A friend gave me a vinyl copy boot of "The Black Album" in 1990.

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A few years later, another friend found a copy of the legendary "Jewel Box" on the rack at our local CD store five seconds before I saw it, and I watched jealously as he bought it.

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Then a few years after that, I bought a couple of those amazing mid-90s 3-dsic sets online.

a cassette tape of The Black Album.The B-side of the tape contains the Camille album.

TrivialPursuit said:

Black album on a (pink?) cassette on a school trip to London, 1989.

luv4u said:

By the way, if you ever see these, I made them (around 2004/5):

Black Album on cassette. My mom's coworker had the bootleg LP and made me a copy. He started the cassette on Side B of the LP, so for years I thought the album started with Bob George!

Since that eventually was released, I guess my other first boot would be Yellow.

Intimate Moments

seems like many of us started off with the Black Album after that,there was no turning back.The floodgates opened.

Summer of 89. A terrible rip of the Black Album on a cassette. And I was damn grateful for it.

Prince and the Revolution SEPTEMBRE 2 CD

Charade on CD, November 1991.

I was 14 and first I didn't understand what these strange CD's that I'd never heard of were at that wrecka stow I'd just discovered. The clerk insisted telling me they were "imports" (he wasn't gonna admit doing something illegal to a teenager), but since when did artists release shows and whole studio albums in Italy only (most were Italian imports, as at the time, boots were still tolerated in that country)?

Then I saw that documentary about bootlegs on TV. Perfect timing really because if not for that, how long would it have taken me to understand what the deal was? That's when I decided to try and buy one, now that I knew what they were and that the songs were outtakes, and it was Charade.

databank said:

databank said:

I grew up in a small town in Delaware and there was a local record store up the street from me that was AWESOME. Except the guy was always getting busted for selling those "collector's items".

After a while, he stopped putting them in the display case but he still sold them. You had to ask for them but it was at that shop I learned to always ask to listen to the disc before purchasing and after being burned a couple of times, I figured this out and the dude would actually let you preview the disc. I found a few live Prince shows on CD but found out that my man Rerun recorded them on a walkman hidden in his coat and that shit bounced out midway through the show.

SOME OF YOU will get that joke.

herb4 said:

I grew up in a small town in Delaware and there was a local record store up the street from me that was AWESOME. Except the guy was always getting busted for selling those "collector's items".

After a while, he stopped putting them in the display case but he still sold them. You had to ask for them but it was at that shop I learned to always ask to listen to the disc before purchasing and after being burned a couple of times, I figured this out and the dude would actually let you preview the disc. I found a few live Prince shows on CD but found out that my man Rerun recorded them on a walkman hidden in his coat and that shit bounced out midway through the show.

SOME OF YOU will get that joke.

I bet Rog got to stay and watch the show!!!!!

SoulAlive said:

Some of those early boots were sloppy with mislabeled song titles: “Databank” was labeled “Pretty Face”. “Moonbeam Levels” was called “A Better Place 2 Die” “Crystal Ball” was titled “Expert Lover”

Nobody knew any better, though.

But, "Hey Hannigan" was always correct.

My first boot was, Welcome 2 The Beautiful Experince. A soundboard recording that blew me away. I bought it from a small independent record shop, in the town where my ex girlfriend lived. They had loads of boots and I was now addicted to bootlegs.

My second boot was a live recording of a show, I have no idea which show but it sounded like the microphone was in someone's sock, inside their shoe. So muffled and muddy. I took it back, got a refund and my bootleg addiction was cured. It was a shock to realise that a record shop would sell something so substandard, evene though I knew that the CD itself wasn't even legal.

After that I made sure to have a quick listen to anything in store before purchasing.

Now my 2nd Boot was Small Club and I got that out the back door of Tower Records Nashville.

This Is My Night cd from a market in Liverpool in 93/94.

1988 Cassette of the Black Album.

I thought I HAD STRUCK GOLD.

I didn't know anything about bootlegs at the time.

I'd never heard of bootlegs and 2 my great surprise

the record store a half a block away had a crap load of boots on the shelf 4 sale.

Encinitas, Ca was a great teasure trove of music back then.

I used to get all of my pre-released stuff from Hollywood there as well.

I had Mint Condition, Jodeci, and bunch of acts no one had ever heard of.......before they even came out.

coldcoffeeandcocacola said:

Mine was a tape, no pretty packaging with a label scribbled in biro - one side, moonbeam levels. The other, wonderful ass. No idea of origin, market seller picked it up on his travels in America. Quality iffy. My first Internet boot was be my mirror and the quality blew me away.

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Mine was ''Charade'' together with a horrible vinyl cop of The Black Album,

and some bootleg live CD.

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[Edited 7/15/21 3:00am]

For me, it was vinyl version of "Chocolate Box". Didn't have a player for it, so it just sat in my closet for years.

At the same time, I also got a cassette of Black Album boot. Funny thing about that one, Rockhard In A Funky Place ended with a loop that began at the 3:05 mark. That ending horn riff looped about 17 times then just ended the track. And hell, I didn't think anything of it and thought it was a wacky way to end the album. It was Prince, so it made sense he would end an album with a loop like that. And for it to loop 17 times, that had to mean something, right? 17? Like 17 Days... (Hey! I was very young in high school and dumb)

So until I heard the actual Black Album release, and heard the full correct version of Rockhard In A Funky Place, I had never heard anything from the "All you're looking for is love" section to the end. So in that respect, it was new to me.

[Edited 7/15/21 12:15pm]

[Edited 7/15/21 12:17pm]

The Work Volumes 3 and 4 in 1999. But for my Birthday in 2004, I made a shameless request for bootlegs on HOUSEQUAKE and the Purple flood gates opened. People from all over the world just mailed me stuff and got me SO deep. I'm talking outtakes, aftershows, DVD's, concerts. The works.

I'm still so grateful to all those people and I miss the fuck out of Housequake.

Need to preface this by saying that by 1990 I was busy trying to get by and raise a family....and also that I can be a little slow on the popular uptake in general.

So, after Prince's passing, there was a topic here about one's most recent Prince-related purchase. A few people mentioned that they had bought "boots." I thought that's strange, how does one buy Prince's footware? Obviously, no clue.

But at some point I became aware of the apparent wealth of bootlegs that had been circulating for a long time. No idea how to tap into that source but shortly thereafter I found "Can I Play With U" on a widely known online purchasing platform and that was my first "boot" purchase. LOVE it. Wish I had more...but have been somewhat satisfied with the official releases since then.

1nonly said:

For me, it was vinyl version of "Chocolate Box". Didn't have a player for it, so it just sat in my closet for years.

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You remind me that i have to correct myself.

Indeed ''Chcolate Box'' was my very first vinyl bootleg as well.

I remember the word 'bootleg' was very new to me, when my record dealer proposed one to me.

I'm European, I speak Flemish, so that was a new thing for me to discover.

When I got home, i had to search for the word 'Bootleg' in an english dictionary.

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I was naive as shit. Went to a record show in 1994 when my fanaticism was crazed. Saw all these albums I never knew about, but thought they were foreign releases--lol. Luckily my first buy was Small Club. Naive again, thinking all boots would sound perfect--lol.

Luckily I had some pimps online that got me free shit. I sent blank cds and they filled that shit with bounty. Got tapes too. I thank my pimps. I was a good purple ho. I never got much official boots, too expensive. When the internet got better you could find shit on youtube before the crack down by Londell. Now it is easy to find stuff, thanks also to the Family releasing stuff.