How many of you are Prince Hardcore Fans/Fams Outside the USA?

I'm a hardcore fan from germany

Hello from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Buongiorno amici purpurei! From Italy

I thought you were in the US. (This was intended for EmmaMcG)

[Edited 8/27/18 15:37pm]

God Is Alive

The UK , Erotic City.

Astasheiks said:

God Is Alive

From Poland

purpledoda said:

From Poland

Neighbour!!

Silvertongue7 said:

Spain

Hola Lengua de plata

Hello from the Czech Republic

Italia

French, currently living in China.

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This is an interesting thread because it seems there are VERY few people on this board that aren't from Western countries. Even Japan, where Prince is very popular, didn't send many emissaries on the Org. I wonder to which extent Prince is/was popular in South America, the Middle East and Africa. I know from my experiences in various Asian countries that outside of Japan, he (as well as most Western pop stars from before a decade ago or so) is virtually unknown.

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I see some people from the former Eastern block here: IDK how old y'all are but was Prince already famous there before 1989 or did he rise to popularity in the 90's?

thebiscuit said:

purplethunder3121 said:

Astasheiks said:

God Is Alive

hhhmmm Revelation ???

databank said:

French, currently living in China.

.

This is an interesting thread because it seems there are VERY few people on this board that aren't from Western countries. Even Japan, where Prince is very popular, didn't send many emissaries on the Org. I wonder to which extent Prince is/was popular in South America, the Middle East and Africa. I know from my experiences in various Asian countries that outside of Japan, he (as well as most Western pop stars from before a decade ago or so) is virtually unknown.

.

I see some people from the former Eastern block here: IDK how old y'all are but was Prince already famous there before 1989 or did he rise to popularity in the 90's?

I realised Prince's existence in early 00s. He has some fans here, but he's never been massively popular in my country. AFAIK he never had a concert here and when he died there were no fan gatherings. I may ask my (grand)parents when I see them though.

FullLipsDotNose said:

databank said:

French, currently living in China.

.

This is an interesting thread because it seems there are VERY few people on this board that aren't from Western countries. Even Japan, where Prince is very popular, didn't send many emissaries on the Org. I wonder to which extent Prince is/was popular in South America, the Middle East and Africa. I know from my experiences in various Asian countries that outside of Japan, he (as well as most Western pop stars from before a decade ago or so) is virtually unknown.

.

I see some people from the former Eastern block here: IDK how old y'all are but was Prince already famous there before 1989 or did he rise to popularity in the 90's?

I realised Prince's existence in early 00s. He has some fans here, but he's never been massively popular in my country. AFAIK he never had a concert here and when he died there were no fan gatherings. I may ask my (grand)parents when I see them though.

My understanding is that exposure to Western music was subject to a certain amount of censorship in the Eastern block (though it probably differed from country to country), and Prince's "hits" days were over by 1994, so Eastern Europe would have had only a few years to get into Prince.

.

It's indeed interesting to note that Prince never toured Eastern Europe even after the Wall fell. Obviously one reason why Western artists don't tour certain countries is lack of an audience and/or record sales, but also the economic factor (you won't easily find thousands of people to pay 100 dollars for a ticket in countries with lower incomes).

.

Has it become common for American (or even British) superstars to play in Prague, or does it remain quite exceptionnal?

databank said:

FullLipsDotNose said:

I realised Prince's existence in early 00s. He has some fans here, but he's never been massively popular in my country. AFAIK he never had a concert here and when he died there were no fan gatherings. I may ask my (grand)parents when I see them though.

My understanding is that exposure to Western music was subject to a certain amount of censorship in the Eastern block (though it probably differed from country to country), and Prince's "hits" days were over by 1994, so Eastern Europe would have had only a few years to get into Prince.

.

It's indeed interesting to note that Prince never toured Eastern Europe even after the Wall fell. Obviously one reason why Western artists don't tour certain countries is lack of an audience and/or record sales, but also the economic factor (you won't easily find thousands of people to pay 100 dollars for a ticket in countries with lower incomes).

