So, some of us are old enough to buy Prince's albums as they were released, others had to play catch up. In what order and which year did you buy Prince's albums? I don't have them all, but here's my list (to the best of my ever-fleeting memory):

1984
Purple Rain

1988
Sign O the Times

1989
Parade
1999
Batman
ATWIAD

1990
Grafitti Bridge

1991
Diamonds & Pearls

1992
Symbol
Dirty Mind

1993
Hits / B-Sides

1994 (?)
Black Album

1996
Gold
Emancipation

1998
Crystal Ball

2002
Come
Chaos
New Power Soul
The Vault
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic
ONA Live

D&P
Lovesexy
SOTT
Purple Rain / Parade / ATWIAD / 1999
Controversy / Dirty Mind
Prince / For You


... Then all the others as they came out.

Started in '84 with PR, then bought his entire
backcatalogue, then ATWIAD...and so on, and so on...

I feel bad for someone getting into P now...
so much $$$.

Revolution said:

Ditto




I would feel sorry for the newbies, but I'm too busy wallowing in self-pity when looking at folks' boot collections and realizing I have exactly NONE of them.

1983 -- 1999
1984 -- Purple Rain
1985 -- Controversy
1985 -- Prince
1985 -- Around the World (day of release)
1985 -- For You
1985 -- Dirty Mind
1986 -- Parade (day of release)
and then each following one year of release

Bought 1999 on vinyl back in 83. Bought PR on cassette not too soon after I 1st heard When Doves Cry on the radio.

then from 1985 to 1992 I bought every release on its release day. I bought Controversy, Dirty Mind, & Prince around 1985/6. Still have yet to get For You.

I had a falling out on Prince's music after Symbol came out. But got back into it when The Gold Experience came out. after that I have bought pretty much all the releases on the day they came out.

I had a thread like this awhile back. I think it was called something like "When did you become an up to date fan?" I can remember the order pretty well. I started in 1989 with Batman copied from a friend. Then it goes:

1990:

1. Lovesexy
2. Batman
3. Graffiti Bridge
4. 1999/Purple Rain/ATWIAD on the same day
5. Sign "O" The Times
6. The Black Album
7. Dirty Mind/Controversy on the same day
8. Parade
9. Prince

1991:

10. Diamonds and Pearls when it came out
11. For You was the last one to get - still haven't gotten into it much.

1983 - 1999 (after Little Red Corvette was released)
1983 - Controversy
1983 - Dirty Mind
1984 - Purple Rain (bought on day of release)
1984 - Prince
1984 - For You

From then on I pretty much bought every album
on the day it was released.
[This message was edited Tue Jul 29 15:25:08 PDT 2003 by BorisFishpaw]

85-ATWIAD, PR, Prince, 1999
86-Controversy, Dirty Mind, Parade, For You

The rest went in order of release.

late 2002:

The Very Best Of...
1999
Purple Rain
Diamonds & Pearls
Lovesexy
Sign O The Times
Controversy
Grafitti Bridge
Batman
Come
The Hits

2003:
Around The World In A Day
Prince
Parade
Dirty Mind
Emancipation
The Gold Experience
For You
Symbol
Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic
Crystal Ball
Chaos & Disorder
The Vault

Lots of you guys have been fans for years. I only discovered the Prince stuff in November 2002 with The Very Best Of.. It was a real adventure working through all the releases so quickly. My standout moments are listening to the song Controversy for the first time, Condition of the Heart and When Doves Cry.
[This message was edited Tue Jul 29 17:34:38 PDT 2003 by mike464]

Here's my order:

