I was searching the net and look what I came across..

What singer was originally asked to write and perform the songs for Batman?

Michael Jackson. Prince ended up doing the music because Jackson had to turn it down due to his concert commitments.


Now while I'm not sure if I believe this, due to the fact that Prince was signed to WB Records and Michael wasn't and WB made the Batman flick. However, if it is true, wow!!!!!

Anyone got the details...?

Souce/Website URL for Michael being first choice: http://www.daytondailynew...nquiz.html
[Edited 5/12/06 22:47pm]

It's true. Here's the tracklisting for the original Batman soundtrack, performed by Michael Jackson:

1. Batman in the Mirror
2. Bat (I'm Bat, I'm Bat, You know it)
3. Bat or White
4. Vicki Vale is Not My Lover
5. Batwalk
6. Dance with the Devil with my Pale White Face
7. B.Y.T. (Batman's Young Thing) The Robin Remix
8. Dangerous Sex Suite
9. Invincible Sex Suite
10. Historical Sex Suite

padawan said:

This was on earlier!

Anyway, I doubt that's true. I remember from Jack Nicholson's True Hollywood Story that it was his idea to get Prince for the soundtrack.

padawan said:

JasonStar said:

[Edited 5/13/06 3:23am]
[Edited 5/13/06 3:23am]

I have never heard that and doubt that it is true. For one, Batman is a Warners film and it is highly doubtful they would want an artist like Michael who was on a different record label.

Right from shooting the film, Tim Burton used, I think, 1999 and Baby, I'm A Star, to get the rhythm of the kind of music he wanted in those places, then Prince was later hired and those were replaced with Trust and Partyman. Plus, yes, Jack Nicholson was a fan of Prince's from the get-go.

Not sure if this is true, but apparently Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson both recommended / requested Prince to the Producers of the movie ??

I dont know how true that is but I remember reading it in an article back when the film was originally released.

Apparently Jack Nicholson is a bit of a prince fan on the sly !!!

Just noticed Metalorange said same thing about Jack in previous post !!!
[Edited 5/13/06 5:14am]

purpledisc said:

I'm not sure about MJ ever having been involved.

Prince became involved becuase Jack Nicolson was a HUGE prince fan at the time and insisted that they use 1999. When Prince was notified, he said that he would just record new material for them to choose from.

A few weeks later, he presents Tim Burton with pretty much an albums worth of music. Burtin didn't feel "200 balloons" and the "Original Batman Theme" fit the movie, so Prince recorded (I believe) Trust and Lemon Crush in their place (I could be wrong about Lemon Crush).

Anyways, Prince ended up provided all of the music for it, and it was dubbed the soundtrack to Batman to Danny Elfman's ire.

padawan said:

Imago said:

I wasn't far off the mark then !!!!! I am sure that Michael Keaton was quoted as liking Prince etc in relation to the movie and so on. I am older now and my memory gets worse everyday..

What happened to Bat to the Bone?

not true...however, mj was asked to do the soundtrack to Dick Tracy.

I also think that if Prince found out Michael Jackson was asked before him & turned it down... Prince would have not done the soundtrack.

JasonStar said:

Bullshit...
If you knew Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson you would know better...

Neversin.

metalorange said:

Correct!!

Neversin said:

If it is bullshit, don't call me on it. Call the webmaster of the site on it.

JasonStar said:

Umm, why would this make you so happy if it's true? Seriously, what would it mean

I heard that the original plan was for mj to one half of the album, and prince the other. Mj would have done the 'light side' and prince the 'dark side'. Has naybody else heard about this?

funkymunkey said:

nope..and being the huge Batman-The Movie fan who collected all sorts of memorabilia and article clippings me thinks I would have read one tidbit about this...

the film was a Warner Bros. film...Burton and Nicholson were fans...Burton used prince songs (before knowing which tunes would be used) while filming...They asked, he said yes and the rest is history...well, it was until some nutcase jacko fan decided to make his own history....or is it some nutcase tabloid mag?

