I noticed one thing: that a lot of P fans started into the P scene when they were teenagers - mainly, in their late teens (16-17). I haven't encountered any P fans under age 16.

What does this mean? I'm guessing that Prince's music is more mature-themed and "serious", not to mention the complexitiy of his songs and how weird he was - something that could of scared off some kids.

D

[Edited 4/15/18 11:43am]

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

I noticed one thing: that a lot of P fans started into the P scene when they were teenagers - mainly, in their late teens (16-17). I haven't encountered any P fans under age 16.

What does this mean? I'm guessing that Prince's music is more mature-themed and "serious", not to mention the complexitiy of his songs and how weird he was - something that could of scared off some kids.

I know of some younger fans.There were also a few that used to post here several years back who were in their teens.My dad told me that he asked some guys at work who were in their late teens if they liked him and they said that they didn't because he was weird.I was not allowed to listen to his music when I was a child or teen and I ended up getting into him in my twenties. I couldn't believe what I had missed out on.

I was ten when For You came out, but it was "I Wanna Be Your Lover" that caught my attention. I think I'd heard it on the radio but it was a K-Tel record that made me pay attention to the song. So that makes me around twelve. I was sixteen when Purple Rain came out. So - mid-teens. But my fandom started pre-teen.

I became a fan at 16 in 2004, when there was an odd time of Prince videos being played on TV ("Cream" and "U Got The Look (Extended)"), and also when the Musicology album was released. Prior to 2004, I simply didn't know much about Prince and thought he was scary (lol!!!). Then I grew up and realised the guy is cool and funky and in touch with God, and, in a funny way, a dead ringer for Michael Jackson.

I was 14 in 1982 when I bought 1999 7". Hooked.

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

I loved music from a young age and was 6 when I liked him. I was 9 when I became a fanatic when I saw him in concert for the first time in 1981.

I was a teen, and he was a teen, when I started to following him.

For me it is. Around year 2000, I was 17 when I bought both of "Rave" and Chaka's "Come 2 My House" from the used section. My very first two musical items from him and the rest was history.

I was 8 in 1979 when i first heard I Wanna Be Your Lover. I became a fan in 1980 when Dirty Mind came out, and of course at first i did not understand most of the lyrics of this record but it was jamming

FunkOnTheOne said:

I was 14 and I know someone else who discovered Prince at the same time. 14 is apparently scientifically when you make your strongest connection to music.

I was 13 when I saw the March 30, 1985 concert in Syracuse broadcasted live on German TV at 4:00am and was blown away with the whole thing. I was aware of extended versions of I Would Die 4 U and The Glamorous Life, and the b-side 17 Days at the time. First noticed Prince with the release of the 1999 single and I remember my 4 year older cousin buying it and playing it on my turn-table (Jan 1983 - I was 11 years old). I remember that day and it made a big impression.

Close but no banana, I was 15 years 6 months and 15 days when I committed to Prince (April 30th 1976 - November 15th 1991). Feel's good to know I was maturefor my age, although then I kind of dug it because I thought then, the song Cream was obviously about semen and the video was very sexually provocative, finding sex funny is more a young teen and even preteen thing (11/16). Appreciating Prince's musicology only came for me around 1993.

.

Someone said 14 was the peak of connection, glad it was a year later for me, had it been 14 it would have been MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, and Color Me Badd, or 13 - Milli Vanilli ( )

.

The first artist I was truly serious about was Michael Jackson, and I was fully into him when I was 11 (Bad came out and I bought it). I probably got seriously into Madonna when I was 12.

I also picked up the Chilis and George Michael when I was 15, so it was a good year.

.

The last year I really got into musical acts was when I was 20/21 (1997) When I really dicovered Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie.

.

I am pushing the case quite a few people got into Prince aged 15. I know at least 5 people, 3 are internet celebrities who discovered Prince aged 15. Most of them were born 1973/74 and got into Prince with the Batman Album (1989).

[Edited 4/7/18 16:27pm]

I gotta disagree with the op. When Prince first came out many of the "cooler" kids immediantly jumped on board. I was about 12.

FunkOnTheOne said:

I was 14 and I know someone else who discovered Prince at the same time. 14 is apparently scientifically when you make your strongest connection to music.

14 for me too. Batman.

I was really interested at 12 with the 1999 album--but I didn't actually start buying music myself until the next year, so it wasn't until 1984 that I can say I became a "fan"--at which point I had everything there was (including associated acts) by the end of the year. So... 14 for me, let's say.

I wasn't into him as a teenager

I was 9 and hooked at the first listen of It's Gonna Be Lonely. I wouldn't actually see what Prince looked like until I was 12 and the rest is history.

I was 18 when 'Prince' came out in 1979 (I had no idea he released a previous album). Didn't really get into him until the Controversy/1999 years. He was still regarded as underground until "Little Red Corvette" started getting played on MTV.

I got into Prince in January 1979...I was 13 that year.

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

I noticed one thing: that a lot of P fans started into the P scene when they were teenagers - mainly, in their late teens (16-17). I haven't encountered any P fans under age 16.

What does this mean? I'm guessing that Prince's music is more mature-themed and "serious", not to mention the complexitiy of his songs and how weird he was - something that could of scared off some kids.

.

It's just that most people don't get interested into any music before they reach secondary school, i.e. 11/12 y.o., unless it's a song/artist specifically targeted at children (i.e. by a kids TV show's host or related to a Disney cartoon and so on).

.

Primary school kids don't care for music. They trip on cartoons and toys. Then you become a teen and you're the target audience and the music you listen to becomes a way to explore, define and express your identity.

^ So if one starts paying attention to music at 11 to 13, by the time they define their musical tastes a little more and discover Prince and really get into him, it may take a coupla years. I bought my first Prince I was 12, then everything else between 13-14, then side projects and such between 15-16. You could say that I became a hardcore fan when I was about 14, but that was only the beginning of my journey.

If it helps I nearly got into Prince aged 12, when Alphabet Street came out, I loved that song and had it on one of those Solid Gold type albums (Albums assembled by record companies with songs that are ending their chart run, usually shove 15 or more songs on a single album and fade them out early and then also add 2 or 3 clunker or filler tracks - that spent like 1 week at #89)

.

I remember I had $20 birthday cash for my 12th birthday and saw the Lovesexy album and wanted to buy it, but my mother saw the cover and said "Oh hell naw". As I never really liked Batdance or Thieves when they came out, so that meant Prince had to wait until 1991 for me, by 15 my mother was still concerned about me getting into a song called Cream and given Prince's reputation as being sexually provocative she was cautious, but let me get into it anyway and the last act of censorship she imposed with me was the Sexy MF single and then she let that slide.

.

My mother wa sstrict with me, because my older brother went off the rails, nearly getting a sex conviction at 16 after having sex with a 13 year old girl (She wanted it, and the age of consent here is 16), he was also into drugs and fucking up at school, so I was made sure not to fall into the trap (Her family was white and my brother and I were the only mixed race kids in the family and the family saw us as Typical criminiferous Maoris, and Mum wanted to prove them wrong).