the quote used in the header of this thread is sumfin my dad always says about prince. he knows i dig his music and he didn't mind me listenin to 'im when i started up on buyin his albums back when i was a teenager. sometimes when i'm on the phone with my dad he'll ask me if p's up to anything--he just automatically asks, i don't even have to say anything about 'im. i'm thinkin that my mom might've been a bit of a fan, too, but i ain't sure. i wish i knew for sure--my dad told me that her fave track off of the purple rain soundtrack was "darling nikki".

i gotta question for everybody here, no matter if you're an old-skool fan/friend/freek/geek/fam/whatever or you've just started up in the whole purple realm-thing: what do your parents think of you and your love for p's music and such? what did they think when you first became a fan/friend/freek/geek/fam/whoever?

My dad's the one who got me into Prince back during the 1999 era when I was a little kid. I used to listen to that album nearly every day (much to my mom's dismay. She thought I was too young for the lyrics) and make up choreography in the living room to DMSR and other songs. I also heard that album a lot in jazz class at the Children's Theatre Company, because my teacher would always play that album for warm-up.

I think my dad still likes him, although he doesn't follow his career anymore and I think my mom also secretly likes him because she always asks what's up with him. But mostly, they just think he's weird because they've both worked for him and/or his people in the past.


[This message was edited Sun Mar 14 14:05:29 2004 by minneapolisgenius]

My parents used to go see James Brown when his tours would
hit the East Coast in the late 60's, so when I was getting into
Prince, they just thought he was the new JB/Little Richard... etc.
Just like, i suppose we are all sittin here callin Andre3000 the
new Prince

Some things I remember:

I know my mom never liked hearing Prince scream

I used to play the America 12" all of the time (I was 13)
and I remember my mom complaining about how she
had to hear that same monotonous beat over and over!

and when the SOTT single first came out (and I was playing
it all of the time ) I was saying to my mom: Yeah, he got
rid of his band and now he's making records by himself.
To which she replied: Yeah, you can tell
[This message was edited Sun Mar 14 14:12:52 2004 by chewymusic]

Ooo me mum loved him but only after getting used to him. I would tell me mum to come into my room while the dirty part of Pretend Were Married played and she would run out the room laughing and being offended at the same time. Later years she tripped and fell on wet cement because my drunk azz started dancing with her at a pool party and someone put on Contorversy and she shimmied with me but slipped. Wap wab. Later my parents watched PR on their own and me pops was raving about Morris Day and his character when he caught up with me. I kept saying "but what about Prince..didn't you like Prince?"

Much like many Orgers today, my mother used to think Prince was the devil back during his heyday. When I was younger I used to have to hide my posters because she wouldn't let me put them up on my bedroom wall. No matter how many times I'd put them up there she'd make me take them off. She's one of those types that couldn't get past Prince's image, so there was no chance of her being opened-minded enough to listen to any of his music.

Once when she got home she asked me who that was I was playing on my stereo as the string section fade out of "Purple Rain" was playing. I think I may have told her to guess...she couldn't. I said "Prince"..."I am not impressed," she said. As if I even asked her if she was - as if I even brought him up. She would have dug it had it been someone with a more conservative image, or else she wouldn't have even asked me. Parents don't fool me.

I don't know what she thinks of him now in 2004.


`
[This message was edited Sun Mar 14 14:14:48 2004 by Supernova]

Supernova said:

My mom's going to see Prince with me in Indianapolis next month - she took me to see him on the Purple Rain tour 20 years ago, when I was just a sprout. I don't think she has much time for anything he's done after, say, ATWIAD, but she was just telling me today that a co-worker was teasing her about seeing Prince and she said she was an unabashed Prince fan, but only of stuff like Controversy and Dirty Mind.

So, yeah...my mom's old skool.

SENSHY said:

Anxiety said:

Maybe Ill take my father. It's time.

Anxiety said:

awww....i wish my mom were still around so i coulda brought her up here to minnesota so we could head out to paisley park or sumfin.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

You just put a lump in my throat, Dansa.

