[dinero_rojo]

Ok, here’s something you probably don’t know. Prince’s album Purple Rain literally changed the face of music (at least in the US). All those Parental Advisory stickers on the front of albums with “explicit” lyrics are basically the result of Tipper Gore (Al Gore’s former wife) overhearing her daughter singing along to a track on that album, Darling Nikki (don’t listen to it without first listening to Computer Blue (one leads into the other)),in which Prince describes meeting the titular Nikki while she masturbates with a magazine in a hotel lobby.

Tipper wasn’t a fan of this, got together with some other senators’ wives, and now we’ve got those stickers everywhere.

[alexdunmow]

I often wonder how many artists ended up making explicit music simply to get that sticker. There's no doubt that it became a marketing ploy for artists. As an edgy teenager I was put off by albums that didn't have said sticker. What a time to be alive.

[bee_rider]

It is a great sticker: bold, all caps, tons of contrast. I think it would be really hard to fit more attention-gettingness in that little space.

[JohnFen]

Quite a lot. Frank Zappa had a ton of fun with it as well, putting his version of the notice on even his instrumental albums.

[NoZebra120vClip]

Even stranger: Prince was a devout Jehovah's Witness who regularly attended his local Kingdom Hall meetings, where he was known simply as "Brother Nelson".

I had been a fan since "1999" came out and I was surprised to learn this factoid upon his death. But it explains quite a lot about his career, not least the preacherman intro to "Let's Go Crazy".

[ycombinete]

He only became an Jehova’s Witness in 2001. He stopped performing these explicit songs, in live shows, thereafter.

[toyg]

I mean, "I Would Die 4 U" is very explicitly representing Jesus...