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Thread started 10/27/17 8:29am

SoftSkarlettLo
visa

What is it about the "Erotic City" song that makes it a fan favourite?

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?

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Reply #1 posted 10/27/17 8:46am

mdmeridius

I don’t know man, but I’ve never been more compelled to move by a song than Erotic City.
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Reply #2 posted 10/27/17 9:06am

callimnate

avatar

It's funky as fuck. That's why! wink cool
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Reply #3 posted 10/27/17 9:43am

OldFriends4Sal
e

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

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Reply #4 posted 10/27/17 10:15am

AnnaSantana

That nasty ass bassline.
I don't argue with people about my opinions. Scram. I said what I said.
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Reply #5 posted 10/27/17 11:21am

pdiddy2011

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.

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Reply #6 posted 10/27/17 12:57pm

kygermo

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.

Get in your mouse, and get out of here!
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Reply #7 posted 10/27/17 1:24pm

soladeo1

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!!!

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Reply #8 posted 10/27/17 1:32pm

emesem

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]

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Reply #9 posted 10/27/17 1:38pm

kingricefan

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

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]

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Reply #10 posted 10/27/17 1:41pm

mdmeridius

kingricefan said:

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



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]



Hahaha. You can believe that if you want to, but the handwritten lyrics prove it’s fuck.
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Reply #11 posted 10/27/17 1:48pm

laurarichardso
n

SoftSkarlettLovisa said:

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?


—Funkier then an old sock stuck in two week old collard greens.
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Reply #12 posted 10/27/17 2:20pm

214

It's infectious, wicked and so much fun.

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Reply #13 posted 10/27/17 2:27pm

2045RadicalMat
tZ

avatar

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

♫"Trollin, Trolling! We could have fun just trollin'!"♫
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Reply #14 posted 10/27/17 2:35pm

FlyOnTheWall

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

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Reply #15 posted 10/27/17 3:28pm

Germanegro

avatar

What makes the song hype?

The whistle-ready keyboard melody.

Prince's treated vocals.

The percussion beat swinging with the rhythm guitar.

wildsign

eye , eye , eye ...erotic citaaaay yeah!

wildsign

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Reply #16 posted 10/27/17 11:08pm

TKO

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

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Reply #17 posted 10/28/17 12:05am

farnorth

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?

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Reply #18 posted 10/28/17 2:44am

HatrinaHaterwi
tz

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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!!!

yeahthat

I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart.
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Reply #19 posted 10/28/17 2:45am

HatrinaHaterwi
tz

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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 yeahthat

I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart.
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Reply #20 posted 10/28/17 2:52am

HatrinaHaterwi
tz

avatar

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. lol

I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart.
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Reply #21 posted 10/28/17 2:55am

dreamshaman32

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I believe it's all of the above. On a personal level my friends and I thought it was a coded reminder to the hardcore base that he was still a subversive force.It was the b side to LGC his huge pop hit from a mainstream vehicle.
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Reply #22 posted 10/28/17 3:57am

KoolEaze

avatar

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. wink 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.

" I´d rather be a stank ass hoe because I´m not stupid. Oh my goodness! I got more drugs! I´m always funny dude...I´m hilarious! Are we gonna smoke?"
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Reply #23 posted 10/28/17 8:38am

Bluu

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]

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Reply #24 posted 10/28/17 8:40am

Bluu

U got that right. highfive

.

mdmeridius said:

kingricefan said:

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

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

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Reply #25 posted 10/28/17 8:41am

rdhull

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Because it was the best White Horse rip off.

"Climb in my fur."
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Reply #26 posted 10/28/17 11:17pm

paraded

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]

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Reply #27 posted 10/29/17 7:45am

muleFunk

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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. lol

biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin biggrin

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

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Reply #28 posted 10/29/17 10:57am

herb4

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.

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Reply #29 posted 10/29/17 10:59am

herb4

rdhull said:

Because it was the best White Horse rip off.


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

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