Number23 said:

heyyyyy, 23!!! where've you been?

SENSHY said:

the last paisley party where p actually performed (it was so long ago, i forgot exactly when it was) was sumfin my dad woulda loved to see...i remember hearin the last song p did--it was like this bluesy-type thing. i was standin there thinkin, "i bet dad would love this!"

My parents rarely appreciated any of the music I was & am ever into (though after their divorce my dad claimed that he was always into rock & just went along with what my mom thought, he's been going to some shows with me over the past few years), but Prince was one that they both agreed was weird & couldn't understand my appreciation of his music.
Of course, as Prince goes, it seems most people can't understand what people see in him.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Sounds like a good scene. I want my dad to see why I was all up in it in the past has been about.

lyricsdaddy said:

I think most parents never got passed the image and never gave the music a chance. If they actually listened without prejudice, they would hail Prince music as something really special. There are several songs from his catalogue that could be burned for parents that would blow there mid. His Al Green-ish Adore for one.

sad edit
[This message was edited Sun Mar 14 15:02:19 2004 by SENSHY]

I don't even think my dad knows who he is. My dad doesn't give much of a rats ass whose music I like, if he himself doesn't like it. I remember one time, he walked into my room
while 'Pop Life' was playing and commented that it was incredibly 'primitive'. He doesn't really like a whole lot of music though... The rolling stones are his favourite band, buit often tells me that they only have 2 good songs.
My mom's strange... Sometimes, she tries to connect with me, so she tries to find something that she thinks will start a conversation. The other day, she said something like "sooo... How's Prince?", as if I knew him personally. I just muttered a "what the hell? how should I know?", and then she said something like "he wears pink sometimes, right? I think I saw him wearing pink before. He wears pink, and he's not even gay...right?? More men should wear pink, it's a nice colour..." she then spoke at length about men wearing pink. It was weird 'cause I wasn't even talking about him or anything.
I don't think she'd have a clue who he is if it weren't for me liking him. She didn't even know about the symbol thing (it was fun watching her double over in laughter when she found out from Vh1's 100 most shocking moments in rock and roll). She doesn't really like him(she saw the celebrity justice report with his ex saying all that weird crap about him), but she likes some of his songs ("Diamonds and Pearls", "Venus De Milo"), but I don't really like her taste in music (she loves Daniel O'Donnel for one thing), so I kind of like it better when she doesn't enjoy his music. Whenever I tell her that I want to get something Prince related or see him in concert, she kind of freaks out as if I told her that I wanted to marry him and tells me that I shouldn't like a weird 45 year old so much. She thinks he's a freak, but recognizes that he's talented.
[This message was edited Sun Mar 14 15:01:50 2004 by Purpleone4Eva]

When I went 2 the 1st celebration my mom ask well is he cute I said no
he is handsome and she said I like Prince which shocked me. She called
last week and told how proud she is of him.

Purpleone4Eva said:

This is so familiar

Question2003 said:

There it is.

I think my Dad refers to him as " a poofy wee dwarf", cause it used to wind me up a couple of years back.

But he loves all his songs for other people- Manic Monday, When U Were Mine (Covered by Cyndi Lauper), Nothing Compare 2 u, so I think he secretly tinks he's ok

He likes a bag of shite anyway

Not too long ago, I asked my mom did she think that I would outgrow Prince. Her reply was yes. And being that she thought I was out of my mind when I told her I was going to Minnesota for the Celebration 2001. But, she sees that I am not. LOL! And when I was a kid I always used my allowance or any spare change to buy anything that had to do with Prince. I am greatful my mom allowed me to be me. I don't guess she has an opinion about his music. I am taking her to the Musicology tour when it rolls into Nashville. It will be her first concert of any kind and I can tell she is a tad bit excited to see Prince and what all the buzz is about. It'll be good for her to see that I am not the only one on the planet who enjoys his music.

