This day in 1988, April 23rd, we had our first listen to the 'saved' Prince, with Alphabet St pts. 1 and 2, and the 12", Alphabet St. (This Is Not Music, This Is A Trip).

What a great introduction to the new phase of Prince's journey. I didn't know Prince's music at the time (Batman roped me in), but I remember visiting my grandparents in Florida and seeing the Alphabet St. video on tv - it was a very cool experience, and my first Prince memory.

Who here was a fan already? What was it like experiencing Prince's Lovesexy period as it happened? Was Alphabet St. an instant-favorite for you? Was it 'not as good as his old stuff'? What was the SOTT/Black Album/Lovesexy transition like for you?

It was fantastic being in on the ground floor as it were.

I had been a fan since March 1 1985 so this was the third time that I had the pleasure of buying new product on day one. This was pre-internet as well of course, so news of new releases didn't come nearly as far ahead of the date as it does these days. I'd heard the track itself on the radio (Napster? Who needed it then?) and taped it (CD Burner? Who Needed.... I'll stop doing that now) and had listened to it over and over, but there was such a thrill to going out from School, down to my nearest recka stow and seeing them take brnad new vinyl out of the packing boxes it had just been delivered in.

I still have both the 7" and 12" as well as the Cassingle and of course the only recently invented 3" CD Single version which came with a little holder to make it 5" wide for people (like me) who'se CD player didn't have a special 3" groove in the tray.

So, yes, those were fantastic times, especially with such a cool and funky video.

Fellow UK readers may recall a show called "Night Network" which had a feature with a video review panel of 2 guests and the host. They would start the video off and each would have a plunger that they hit when they got bored of it / started to hate it. Once all three had plunged, the video would stop. "Alphabet Street" was the first video to make it right through to the end without any of the guests or the host plunging.

In contrast, this week I went into town to buy "Musicology" and (after a missfire because there was no disc in my first purchase!) I have only played it through end-to-end once. I like it and all, and it's a massive improvement on the recent material (i.e. anything since "Symbol") but I'm just not as engaged by it. Is it me getting older or the music just not moving me I wonder?

So, thanks Booyah for this little opportunity to take a trip down memory lane.

Misty

misty2k said:

Oh my god i'd completely forgotten about 'night network'!

misty2k said:

You're welcome . Thanks for posting - it's stories like this one that keep me coming back to the org.

And I'd forgotten that Alphabet St. was the first Prince CD-single! 16 years ago today! Very cool.

Alphabet Street was the first 12inch that I bought! Didn't have a cover, it was just in a transparent sleeve, is that the way they all were?

First heard Alphabet Street on the radio sitting in a car waiting for my mum to come out of the bank - it just blew me away, it was so fun and catchy.

The song that tipped the balance for me, after that I started buying Prince albums in earnest. I'd heard bits and pieces from Prince over the preceding years and really liked most of what I'd heard - got 1999 out of the library and taped it, my brother had Parade on tape which I basically stole off him I had it that long! Also loved Raspberry Beret. But then I started tracking down and buying Prince stuff whenever I could, and bought every album after that as it came out.

It was definately an awakening for me, musically.

Happy Birthday Alphabet St.!

I dug it from the moment I first heard it on the radio. Without the interenet, that was where you used to hear all the new music first.

The Lovesexy period was cool and exciting to go through, but up until he came to Denver with the tour, there wasn't much on him as far as what was going on. All of a sudden he wasn't in magazines very much, MTV played the "Alphabet St." video on a limited basis, I saw the "Glam Slam" video on MTV one time, and "I Wish U Heaven" on BET twice. VH-1 was about a year old at that time and only played "adult contemrary" videos. You'd have never seen Prince on VH-1 back then

I did hear about the tour and as soon as a radio station announced Denver, nothing was going to keep me from going. I camped out for tickets (ended up with 15th row), and met a good friend that night. On November 3rd, only about half of McNichols Arena was full... the whole upper deck was empty (yet this year he sold out the Pepsi Center... amazing).

Once the story came out that he was nude on the cover of the album, WalMart wouldn't sell it and the "commercial" flop that followed left alot of people scratching their heads thinking: "What is he doing?" But once the album made sense to me and I saw the show, I knew exactly what he was doing and I started buying anything (bootlegs) I could find. Got a video of the Dortmund show, a cassette of the Black Album and the rest as they say, is history.

At that point in my life, I liked "Sign 'O' The Times," but I fell in love with "Lovesexy." He may have flopped by the rest of the world's standards, but he became my all time favorite artist and musician with Lovesexy. It was a great time and a great year... I love '88.

booyah said:

My pleasure. Glad you liked my story.

I wrote that at work this afternoon, but I knew there was even more significance to that date. I've just checked my old concert tickets and 23 April 1988 was also the date that Morris Day played at Hammersmith Odean (called Hammersmith Apollo these days) in London.

I remember I went to see it with a couple of boys from school, Jason and Dave. We were 18, but even at that age, being allowed to go on a trip to London on our own was rare, especially as we were all going on the same Geography field trip the next day!

Morris put on a brilliant show, lots of glitz and those sharp suits. OK, the material was a little weak, but I'm pretty sure he played some material by The Time, so that was Cool. "C, Oh, Ooohh, Elle".

Oh happy days.