If u have a compelling story about how you started to become a fan/fam, here's the thread to tell the others!

I don't know if mine is compelling, but for what it's worth:
I used to go to school riding my bike. Sony Walkmans were the thing back then. A friend of mine had a lot of albums, from which I copied two on an audio tape, George Michael's album Faith and Prince's Purple Rain.

Winding and rewinding slurped my batteries empty, so I didn't do that and was 'forced' to listen to all the songs of both artists.

As George Michael's album grew pale Prince's album grew on my like nothing ever did. When the Around The World album was released I bought it and had to start loving that one all over again. It still happens that way: every new album is somewhat weird to me to start with, but when I play it in my car (over and over) I know it'll grow on me. And after it grew on me, it again is an enrichment for my life (I know that sounds corny, but it's true nonetheless.)

Now tell me your story!

simply saw 1999 on the UK Top of the Pops and was blown away

i used to read music trade magazines at the public library back in 1980-81. i used to read about prince, what a genius he was, a hybrid of dance music/new wave/rock and roll, before i ever heard his music. in high school i really liked hard rock -KISS and AC/DC especially - and i also loved new wave and disco. conventional wisdom said, "disco sucks!" and you cannot listen to rock AND disco. but prince seemed like he was on to something, although i hadn't heard his music, except of course "i wanna be your lover" which had been a hit, and i knew it was prince, but it really never made an impression on me. when i read about his music, i thought, "this is just what the doctor ordered..."
what really "got" me though was an advertisement in billboard for the controversy album: it showed a catholic school girl standing at the head of the classroom, with her head bowed down and her hair all mussed, holding the controversy LP. above her head is a crucifix on the wall. i thought, "man, who is this guy, and what's he trying to say here?" the ad was kinda scary and kind of intriguing too. then i saw the album in stores, with titles like "jack u off" "private joy" "annie christian" and "sexuality" and saw his serious mug on the cover and was like, "dang, i'm gonna have to buy this if only to see if this guy is serious or not!"
i determined then that i would pursue his music, although i hadn't actually heard a note of it. i remember seeing him on don kirshner's rock concert doing controversy and sexuality (clips) didn't blow me away, but i thought, hmmm...interesting...i want to know more.
anyway, i was obssessed. i bought dirty mind 1st, because a radio station in boston (WBCN) was actually playing head and dirty mind in regular rotation, then i got controversy, then 1999...and so on and so on.

Well, I'm only 28, so Prince was around all the time I was growing up. I always thought he was so-so until 'Batdance'. I bought the album (mainly because I was swept up in all the Batman movie hype, I was at an impressionable age). I like it a lot but didn't get round to buying any more of his stuff. Then, my Sister in Law gave me her vinyl copy of 'Purple Rain' and BLAM!

My awareness of Prince grew gradually too.
I remember being on a trip to Aarhus in Jutland with my school class and I was in a record store with a girl who had just returned to Denmark from a year in Canada. As we looked through the singles, she suggested i bought Little Red Corvette with Prince, because she had heard that in Canada and thought it was really good.
But I didn't want to buy something I hadn't heard before - because what if I didn't like it? - so I bought a couple of singles with Diana Ross instead.

Then some time later, I heard a radio programme previewing new singles and I heard When Doves Cry for the first time and thought it sounded good, although the people in the studio predicted that this single would never reach the charts.
The same week, I spent a weekend with my best friend at the time, and he hadn't only heard the radio show as well, but had taped When Doves Cry too. So we played that song over and over before going to a record store where he bought the single and I bought one with Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Then, in 1985, my big brother videotaped a german rock show that concluded with a live transmission of Prince And The Revolution Live in Syracuse. There was only the first 25 minutes of the show - then the tape had run out. But those 25 minutes blew me away.
I watched it over and over and over and over and...
I was captivated by Prince And The Revolution. And from there I bought all the Prince records I could find, hustled my friend out of his copy of the When Doves Cry single and eventually got the complete Prince And The Revolution Live show on video on a trip to London.

Oh, yes, those were the days of discovering Prince's back catalogue and his protegees and justa buying all the new stuff as it came out. Good times. I think I must have listened exclusively to Prince and Prince releated music for quite a few years there. He was my late teenage idol.

I'll keep this short:

Back in 1986, when I was 10 yrs old, my older brother brought home a cassette copy of the 1999 album. I remember the tape well. It was a Phillips cassette and the track listing was written in pencil.
There must have been something about being a (horny) 10 yr old and being exposed to songs like 'Let's pretend we're married' with the lyrics like 'I sincerely want to fu*k the taste outta ur mouth' - I was hooked from that point onwards.

