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Batdance

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"Batdance"
Song
B-side"200 Balloons"

"Batdance" is a song by American musician Prince, from the 1989 Batman soundtrack. This was his most successful chart single, topping 7 in total. Helped by the film's popularity, the song reached number one in the US, becoming Prince's fourth American number-one single, and his first to achieve the feat of topping all 3 American charts since "Kiss" in 1986.

Song development

"Batdance" was a last-minute replacement for a brooding track titled "Dance with the Devil", which Prince felt was too dark. Incidentally, although "Dance with the Devil" remains unreleased, some of the lyrics appear in the album's liner notes.

"Batdance" is almost two songs in one—a chaotic, mechanical dance beat that changes gears into a slinky, funky groove before changing back for the song's conclusion (except on the single version in which it eliminates the guitar solo before the middle section, then goes straight to the mechanical Joker laughter from the end of the movie and an earlier movie soundbyte of Michael Keaton saying "Stop"). The track is an amalgam of many musical ideas of Prince's at the time. Elements from at least seven songs (some unreleased) were incorporated into "Batdance": "200 Balloons", "We Got the Power", "House in Order", "Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic" (later released on the album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic), "The Future", and "Electric Chair". Some of these were mere snippets, and other segments showed up only in remixes of the track. The song was also loaded with dialog samples from the film.

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Albert Magnoli and choreographed by Barry Lather, featured dancers costumed as multiple Batmen, Jokers and Vicki Vales.[2] Prince appears both as himself and as a costumed character in face paint known as "Gemini", with one side of his face representing the Joker (evil) and the other, Batman (good). The Batman and Jokers alternate dance sections, while Prince (as both himself and Gemini) sings the lyrics. The video ends with Gemini hitting a detonator, exploding an electric chair (referenced in the song), and Prince (actually Michael Keaton's voice) saying "Stop" as the video abruptly ends. The video also features one Vicki Vale wearing a black dress with the words "All this and brains too", a reference to The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller, in which a female news presenter wears a top with the same slogan.

Gemini is Prince's astrological sign, and is a reference to the duality in his music. "Gemini" would also make an appearance in the "Partyman" video, but this time the costume would be all-Joker. The video earned Prince a 1990 Soul Train Music Award nomination for Best R&B/Soul Music Video, and nomination for Best Video From a Film from the MTV Video Music Awards of the same year.

B-side

The B-side to the "Batdance" is "200 Balloons", which was recorded for the film and serves as the musical blueprint for the main portion of "Batdance". The song was rejected for the film by Tim Burton and replaced with "Trust". The lyrics of "200 Balloons" reference the scene which it was created for to a greater degree than the replacement track, which is only connected to the scene by the Joker asking "Who do you trust?" after the song ends. Prince did little more than replace the lyrics of "200 Balloons" in its transition into "Batdance". Only musical portions survived the transition, but full lyrics showed up in "The Batmix"(turn your head to the east, I be coming from the west). "200 Balloons" also contains samples of "House in Order" and "Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic";the latter was another song submitted for inclusion in the movie, but rejected (it was replaced by "Partyman").

Remixes

The 7" edit of the song is basically the album version without the guitar solo and the up-tempo part near the end.

The 12" vinyl and CD Maxi versions of the single included two remixes of "Batdance" that were done by Mark Moore and William Orbit, "The Batmix" and "Vicki Vale Mix". "The Batmix" focuses on the chaotic "rock" section of "Batdance", and is supplemented with electronic distortion and sampling of voices, instruments, and larger excerpts of Prince's then-unreleased "Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic". The "Vicki Vale Mix" is an extension of the middle part of "Batdance", which includes dialogue between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale. In addition to "200 Balloons", the CD Maxi single (9-21257-2) features both of these remixes.

In November 2013, an unreleased mix leaked online that featured a rap by Big Daddy Kane.[3]

Personnel

  • Prince – lead vocals and various instruments

Re-release

Prince was never allowed to include songs from the Batman album on his compilations. However, because of the song's chart success, it featured on te posthmous 4ever album.

Track listings

7" single
  1. "Batdance" (edit) – 4:06
  2. "200 Balloons" – 5:05
12" / CD single
  1. "Batdance – 6:13
  2. "200 Balloons" – 5:05
12" / CD maxi single
  1. "Batdance" (The Batmix) – 7:15
  2. "Batdance" (Vicky Vale Mix) – 5:55
  3. "200 Balloons" – 5:05
12" promo
  1. "Batdance" (The Batmix) – 7:15
  2. "Batdance" (The Batmix Radio Edit) – 4:09
  3. "Batdance" (Vicky Vale Mix) – 5:55
  4. "Batdance" (Vicky Vale Mix Radio Edit) – 4:13
  • Hot Chip's video for their 2008 song "Ready for the Floor" is an homage to Prince's "Batdance" video. The group's founder, Joe Goddard, explained, "'Batdance' was the first video I ever saw. [Prince's Batman music videos] had good visual ideas."[4] This would be Hot Chip's second tribute to Prince, in 2003 they released an EP titled Down with Prince.
  • Sir Mix-a-Lot sampled the "Vicki Vale" part of "Batdance" for the song "Beepers", from his 1989 album Seminar.
  • Comedy Bang Bang host Scott Aukerman has said that "Batdance" is his favorite song, on multiple occasions.[5]
  • The song was used for a dance/fight sequence in Mukul S. Anand's 1991 film Hum.
  • It also sounds In Girasolcita In the episode Evil Laugh Tiky Very Evil parodies then scared.

Charts

Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[6] 2
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[7] 17
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] 5
France (SNEP)[9] 5
Invalid chart entered Germany2 10
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 4
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[11] 1
Norway (VG-lista)[12] 1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[13] 5
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] 1
UK Singles (OCC)[15] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[16] 1
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[17] 1
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[18] 1

References

  • Uptown: The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince: Nilsen Publishing 2004, ISBN 91-631-5482-X
  1. ^ Uptown, 2004, p. 106
  2. ^ "Prince - "Batdance"". mvdbase.com. Retrieved 2011-01-02.
  3. ^ "prince batdance big daddy kane - Google Search".
  4. ^ "Features — Hot Chip: Which One Is Hot Chip?". ShockHound. Retrieved 2011-01-02.[dead link]
  5. ^ "Episode 95 - Natasha Leggero, Harris Wittels, Matt Besser". earwolf.com. Retrieved 2011-03-07.
  6. ^ "Prince – Batdance". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  7. ^ "Prince – Batdance" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  8. ^ "Prince – Batdance" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  9. ^ "Prince – Batdance" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  10. ^ "Prince – Batdance" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  11. ^ "Prince – Batdance". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  12. ^ "Prince – Batdance". VG-lista. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  13. ^ "Prince – Batdance". Singles Top 100. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  14. ^ "Prince – Batdance". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  15. ^ "Prince: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  16. ^ "Prince Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  17. ^ "Prince Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  18. ^ "Prince Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
August 5, 1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot Black Singles number-one single
August 12, 1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
August 19, 1989 		Succeeded by
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