Or was that started by somebody else?

[Edited 9/21/16 13:16pm]

Prince started that. In the mid-90s (in the Love 4 One Another special on VH1), he noted that "fan" is shorthand for "fanatic".

Years later, possibly in the first year of the NPGMC (I think?), he coined the term "fams" because he considered people who loved his music as his family.

In my opinion, Prince used the term 'fam' as a form of control.

When he upped the anti to have all ownership, control all forms of communication about him, from the legal actions to shut fan publications, to the attempts to shut websites not under his control, he began using the term 'fam' that divided the community.

'Fams' were asked to surrender bootlegs, to only buy the offical publications, to have blind faith in annual subscriptions and to come to the official, heavily moderated forums.

Ironically, it was the obsessive fantatics that ran to the call, while the moderate fans didn't.

The NPG forum was a strange place, where control was absolute and idolisation bordering on obsessive. Not all the people, but a great vocal few. I think the Mods soon realised it was growing into a nasty place to manage, despite the 'Love4oneanother' mantra.

It was shut down and the 'Fams' started turning up on the Org in droves. It was a nasty few months as thread after thread started popping up trying to tell people that they were too negative, were not true fans or were simple idolisation threads.

Eventually, those new faces wandered off, but I think a quite a few have popped up on here and social media, the last few months. The level of idolisation and negative comments about free speech surrounding Prince has been on the rise.

Of course, thats only an opinion, but one thing that sitcks in my mind was when I was allowed to stay in for a soundcheck inbetween to gigs when Prince was playing two shows on one night a few years ago.

A few of us were were hanging while Prince did a soundcheck on his own. One girl went mad, running to the from barrier and almost having a breakdown of excitement. Prince looked at security and she was taken out. Prince grinned at the rest of us and said, "Fam in the house huh?". We all got exactly what he meant. I think he knows what Fams are.

She looks like she's acting out "Do Me Baby"!

i mean what's a stan? It was a word made some people feel inclusive I guess. It's interesting how people take it so seriously like it was joining some cult or something. Maybe some people did act that way, but few referring to themselves that way did.

SquirrelMeat said:

In my opinion, Prince used the term 'fam' as a form of control.

When he upped the anti to have all ownership, control all forms of communication about him, from the legal actions to shut fan publications, to the attempts to shut websites not under his control, he began using the term 'fam' that divided the community.

'Fams' were asked to surrender bootlegs, to only buy the offical publications, to have blind faith in annual subscriptions and to come to the official, heavily moderated forums.

Ironically, it was the obsessive fantatics that ran to the call, while the moderate fans didn't.

The NPG forum was a strange place, where control was absolute and idolisation bordering on obsessive. Not all the people, but a great vocal few. I think the Mods soon realised it was growing into a nasty place to manage, despite the 'Love4oneanother' mantra.

It was shut down and the 'Fams' started turning up on the Org in droves. It was a nasty few months as thread after thread started popping up trying to tell people that they were too negative, were not true fans or were simple idolisation threads.

Eventually, those new faces wandered off, but I think a quite a few have popped up on here and social media, the last few months. The level of idolisation and negative comments about free speech surrounding Prince has been on the rise.

Of course, thats only an opinion, but one thing that sitcks in my mind was when I was allowed to stay in for a soundcheck inbetween to gigs when Prince was playing two shows on one night a few years ago.

A few of us were were hanging while Prince did a soundcheck on his own. One girl went mad, running to the from barrier and almost having a breakdown of excitement. Prince looked at security and she was taken out. Prince grinned at the rest of us and said, "Fam in the house huh?". We all got exactly what he meant. I think he knows what Fams are.

Well I guess this was also the time when the term "true fan" was born? Every time I hear it, it makes me think of someone who is a crazy obsessive fanatic. For want of a better word it sounds cultish

[Edited 9/21/16 15:13pm]

SquirrelMeat said:

In my opinion, Prince used the term 'fam' as a form of control.

When he upped the anti to have all ownership, control all forms of communication about him, from the legal actions to shut fan publications, to the attempts to shut websites not under his control, he began using the term 'fam' that divided the community.

'Fams' were asked to surrender bootlegs, to only buy the offical publications, to have blind faith in annual subscriptions and to come to the official, heavily moderated forums.

It was shut down and the 'Fams' started turning up on the Org in droves. It was a nasty few months as thread after thread started popping up trying to tell people that they were too negative, were not true fans or were simple idolisation threads.

I think that theory holds a lot of weight. The NPGMC times (and just before) were very inclusive, in the regard that if you weren't a member, you weren't shit. "Fams", the term, got a lot of flack from those of us not plugged into the purple Matrix. (Ironic, since Prince often cited The Matrix as a movie to really think about when it came to government propaganda, etc.)

The fact that any fan would send in the German released CD singles (he had a whole page of them on NPGMC.com) or bootlegs is ridiculous. Even Prince said, in 1999, that he understood a fan's need for the music, and said he had almost everything James Brown recorded.

The term "fam" certainly divided a community almost immediately nullifying the term "love 4 one another".

dang, I never sent anything in, I must have not been a fam. Geesh. I'm sad now.

I was a member and I didn't get nothing for my troubles.

Starrdust505 said:

SquirrelMeat said:

In my opinion, Prince used the term 'fam' as a form of control.

When he upped the anti to have all ownership, control all forms of communication about him, from the legal actions to shut fan publications, to the attempts to shut websites not under his control, he began using the term 'fam' that divided the community.

'Fams' were asked to surrender bootlegs, to only buy the offical publications, to have blind faith in annual subscriptions and to come to the official, heavily moderated forums.

Ironically, it was the obsessive fantatics that ran to the call, while the moderate fans didn't.

The NPG forum was a strange place, where control was absolute and idolisation bordering on obsessive. Not all the people, but a great vocal few. I think the Mods soon realised it was growing into a nasty place to manage, despite the 'Love4oneanother' mantra.

It was shut down and the 'Fams' started turning up on the Org in droves. It was a nasty few months as thread after thread started popping up trying to tell people that they were too negative, were not true fans or were simple idolisation threads.

Eventually, those new faces wandered off, but I think a quite a few have popped up on here and social media, the last few months. The level of idolisation and negative comments about free speech surrounding Prince has been on the rise.

Of course, thats only an opinion, but one thing that sitcks in my mind was when I was allowed to stay in for a soundcheck inbetween to gigs when Prince was playing two shows on one night a few years ago.

A few of us were were hanging while Prince did a soundcheck on his own. One girl went mad, running to the from barrier and almost having a breakdown of excitement. Prince looked at security and she was taken out. Prince grinned at the rest of us and said, "Fam in the house huh?". We all got exactly what he meant. I think he knows what Fams are.

Well I guess this was also the time when the term "true fan" was born? Every time I hear it, it makes me think of someone who is a crazy obsessive fanatic. For want of a better word it sounds cultish

[Edited 9/21/16 15:13pm]

Was this gal from the "fams"?

I investigated this incident and found it written about in Rolling Stone and posted about it in a thread several weeks ago.

This was in Philadelphia, I think, and P was peforming and INVITED a gal on stage to dance. During the dancing she got close enough to kiss him on the cheek and he faked a swoon. Security didn't see him fall and the gal took that opportunity to straddle him,and security saw that and scooped her up and away.

P was embarrassed and ended up trying to apologize, but it was too late.

He performed with a towel over his head afterwards, presumably embarrassed that his failed joking swoon got her in trouble with security. There's a pic of him wearing the towel over his head in the article.