.

Has it become common for American (or even British) superstars to play in Prague, or does it remain quite exceptionnal?

As NorthC has pointed out, there have been The Rolling Stones (100,000k people in 1990), Michael Jackson (he also met Václav Havel), Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Lenny Kravitz (including Brno), Paul mac Cartney, Rihanna, Macy Gray (in Brno), Redman and Method Man play every five years in Hradec Králové at Hi Hop Kemp... That's what I've been able to tell on the top of my head.

But don't be mistaken, not all Eastern countries were that isolated back then. Sure, you needed an approval to travel out of the country, but the Beatles were popular and when John Lennon died, my mum's class mourned him. My aunt has a Thriller vinyl at home as well.

FullLipsDotNose said:

databank said:

My understanding is that exposure to Western music was subject to a certain amount of censorship in the Eastern block (though it probably differed from country to country), and Prince's "hits" days were over by 1994, so Eastern Europe would have had only a few years to get into Prince.

.

It's indeed interesting to note that Prince never toured Eastern Europe even after the Wall fell. Obviously one reason why Western artists don't tour certain countries is lack of an audience and/or record sales, but also the economic factor (you won't easily find thousands of people to pay 100 dollars for a ticket in countries with lower incomes).

.

Has it become common for American (or even British) superstars to play in Prague, or does it remain quite exceptionnal?

As NorthC has pointed out, there have been The Rolling Stones (100,000k people in 1990), Michael Jackson (he also met Václav Havel), Avril Lavigne, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Black Eyed Peas, Lenny Kravitz (including Brno), Paul mac Cartney, Rihanna, Macy Gray (in Brno), Redman and Method Man play every five years in Hradec Králové at Hi Hop Kemp... That's what I've been able to tell on the top of my head.

Interesting. The people above were either younger acts who emerged after the Wall fell or, in the case of MJ, the STones and Paul "Beatles" McCartney, at a really high iconic level (higher than Prince at least at the time). So I guess Prince kind of missed that train.

FullLipsDotNose said:

FullLipsDotNose said:

But don't be mistaken, not all Eastern countries were that isolated back then. Sure, you needed an approval to travel out of the country, but the Beatles were popular and when John Lennon died, my mum's class mourned him. My aunt has a Thriller vinyl at home as well.

No I know. But I've read several times (or was told by people who were there) that the authorities of most Eastern countries were not feeling too excited about rock n roll for the reasons stated by NorthC, and I've read stories of how records were being sneaked more or less illegally into USSR, East Germany and other countries, but clearly Eastern Europe wasn't completely isolated from the Western music scene. I just would be interested in knowing where exactly the line was drawed between what was allowed, what was unofficially tolerated and what was stricly banned, so if you wanna ask your family I'd be quite interested

.

Those days were different times everywhere anyway: even in France people would go to London to buy records, not because they were banned or anything, they were just unavailable even in Paris because no one cared to import them. Similarly there were only be government radios and TV (+ a few foreign channels that we got in certain areas) up until 1981, so if you weren't played by those, you weren't played at all.

^Also, Wham! was the first Western band ever allowed to play (ans sell records) in China in 1985, but when I asked my university students if they knew who that George Michael dude who had just died was, they all shrugged. MJ is now widely known here (at least by urban young people, I wouldn't bet on the old or the countryside), but I remember coming to China the week after he died in 2009, and all the young Chinese were discovering his music videos online and tripping because they'd just learned that an icon had died, and before that they had no idea who he was: suddenly there was a MJ craze in China

.

I actually remember thinking when Prince was alive and I lived in Cambodia or India and Prince was sometimes complaining that he couldn't just go walk in the streets and shop without an escort, like any regular guy, but if he'd come to those countries he could spend days roaming around in the streets and shops and there wouldn't be a soul to recognize him. I'm actually pretty stunned it didn't occur to him (and other stars) to do that.

FullLipsDotNose said: