feeluupp said:

alandail said:

Batdance went Platinum in the US. Prionce only ever had 2 US platinum singles, When Doves Cry and Batdance.

The song was huge, as was the album, which sold 11 million copies.

all that information is incorrect.

You got that from Wikipedia which is wrong.

Prince had way more than 2 singles to reach Platinum, I won't name them all but KISS is another one that went platinum...

Also the BATMAN album did not sell 11 million copies. The only DIAMOND award Prince received was Purple Rain which sold over 13 million copies in the U.S. Alone.

The BATMAN album sold over 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and over 4.7 million copies world wide.

You're wrong about the singles. WDC and Batdance are indeed his only platinum certified singles in the US. Go to the RIAA's website or check a Billboard book..."Kiss", "I Wanna Be Your Lover", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "Partyman", "Thieves In The Temple", "Gett Off", "Cream", "7", and "TMBGITW" are all certified gold.

Guitarhero said:

namepeace said:

It was played heavily. Warners needed great promotion for Batman , its tentpole movie of 1989, and Prince needed to salvage his commercial viability after Lovesexy tanked in 1988, followed by a massive tour that didn't sell out.

"Batdance" was essentially a (great) commercial for the movie. But it was all over MTV and the radio for weeks. The album, extended singles and b-sides are pretty doggone good too.

USA only.

True enough. Which is why Prince increasingly took his extended tours across the pond in the 80s and 90s.

Still can't imagine why it was a hit - as other have said, was barely a song. I remember the video was played constantly.

It was played WAY too much. Once the whole "Batman" movie hype died down, the song vanished from the airwaves, never to be played again. Still, during the summer of '89, that tune got enough airplay for a lifetime

JediMaster said:

It was played WAY too much. Once the whole "Batman" movie hype died down, the song vanished from the airwaves, never to be played again. Still, during the summer of '89, that tune got enough airplay for a lifetime

That guitar lick, though.

The single BatDance has the BEST guitar solo of any single has ever released!

JediMaster said:

In Holland it reached nr. 4 in the Top 40.

thedance said:

What an amazing song (music is wonderful and I love the Jack Nicholson dialogue, and of course the fierce guitar solo..).

Batdance is 1 of Prince's best musicvideos too..

[Edited 3/6/16 18:23pm]

Hell yeah it is.

MendesCity said:

Still can't imagine why it was a hit - as other have said, was barely a song. I remember the video was played constantly.

It was a hit because of the movie, which was HUGE that summer. But you make a good point...the song was mostly instrumental, which was kinda risky on Prince's part, but it paid off, which is what makes that song so peculiar. All in all, it's still a hell of a groove though.

CharismaDove said:

For all of you who were there back in 1989, was Batdance even played on the radio?? Listening to the song now, I just can't imagine radio stations spinning this song and people actually listening to it all. I get that Batman was the hot topic of 1989, but unless you really loved either Batman or Prince (or both), how in the world did Batdance get any radio airplay? ... if it did at at all

If I understand you correctly, you're asking "How could such a unique, non-pop song get any airplay?" And it's a good question.

"Batdance" was indeed unlike anything on the airwaves back then, or even today. It's an amalgamation of sounds and samples, bonded together by some incredible music. The guitar solo is a great solo, and the change to the "Vicky Vale" section is almost like hearing music played sideways.

Had that been released without a popular movie to back it up, I don't know that it would have been played. But the "Batman" movie was a huge success and the fact that Prince was doing the soundtrack was top news for a long time before the movie release. So those things probably made it possible for "Batdance" to get the airplay it did.

To me, the most surprising thing isn't that it was played. It was that a song so unlike anything else was accepted by the public and hit #1 on the charts. The video got heavy airplay on MTV, too.

RodeoSchro said:

CharismaDove said:

For all of you who were there back in 1989, was Batdance even played on the radio?? Listening to the song now, I just can't imagine radio stations spinning this song and people actually listening to it all. I get that Batman was the hot topic of 1989, but unless you really loved either Batman or Prince (or both), how in the world did Batdance get any radio airplay? ... if it did at at all

If I understand you correctly, you're asking "How could such a unique, non-pop song get any airplay?" And it's a good question.

"Batdance" was indeed unlike anything on the airwaves back then, or even today. It's an amalgamation of sounds and samples, bonded together by some incredible music. The guitar solo is a great solo, and the change to the "Vicky Vale" section is almost like hearing music played sideways.

Had that been released without a popular movie to back it up, I don't know that it would have been played. But the "Batman" movie was a huge success and the fact that Prince was doing the soundtrack was top news for a long time before the movie release. So those things probably made it possible for "Batdance" to get the airplay it did.

To me, the most surprising thing isn't that it was played. It was that a song so unlike anything else was accepted by the public and hit #1 on the charts. The video got heavy airplay on MTV, too.

Kinda like "When Doves Cry". makes a great movie score writer.. His visions are so prolific & unque.

SPYZFAN1 said:

The short, radio friendly "pop" version was played to death on Top 40 radio.....The college radio staions used to play the regular version (w/ the guitar solo) and the R&B staions played the "stop the presses-funk" remix version only (minus the guitar solo and everything else)...It's funny because R&B radio did the same thing with the "funk w/out electric guitar" versions of Janet's "Black Cat" and EnVouge's "Free Your Mind".

Im not sure where you are from,but in the DMV all stations pop rock and rnb played the full versions of the track al the time

know your industry history.today wdc would have been double platinum.the standards were as follows.1million in sales you went gold.2 plus million u went platinum .this is for singles only and it changed in early 89 to the current status. most artists have since updated there certs,,but not prince.iwbyl,lets go crazy,purple rain and kiss all sold 1milion plus. and other songs like 1999,lrc,delerious,iwd4u,raspberry beret,pop life,sign o the times,u got the look,alphabet st would have went gold.oh the soundtrack sold much more than 4.7mill.it didnt do 11 but much more than 4.7mil

renfield said:

feeluupp said:

all that information is incorrect.

You got that from Wikipedia which is wrong.

Prince had way more than 2 singles to reach Platinum, I won't name them all but KISS is another one that went platinum...

Also the BATMAN album did not sell 11 million copies. The only DIAMOND award Prince received was Purple Rain which sold over 13 million copies in the U.S. Alone.

The BATMAN album sold over 2 million copies in the U.S. alone and over 4.7 million copies world wide.

You're wrong about the singles. WDC and Batdance are indeed his only platinum certified singles in the US. Go to the RIAA's website or check a Billboard book..."Kiss", "I Wanna Be Your Lover", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain", "Partyman", "Thieves In The Temple", "Gett Off", "Cream", "7", and "TMBGITW" are all certified gold.

[Edited 3/19/16 13:20pm]

http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa/charts_item.php?hsid=26116

Check out the link above. Samples of radio playlists at the time Batdance was receving airplay.

[Edited 3/26/16 9:42am]

SoulAlive said:

It was a massive radio hit.Our local R&B station even played the 12" remix all the time.

yes, i remember seeing the video on MTV too

Boy was I wrong about the success of this song

It's surprisng Partyman and The Arms of Orion (hate it or love it, it's goopy mainstream balladry) missed the top 10

I don't remember but didn't listen to radio much.

It did play a lot in my first car, on cassette 'Get the funk up' Good song for driving.