I love the song "Erotic City". The melodic composition is contagious. A lot of fans regard it as up there of Prince's greatest songs. However, I was suprised to discover it was only a B-side to one of his Purple Rain singles.

I have a lot of favourite Prince songs, but most of them are vastly unknown to the public. "Erotic City" is quite underground but one of the more well known underground tracks.

What makes the "Erotic City" song a fan favourite? The composition, duet of Prince and Sheila A, the lyrics?

the sparsness of it, when i first heard it -the time of the day

there is just enough there that makes me want more

because I can see if they did a video for the song it would be in the Kids

bedroom set and that visual is how the song looks to me

Such an incredible bassline and infectious groove. It sounds so different from anything else you'd ever heard but made EVERYONE head to the dance floor.


Also, especially in the early years of play, Erotic City seemed like the epitome of what your parents or adults wouldn't want you to listen to! Erotic City seemed like a track that would lead you down the wormhole to depravity - absolutely forbidden fruit.

Easy: It's funky. Great, clever lyrics, sing-along melodies. It contains one of his finest bass lines as well. Also, because simply put...it's fucking COOL. It's easily one of his most badass songs, hands down.

EROTIC CITY is also wickedly ahead of it's time. This song was recorded in 1983 for heavens sake - a time when LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS and HOLIDAY were cutting edge dance songs!!!

Cause it says "fuck" and "cherry" and because it had that cool Camile voice before it was cool and he called it "Camile"

[Edited 10/27/17 13:33pm]

It's says 'funk' in it, not 'f*ck'.

emesem said:

Cause it says "fuck" and "cherry" and because it had that cool Camile voice before it was cool and he called it "Camile"

[Edited 10/27/17 13:33pm]

kingricefan said:

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

It's infectious, wicked and so much fun.

It was fun. funky, and dirty for a time that didn't have anything like that.

It's also strange and quirky. (Camille like vocals)

the beat is very repetitious (sonically that gets in peoples head's and memory - which is why a song like YYZ by RUSH isn't a dance classic)

Also, people grew up with it as the b side of a hit single from a great rock movie.

ALSO also, people prob got laid to it/with it...or it helped them get laid

I agree with everything said. I think folks love the Shiela E piece, too.

What makes the song hype?

The whistle-ready keyboard melody.

Prince's treated vocals.

The percussion beat swinging with the rhythm guitar.

, , ...erotic citaaaay yeah!

I agree, this song was really ahead of its time.

Erotic City is absolutely brilliant. In addition to the devastating baseline, there are so many little touches, like at the end when Sheila's voice goes deeper while P is doing Camille. It is historic; is there any other B-side in music history that received as much serious radio air time?

soladeo1 said:

EROTIC CITY is also wickedly ahead of it's time. This song was recorded in 1983 for heavens sake - a time when LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOYS and HOLIDAY were cutting edge dance songs!!!

emesem said:

Cause it says "fuck" and "cherry" and because it had that cool Camile voice before it was cool and he called it "Camile"

[Edited 10/27/17 13:33pm]

And

It was off the chain, incredibly unique and spoke of fucking 'til the dawn before a great many of us were even fucking at all yet.

pdiddy2011 said:

Such an incredible bassline and infectious groove. It sounds so different from anything else you'd ever heard but made EVERYONE head to the dance floor.


Also, especially in the early years of play, Erotic City seemed like the epitome of what your parents or adults wouldn't want you to listen to! Erotic City seemed like a track that would lead you down the wormhole to depravity - absolutely forbidden fruit.

Well, it is one of my favorite Prince songs and it does sound unique, however, remember that the Danish group Laid Back had released their club hit White Horse prior to Erotic City, so maybe it does not sound THAT different. By the way, there was a promo single of When Doves Cry with a Laid Back song as the b-side (not sure if it was White Horse).

But I agree with what you wrote. Erotic City was pretty controversial for its time, at least in the USA.

In Europe it was one of his biggest club bangers to date, and it is still a song that makes the 35 plus crowd hit the dance floor immediately.

I also liked the look of the 12" a lot, with that pinkish wallpaper, the font and that long title (Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive). That long title gimmick was also used for 17 Days and back then I really liked that, and still do.

And of course there´s the infectious bassline, the nursery rhyme style chorus, the way the song starts. It´s a song that I still love just as much as I did back in 1984. Never gets boring.

That BASS.

That GROOVE.

That MUSIC.

That ATTITUDE.

THAT FEELING THAT THE SONG GIVES YOU.

.

"Erotic City" slapped you in the face and woke yo ass up, forced you to pay attention! It sounded like Prince, as fans and the world were fast coming to know him and his new musical style in 1984, but it sounded so strikingly different from what was on the radio. It shook you. Got you on your feet and made you move. Whether you agreed with the subject matter or not--the song did not care nor ask you for your opinion--you were going to MOVE. EC came to slay.

.

"Erotic City" took no prisoners and issued no apologies. Emblematic of Prince's approach to his craft.

.

.

[Edited 10/28/17 8:49am]

U got that right.

.

mdmeridius said:

kingricefan said:

It's says 'funk' in it, not 'f*ck'.

Hahaha. You can believe that if you want to, but the handwritten lyrics prove it’s fuck.

Because it was the best White Horse rip off.

Here's why: the song contains more risktaking than any other to that point in his career. Even more than WDC.

The plucked, detuned high notes were new terrain. The sped-up duck-voice vocals and basso profundo weren't there to set up Prince's classic voice -- they were the actual entrees. A sexy, at the time unidentifiable female singer as the main chorus voice -- was this even a Prince record? -- having a blast celebrating the ambiguity of language. The railroad train-conjuring "woah-woah." The whirring, brielfy sustained synths in the chorus that are the only notes that last for more than a beat or two. The sinister bassline -- portending 100mph -- that flattens everything.

To me, Erotic City is the sequel to Uptown. And it fulfills its promise.

[Edited 10/29/17 20:22pm]

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

It was off the chain, incredibly unique and spoke of fucking 'til the dawn before a great many of us were even fucking at all yet.

Made you want to find out about fucking til the dawn.

The bass, the beat, the deep vocal delivery, the keyboard riff, the stripped down nature of it, the layering...

It's practically the textbook defnintion of "The Minneapolis Sound". Raw and funky and oozing in sexuality. What a great track.

I think it's amazing that Prince released an entire album of great songs with "purple rain" and still had 2 b-sides laying around that were as good as anything on that masterpiece.

rdhull said:

Because it was the best White Horse rip off.

Never thought of that but that's a good point.