'For You' 1978
'Prince' 1979
'Dirty Mind' 1980
'Controversy' 1981
---1982
'1999'
'Little Red Corvette' 3"
'Little Red Corvette' UK
---1984
'Purple Rain'
'Let's Go Crazy' 3"
'Let's Go Crazy' UK
'Erotic City' 3"
'Erotic City' UK
---1985
Prince Interview 1985 (UK)
'Around the World in A Day'
---1986
'Parade'
'Kiss' 3"
'Kiss' UK
---1987
'Sign 'O' The Times' 2-CD
---1988
'Lovesexy'
'Alphabet St.' 3"
'Alphabet St.' Promo
'Glam Slam' 3"
'I Wish U Heaven' Part 123 3"
---1989
'Batman' UK Can
'Batdance' Maxi-Single
'Partyman' (Video Mix) 3"
'Partyman' (Remixes) 3"
'The Arms Of Orion' 3"
'The Scandalous Sex Suite' Maxi-Single
'The Future' UK
---1990
'Graffiti Bridge'
'Thieves in the Temple' Maxi-Single
'Thieves in the Temple' UK
'New Power Generation' Maxi-Single
'New Power Generation' UK
'Nude Tour I & II'
---1991
'Diamonds and Pearls'
'Gett Off' Maxi-Single
'Gett Off' UK
'Cream' Maxi-Single
'Cream' UK
'Diamonds and Pearls' UK'
'Money Don't Matter 2 Night' UK
Prince & The New Power Generation Live - Vol. 2
---1992
'0(+>'
'My Name Is Prince' Single
'My Name Is Prince' Maxi-Single
'My Name Is Prince' #1 UK
'My Name Is Prince' #2 UK
'Sexy MF' UK
'7' Maxi-Single
'7' UK
'The Morning Papers' Single
'The Morning Papers' UK
---1993
'The Hits/The B-Sides' 3-CD
Prince Greatest Hits
'Pink Cashmere' Single
'Peach' UK
'Live At The Rex' 2-CD
---1994
'Minneapolis 1994'
'Sexy Staxaphone and Guitar'
'The Beautiful Experience'
'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World'
'Come'
'Letitgo' Single
'Letitgo' Maxi-Single
'Letitgo' UK
'Space' Maxi-Single
'The Black Album'
---1995
'Emporium' 2-CD
'The Purple Medley' Maxi-Single
'The Gold Experience'
'I Hate U' Single
'I Hate U' Maxi-Single
'I Hate U' UK
'Gold' Single
'Gold' UK
'Gold' Gold UK
---1996
'Chaos and Disorder'
'Dinner With Delores' UK
'Emancipation' 3-CD
'Betcha By Golly Wow!' Promo
'The Holy River' UK
'The Holy River' Pt. 2 UK
'Face Down' Promo
---1998
'Dreams' 3-CD
'Crystal Ball' 3-CD w/ 'The Truth'
---1999
'1999 - The New Master'
'The Vault…Old Friends 4 Sale'
'Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic'
'The Greatest Romance Ever Sold' Single
'The Greatest Romance Ever Sold' Maxi-Single
'Man O War' Promo
---2000
'Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic'
---2001
'The Daisy Chain'/'Gamillah' Single
'Supercute'/'Underneath the Cream' Single
'U Make My Sun Shine'/'When Will We B Paid' Single
'The Rainbow Children'
---2002
‘One Nite Alone…’
One Nite Alive… Live! Box Set
---2003
‘N.E.W.S.’

1998: controversy (friend of mine bought a copy on cassette for my 18th birthday)

1999: started gettin stuff on cds--for you, prince, dirty mind (had to special-order these cuz none of the stores in my hometown had 'em on their shelves), controversy, 1999, pr

2001: sott, parade

2002: all the albums i bought in '99 except pr on vinyl

.





1985 "around the world in a day"
1986 "parade"
1986 "entire back catagolgue"
1987 "sign o' the times"
and so forth until now.

i have no desire to buy or even listen to news.

mainly because the cover looks so cheap and crap.

like some bad gospel album.


.

mike464 said:

Since you're fairly new to Prince let me be the first to say welcome to the assylum.

LittlePill said:

asssylum... and yes, welcome mike!

1999
Controversy
Prince
Purple Rain
Dirty Mind
For You (Yuck!)
Around the World
Parade

...actually, in order from there.

mike464 said:




So, finally this release made sense...

I got into Prince around about '88/'89, My dad had Purple Rain & Lovesexy on cassette that I would play all the time, especially PR. I got Batman for my birthday and then from there, I wanted to own everything he released. I brought all his back catalogue stuff in 1990 and then from then on I've mostly brought all the albums on there release date.
Strange but True.