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Batdance
"Batdance" is a song by American musician Prince, from the 1989 Batman soundtrack. It was released in June 1989 by Warner Bros. Helped by the film's popularity, the song reached number one in the US, becoming Prince's fourth American number-one single and served as his first number-one hit since "Kiss" in 1986.
"Batdance" was a last-minute replacement for a brooding track titled "Dance with the Devil", which Prince felt was too dark. (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 dialogue samples from the film, making it one of the earlier songs where Prince dabbled in sampling.
Jerry Smith from Music Week said, "With a mess of samples thrown in, it settles into a delicious funky groove that ends too soon. Sure to be massive and not only in Gotham City, Batfreaks!" Mike Soutar from Smash Hits wrote, "Granted, he sings on a bit of it, but for the most part all you can hear is that jing-jing-ka-jinga-jing guitar noise that Prince has been putting on most of his records since "Kiss". Over and above that there are what presumably are cut-ups of dialogue from the film, mad laughter and some demented screaming. Very odd indeed."
The song's accompanying music video was filmed on May 27 and 28, 1989 in Culver City, California. It was directed by Albert Magnoli and choreographed by Barry Lather, and featured dancers costumed as multiple Batmen, Jokers and Vicki Vales. Prince appears as a costumed character in face paint known as "Gemini", with one side of his face and costume representing the Joker (evil) and the other, Batman (good). This creation was also likely a nod to one of Batman's classic adversaries, "Two-Face", who also has his face split down the middle (with one side disfigured) and whose alter ego Harvey Dent had originally appeared in the 1989 movie, with the villain himself set to appear in later sequels.
The video starts with Prince receiving a transmission from Gemini where he makes a face. The Batman and Jokers alternate dance sections, while Prince (as both himself and Gemini) sings. 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.
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").
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Batdance
"Batdance" is a song by American musician Prince, from the 1989 Batman soundtrack. It was released in June 1989 by Warner Bros. Helped by the film's popularity, the song reached number one in the US, becoming Prince's fourth American number-one single and served as his first number-one hit since "Kiss" in 1986.
"Batdance" was a last-minute replacement for a brooding track titled "Dance with the Devil", which Prince felt was too dark. (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 dialogue samples from the film, making it one of the earlier songs where Prince dabbled in sampling.
Jerry Smith from Music Week said, "With a mess of samples thrown in, it settles into a delicious funky groove that ends too soon. Sure to be massive and not only in Gotham City, Batfreaks!" Mike Soutar from Smash Hits wrote, "Granted, he sings on a bit of it, but for the most part all you can hear is that jing-jing-ka-jinga-jing guitar noise that Prince has been putting on most of his records since "Kiss". Over and above that there are what presumably are cut-ups of dialogue from the film, mad laughter and some demented screaming. Very odd indeed."
The song's accompanying music video was filmed on May 27 and 28, 1989 in Culver City, California. It was directed by Albert Magnoli and choreographed by Barry Lather, and featured dancers costumed as multiple Batmen, Jokers and Vicki Vales. Prince appears as a costumed character in face paint known as "Gemini", with one side of his face and costume representing the Joker (evil) and the other, Batman (good). This creation was also likely a nod to one of Batman's classic adversaries, "Two-Face", who also has his face split down the middle (with one side disfigured) and whose alter ego Harvey Dent had originally appeared in the 1989 movie, with the villain himself set to appear in later sequels.
The video starts with Prince receiving a transmission from Gemini where he makes a face. The Batman and Jokers alternate dance sections, while Prince (as both himself and Gemini) sings. 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.
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").