My soon-to-be husband and I were watching late night TV and saw him on "The Midnight Special". They kept talking about this young music prodigy that was coming on the show in a few minutes. Didn't have a clue who they were talking about...I think it was the fall of 1979.

I think I went into the kitchen to get a drink or something, and when I came back in the room, there he was in his little zebra briefs outfit singing "I Want to be Your Lover." If you had any doubts about where he was going with that, he did some gyrations and hand motions that left no doubt. Pretty racy back then even for the after midnight ratings. "The only one you come for........"

We were facinated with who this crazy guy with the funky sound was. I remember asking my husband "How did he get that by the censors?" or something to that effect. Maybe they didn't get it, or were snoozing. You must remember, we were living in the Midwest at the time, a virtual cultural desert. Anyhow, I was captivated, and have been a fan ever since!!

Seahorsie said:

My soon-to-be husband and I were watching late night TV and saw him on "The Midnight Special". They kept talking about this young music prodigy that was coming on the show in a few minutes. Didn't have a clue who they were talking about...I think it was the fall of 1979.

I think I went into the kitchen to get a drink or something, and when I came back in the room, there he was in his little zebra briefs outfit singing "I Want to be Your Lover." If you had any doubts about where he was going with that, he did some gyrations and hand motions that left no doubt. Pretty racy back then even for the after midnight ratings. "The only one you come for........"

We were facinated with who this crazy guy with the funky sound was. I remember asking my husband "How did he get that by the censors?" or something to that effect. Maybe they didn't get it, or were snoozing. You must remember, we were living in the Midwest at the time, a virtual cultural desert. Anyhow, I was captivated, and have been a fan ever since!!

Is your husband a fan as well?

certainly wasn't overnight, i could say the same for springsteen, took time. saw him on bandstand and just thought he was wierd but he did something that would make an imprint on many folks imaginations, then heard controversy, loved the song and much of the album, 1999 or course but it wasn't until purple rain that he totally had me, part of that is because i wasn't as interested in music until that time. 16 is the perfect age for a music fan and that's how old i was when PR hit.

A very slow process for sure. First became aware of him in about 2000-01; bought my first Prince album (The Hits/B-sides) in 2010-11-ish; only became a really serious fan last year. If only he was still around, by this rate I'd be attending my first concert of his in 2027.

Seahorsie said:

I was 18 and just recently married. I saw "Little Red Corvette" on MTV for the first time. (I grew up in a small area where we didn't have cable.) I was drawn to him, drawn to the TV and I said, "That is one good looking man." Next thing I knew, I was on the floor being called a very foul name "blank lover" by my NOW ex husband. I became a closet fan after that. When he came on the radio or TV, if my ex was in the room, I quickly changed the stations. In the 90s, after I finally got the courage to leave my ex and get divorced) I was dating again, a guy who was into music, played guitar, and he started introducing me to some of Prince's music that I had missed out on. In 1998, I went to my first concert in Collinsville IL. (5/10/98, I think). General admission. I was within 3 to 6 feet of Prince all night. I saw a man onstage doing what he loves to do, when I had expected to go and see this superstar. I knew then I had to know more about him. Something about him just seemed to draw me to him. Got internet, found prince.org first, then found Love4OneAnother website, and I've been hooked since.

Seahorsie said:

My soon-to-be husband and I were watching late night TV and saw him on "The Midnight Special". They kept talking about this young music prodigy that was coming on the show in a few minutes. Didn't have a clue who they were talking about...I think it was the fall of 1979.

I think I went into the kitchen to get a drink or something, and when I came back in the room, there he was in his little zebra briefs outfit singing "I Want to be Your Lover." If you had any doubts about where he was going with that, he did some gyrations and hand motions that left no doubt. Pretty racy back then even for the after midnight ratings. "The only one you come for........"

We were facinated with who this crazy guy with the funky sound was. I remember asking my husband "How did he get that by the censors?" or something to that effect. Maybe they didn't get it, or were snoozing. You must remember, we were living in the Midwest at the time, a virtual cultural desert. Anyhow, I was captivated, and have been a fan ever since!!

Back in the day Rolling Stone would have blurbs about up and coming artists (just two or three lines.) There was a short blurb in Rolling Stone about Prince which caused me to go to the record store and buy his album.

Seahorse, I also watched him on Midnight Special in real time. His performance was off the charts. Take that you Puritans! Dr. Fink was wearing his jail stripes.