Oh! Those were the days!

Now, I look back on those days with fond memories - memories of Prince releasing killer album after killer album!

That God for Sabotage!

The 1st thing I had heard was "I Wanna Be Your Lover" on radio. I had no idea who it was singing. Then I heard Little Red Corvette a couple of years later on the radio and I didn't care for it too much, either. I pictured Prince as this Jack Black looking guy (I hadn't seen him yet).

Then they started showing "Night Tracks" on weekends from 12AM to 6AM. I stayed up all night long every weekend to watch it. I was in Junior High School. Then I saw "1999" for the 1st time. I liked it, but not on a "fan" level. The song that took me was "Let's Pretend We're Married".

I bought the 45 single at the local music store and I was blown away. Soon after, I bought the "1999" LP. I was even more blown away with the extended version. My friends and I were hooked. We saw the world premier of "When Doves Cry" on Night Tracks. From there, we were hardcore fans.

I bought everything I could get my hands on. I got "For You" and "Prince" in Georgia while on vacation. I saw it in the store and begged my dad for the $$$ to get them. I did some serious begging that day. I had never seen those albums before. I miss those days when Prince was just totally awesome. After he fired the Revolution, it just started fading away for me.

I liked Sign of the Times and Batman, but after those, the enthusiasm was going fast. And I really tried to "accept" this new Prince. I liked one track from Come (Papa) and three from Chaos & Disorder (the 1st three). I hated Emancipation with a passion. I had bought it and not liked one single song.

I say re-unite the Revolution and make a new CD with them.

Everyone leave their egos at the door for once.

OK.
1982 or '83... play guitar, bass, and limited keys.
By this age, I listened to Jazz, Rock, all kinds of Funk, African, Blues, etc. Diverse album collection.
My friend Russ comes over to my house... I'm playing guitar. He says, "You gotta hear this, man." I'm like: "who is it?" RUSS: "It's Prince." I hadn't heard much Prince at that point. ME: "Oh yeah... I saw this album at the record store the other day." RUSS: "You gotta hear it"
NOW: It's the cassette released version... I always look at album credits. When I found out that he was playing like 99.8% of all instruments, I had 2 listen.
Blown Away. DMSR, AUTOMATIC. Let's Pretend We're Married: "Marsha, I'm not sayin' this just 2 B nasty...But I sincerely wanna f&#* the taste outta your mouth"...
So that was it... I went to the record store, got Controversy, Dirty Mind, Prince, and For You. Controversy got played the most.
Then came the PurpleRain craze, Parade (yeah!!!), and SOTT (I freaked).
1988: Lovesexy released... I listen, and I'm like HUH!? Listened again, again, again, again.
After that, my first concert was Lovesexy, and DAMN. Saw two shows.
I'll get into part2 some other time...

Peace.

G.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 6:32:58 PDT 2003 by Giovanni777]

I was 9 when 'Soft and Wet' came out, and even then I thought it was cool that a man could sing in a high voice like that. Later, "I Wanna Be Your Lover" hit the airwaves and the lead guitar got me as well as the pure erotic frenzy I heard that I didn't hear anywhere else (I was a pre-pubescent girl in Catholic school, couldn't help it).

Then I saw him on American Bandstand performing "I Wanna Be Your Lover". 'Nuff said. This guy was freaky. I was freaky. Plus, my mom forbade me to watch him, which only added to the attraction. Prince was like crack for me.

I also camped out every weekend in front of the t.v. to watch Night Tracks from late Friday nights until early Saturday mornings. By this time I was already an established fan(atic).

I'm now 34, and I'm realizing how much my views of what is sexy and my sexuality itself are strongly influenced by who was major in my life while I was coming of age---the Roman Catholic Church and Prince. Kinda freaky, ain't it?
[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 6:34:47 PDT 2003 by AsTrAlTrAvElInHoTtiE]

Hey Chauncey...

Can we pretend we're married?

I didn't like Soft & Wet. Wasn't even feelin' I Wanna Be Your Lover that much either (it later grew on me ,though). But my signature says it all!

I started digging his music via The Time.

Flashback to 1981:
I was 11,and I remember hearing "Get It Up" by The Time on the radio. At that time it was the funkiest thing I had ever heard. I ran out and bought The Time's album and wore the grooves out. A couple of months later, a DJ on the radio revealed that it the Time project was a front and that Prince was really behind the whole thing. So I went out and bought the LP "Controversy". To hear the funk of the time album, and the synth's on Convroversly blew me away. After one listen I was convinced that Prince really was behind the Time project, and I've been hooked ever since.