I think my mom was shocked that someone actually replaced Michael Jackson as my fave. I was such a hardcore MJ/Jackson 5 fan during my pre-teen and teen years, it was scary. When Prince came along, I fell hard. Both MJ and Prince pics were plastered all over my walls, but in a very short time it was just Prince. Mom would ask what happened to Michael, and I'd go into my long, drawn out gushings over Prince and his music as only a teen girl can.
My mom was never into his music, but she never put him down, at least not in front of me. My brothers on the other hand, gave me nothing but grief about Prince. But then, they gave me grief about pretty much everything.

My older sisters actually got me into Prince. I was lucky to have them and lucky to have a mother that allowed us to have our privacy.

Just last year my mother heard Purple Rain and loves it. She makes people sing it during Karaoke parties.

She once told me a personal funny story when he bought his house in Canada. I was shocked when she told me I always wish I could share it but I promised I would never tell anyone.

Now my Nana says he's a strange one. She was raised JW and says anyone that can be a JW is off their rocker. She always puts MJ and Prince in the same catogory.

Much Love,
LoLinex

Although my mom doesn´t understand Prince´s lyrics since she doesn´t speak English there are lots of songs that she likes for sheer beauty of the melodies, she says. She has no problems with his high heels, make-up and daring hairdoes because I guess he reminds her a bit of Zeki Muren, her favorite singer who kind of had a very feminine, Liberace-like image and also used make up and mascara.
One song that springs to mind that my mom really likes is Diamonds and Pearls ...

It was only 2-3 years that i was like that. Playin MJ every hour of everyday. When i found some Prince music of my dads. I hadn't heard any of his music really apart from the big hits 1999, Kiss, Sexy MF etc. From then on though i now listen to Prince all the time and im still trying to collect everything he has done. My parents are very laidback with me. My mum and dad just let me get on with it. My mum is a very casual listener of music and is really what is classed as 'a single listener'. She does like some P, she says her favourite is 'Little Red Corvette'. My dad on the otherhand has over thousand vinyl and he has a number of Prince albums. He does like his music as he finds it interesting to listen to cause of the variety and depth of each song, but he does think he is wierd. I suspect my parents will think that i will outgrow P like i did MJ, but i can't see that happening his music is in a league of its own.

I got into Prince when I was 15 or 16 and still living at home. My mother and my sisters didn't really dig him. My brother liked some of his music. As the years went by and they realized it wasn't just a fad, they all respected my interest - even my grandmother. When she had read something about Prince in her gossip magazines, she'd tell me all about it.

I think they all thought I was a little crazy, travelling with my fellow Prince friends all over Europe to watch his live shows, rather than spending my money on something "sensible".

My family probably thought I was maybe a little too obsessed, but that's me. I obsess about everything.

And once, a couple of years ago, my mother asked me why I never brought up Prince anymore. I told her he had become a JW. She thought that was a real shame because she knew how much his music had meant to me. Man, I love my mother.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Well, it sounds like she was into Purple Rain, which is a pretty cool thing, huh? I would be curious to know what kinds of music my mother or father listened to if I'd lost a parent at an early age. I think that kind of thing can flesh out the memory of a person quite a bit....and what books they read, movies they liked, alla that. It's important stuff to know, I think.

I remember when I was like 9 years old, watching Midnight Special (or Don Kirschner, one of those cheezy '70s late night rock shows which I totally MISS these days) with my mom, and they showed Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover" video and we both freaked out at how weird he looked and how good the song was, and then we both completely forgot about the guy for a few years until 1999 hit, and it didn't even occur to us at first that it was the same person. A year later, Purple Rain hit, and for my 14th birthday my mom bought me EVERY Prince album up to that point, all The Time's albums and a couple of Prince 12" singles, and I spent the entire day of my 14th birthday listening to everything Prince had ever released, for the first time. I ain't been quite right since.

So I guess I owe all this craziness to my crazy mom, who raised me on good music and got me into loving good music at an early age. I shudder to think what could have happened to me if my mom had been like an Air Supply fanatic or something.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Reported!

althom said:

you're gonna report my dad? he's not even an orger!