As everyone else has already said...
this story is total fabrication.

Tim Burton never asked anyone prior to Prince to provide music for Batman.
In fact he wasn't originally gonna have anybody do any music for it other than
Danny Elfman. It was Jack Nicholson's idea to use Prince's music, and they
decided to use two tracks; 1999 and Baby I'm A Star. There was no intention of
using any more than just two 'pop' tracks in the movie, it was only cuz Prince
went overboard and ending up giving them a whole albums worth of material that
they added a few more tracks into the movie as well (as background music).
Filming was almost wrapped up before Prince was involved.

JasonStar said:

This I bet was a typical "Michael Jackson Jacko Stunt" which he would put out whenever someone else had success.. or wanting a quick Public Relations hit. We saw from 1984 - 2001 of this quick cheap "jacko stunts" & "quick hits for publicity"

Tim Burton wanted Prince for the album.

Now I heard that WB wanted Prince for the "Darkside" of the album & then they wanted MJ for the "Lighter side", which was the orginally idea for the album.

Before Tim did what he wanted to do. Tim was playing 1999 inbetween takes & if you watch Batman there is a TON of scenes that look like they were "shot for shot" takes from Purple Rain.

my two cents:
Tim Burton only wanted one or two songs from him to use in a scene or two. Prince misunderstood and goes off the deep end thinking he's doing the entire soundtrack and that his music is going to be used throughout the film talking about "this is my movie."

He has all his clothing redone with bat logos and everything.

Rather than upset him and tell him that's not what they wanted, Warners let him have his way and do the "soundtrack" because he was Warners' little darling. That's why the film has two soundtracks. (it does have two, right?)
well, i've been wrong before.

oh yeah, i'm right. i just read BorisFishpaw's post.. yup, that is correct.

alwayslate said:

And you are, it just has, like 99% of movies made, a "Soundtrack" and a "Score"...

Neversin.

Gee... I remember this like it was yesterday.(yeah sure...righht... even i don't beleive me) Being a huge comic book fan, a huge Prince fan and a film major in college at the time... I was all over this news.

Prince was one of several artist asked to do music for the soundtrack. Danny Elfman was doing the 'score'. However when Prince literaly delivered an album worth of material before really any one else had completed one track. He went with Prince's music for the whole soundtrack.

I also recall he added two tracks after the others... so its safe to assume what some has said concerning tracksaddedat the end is true.

Elfman became somewhat ticked when not only was Prince's 'soundtrack' music used in place of his 'score' during several scenes of the movie... the socre wasn't even released until after Prince's soundtrack. This caused some confusion since Prince's soundtrack was used very prominently in the movie versus the score... so peeps were like 'there was more music?'

padawan said:

padawan said:

LOL! "Bat bat really really bat. Hoo! Hee Hee. Ya Know."

I can see MJ dressed as Batman pointing at Jack/The Joker "Your cape is mine".....

I won't add any more song titles. It's easy to lapse into: "The Arms Of Ryan" or "Jordy Crush"." or (I Almost Got The) "Electric Chair"

[Edited 5/14/06 14:08pm]

Actually the batman soundtrack was recorded a mere 3weeks!!

If MJ was involved in the movie it might not have still come out till today

I remember hearing that the producers originally wanted Prince and Michael to compose songs for this movie.The idea was that Michael would write and perform five songs that reflected the "good" intentions of Batman,while Prince would write and perform five songs that reflected the "evil" intentions of The Joker.I recall reading this somewhere.

alwayslate said:

Years after the movie came out,Tim Burton has said that he was somewhat pressured by Warners to use Prince's in the film.He only wanted to use two songs.He didn't think that the movie needed alot of pop music.

DavidEye said:

Other orgers have mentioned this it seems (see above for exactly reference if needed.) Do any of you remember where you read it? This is news to me and would be so interesting to read about. It is a shame Michael and Prince both couldn't have made Batman albums and had it been a double album!