About 10 ago there was an ad to buy a massive amount of DVDs for all the seasons of Midnight Special. I bought them thinking P's performance was going to be a part of the collection. I am sad to report it is not. But if you look you can find it out there.

which album was this? for you or Prince? i assume Prince, because he by dirty mind, RS was starting to rave about Prince. Reading the reviews around that time, you'd think prince was already a superstar and he wasn't selling all that well. Dirty Mind broke 500,000 at the time and dez said Warners offered Prince his contract back because they thought he'd be more trouble than he was worth.

ISaidLifeIsJustAGame said:

Seahorsie said:

My soon-to-be husband and I were watching late night TV and saw him on "The Midnight Special". They kept talking about this young music prodigy that was coming on the show in a few minutes. Didn't have a clue who they were talking about...I think it was the fall of 1979.

I think I went into the kitchen to get a drink or something, and when I came back in the room, there he was in his little zebra briefs outfit singing "I Want to be Your Lover." If you had any doubts about where he was going with that, he did some gyrations and hand motions that left no doubt. Pretty racy back then even for the after midnight ratings. "The only one you come for........"

We were facinated with who this crazy guy with the funky sound was. I remember asking my husband "How did he get that by the censors?" or something to that effect. Maybe they didn't get it, or were snoozing. You must remember, we were living in the Midwest at the time, a virtual cultural desert. Anyhow, I was captivated, and have been a fan ever since!!

Back in the day Rolling Stone would have blurbs about up and coming artists (just two or three lines.) There was a short blurb in Rolling Stone about Prince which caused me to go to the record store and buy his album.

Seahorse, I also watched him on Midnight Special in real time. His performance was off the charts. Take that you Puritans! Dr. Fink was wearing his jail stripes.

About 10 ago there was an ad to buy a massive amount of DVDs for all the seasons of Midnight Special. I bought them thinking P's performance was going to be a part of the collection. I am sad to report it is not. But if you look you can find it out there.

benni said:

I was 18 and just recently married. I saw "Little Red Corvette" on MTV for the first time. (I grew up in a small area where we didn't have cable.) I was drawn to him, drawn to the TV and I said, "That is one good looking man." Next thing I knew, I was on the floor being called a very foul name "blank lover" by my NOW ex husband. I became a closet fan after that. When he came on the radio or TV, if my ex was in the room, I quickly changed the stations. In the 90s, after I finally got the courage to leave my ex and get divorced) I was dating again, a guy who was into music, played guitar, and he started introducing me to some of Prince's music that I had missed out on. In 1998, I went to my first concert in Collinsville IL. (5/10/98, I think). General admission. I was within 3 to 6 feet of Prince all night. I saw a man onstage doing what he loves to do, when I had expected to go and see this superstar. I knew then I had to know more about him. Something about him just seemed to draw me to him. Got internet, found prince.org first, then found Love4OneAnother website, and I've been hooked since.

jesus, reading through this I was wondering if it was a joke, then i saw "benni" in the left hand corner and realized that a white Ike Turner is not too farfetched.

The first time I heard International Lover, I think it was on the radio from a local station.

PeggyO said:

Seahorsie said:

My soon-to-be husband and I were watching late night TV and saw him on "The Midnight Special". They kept talking about this young music prodigy that was coming on the show in a few minutes. Didn't have a clue who they were talking about...I think it was the fall of 1979.

I think I went into the kitchen to get a drink or something, and when I came back in the room, there he was in his little zebra briefs outfit singing "I Want to be Your Lover." If you had any doubts about where he was going with that, he did some gyrations and hand motions that left no doubt. Pretty racy back then even for the after midnight ratings. "The only one you come for........"

We were facinated with who this crazy guy with the funky sound was. I remember asking my husband "How did he get that by the censors?" or something to that effect. Maybe they didn't get it, or were snoozing. You must remember, we were living in the Midwest at the time, a virtual cultural desert. Anyhow, I was captivated, and have been a fan ever since!!

Is your husband a fan as well?

Not actually, he likes (get this) Neil Diamond better!! But he is always right there if there is somewhere I want to go or a concert I want to see. He took me to Paisley Park for my birthday in 2017, so I will excuse his somewhat lacking musical tastes, LOL.

Seahorsie said:

PeggyO said:

Is your husband a fan as well?

Not actually, he likes (get this) Neil Diamond better!! But he is always right there if there is somewhere I want to go or a concert I want to see. He took me to Paisley Park for my birthday in 2017, so I will excuse his somewhat lacking musical tastes, LOL.

neil has some great music, kind of like a barry manilow who writes his own material.

