If you was a ’BRAND NEW’ Prince fan, where would you start?

It’s great that there are many new Prince fans that have come about since he left us, because it is so important his music continues to reach out to new & young people.
But I was thinking all this week, if I was a new Prince fan…
Where would I start?
How long would it take me to listen to all his music?
How long would it take to learn all the songs I know now?
How long to start collecting all the stuff I have?
And to learn about all the special things Prince fans share together, like the secret tracks on CDs, the backward message on Purple Rain album, knowing what to do at concerts like the double hand clap, house quake & wooden leg dance & singing along to the piano solos etc etc etc.
The more I thought about it all, the more endless it all became. And it made me realise how lucky I am to of been a fan for over 30+ years & how much he left with us. I feel very so privileged & so grateful that I have been a fan for all these years & will still continue to be, no matter what. But if I was a NEW fan, I really would have no idea where to start with it all.
What about you?

The beginning is usually a great place to start.

Start with For You and work your way up, this way one could experience his growth as a person and musician as it happened.

Id' start with Dirty Mind...aborb the album...and listen to the live recordings from the tour...then progress through the albums until Lovesexy...

By then he/she should be thoroughly INFECTED by Prince.

To start I would suggest:

The Hits / The B Sides

Purple Ran

Sign O the Times

Parade

And listen to some live concerts of the Lovesexy , One Nite Alone and Musicology Tour.

In 1988 I saw the Lovesexy Dortmund concert on tv. Many songs I heard for the first time. It got me interested even more in Prince and I bought the other albums.

Also listening to live music is a must because Prince is such a good live performer.

In this order:

Controversy

1999

Purple Rain

Sign O The Times

Graffiti Bridge

The Black Album

Come

Dirty Mind

For You

Prince

The Rainbow Children

ATWIAD

Parade

Lovesexy

Diamonds and Pearls

The Gold Experience

Come

Emancipation
3121

Planet Earth

Lotusflow3r/MPLSound

Musicology

...whatever's left.

Also, check the b-sides from the album after you listen to the album itself.

NPG trilogy later.

i would start with Purple Rain

I always start newbies with watching/listening to Purple Rain. After all this time is is still a great entrance point into the whole thing.

The Hits/B-Sides is a great place to start. I was listening to it today and the two Hits discs are amazingly slick in terms of them being packed full of fantastic songs with not an ounce of fat as it were (with the exception of Pope which seems a little out of place coming before the graceful Purple Rain). It's a great collection of tracks and covers all the bases. I'd also team The Hits/B-Sides with the Sign O' The Times movie if you can get it. Between those that's all you need to jump in straight away, the classic album can follow afterwards.

In fact I've got a relative that was saying that they didn't really know where to start with Prince (they had tried looking before the official Youtube channel had started posting videos and that made t hard for them to just casually check out some songs). So I'm sending him my old well played and loved copies of the Hits 1 and The Hits 2 that I bought many years ago (before upgrading to the combined pack), and I'm also going to send a dvd of the Lovesexy Dortmund show. If that doesn't make him a fan I don't know what will!

I'd have a "newbie" start with Ultimate Prince (both discs) so he/she can get a taste of how the man works, originals and remixes. And then view Purple Rain then Syracuse Live. If he/she isn't hyped about consuming Prince at this point, go ahead and call it a good try.

If he/she IS now in full Prince mode, from there, I'd go beginning to end with official releases, with one live "YouTube" video from that release thrown in (to make it interesting). For instance, listen to Parade, look at Under the Cherry Moon, and then look at Prince and 3rd Eye Girl cover "She's Always in My Hair" (Arsenio). Another example, listen to 1999, look at a couple of the official videos for the album, then look at DMSR (Detroit)("No Chance, NO, NO!!!!"). Change it up to keep it fresh.


If the "newbie" is still hungry for more Prince at this point, start hitting up all the associates from beginning to end.


Now that I've think of it, I hope the "newbies" are starting in their teens or early 20s. Theres a LOT of catching up to do! By the time he/she gets to 40 or so they can be a real "Prince" afficianodo. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. YOU HAVE TO PUT IN THE TIME. I do wish everyone could have seen him live "for real live" in concert at least once. (What memories!!!)

