Prince was one of the main inspirations for the Parental Advisory sticker, ironically his most explicit albums do not contain that Parental Advisory sticker, a lot due to the fact the albums were released before the whole Parental Advisory movment went into effect.

How many of Prince's albums actually had the Parental Advisory sticker on it?

So far a quick search I found LOVE SYMBOL, THE BLACK ALBUM, COME, CHAOS & DISORDER and EMANCIPATION to have the sticker on it. Keep in mind the sticker was added on to some EMANCIPATION cd's at the time and not actually embossed onto the cover like COME or CHAOS & DISORDER.

[Edited 9/15/19 5:14am]

[Edited 9/15/19 5:15am]

My dirty mind tape had a warning before the PMRC came to be...

OnlyNDaUsa said:

Thing is Purple Rain was very tame as far as subject matter that would need a Parental Advisory Sticker, same with Parade

MotownSubdivision said:

Some copies of Graffiti Bridge had the PA logo printed on the cover. Most didn't though, at least not in the UK.

OldFriends4Sale said:

Graffiti Bridge had it though probably shouldn't have.

What's amusing is there were way worse albums (from other artists) that could have been the poster child for this. And Prince didn't even have a problem with it. I think there was a quote of him saying he was fine with parental advisory stickers on albums.

Why does Graffiti Bridge have a PA label on it? I can't find any bad lyrics other than Love Machine. Can someone explain or give their opinion?

toots said:

Tame yet Tipper Gore made her grandkids a young as 2 years old listen to Darling Nikki....if I remember correctly later printed albums and copies of cassettes had the parental advisory sticker on them...I remember going to the record store in the mall and seeing them on the PR album....like a 2 year old will know what the line "masterbating with a magazine" is ...I died laughing after she stated that ...then I also remember 1999 copies having them on them too they went after any artist and picked them out like a fine tooth comb ....dam I'm old rofl

No, that's not the story. ^^

His groundbreaking 1984 album Purple Rain was one of the best-selling albums of the year. Tipper Gore, wife of then-Sen. Al Gore, picked up a copy as a gift for her 11-year old daughter. In her book Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society, she explained what happened next.

“When we brought the album home, put it on our stereo, and listened to it together, we heard the words to ... 'Darling Nikki': 'I knew a girl named Nikki/Guess (you) could say she was a sex fiend/I met her in a hotel lobby/Masturbating with a magazine'," she recounted. "The vulgar lyrics embarrassed both of us. At first, I was stunned, but then I got mad! Millions of Americans were buying Purple Rain with no idea what to expect. Thousands of parents were giving the album to their children — many even younger than my daughter.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/04/25/prince-purple-rain-darling-nikki-censorship-lyrics-tipper-gore-column/83466774/