PeteSilas said:

Seahorsie said:

Not actually, he likes (get this) Neil Diamond better!! But he is always right there if there is somewhere I want to go or a concert I want to see. He took me to Paisley Park for my birthday in 2017, so I will excuse his somewhat lacking musical tastes, LOL.

He has a huge following...He has a lovely baritone.

Always enjoy your posts...love hearing about the Ozarks. We visited once and I never got over how lush and green it was. I think there were a number of small antique stores in the area.

As a youngster hearing 1999 on the radio for the first time

For You was the first album I bought.

BTW RS did the same for Lenny.

A wonderfully worded blurb for him in RS for his first album Let Love Rule.

PeteSilas said:

which album was this? for you or Prince? i assume Prince, because he by dirty mind, RS was starting to rave about Prince. Reading the reviews around that time, you'd think prince was already a superstar and he wasn't selling all that well. Dirty Mind broke 500,000 at the time and dez said Warners offered Prince his contract back because they thought he'd be more trouble than he was worth.

ISaidLifeIsJustAGame said:

Back in the day Rolling Stone would have blurbs about up and coming artists (just two or three lines.) There was a short blurb in Rolling Stone about Prince which caused me to go to the record store and buy his album.

Seahorse, I also watched him on Midnight Special in real time. His performance was off the charts. Take that you Puritans! Dr. Fink was wearing his jail stripes.

About 10 ago there was an ad to buy a massive amount of DVDs for all the seasons of Midnight Special. I bought them thinking P's performance was going to be a part of the collection. I am sad to report it is not. But if you look you can find it out there.

Over the years there were individual Prince songs I loved, such as Let's Pretend We're Married, Let's Go Crazy, and Rapsberry Beret. But there were also songs I absolutely hated, like When Doves Cry, Purple Rain and Kiss. So through the early and mid-80s I would have said that I was a fan of a few of his song, but not of Prince overall.

Then the song Mountains came out and I loved it. At the time (I was in middle school) I had a friend who was a proper Prince fan and who was always offering to "convert" me by introducing me to more of Prince's catalogue. Because I loved Mountains so much, I finally took him up on his offer.

I still remember sitting in his couch while he enthusiastically played a barage of Prince songs for me. He had a giant boom box that was nothing special, but because I was super poor myself and owned nothing his system sounded like the greatest stereo my ears had ever heard. The song that stood out the most was Controversy. I was blown away by it.

From that point forward I was a Prince fan.

I heard "Get It Up" by The Time on the radio. I had to have the 45 (telling my age by the way), and picked it up from the Record Store that same day. My dad who owned For You-Controversy insisted that song had to have some involvement from Prince. I was not that into Prince at the time, though I was familiar with the singles. I eventually bought The Time LP, and had to acknowledget that my dad knew what he was talking about. Prince was all over that album, which then peaked my curiousity.

I confiscated my dad's Prince albums, and the rest is history.

For me,it happened in early 1980.My mother was telling me and my sister about a song she had heard at a friend's house.She really liked it alot.A few days later,I come home from school and she's got the cassette.It was Prince's second album (the self-titled one) and the song was "Still Waiting"

Anyway...she played this cassette all the time and I was really digging it.Several months later,Prince released Dirty Mind and by that point,I was already a hardcore fan.

Late 1982/Early 1983. My dad was an early adopter of MTV. When my mom was away, he used to let me watch it as she didn't like how noisy it was. One day I was sitting on the coach with him reading a magazine and I hear this strange, mesmerizing, pulsing synth sound...looking up I see the silhouette of a dazzilingly dressed dude as he emerges from a mysterious fog... The song pulses to lfe and I love it immediately. it's everything to me. Danger, adventure, love, SEX...LIFE!

At the end of the video I see that it's a guy named"Prince" and the song was called "Little Red Corvette". A weke later I save up my lunch money and bough the cassettes of 1999 and Controversy and listened to them in bed at night...as I knew he was controversial and had a lot of sketchy lyrics, LOL. HUGE FAN EVER SINCE!!!

[Edited 7/31/19 14:16pm]

It was sometime in 84. I was 13 and had got out of bed in the early hours to get a glass of water.We had a dodgy tv at the time that would randomly turn itself on at odd times.Americas top 10 with Casey Kasem(sp) was on on this occasion. When Doves Cry. The rest is history