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Your First-time Prince Experience and How You Feel Now I was an MTV junkie in the early 80s. The first time I saw Prince was in the Little Red Corvette video,perhaps the best pop song ever crafted. I was 7 years old, and had no clue what a "pocket full of horses" meant until many years later. But, I bought into his purple world 100%. I was wearing lingerie to the restaurant 10 years later. Prince built his own world and was a truly one of a kind genius. It was a world I was happy to be a part of through the 80s and early 90s. After that, I lost touch. His death deeply affected me. I felt like I lost a part of my childhood and realized how much music I had missed over the years. I've been catching up ever since and deeply regret never seeing him live. So, what was your first Prince Experience, how and why, did you become a fan? And how do you feel since his passing? He will always be my favorite artist. He was a genius and a major influence to me personally in so many ways. Miss him so much. | |
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I don't remember my first exposure to Prince. I know I'd probably heard his hits on the radio and possibly seen videos on TV before I purchased my first Prince record but I have no clear recollection of it, though I believe to remember that I liked Girls & Boys, I Wish U Heaven and Raspberry Beret before knowing who sang them. . In 1989 I was 12 ans I was a hardcore American comics fan, so like most kids back then I became what was then called a "batmaniac" in 1989: in expectation of the event the movie was supposed to be, I would buy t-shirts and other bat merchandizing (I had pins and a skate board, too), and this is how I came to pucrgase the Batman OST very soon after release, without having heard a single song from it. Silly I know, but this came to change my life. . Soon after of course Batdance became a hit and I saw the music video repeatedly on TV, then later on Partman and Scandalous, but it's the album that really did it for me. For a year I listened to it a lot. It was not an instant shock, it really grew on me. So after a year, in the summer of 1990 I thought I should try more Prince and I bought Purple Rain: that one was an instant shock, it killed me. . Yet another year later, by the summer of 1991 I was an official hardcore Prince fan: I had all the albums then released from For You to Graffiti Bridge, all 3 available live shows and all 3 movies on VHS, Apollonia 6, Ice Cream Castles and Pandemonium. That year, Prince's lyrics also began to influence me on a spiritual/intellectual level. . The rest is history, Diamonds And Pearls was the first Prince album I anticipated and purchased on the day of release, and about a month later I purchased my first bootleg. By 1993 I had all the side projects and most outtakes from other fans that I had met or boots I had purchased. Prince was a companion in my life ever since and the impact he had on my life cannot be overstated. As a teenager and as an adult, Prince's music, lyrics and career molded many an aspect of my life and personality. He might have saved my life when I was a teenager, because I'd been through hell during childhood and his music inspired me to go on. . His passing came as a shock, of course, but I somewhat managed to move on quickly. It took me a while though to think of him gone and for that idea not to feel surreal. It's not the man that I miss because I never met him, but that constant artistic presence in my life: for 27 years he and I had walked side by side, me growing-up into adulthood then my middle years alongside his music, and suddenly I had to go on on my own. Unlike some fans, I'd never grown tired of his new music and I enjoyed each new release, so he was really there all along: I didn't grow into any nostalgia for a Prince from the past, the Prince of the moment was always just as good for me. All those additional years we could have had together, all this music he could have recorded for another 20 or 30 years, that's a terrible loss. . [Edited 9/2/18 3:00am] A COMPREHENSIVE PRINCE DISCOGRAPHY (work in progress ^^): https://sites.google.com/...scography/ |
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I grew up in Minneapolis. I am 6 years younger than Prince. In 1978 or 79, the local Cities 97 radio station played I want to be your lover. I was 14 or 15 years old. It was funky and different. And, I was instantly hooked by this new sound or vibe. I saw the album cover at a store shortly after that, and I just felt this connection or pull. I hung out at First Venue from 1984 to 1999 and Glam Slam. Prince would show up with a bodyguard just to hang out and , presumably, gauge people's reaction to his music. He would have been very happy, I imagine, because First Avenue played lots of Prince on DJ dance nights and most of the seats emptied as everyone headed for the dance floor 4 his music. [Edited 9/4/18 14:50pm] | |
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Correction above, First "Avenue". I never spoke with Prince but saw him close up atleast 30 times. I only saw Prince play at First Avenue twice. The first time in the early 80s, Prince kept saying " who do you belong to" - the answer, of course was Prince. Lol. Then he said "If anybody asks you, you tell them you belong to Prince. Note my handle. And, from that night forward, I've belonged to Prince. Minneapolis would have been a double drag without Prince. I have identified with Prince more than any other artist ever. His death has been a difficult loss for me. [Edited 9/4/18 14:59pm] | |
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I never heard of Prince actually hanging out in Uptown. I lived in Uptown Minneapolis. I never felt Uptown was quite as international as Prince represented it. I prefer Prince's version. Goth was big in the 80s in Uptown but still mostly white. This IS Minneapolis, Minnesota we are talking about after all; in the 1980s, it did not seem all that diverse. When Prince showed up at First Avenue when I was there, Prince arrived with only a bodyguard. Prince would only stay an hour or two. He would stand against the back wall of the bar with one leg bent so that the bottom of his heeled shoe was against the wall. Of course he was always dressed to the 9s. I never once saw him dance or mingle at First Avenue. At Glam Slam, Prince would hang out in the upstairs VIP section so he was more social there. We were told that if Prince wanted to meet you, his bodyguard would come speak with you. [Edited 9/4/18 15:16pm] | |
