# Question about The Artist Formerly Known As Prince **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708 "2015-03-22T20:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/21 "2015-03-23T20:36:25Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I know that you’re making a joke but I have been to many hundreds of concerts over the last three decades and I have plenty of pre-1993 Ticketmaster stubs have symbols on them. But were those standard symbols that were in use or a one-off custom symbol that had never been seen before? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/22 "2015-03-23T22:24:29Z")
I don’t know if it was before using \*“The artist formerly know as…” \*moniker but soon after he changed it when MTV News did a story referring to him they would flash the symbol on the screen and play a short audio cue of a loud clanking metallic sound. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/23 "2015-03-23T22:58:32Z")
More of a windchime effect, as I recall. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/24 "2015-03-23T23:05:25Z")
Obligatory Simpsons Reference: It was 1984. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince was currently known as Prince. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/25 "2015-03-23T23:10:04Z")
In the Eminem song “Without Me”, the lyric “ever since Prince turned himself into a symbol” is followed by a metallic ringing that reminds me of a sword being drawn. :eek:😛 ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/26 "2015-03-24T02:43:29Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > That makes no sense at all. Do you honestly think that 1993 technology was so rudimentary that they couldn’t print a symbol on a concert ticket? Totally ridiculous. Here’s a randomly picked ticket from google imaging\* ticketmaster ticket\* [![](https://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/images/ticketexist.jpg) ](https://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/images/ticketexist.jpg) looks more or less like every ticket I’ve ever gotten via ticketmaster. Also looks incredibly basic and as if, indeed, there would be no way to get bizarre symbols not in the ascii character set on it. Also, it’s from 2007. So there is something totally ridiculous here, but it’s what you think they could have done in 1993. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/27 "2015-03-24T03:45:39Z")
I remember that at the time, the BBC called him “Symbol” ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/28 "2015-03-24T04:02:15Z")
The new name provided for the nice anagram “no first-rate workmanship recently”, found by the Anagram Genius guy. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/29 "2015-03-24T04:06:34Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Here’s a randomly picked ticket from google imaging\* ticketmaster ticket\* > > [http://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/images/ticketexist.jpg](http://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/images/ticketexist.jpg) > > looks more or less like every ticket I’ve ever gotten via ticketmaster. Also looks incredibly basic and as if, indeed, there would be no way to get bizarre symbols not in the ascii character set on it. > > Also, it’s from 2007. > > So there is something totally ridiculous here, but it’s what you think they could have done in 1993. They got better [apparently](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oDCv5Dsn_x4/SXBJnK0asfI/AAAAAAAAAA8/E3dOdcurGDo/s1600/PRINCE+ticket.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/30 "2015-03-24T04:13:10Z")
I always suspected that he stole the symbol from [Dr. Seuss’s additional letters](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d2/Seuss_Letters.GIF/375px-Seuss_Letters.GIF)from _On Beyond Zebra_. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708/31 "2015-03-24T04:58:46Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > They got better [apparently](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_oDCv5Dsn_x4/SXBJnK0asfI/AAAAAAAAAA8/E3dOdcurGDo/s1600/PRINCE+ticket.jpg). Nitpick: That’s not a Ticketmaster ticket. I used to work for Ticketmaster, around the time mentioned. Their ticket printers were old dot-matrix printers, designed in the interest of speed and reliability instead of beauty. I’d imagine you could load a custom font on them, but I doubt Ticketmaster would do it for anyone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-artist-formerly-known-as-prince/715708.md?page=1)