I get this a lot.

Most of his work I see as distinct phases with sharp artistic shifts from one to another.

So you start them with the Purple Rain because it's right there in the middle.

Move them down to 1999.

See if ATWIAD gells.

Lay Dirty Mind on them.

Tell them to come back in six months.

Drop the Black Album to really freak them out.

Relieve that tension with Lovesexy.

Rewind to Controversy.

Without words hand them Sign o' the Times.

Tell them to come back in six months.

I started with Lovesexy. It was overwhelming.

second album is a great primer, but really you can't go wrong with any one of the records from the period from controversy-purple rain. I always mentione the second album because that is when the "minneapolis sound" really showed itself for the first time, the funky piano solos, the heavy guitar songs and guitar solos, slow ballads of varying rhythm's and styles and the top rate songwriting.

Chaos and Disorder. It was an ending & a new beginning

[Edited 1/21/18 6:08am]

jaawwnn said:

Purple Rain and then/or chronological. Maybe a hits compilation if you can't wait to hear a few songs. So much of his career is in the shadow of or a reaction to Purple Rain you may as well understand it ASAP.

that's true in many ways, i knew about prince and was listening to him since the bandstand performance but it was purple rain that flipped a switch on and made me a fanatic.

Watch the Lovesexy Dortmund concert for 80s stuff.

For 90's stuff, Symbol album or Gold Experience

Can't say much for 00's stuff cause I've yet to hear a lot of it lol still listening to new stuff.

I would start at the beginning and take my time.

The amount of music is overwelming but each album deserves the attention.

The Hits / B-Sides, then each album chronologically.

67Cadillac said:

The Hits / B-Sides, then each album chronologically.

+1

or start with 1999 then chronologically.

I'd say just listen to the hits and go from there. In a rough listening order, I'd suggest:

1. The Hits, Ultimate or Very Best of Prince

2. Purple Rain

3. Sign O' the Times, 1999 and Dirty Mind

4. Parade, Around the World in a Day and Controversy

5. Lovesexy, Batman, the Black Album and Prince

The old addage, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time" applies here. I guess I'd agree with some, starting at the hits packages. Or perhaps with Dirty Mind or Controversy. My favorites were PR, Come, TGE and Sign O' The Times. What kind of music does the "Brand New Fan" gravitate towards? Rock? Pop? R & B? That would be very important to know so as not to turn off a potential new fan. Prince's music can be very polarizing to even his most devoted fans. Music has changed so much from those early days that his first albums would make little sense or seem very simplistic compared to all the production that goes in to music today.

Note ~ (SOAPBOX MOMENT TO FOLLOW) We know the genius of it because a lot of us were there at the beginning. He gave us the soundtracks of our lives. We have the luxury of knowing where it all began and watch it evolve. We have had our entire lives (many decades suffice it to say) to connect with and make sense of his music. That is why we stuck around. we connected with his music and that changed us. For better or worse, Prince and his music changed us and that is why we are "here". How does one begin such a journey? I wouldn't know where to begin. It is like looking at the stars in the sky and asked to start counting them. Daunting. I literally have well over 1000 sets of Prince music. These range from all the studio albums, bootlegs and concerts. My cousin has asked me to let him have access to it all and I started to realize that to go from nothing to all of what I have overnight would be overwhelming to most people. How would one even know where to begin such a long and winding journey? I'm so glad I don't have to start over.

It would depend on the person whether they were an album person or a singles person.

If they were a singles person, the Hits, Ultimate etc

If they were an album person, Sign o the Times as to me it is one track away from the perfect album- if the track "It" would have been replaced by Shockadelica then pefection to me

Othewise, anything pre 1994 will mostly be fine

If you'd like to spark an idea, I started this thread awhile back: http://prince.org/msg/7/431398

That is the beauty of our man PRINCE, he never stuck to one style of music, so you could match a song with the style of the "new" fan.
Although, I sent a link to the video for "Cream" and my brand new fan LOVED it! So now we swap stories about songs and hopefully I've converted a new one our way
This is great way to branch out and listen to Prince's other styles too. (currently playing Dreamer)