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Prince was always watching the ladies. I said hello to Prince several different times from a distance of maybe 10 feet. He would always smile to acknowledge those who were walking past him at First Avenue and saying hello from that distance. But, mostly, he just watched the crowd. I never saw him bring a woman along or a group either. I never saw many ladies that got closer than the 10 foot perimeter set by his bodyguard . And I never saw Big Chick. It was always a big bodyguard however. [Edited 9/4/18 15:05pm] | |
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Ifanybodyasks said: I grew up in Minneapolis. I am 6 years younger than Prince. In 1978 or 89, the local Cities 97 radio station played I want to be your lover. I was 14 or 15 years old. It was funky and different. And, I was instantly hooked by this new sound or vibe. I saw the album cover at a store shortly after that, and I just felt this connection or pull. I hung out at First Venue from 1984 to 1999. Prince would show up with a bodyguard Woaw, lucky you that you attended the gigs at First Avenue ! "Money won't buy U happiness but it'll pay 4 the search." |
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My first reaction to Prince was pretty much like any first reaction to a popular song I really liked as a teen. It's the 2 years later that solidified my as a fan. He was cute and all that, but for me as a teen growing up where I grew up seeing a black guy doing both rock and r&b music, and by that time, 2 albums in, never hearing 2 songs that sounded the same kept my full attention as other artist fell by the wayside. It didn't matter to me whether or not my friends were into him or what chart he was on, I was at the record store based on my own opinion, even after skipping DM, I was still there to buy Controversy on my own never having hearing it. That's when I noticed I had friends who were into him, and they got me to loop back to DM, of course that promoted me to get 1999, and from then on until today I haven't been able to really walk away, even when my own life took different directions and I wasn't paying attention to any media antics, I always ended up back at some record store looking for a Prince album with anticipation. I'm still waiting with anticipation. Time keeps on slipping into the future...
This moment is all there is... |
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Thank goodness for Uptown Minneapolis as a place to live, First Avenue and, later, Glam Slam for music & dancing, and Prince as the local hero. Whenever I went to First Avenue or Glam Slam, the ongoing discussion with the door guard was always "is Prince here?". Realize that we didn't have the internet to check to see if Prince was playing anywhere. Or, to get information about his concerts around the world. Truthfully, I had little idea that he had a world wide audience. I didn't realize how unique these elements were in being able to live a life immersed in music, art,and creativity until I moved to Albuquerque , New Mexico. Its hard to live up to Minneapolis in the 80s- it was awesome. And, Prince obviously liked that he could hang out and not be totally mobbed. Prince seemed to have a mostly female audience in Minneapolis- I was surprised, more recently, to see so many men in the films of Prince's First Avenue concerts. I am thrilled to see how far reaching his fan base became. [Edited 9/4/18 16:02pm] | |
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I'm 6 yrs. older than Prince. Back in the late 70's and early 80's I had hear some of his music and seen some of him but honestly. I DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE HECK TO MAKE OF PRINCE. I used to be a Sunday school teacher and he just went against everything that God and my parents taught me, but I was strangely and secretly attracted to him. The one day I saw him in the WHEN DOVES CRY video. He was so, so, sexy and climbing out of that bathtub, I rtemember thinnkking that he was coming for me and I swear I ccould not look away. I have been Hypnotized and mezmerized ever since! <3
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I was mostly a hard-rock, classic-rock kid. But I distinctly remember laying on the plaid couch after babysitting on a Saturday night when I was 15, watching The Midnight Special on the big 'ol console TV. Prince came on and I was mesmerized, I got up and stood directly in front of the screen. I knew I had just seen something I would never understand. I was hooked. I had heard Soft & Wet and liked it, but it was out of my Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Derek & The Dominos, Hendrix, etc scope, so I didn't really follow thru on it. But after that Midnight Special, I rode my bike to the mall after school and got the first 2 albums. When I saw him on Amercian Bandstand a couple months later, I lost my fucking mind! Still do. I miss Prince. sitting in this cafe
waiting on my baby | |
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My first Prince experience was hearing my parents play the recording to Purple Rain in the house for years, and it was always really special since I'm pretty sure it was the first song they danced to. So I always saw Prince as really special and important, and lately I got more into his music, and tbh I'm even spooking my parents with all the albums I've been buying and playing in the house and the references I've been making and the Actual Raspberry Beret
Yeah... Prince is special ~everything is a prince reference~ | |
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i knit and the purple and paisley stuff that they Know why i'm collecting it... So I guess how i feel now is a little more connected to Prince's work, since i barely knew much of it at first. I don't really know how to explain it. I never would've thought when hearing Purple Rain playing from in my parents' room that I'd soon be so invested in Prince. And yet he's the only well known artist I've ever really cared for beyond just the work they've done. 
