did no one remember to start a thread for the 15th anniversary of lovesexy? it was released in the states on 3 may, 1988.
i picked it up the day of, naturally. i was working in a wrecka stow at the time, and put the CD on and tried to listen and pay attention to my work. my first reaction was:WOW! i just remember i had a smile from ear to ear when the CD was over. had to keep playing it and playing it. i didn't even realise at first that the whole thing was one long track. the album pleased me so much, i really thought lovesexy would be a crowd-pleasing prince album, so i was surprised by the lukewarm reaction it received commercially. after alphabet st. mtv gave up on prince videos from the album. turns out lovesexy is now considered a landmark record -artistically- in his catalogue. listened 2 it entirely recently and it holds up extremely well. sounds better than ever, in my opinion.
well, what are your thought on lovesexy 15 years later?share your memories here!

fms said:

Hmm i remember Mtv playing I Wish U Heaven quite a lot...

fms said:

WOW! 15 years! I remember clearly going into the record store and buying this disc. I was a junior in High School and a friend and I went to a place called 'soundwherehouse' back in El Paso Texas. Actually, my friend's brother took us because neither one of us had a car and we both went in and purchased a CD and cassette copy. My friend's brother called us fags (because of the artwork on the cover) and idiots (idiots for each of us buying copies instead of making each other copies or whatever). I remember going home and listening to it and ACTUALLY being disappointed with it. GLAM SLAM and DANCE ON made an impression at first listen but the rest took awhile. And the continous sequence bit was also irritating. Didn't actually 'get it' until I was away at college and on the verge of a nervous breakdown (it was my first time away from home and I loved it so much that all I did was party--to busy tapping kegs to go to class--and eventually I flunked out) but songs like POSITIVITY and ANNA STESIA slowly but surely made some sense...I love this disc now...

(by the way I did end up getting my college degree ...lol...)

my first glimpses of p all revolved around the lovesexy era! at this time in '88 i wuz only 7 years old...

i remember goin 2 some wrecka sto' and seein copies of the album on display. all i can remember thinkin wuz just, "wow!!" that, and i remember seein the video 4 "alphabet st." on friday night videos all the time.





dance on....the edit
[This message was edited Mon May 5 11:11:44 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

Damn, it was the first album I ever bought. So it's been
15 years now since I bought my first album.

Well I'm pleased to say that I still enjoy listening to
it.

One of my all-time fave P albums. Man, was he ballzy to pose nude on the cover. That's what made me like him even more. At that time I was in Kidergarten and by that point, Prince's popularity was gradually fading. I mean, he was still popular but not as appealing as the uprising hip-hop and current r&b acts like L.L. Cool J, Michael Jackson, and Kool Moe Dee. But the path I chose was "dedicated Prince fan no matter how crazy he gets". It was actually because my mother was a Prince fan. And of course, mother's are always right. Alphabet St. was the biggest hit from that record, and the video was just TOO COOL! As a matter of fact I saw it on VH1 Classic yesterday and it brought back memories of how cool P was in his daddy's T-bird. But when I was 5 and saw the vid, It a religious experience to see him. Remember, Prince was the God of music back then. I wish I could've seen him live when he came to town, but my mom went and I had to be babysat That sucked.
I also remember the competition between P & wacko Jacko. Jacko was riding high with "Bad" while Prince was working it with his masterpiece. All the kids in my class were rooting for the King of Pop while I guess I was in a league of my own with His Royal Badness.
I hadn't heard the record in it's entirety until 1991. Even then I was listening to it in a different pitch (bad stereo). I remember being with my babysitter's friends and hanging out at their crib. They had just got the Lovesexy record and we were dancing to Alphabet St. But that was as far as it went. I wanted to hear the rest of the album but for some reason was too coward to ask. But I finally got to hear the glory in 1998, that's right, ten years after, and it still sounded fresh. Prince is timeless. This album gets
1/2

15 years ago... was waiting to the followup to Sign o The Times, was obsessed with the concert film, and also heard a little cassette of the black album... This was the peak of discovering the depth of Prince's work.

Lovesexy was so different and hard to figure out...

STILL my all time favorite Prince album. I'm totally cracking up seeing that some people were 5 and 7 at the time this was released. Makes me feel a little old

I was 18 when this came out and this album played an integral part in my coming out process. I was in the middle of coming to grips with the truth of my life and this album gave me the inspiration to live in truth. I felt that if Prince could be so bold to lay himself bare and naked and exposed to the world, surely I could be as bold and express myself in the way that was right for me. I can honestly say that this album made the process a lot easier because I always had it to comfort me. It kept me alive during a time in my life that sometimes felt like death.

I still an incredibly inspired by this album.

Lovesexy

Absolutely.

I remember being on the verge of graduating from high school and leaving my hometown to go to college when Lovesexy came out. I recall that, on my way from the record store down the street from the school, the local DJs were shocked/tickled by the album cover. It had been news for a few weeks, at the time Alphabet St. was getting heavy "ro" on pop and R&B stations. I couldn't wait to hear the LP, having just been blown away by the SOTT movie a couple of months before.

Then I got home and put the record on:

"rain is wet, and sugar is sweet . . ."

"glam, slam, thank u ma'am, u really made my day . . ."

"when I touch it race cars burn rubber in my pants . . ."

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Then I played it a few more times, and I was getting it. He was telling us that we could be faithful and funky, that we could strive to be our best and have a little fun along the way. It was a great record to set the tone for a new time in my life, and I have gone back to it ever since.

I remember when Rolling Stone published the artists' picks for best LP of 1988. Both the Edge and Axl Rose put Lovesexy at the top of the list. The fact that these 2 guys were huge rock stars at that time but had the presence to appreciate Lovesexy tells you something about that LP.

