I'm just curious here to see what are the 1st official albums of Prince's you heard ,and in what order .It'll be an interesting barometer of how long we've all been fans of his for,and what albums hooked us onto the man.
Heres the order I heard his albums in first:

1.Batman soundtrack
(borrowed from a friend cos I liked the movie)
2.Diamonds and Pearls (bought officially)
3.1999 (copied for me by a cousin)
4.Purple Rain (copied for me by a cousin)
5.Parade (copied for me by a cousin)
6.o(+> album (bought officially)

After that I started buying all his back catalogue and the new releases as they came out , and he's had me hooked
ever since.

1999 - when it first was released back in 83??

Rave the 1st one I owned from the brotha!

Harlepolis said:

Way to go! You see? People are getting hooked on the new stuff!

The first thing I owned of his was a cassette of , my sister gave it to me in '96 or '97 or so, as well as a mix tape of some of his hits. I signed out his CDs from the library and recorded cassettes non-stop until '99, when I liked him enough to buy Rave. Rave was the first CD of his I ever owned as well. Now, I own his entire catalogue, Madhouse, several singles, a couple of boots, (Nude Tour and Small Club), most of his protege works, and all of his videos, some released and some not. I'm rather proud of the collection I built in 4 years. I'm a young'n y'see.

Purple Rain. My mother used to hate it when my siblings and I would sneak and listen to "Darling Niki."

controversy cassette. Sexuality is my fav prince song

Harlepolis said:

Stand tall and proud with your head up and chest out. There ain't nothing wrong with "Rave" being your first.

Hmmm, well the first Prince stuff I got into were videos.

My older sister was into him, and I was introduced to him through her playing videos taped from MTV, I was, what, 12/13 - 1991/2.

The songs/videos that grabbed me were Paisley Park, Girls & Boys and America (video version - oh, how I was obsessed by America!).

The first albums that I *really* got into, were Parade, SOTT and Controversy.

The first album that came out after I had been "converted" was , so I always hold that album pretty close to my heart too.

The Batman album was the first that I could afford on my own...but I always liked him and wished I could buy the rest.

I remember liking the singles from 1999 being played on the radio. Then, Purple Rain was released and I was hooked. I liked PR so much that I bought everything I could find. I still have all those 12" EPs. Just like P would go look for new James Brown releases.

P.S. I told a co-worker I was excited about going to see the ONA tour last year and he said, "Prince? Isn't he washed up now?"
OUCH!!
In P's defence I said that he still makes beautiful music but now has a smaller yet hardcore fanbase.

The was the 1st album I owned. As 4 the 1st album over all that I heard, Sign 'O' The Times. My folks were quite in2 him when I was young and they always had it on the car stereo when on holiday. I had heard of earlier stuff of cause, Purple Rain, Raspberry Beret, but I was 2 busy listening 2 Michael Jackson and playing in the 80s!

Diamonds & Pearls was the first album of his that I bought in the summer of '92, swiftly followed by Purple Rain then Love Symbol which was a new release around that time. Then I bought the rest of his back catalogue within a few weeks later that same year.

Batman.. the first one I heard.. but the first one I owned.. was Rave..

Harlepolis said:

are u serious?

LadyCabDriver said:

Yeah man, don't get me started tho

Hey, I start to dig the brotha late 2000 and look where I'm right now, I'm not bad 4 a music digger

Harlepolis said:

Purple Rain, then 1999.

Emancipation. Bought it for 9.99 at Strawberry Records. Listened to about 4 or 5 songs once or twice then it sat in the closet until I started to really get into him a year later.

i think the first one that i wuz exposed to wuz either sott or lovesexy when i wuz younger, cuz i remember seein the videos for "icnttpoym" and "alphabet st." all the time on friday night videos.

the first album i heard wuz probably pr, i don't really remember... the first album i owned wuz a dubbed copy of dirty mind that i dubbed off of my sister's tape.



forgetful jones edit
[This message was edited Wed Jul 9 14:56:45 PDT 2003 by Handclapsfingasnapz]

Probably the Controversy/1999 LPs at the same time back in 1983. My first boyfriend showed me the "shower" poster from the Controversy LP and I thought "Who is this Freak??!!" I haven't been the same since. I credit Prince for having me appreciate other forms of music since than. I was a commited Goth/Punk fan at the time.

I had to play catch up big time, so the first was The Hits/B-sides, and then Emancipation...

some day in 1993, also one of my first albums ever. i was 12 and couldn't get much out of it (then!). i saw some of his video on MTV and thought his music was good. and also was the only album available at that time in my little hometown's record-shop.

Starmist7 said:

i bought Emancipation soon after it's been released. it's so sad that today it is sold with a prince of less than 5 bucks when i paid so much then. it was a LARGE amount of money if you only get 5 bucks a week from your parents...

:COOL: Prince & 1999 :MUSIC:

AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAY

(bought for the cover but no name was on it, they must have not put that little boy sticker on my copy)but when i lstened to it, it blew my mind.

after that i was hooked like a junkie.next was,

ENTIRE BACK CATALOGUE


and then every 12 months usually around march/april a

NEW RELEASE.

(with a new hairdo and wardrobe to boot)



thought it would go on for ever...

Interesting,so far theres quite a few of you who got into his music properly the same time as me,1991-92.

Prince Live the website listing details and pictures of all his tours,TV appearances and promo videos

pm1 said:

Sounds somewhat similar to my story. ATWIAD was my first and when I first saw it in the store I didn't know what it was but I had a gut instinct that it was Prince's "new album". After I found that I was right I begged my mom to buy it for me and the rest is history.

My grandpa found a few tapes in the resturant he worked at and my mom got them. The only one she was interested in was "Purple Rain" and she played it in her van quite a bit. I was hooked! I think the first album I bought might have been or "Batman" and then maybe "The Gold Collection" which was nearly out of print at that point "The Hits/B-Sides"...not sure. I don't think I bought "Purple Rain" until a while later becuase I wanted to find new stuff.

Sandra said:

I misread the question...the FIRST album I heard was PURPLE RAIN. The first CD I got was RAVE, which was a gift from my Love, and then I got The Hits/B-sides, and then Emancipation...
[This message was edited Wed Jul 9 16:53:35 PDT 2003 by Starmist7]

i guess it was Purple Rain and i hated prince then. i thought he was a gay, ugly bastard and his music stunk.
three years later and SOTT was out, i was reading all these reviews about SOTT and they were all quite good reviews.
i bought it and i didn't like it that much at first but i kept on listening to it and it eventually became my fave album of ALL TIME.