When I was 9 years old (in 1984), I saw the "Purple Rain"-clip on television in a shopping-mall. I asked for the album for christmas. Got it, loved it and listened to it for many months afterwards. But - don´t ask me why - I never bought another Prince-record after that until I went to a party in 1989 where "Let´s Go Crazy" was played. After the party, I put on the "Purple Rain"-album for the first time in many years. Since "Batdance" was all over the radio at the time, I bought it the next day. And then the whole back-catalogue over the next months.
[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 8:27:11 PDT 2003 by Nightcrawler]

I heard Soft and Wet at 8 or 9 years old. I really liked the song and of course, I had no idea what he was talking about. I liked songs after that one but I really didn't start digging and fully appreciating his music until I was fifteen and my best friend would call me up and play songs off the 1999 album. I am eternally grateful to him for that.

Giovanni777 said:

stymie said:

I had no idea what 'Soft and Wet' meant either, but I remember my aunt saying something like "...he nasty...", and I was like...wtf?
[This message was edited Thu Oct 2 8:59:52 PDT 2003 by AsTrAlTrAvElInHoTtiE]

I always liked his songs, but 4 things brought me into P's black hole.
1. I saw the way 'INSATIABLE' had an instant wild effect on my then-sister-in-law. She'd close her eyes and sing with all of the emotion she could conjure up. She'd shake her head and wave her hand as if she were in church.
2. Lake Minnetonka. I wasn't allowed to see many movies including PR, and this guy told me I'd have to jump in this lake if I wanted to be with him. So began my investigation...
3. A guy who reminded me of P. He was mysterious, had beautiful eyes, same hair (long), same color, he could sing and dance, and he had this way of holding me as his captive audience, just like P does.
4. We broke up and I was obsessed with him, so I transferred my energy from him to P. (It seems as though obsessing over a superstar is more palpable for mainstream society. That way I wouldn't become a stalker ex-gf who couldn't get over it.)
After the break up, I'd console myself by watching PR over-and-over until the pain went away. Then PR wasn't enough. I had to have every DVD I could get my hands on. Then I jonied NPGMC, then I joined .org and then I bought every P tape this music store had. (Look out ebay!!!) So the obsession grows... (over P, not the loser ex)

I remember playin' Controversy loud in my room, playin' funk guitar with it, and my sister (5 years older) came bustin' in to my room, with max drama, Italian style...
She says: "What did he just say??!!"
Me: "uhhh... (sang:) Con-tro-ver-sy"
She: "oh" and then walks out.
She thought he said: "Cu _ t or Pu_ _ y."
Even though she was pretty wild herself, she was definately shocked by what she thought he was sayin'

Hey Chauncey.

G.

he had me from this whole album.

My brother bought 'Around The World In A Day' and hated it. When he played 'Condition Of The Heart', my jaw hit the floor - I just thought that it was amazing!!!

Whenever he was out, I'd swipe the LP and play it to death, placing it back exactly where it was before he went out.

From that point on, I was hooked.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

That album cover (and ooh! the wrecka cover with him laying on that cot...damndamndamn)...

That album...

That music...

pure SIN.

Haystack said:

he. he... I love that song.

UptownDeb said:

sexy dancer

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Come on, now... Do it all night was kind of sucky. As was Gotta Broken Heart Again...

The rest was good, though.

Well, it started with "Purple Rain." I saw the movie first, and then got the LP later in the year (my mom brought it home for me). Then we got the movie on laserdisc at the end of 1984.

I played the LP at least once or twice a day. I bought the singles and later the extended singles. I watched the movie every other night.

Then when "Raspberry Beret" dropped, I was hooked b/c the video looked so cool.

Then ATWIAD came out and I listened to that LP over and over.

I was hooked.

Mcwatson68 said:

gasp! sucky??? both of those cuts??? maaan...awright, somebody tell this cat how attached i am to the whole dirty mind album/era...

Mcwatson68: About the Dirty Mind Album!!!

stymie said:

hi, stymie!

Mcwatson68 said:

Wha' the?!?!?!?!

jodude911 said:

I first remember Soft and Wet barely...but really recall hearing I Wanna Be Your Lover on the radio...I totally fell in love with it. I was in the sixth grade and I came home from school and my Mom(who passed away a few years ago) told me to go look in here bedroom, she had a surprise for me... I went into the bedroom and on her bed was the "Prince" album you know the one with his gorgeous face, he was styling a pressed hair-do and no shirt. Damnnn! That was the beginning. I have my sweet departed Mom to thank for starting this whole Prince-Mania for me.