So you "got hooked" around the 1999/Purple Rain Era...and you find yourself in a Sam Goody wrecka-stow...and you start to rifle around the album section and find "Prince" and as you peruse the albums you find a wierd, older album with a guy that sort of looks like Prince but with a huge poofy afro and you think to yourself, "Is that him?".

Then you find another weird, Disco-y looking album and youy flip it over and you see a picture of a Prince-like figure...riding a pegasus or something?? WTF??!!

Then...you find one that's all sketchy looking and black and white and it's definately Prince and all...but he's wearing like girl's bikini bottoms and a trench coat like some sort of freaky peepin tom cat...

And now you are more confused than ever?

Is this all the same guy???

[Edited 9/11/20 15:18pm]

[Edited 9/11/20 15:21pm]

Every single record has the name PRINCE on it. So...

The dude definitely went for many different vibes to start

[Edited 9/11/20 17:21pm]

i was 16 when i first saw the "For You" lp cover at my gilrfriend's house back in 79, i thought it was an Edmund Sylvers solo album ...had no idea who this dude was

A little similar - I knew about Prince, but I only really became hooked during Lovesexy....I knew he was an album a year guy, but didn't know how many years I had to go back, nor that there would be side projects that had been going on simultaneously. It was a terrific adventure, that's for sure.

Well, no but I do remember discovering who John Prine was for fairly similar reasons. Back then you never really knew when a new album was coming so I'd always check the "P" section and Prine would always give my a momentary false sense of hope. That motherfucker.

...

Anyway....that's my John Prine story, RIP btw.

in all Prince related albums (in Europe at least) from WB at the Purple Rain time there was a purple insert showing all Prince albums, the Time albums, Vanity 6 and Appolonia 6 album. Basically a short "what to buy" list. At that time that was still doable.

.

For me, not having much money, it took until 1987 before I had all albums, singles, 12 inches, of all side acts, including Jesse Johnson and the like. Unfortunately, by then I had discovered Tom Waits, Jimi Hendrix, P-Funk, Sly, GCS, Ray Charles, Fishbone and others, so the record shop trips only increased, but the early Prince fandom experience was readily filled with information.

herb4 said:

Well, no but I do remember discovering who John Prine was for fairly similar reasons. Back then you never really knew when a new album was coming so I'd always check the "P" section and Prine would always give my a momentary false sense of hope. That motherfucker.

...

Anyway....that's my John Prine story, RIP btw.

That's always been my relationship to John Prine. When I saw his face pop up in the bin I knew I had gone too far and there was no more Prince to look for. Eventually I learned who he was and respected him in his own right, but when he died this year (RIP) I thought about all those times flipping through LPs, cassettes, and CDs and coming up on the John Prine section. I imagine a lot of old school Prince fans knew John Prine because of that.

herb4 said:

When I was young the only Prince songs I knew were Diamonds & Pearls, 7, and the Most Beautiful Girl so for the longest while I thought he was just that ballads guy.

[Edited 9/14/20 11:25am]

herb4 said:

Well, no but I do remember discovering who John Prine was for fairly similar reasons. Back then you never really knew when a new album was coming so I'd always check the "P" section and Prine would always give my a momentary false sense of hope. That motherfucker.

...

Anyway....that's my John Prine story, RIP btw.

HA - Yep. The only reason I've ever even heard of John Prine was when I was looking for Prince! That and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, which is an irritating name.

billymeade said:

herb4 said:

Well, no but I do remember discovering who John Prine was for fairly similar reasons. Back then you never really knew when a new album was coming so I'd always check the "P" section and Prine would always give my a momentary false sense of hope. That motherfucker.

...

Anyway....that's my John Prine story, RIP btw.

HA - Yep. The only reason I've ever even heard of John Prine was when I was looking for Prince! That and Bonnie "Prince" Billy, which is an irritating name.

Oh yeah, that guy! I had never heard of him before I started looking at Prince albums!

mediumdry said:

in all Prince related albums (in Europe at least) from WB at the Purple Rain time there was a purple insert showing all Prince albums, the Time albums, Vanity 6 and Appolonia 6 album. Basically a short "what to buy" list. At that time that was still doable.

.

For me, not having much money, it took until 1987 before I had all albums, singles, 12 inches, of all side acts, including Jesse Johnson and the like. (...)

-

Exatly the same for me.

I discoverd him with the '1999' song and album.

right after that PR was so different and wild compared to 1999.

And yes the purple insert also made me collect the albums.

But I had the exact same feeling that soladeo1 explains. LOL.

Really exáctly the same !

And it also took me some years to get by those earlier albums.

A friend of mine liked When You Were Mine a lot, and kind of pulled me in on that one.

From there on I gained more interest through the funky tunes first;

I Wanna Be Your Lover, Controversy, Let's Work, Uptown,

and then even lateron Soft & Wet and the whole first album.

-

Of course now I like 'm all very much for different and good reasons.

But I nearly forgot that indeed it took some time to get into his earlier albums.

Don't forget I was young and had to discover so much more, which happened all through Prince's music more or less.

Those first albums indeed seemed not all that Princey.

I loved him for the funk of things.

I fully got into all Prince's albums late in 1987.

By the time of the release of Parade I felt the need to understand it all.

First came the pop- and then the earlier rock-side.

And so I rolled slowly but steady completely into his music.

Lovesexy was a last great highlight. After that it all was 'after that great discovery of all things different Prince', and things started to change.

As was my musical interest.

-

It's so cool hearing these stories of discovering/experiencing Prince during his 80's run. Even fans who got into him during the 90's and then going back to discover his past, that must of been a really cool experience. I got into him in 2004 when I was 10 (mom showed me purple rain, utcm, graffiti bridge) and just from watching those 3 movies, and experiencing the difference in the music, look and band was enough to send my mind into a frenzy.