Be honest--

Here's the range:

1. Just starting out to dig Prince music (you almost gotta be under 10 years old for this one, based on just his reputation/history alone).

2. Thinks having The Very Best of Prince pretty much summarizes everything you need to own by Prince.

3. Loved all the songs from the Purple Rain era. Been waiting for this kind of tour to come along to get back into Prince.

4. Got into Prince somewhere around 1999, kinda went elsewhere somewhere after Diamonds and Pearls. Owns a Prince T shirt

5. Always been a big Prince fan, attended a few concerts..can sing along to most of his commercial hits...more knowledgeable than the average joe on the corner. Saw Graffiti Bridge in a movie theater. Owns the Hits/B-sides.

6. Have every major release Prince has distributed (WB/Paisley Park/NPG). Will go to above average lengths to attend a concert. Can recite 95% of the songs on major released albums.Bought Crystal Ball from a record store (not NPGMC). Knows most pseudonyms Prince has used to write songs for other artists. Turns up the radio when you hear a Prince song even though you have 3 copies of it at home (single, maxi-single and album)

7. Own more than 5 bootleg cd's BEFORE you could download off the internet. Own a copy of "Small Club". Joined NPGMC when it went down to $25. Can name 90% of Prince's band members. Bought Side project albums/cd's just because Prince had involvement with it. Own NPS/Come2 My House/ GCS 2000. can recite lines of dialogue from PR, UTCM, SOTT and GB at will. Get defensive when veryday people say bad things about Prince (gay,washed up,loonie etc)

8. Joined NPGMC in the first 2 years ($100); have a Prince/Lovesign tattoo on your body. Spends virtualy everyday checking with Prince.org. Used to Sleep outside venues overnight to score concert tickets (before the internet). owns every b-side single (Not from the hits/b-sides). Stayed in his corner during the "slave" years.

9. Have virtually every bootleg available...knows inside story to Roadhouse Garden and other "scrapped" projects. Can tell you the year a song was recorded before it was remastered and put on a different a cd. Have gone to other cities to see Prince in concert . Been to Paisley Park on one of those late night jam sessions. Bought Possessed by Alex Hahn(hardback). get into heated debates with people you don't know/will never meet in chat rooms about Prince matters. call radio stations around your area to play new Prince songs even though they won't

10. Attended "Celebration/s". Owns every release ever put out by Prince, including imports/bootlegs, EP's...etc. Flew across countries to see a Prince concert (like England to USA). have every Prince television appearance/video saved on video tape. appeared in more than one Prince project as a spectator (Aladdin DVD/Musicology video/Art of musicilogy). You've been to see multiple nights of the same tour in different cities. Seriously thought about buying a cloud guitar.

**Don't lie....you can be a 5.5 or an 8.5**
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:00:30 2004 by meltwithu]
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:42:06 2004 by meltwithu]
[This message was edited Thu May 20 8:10:06 2004 by meltwithu]
[This message was edited Thu May 20 9:01:03 2004 by meltwithu]
[This message was edited Thu May 20 9:11:37 2004 by meltwithu]

can I use something in the negative integers?

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10.....

I'M A 7.5

DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING,BUT I KNOW SOME THINGS.

PRETTY BALANCED OUT

Ummm, why must you own bootlegs to be a larger fan?

guess that makes me a 6.5

I'm a huge fan. That's why I avoid bootlegs. Not knocking anyone else, but I can't do it with a clear conscience. but i listen to them ok there i admitted it!
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:12:51 2004 by adorable2]

Not sure really. 8...i'm not a member of the club, i do have a love symbol tattoo though and i did sleep outside wembley arena for nude tour tix. 9...i don't have every boot(very few actually)but i have been to another city to see a concert(paris). Somewhere in the middle i'd say.Oh and i went to NYC to see Graffiti Bridge in a theatre. Actually that's a lie...i just happened to be there on holiday when it was playing!!
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:50:11 2004 by polkadotsuit]
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:58:26 2004 by polkadotsuit]

6. But in eastern europe (Estonia), i'd be 10, because in here I've done everything posssbile to own his music (you don't find them in local store, you get tehm from Milan, Stotckholm, Helsinki, amazon) and go to concerts (he comes here 3 times in a decade). Boots - I wouldn't buy them even for 1 euro each, I respect artists for their work, and I want them to get paid for it. Maybe we should rate loyalty towards Prince's opinions about music industry and legal business?

