It seemed to me like most people I talked to were more concerned with a new Swans LP than anything by Prince. Therefore, after spending years listening to so much other music, I decided that Prince's catalog was a worthy one to listen to. Little did I know that he was about to take over my entire life.

Never before has an musician taken my mind off everything else. It's kind of insane. I don't mean to ramble but I'm the kind of person that always needs to be listening to anything and everything, but I became one track minded from first listen. When he died, it intensified that reaction and now only recently can I get back on track listening to anything that isn't by him.

My question is this: for those of you that listen to a lot of new music or music in general, did you struggle with not being able to get off of his catalog for the weeks following his death? I understand that when a musician dies it is only natural to go back and listen to them but I also know that Prince fans tend to be music fans, and that means they listen to a lot of different stuff. Sorry for the long post but I love his music so much and it's hard to find anywhere that even seems to give a passing mention to his huge body of amazing work.

-J

Ohh, I am 28 and listen to anything out there. Started off my musical quest with golden era Hip-Hop (1988-1992 are my cutoff dates) when I was 17. Went through British acid house to Funky and Disco House (Hed Kandi/Ministry Of Sound) later. Then some other acts. But when Prince was introduced I was and still am in such awe over his back catalog (B-Sides are just unfare to other artists how good they are) and that he basically did it all himself. Never going to leave my life. He squashes all competition all around. Just had a intense period with Exodus (Which you should check out). And do yourself a favour and listen to Peach and Black Podcast on all his albums. Amazing learning curve thanks to them!

yes.

Life long 50 year old Prince fan here.

I come and go to his music and of course I've got my favs but since he died everything else just seems lifeless.

Since he's been gone I've listened to things I've never heard before, Liked most of it, didn't like some, revisited old favorites and heard new things, explored rare recording to death and still.....can't get enough.

PurpleSpirit319 said:

I am the complete opposite!! i just COULDNT listen to Prince music for about a month to 6 weeks after he died!! To me it just felt weird to do so, plus if I did, it would all start a huge waterfall of tears!! I preferred to listen to all other music EXCEPT Prince for a quite a while afterwards, and I have been a fan since the late 80s!! Its only the past 4 weeks or so that I have gotten back into the Purple Groove, so to speak, and I feel fine and strong enough now to lissten to him!!

Welcome back home!

leftcoast said:

Since 4/21, I have not listened to anyone else. I have heard other music, but when I am in control, it has only been Prince. I may never listen to any once else, ever.

Yes. Prince's death has distracted me from a lot of things.

Welcome to the org I'm on the younger side of the P fan spectrum as well. It's been 13 years for me however, so I got a little ride out of it. Yet that still doesn't seem like nearly enough time. In the very beginning, yes I was absolutely distracted and couldn't listen to anything but him. But like you and many of us here, I'm a lover of so many different genres. I really wanted to listen to other artists, but when I tried I actually felt guilty and I felt like something was missing. So I went back to Prince. As painful as it was, it was the only way I could keep him alive in my mind ya know? Now it's gotten a little easier. I still don't go a day without listening to at least one album all the way through, but I'm able to listen to other things as well. The funny thing is though, after a while I have to go back to P. He's always the beginning and the end, but the middle varies. I figure it'll be this way for a while.

Other Music?

jeffmillsionaire said:

This may seem like an obvious "yes", but let me preface it by saying this.

I'm brand new to this site, and I can tell just by lurking through threads and such that I am one of the youngest people here. I'm only 20 years old, and I didn't start listening to Prince until I was 18, and to be more specific I would say December of 2013 (I know, I'm a noob compared to most of you guys out there). There are several reasons for why I held off on Prince for such a long time, mainly because I'm a music obsessive (just about every genre under the sun, experimental or not, I enjoy), and most of the music forums and fans that I discussed with hardly ever mentioned him outside Purple Rain. It seemed to me like most people I talked to were more concerned with a new Swans LP than anything by Prince. Therefore, after spending years listening to so much other music, I decided that Prince's catalog was a worthy one to listen to. Little did I know that he was about to take over my entire life.

Never before has an musician taken my mind off everything else. It's kind of insane. I don't mean to ramble but I'm the kind of person that always needs to be listening to anything and everything, but I became one track minded from first listen. When he died, it intensified that reaction and now only recently can I get back on track listening to anything that isn't by him.

My question is this: for those of you that listen to a lot of new music or music in general, did you struggle with not being able to get off of his catalog for the weeks following his death? I understand that when a musician dies it is only natural to go back and listen to them but I also know that Prince fans tend to be music fans, and that means they listen to a lot of different stuff. Sorry for the long post but I love his music so much and it's hard to find anywhere that even seems to give a passing mention to his huge body of amazing work.

-J

You just summed up my last couple of months lately. Granted I am 36 but I have not followed Prince's career for the last 10 years. I was caught up in modern country music scene street teaming for a couple of artists ( one of which I have been a die hard fan since I was about 10 yrs old), Prior to that all I knew about Prince was what videos and songs I heard on tv and radio. My parents were musicians and my dad taught me to never judge a genre before making an effor to listen to it because I am guaranteed to find something in every genre that I like. My dad is/was a wise man as they has led me to a life of loving ALL types of music genres though some I like more than others. That being said when Prince died I was overcome with a great desire to listen to as much of his music as possible and what it has done is oepned me up to songs and albums I never knew about. It also has caused me to compare artists that are on the scene now days to Prince's sound and they are not measuring up in my mind. I was just at a concert Saturday night to see 4 King & Country and one of the lead vocalist jumped off the top of an old school piano! I later told him I had never seen or heard of anyone but Prince doing that!

Wlcm2thdwn3 said:

Yes. Prince's death has distracted me from a lot of things.

Me too. It hasn't even been 3 months so it's very fresh to me. I think I stopped "mourning" after the Sheila E. performance on BET Awards, now I just feel a sense of sadness and emptiness. I am also catching up on the releases since 2007 because I fell off with those after NPGMC closed. I still haven't listened to Beyonce's "Lemonade".

Not at all, if anything for some bizarre reason, I was listening to a lot more Michael Jackson music mostly off the albums Dangerous, History and Invincible, particularly the song "Gone too soon" - why? because his death was like 25 June 2009 all over again.

.

I listened to quite a bit of Prince, mostly sad songs like "Sometimes it snows in April" and "UTCM" and "Empty Room", took me 3 weeks to listen to anything upbeat again.

lostangel078 said:

There sure is a void when I actively search out other music to listen to...

Yes. Fell in love with Diamonds & Pearls when it came out, which got me to catch up with his earlier work. Fell away after The Gold Experience for various reasons...so, I have a couple decades to catch up with. I have to pace myself, though, too much at once and I start feeling sad.

[Edited 7/11/16 18:05pm]

Hi! I'm 24, so I'm a bit of a Prince music newbie myself, other than the most obvious hits he had like "Purple Rain," and "When Doves Cry." But to answer your question, I go on Prince music binges once or twice a day, but I still do listen to other music as well.