I play music almost all of the time when I am at home, seldom my kids like anything I play though. They are in their 'kiddy pop' phase and exclusively listen to the latest commercial top 40 songs.

So to my great surprise recently I received a WhatsApp message from my 8 year old son asking "Which Prince song is this?". He posted a little soundclip where he was singing "duh-duh-duh-duh, duh-duh-duh-duh...". It took me a few seconds before I recognized it as the bass part of "Jungle Love" (as performed by The Time). So I told him the title and asked him why he wanted to know? He replied: "I just feel like playing the song now, but I didn't know the title...". Needless to say that as a dad obviously I was really pleased that persisting in playing Prince's music was finally starting to pay off!

I am sure showing him some of the The Time live performances must have helped, he enjoyed the little dance Morris and Jerome do together and we tried to copy it together afterwards, which was fun.

Anyone else who has successfully turned their kids into liking Prince's music?

My son heard me playing Prince music since he was a little kid but he didn't really get into Prince himself until his late teens when he started teaching himself guitar and Prince became his guitar hero to emulate... Then when he went to his first live Prince concert he was mesmerized. To this day, Prince still ranks high on his list of stellar musicians.

My boys, 17 and 12 are pretty keen on listening to Prince's music. They've been listening to my playing it in the car and at home as well as watching a lot of his music videos and concert clips on YouTube. What's interesting is that they seem to prefer some of his less commercially successful music such from albums such as Crystal Ball, Come, Newpower Soul, Gold as well as some more obscure music I've come to collect over the years. What I do regret is not being able to take my sons to a Prince concert to watch the man weave his musical magic.

[Edited 6/8/20 20:25pm]

My girls, 8 and 5, don't tend to like a lot I play.. the only Prince track that resonates for now is Ruff Enuff (with vocals). It's a start, but I guess they'll be going into Prince backwards. They've got years to go before For You!

My kids are huge fans. Even when they were tiny they heard tons of Prince music in the car (clean songs only, obviously). They are 22, 24 and 26 now and they all like his music and appreciate his talent.

My kids who are now 12, 17 and 20 and have grown up with me loving Prince and his music but they wont even stay in the room if I have something like the Sign of the times movie on. They think he is nothing! Very disappointing! My wife though, does like Prince quite alot.

Both my kids and my granddaughter LOVE Prince music.

Graycap23 said:

Both my kids and my granddaughter LOVE Prince music.

The son, not so much. He gravitates to obscure artists and mainly country music. My grandson, however, likes just a little bit of everything! He is trying to learn keyboard, so I think he appreciates quite a bit of Prince's music. As a teenager though, it is just not cool to like the same music as your grandmother. I did get him one day when I was playing some vinyl. I had "America" on, and he yells down from his room at my house, "Hey, I like that song...who is it?" Busted.

That's when I got you, that's when you mine.......hehe.

I am a millenial and turned my father onto Prince's catalogue beyond the hits! A bit of a reverse to the thread lol

i exposed my kids to Prince with hopes of converting them to fans. They liked a few songs, but don't seem to get that much into it. They like Queen but otherwise just gravitate to more current music. Part of it is that it just is part of the separation process. Most teens don't want to jam to their old man's favorite musician.

My daughter is 45; she grew up with my music. She plays it all now.

Thanks for all the replies so far, it was nice to read all your stories!

I have another daughter who is almost 21 now and left the house over a year ago. She never really expressed a liking for Prince, but in recent years her music tastes have shifted from electronic top 40 music to organic soul music. Which I already considered a 'win', LOL! She has since introduced me to some newer soul artists that I didn't knew of yet but have some great songs.

A while back I was playing the video of Prince's NAACP performance (with Sheila E and Morris Day) from 2006 I believe, which IMHO is a stellar live performance. My daughter watched it with me and after it was finished she said it was amazingly good and expressed that she feels sorry she will never be able to attend a Prince concert herself now that he passed away.

So eventhough it took 20 years, she is now at the point that she can finally see and understand that Prince was an amazing artist and performer...

ForceofNature said:

I am a millenial and turned my father onto Prince's catalogue beyond the hits! A bit of a reverse to the thread lol

So cool!