I'm 8.5ish although I'm too much of a wimp 2 get the tattoo done

7.5...a big fan but don't have the money to be a mega-fan...own all the major works and 12-15 bootlegs...own majority of 12 inch singles (can't play the anymore because I don't have a record player)...seen him three times live (drove 100 miles for one concert) and paid premium price all three times...joined NPGMC first year, let membership expire, joined again for $25.00...saw UTCM and Grafitti Bridge at the movie theater (that should be good for something)...check Prince.org everyday and keep up religiously with sales, chart rankings.

Dunno, going by your wacky system of rating. I'm up there though (though i'd say i'm a fan not a fam!). Nearly all official releases (missing a few 12inch singles), most of the associated artists, a truckload of bootlegs, been to every tour in the UK since Lovesexy, have a dumbass symbol tattoo and also can bore a person to death with my fair share of useless, pointless mind-numbing prince trivia.

I try not to though!

.
[This message was edited Thu May 20 7:52:43 2004 by Marrk]

i flew from glasgow to minneapolis for the 2001 celebration myself on one days notice!!!!i guess that makes me a ten although im not interested in many bootlegs.

I'm a 5.5. So does that make me the worst fan here or am I above the mad monkey?

I suppose I must be a 7.5

No tattoos, no sleeping outside venues though.

I used to keep a scrap book of all things princely when I was 14 (1988) - sad confessions thread!

Dazza said:

Wow... then I'd have to say I am a 4 w/o a t-shirt, but hopefully will move up

I can claim elements all the way from 6 to 9, but didn't see Graffiti Bridge in the theater. You tell me.

8.75...very close to a 9.

8.5

Which is probably as close as you can getin Europe ...

But NOT the tattoo !

i just kind of started this thread to gauge the average Prince fan in here. By this rating i'm probably bout a 6 or 7 myself. Never heard of Roadhouse Garden til I started looking in here. Would have never heard of half the songs i have on my hard drive if it weren't for WINMX. Didn't join the NPGMC until it went down to $25. Never even thought about going to Celebration. Bought maybe 6-7 bootlegs at $25-75 a pop. Seems most people are right in the middle of the ratings...4-8...which means you really dig Prince but you got other things going on in your life too than seing the same tour 12 times.

omnithanos said:

DUde, I'm a 4....and damn proud of it !


We'll move up....

Ymaginatif said:

Yea I mean, I dont have the tattoo...but came close to getting it one silly day. I can say Im a 6-8.75...edging to a 9...

I would say 4.5, although I don't have a t-shirt cuz they're ugly, and I'm waiting on a sponsor for my tattoo.

99999. No celebration, No overseas to see Prince. I did drive 3 days in a blizzard back during the ActII tour, though. From Ohio to DC it took 3 days. We caught 3 shows though. The last one at Warner Theatre downtown DC, it was Awesome!!!!

Plus i am flying to NYC for a show in July. Although that was an excuse to vacation in NYC this summer.
[This message was edited Thu May 20 9:37:52 2004 by bonnie184]

I'm bout a 4.5. Huge prince fan in the years 81-85. (posters on the wall, wearing buttons in highschool, debating the mj lovers that prince was/is the better musician)

i fell off after ATWIAD, i think the novelty of having prince 2 myself wore off after the whole world jumped on board after the Rain.

i never did cross the Bridge. (until recently of course)

i've always defended him as an artist all the way even when i wasn't listening 2 him as much. i jumped back on the late 2002 and have been playing catchup ever since. damn i missed alot
well...better late than never

I am around an 8. However I do not own any 12inch or bootlegs. I have drove from Knoxville, TN to North Little Rock Arkansas to see Prince. I have seen 7 concerts to date and my mother and I have matching Love Symbol tattoos on our backs.

Going by your rating system, I'm about a 7.

...don't have a Prince tattoo (yet), and I unfortunately haven't seen him live.

GottaLetitgo said:

I can identify with most of this. I would also say I'm a 7.5. I don't have many of the 12-inches, though, and I'm just recently getting more into the bootlegs. I saw PURPLE RAIN in the theatre, let alone the other two...