It seems that, 15 years later, I'm hearing many people talk the same way about TRC and I'm glad for them. But Lovesexy is one of a kind.

According to DOW, it was released on May 10. As the resident dates guy, I was going to start a thread then. This way, we get more time to celebrate. That can only be a good thing...

I know many of you have read this before but for those of you who haven't...

I think many of us who have been fans since the beginning tend to base our opinions on how good a Prince album is, especially one from the 80s, on how much it affected us in our lives at that time. I was 18 when Lovesexy came out and I was just dealing with admitting I was gay. I drew on the spiritual strength of that album to help me get through the rejection I faced from family and friends. I listened to it with a searching soul and I found answers. Some of the answers lie in the album itself, but other answers I discovered within my own self as I listened over and over. Seeing Prince on the cover naked and bare gave me the strength and courage to face my own newfound “nakedness”. Having to face society’s anger and hate was a tough choice but I thought if Prince could be THAT honest and open, so could I. I always saw the cover as one of God’s creatures simply existing in a state of truth. I always knew the cover wasn’t supposed to be a nasty thing, rather Prince exposed and bare and having no shame about basking in the glorious knowledge he found in the midst of despair.

For personal reasons I happen to believe that this album IS a masterpiece. But I also believe this from a musical standpoint. IMO, Lovesexy still sounds fresh. If you took that album and compared it to any and everything around it at the time it was released, it totally stands alone. The only argument about the sound being dated is the use of the Linn drum, other than that, you can’t say this has an 80s sound to it. You really can’t even compare it to the music that Prince made before and after. It is so unique. I agree that this album personified Prince the best.

I love the lyrics. Even the “silly” ones. One of the things that is the most fun about Prince’s music is trying to figure out what all the metaphorical wording means. It brings out the creativity in us all when we discuss lyrics that make absolutely no sense on the surface. Usually we come to amazing conclusions and for that, the lyrics will never bother me. Besides there are many other lyrics that stand out, probably the best being “In every man’s life there will be a hang-up, a whirlwind designed to slow you down. It cuts like a knife, it tries to get in you…this spooky electric sound. Give up if you want to and all is lost, Spooky Electric will be your boss………….Don’t kiss the beast, be superior at least”. I STILL to this day rely on this album to help me achieve the right frame of mind when I think I’m down for the count. It puts me on my feet every time.

namepeace said:

This is exactly how I feel too Thanks for putting it so beautifully.

I got this cassette the week it came out and I think I laid down in my bed 2 find solice on that saturday and I did. I think I listened to it like two-three times in a row.

I was starting 2 write my own lyrics then and was intrigued with the words more than b4. I wish u heaven was so simple and so short but it made it memorable. When 2 R in Love was raw, dirty and sweet all at once. "let me touch u're body til u're rivers an ocean". CLassic line from Positivity,"Have u had ure plus sign 2day?"

it was different, it was unique and was continuing what he wanted to do. If you play all the cd's back to back...they do sound different.

After "Lovesexy", every time a new cd came out, it was an event; each day I would play a different Prince tape. Like say thier was 9 Prince tapes, so 9 days before I would play a different Prince tape until that one came out.

Lovesexy may not have changed my life or made me see things, but it helped me through dificult times and 4 that, I was grateful. Was upset I missed the lovesexy tour and missed the aftershow being 3 blocks from where I live, but u cannot take away my first experience of listening 2 that tape or any new Prince material. It is like when u kiss u're lover or make love 2 u're lover for the first time or whatever...it stays on u're mind 4 his music is special, just as lust love and the taste of u're lover on u're lips.
[This message was edited Mon May 5 12:29:29 PDT 2003 by jseven]

booyah said:

sorry, booyah, didn't mean to step on your toes. u are truly the resident dates guy!
however, i'm about 99% sure that lovesexy came out on may 3. i'm going strictly on memory here, but i'll guess that DOW made a mistake. on may 10, 1988, one week after the release of lovesexy, i remember sade's stronger than pride and poison's open up and say ahhh...hitting the stores. i was in retail back then and relese dates were such a big part of it all. we had so many kids coming in on the monday before poison's album hit asking if they could buy it ahead of time!
i could be wrong here, but i think may 3 is the right date for lovesexy.

now all of ya'll are makin me feel young...

familygroove said:

really? i never saw it once on mtv and i watched pretty heavily back then. i did see it a few times on BET, maybe you are thinking of that.
anyway, on a related note, i said lovesexy has aged well. but recently i watched the alphabet st video, and i thought, "what the hell is this..?" it definitely has not held up well in my opinion! i wish u heaven (YES!) and glam slam (great staged concert shots) are and always have been awesome, but alphabet st. just doen't cut it for me anymore! it looks like the concept was made up on the spot, and then he ran out of ideas, so just decided to replay all the visuals at super high speed toward the end.

fms said:

No need to apologize. It's all groovy baby

Uptown/DOW has made mistakes before, so you may well be right. In which case, I missed Lovesexy's birthday!!!

Who do u trust if you can't trust Uptown, who can u trust, who can u?

Lovesexy was the first Prince album I bought, when it came out. I was 14. I remember hearing Alphabet St and seeing the video. When I heard the album I thought "Yeah, this music speaks to me".

I also have a fond memory of seeing the Glam Slam video when it came out. It was late night and I was staying over at my Gran's with my mother. We caught the video on BET, the station that cared about my hero. I also remember seeing a cool New Edition video, but I digress. I just watched the Glam Slam vid on Launch.com to take me back. The LovedSexy posse never looked cooler.

Happy belated Lovesexy.Thanks for writing your name on my wal..hey wait. Thanks for making love to me tommrow.

SupaFunkyOrgangrinderSexy said

This is exactly how I feel too Thanks for putting it so beautifully. [/quote]

U r welcome.