I was also able to turn my dad into liking Prince. When I was a teenager in the 80's he despised Prince and he always made nasty remarks about him. He called him the "Prince of Darkness", a 'pervert' and a bad influence. He also strongly disliked the Linn LM-1 drummachine, as he favored real drums. He even broke my brothers copy of the Purple Rain album in two after someone from our church had convinced him that Prince was possibly spreading the devil's message.

In the early 00's I decided to compile a few CD's of Prince songs that I thought he should be able to appreciate. My dad loves real musicians, especially the really good jazz-fusion ones. And lo and behold, after a while he told me he actually listened to them and used the CD's to drum along to (he has a drumkit in his living room). Then we watched the ONA dvd together and I gave him a copy of TRC. After that he was convinced and told me he hadn't realised how good a musician Prince was live and how good his band was.

He was a very unlikely Prince convert, but I am glad that my dad was able to get past his prejudices and is now enjoying Prince and his music!

Wolfie87 said:

I believe that you should just put "If I was your Girlfriend" from the movie on TV. If they don't gravitate towards the beat, sexiness, and especially the fur coat, well then they are a bit square. He wears that coat better than every Instagram model and he's a guy. In 2020, still nobody has figured him out.

Brilliant post, thanks, you made me laugh!

Totally agree BTW, and that fur coat fits him like a glove indeed!

Short answer - not very.

Long answer - I'm into a huge variety of music, but Prince is what I play most. My husband however, is a massive Ramones fan and more or less plays them exclusively. The kids (13 and twins aged 9) LOVE the Ramones, and a few other punk bands, but hate Prince. The only song they like is this cover version of Purple Rain (link) from 2:15 onwards. I'll perservere - I live in hope

[Edited 6/10/20 12:45pm]

maplenpg said:

Short answer - not very.

Long answer - I'm into a huge variety of music, but Prince is what I play most. My husband however, is a massive Ramones fan and more or less plays them exclusively. The kids (13 and twins aged 9) LOVE the Ramones, and a few other punk bands, but hate Prince. The only song they like is this cover version of Purple Rain (link) from 2:15 onwards. I'll perservere - I live in hope

[Edited 6/10/20 12:45pm]

Don't give up the fight- be Willing to Do the Work!!

My kids say they don't like Prince, but when they think I'm not listening they are singing to the music of Prince and they know just about every song.

My kids who are now grown adults, grew up hearing me play Prince's music, because he was my favorite entertainer, but still they never took to it, or liked it or him, and to this day, they still see him as "weird".....so I guess I wasn't very successful in trying to get them to like his music at all.

looby said:

My 7 year old niece enjoys many Prince songs, and often asks to watch him on YouTube. She's loved Batdance for about 3 years, and Partyman, to a lesser extent.

These days her favourites are 7, Holly Rock, When Doves Cry and Kiss.

Wolfie87 said:

Start when they're in the womb. My daughter is about to turn 30 and been listening to Prince her whole life plus the nine months before. She is, always has been and always will be a fan.

[Edited 6/12/20 6:32am]

djThunderfunk said:

Start when they're in the womb. My daughter is about to turn 30 and been listening to Prince her whole life plus the nine months before. She is, always has been and always will be a fan.

[Edited 6/12/20 6:32am]

This is how I was trained by my dad, listening to Steely Dan, and I have become a huge Steely Dan fan.

EmmaMcG said:

I should add that despite me teaching my daughter some Prince songs on piano and playing his music in the house quite a bit, I've never actually actively encouraged her to listen to Prince, or anything else. I find that l that's a good way to almost guarantee that kids WON'T listen to a given artist. Like, my mother was a huge Madonna fan. She grew up in the 80s when Madonna was really big and stayed a fan all her life. I fucking hated Madonna as a kid because it was all I heard. And later, when my big sister got into the Spice Girls it was Wannabe in one ear and Like A Virgin in the other. It was pure torture. Then, when I was a teenager, my boyfriend at the time tried to get me to listen to Prince. I was having none of it. Black Sweat had just come out and I was sick of it. I had no intention of listening to anything else Prince-related. Afterwards, I did become a Prince fan but it was on my own terms. Same with Madonna. Anything up to and including Bedtime Stories (with the exception of Like A Prayer) is great. I still don't care for the musical stylings of the Spice Girls though...

Kids really want to discover music on their own, especially as they get older. If they like what they hear they will actively listen to it, identify with it, and make it their own. It has to have personal relevance apart from parents, family, and friends... That way it belongs to them... Us... And not our friggin' parents!