I feel like I'm a bigger Prince fan than this scale measures me at, but I'm satisfied with being a 7.5. I don't have the time and money to ever follow him around on tour, but I am seeing him 3 of the 5 nights in Chicago (and I've only seen him twice live so far, both in Chicago).

Quite simply, being a Prince fan requires too much TIME, MONEY and SPACE. I give as much as I am able of all three, and that's all I can give!

...it's definitely my favorite hobby...and to this day I still itch to get that tatoo!

Keith/Kacey

Uhhhmm....definitely a 7....had to give away GCS 2000 though....that crap was awful...
[This message was edited Thu May 20 12:39:05 2004 by paligap]

-I saw Graffiti Bridge 5 times the first day it was in theaters...(took a day off work, paid for the first show and just stayed for the rest of them--not easy since there was no crowd to blend in with. Saw it 5 more times until it disappeared from theaters a week later. I guess if I were a real fan I would have paid for each of the viewings...)

-My pet's name is inspired by Prince, but my spouse isn't aware of it because of its obscurity...

-I can ruin any normal conversation with my friends by turning anything they talk about into a Prince connection...

-When we found out we were pregnant, my spouse said I would have to give up my Prince room for the baby, since it's a bigger room than our computer room.*

-I often woke up in the middle of the night, racked with indecision as to where I should file "The Black Album" chronologically--1987 or 1994? (It changed positions weekly.)

-I bought an "original" Black Album CD (rationalized that I could afford it because I don't drink or smoke like my friends) just to file between Sign 'O' The Times and Lovesexy so I could keep the "official" release in 1994...[but do I keep it between "Come" and "The Gold Experience"? Does "The Beautiful Experience" get filed here with the albums, or with the singles? Does "Exodus" (and the other "NPG" releases) get filed here or on the "Associated Artists" rack with Madhouse and Sheila E.? Does Sheila E. get filed under "S" or "E"? Should I keep the artists with cover tunes only (like Sinead O'Connor, Art of Noise, and Chaka's "I Feel For You") mixed in with those with original Prince compositions (like Kenny Rogers, Stevie Nicks, and Chaka's "Sticky Wicked")? Where should I hide Tyka Nelson's releases?]

-I own "local only" releases by a Pittsburgh group called "The Billy Price Band" just because Eric Leeds and Matt Blisten were in the group, years before their involvement with Prince.

-I seriously contemplated purchasing a Najee CD. **

-When I discuss with my Prince buddies which titles Prince has used more than once (like "Girl"), we always get into the same heated discussion of whether to count "7", since it was spelled out on the Madhouse album. (And do spelling differences--like "Get/t Off" and Newpower/New Power Soul--count?)

-I tell people I'm a Jehovah's Witness.***

-While I pass the time in the shower by listing all of Prince's songs in my head in chronological order as they appeared on the albums, I always include the parenthetical thought after D.M.S.R. "and 'Free' was here on the cassette release."****

-I get calls from people I don't know that well saying "Prince is on Leno tonight!"

-I no longer get calls from people I do know well telling me that "Prince is on Leno tonight!"

-People greet me by telling me about the last time they heard Prince mentioned.

-I've watched an edited and commercial-filled network showing of "Under The Cherry Moon" just to share the experience with the rest of the world. *****

BUT...

-I don't get defensive when everyday people say bad things about Prince. (If they're "misinformed", I try to inform them...if they're trying to piss me off, I piss 'em off more by not getting pissed off.)

-I don't have a Prince tattoo. (I'll be able to remove my symbol belt buckle when I'm old.)

-I don't call radio stations to play Prince songs.

-I've never flown anywhere to see a Prince concert. (If it's not within driving distance--24 hours each way--I haven't gone.)

So I guess that makes me a 6!*****




*As it turns out, my daughter's stuff fits just fine in the ex-computer room.

**Maybe not "seriously" contemplated...

***Actually I've been doing this for years before Prince became a JW...I do it so I don't have to buy people birthday presents.

****For shower purposes, I only usually include 1998's "Newpower Soul", and not the other NPG releases. And I usually omit "Girl 6" and "Kamasutra" when I'm running late for work.

*****And I've almost completely gotten over feeling personal embarrassment over the Bela Lugosi face.

*****I so badly wanted to be a 7 or a 3.19