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So…when is a soundtrack album not a soundtrack album? That’s the question with Batman, the 1989 album from Prince. As the story goes, initially the concept for Tim Burton’s Batman reboot was to have Prince contribute a collection of songs for one side of the album and Michael Jackson to contribute the other. A nice idea in funk-pop concept, but that idea soon fell by the wayside (and let’s face it, Jackson took his time to release anything, unlike the always prolific Prince.)

So as Prince dug in and started writing, he took the unique approach of writing songs from the perspective of the characters and sampled lines from the actors to enhance the tie-in. This led to songs like the gloomy funk of “The Future” being attributed to Batman, while his alter-ego Bruce Wayne is all seductive on “Arms of Orion” and contemplative on the skittish “Vicki Waiting.” Elsewhere, the Joker is allowed to run amok with the amped up “Electric Chair,” the manic funk of “Party Man” and the hyped up jam “Trust.”

It all comes together in the mega-beta-mix of “Batdance,” which even loops in the songs Prince originally wrote for the movie (“Rave Unto The Joy Fantastic” and “200 Balloons”).

Whilst Prince’s actual contributions that appeared in the movie were slight by comparison, and the official score was done by wunderkind Danny Elfman, this quasi-soundtrack album still manages to encapsulate the darkness and madness of Burton’s vision with a much funkier edge.

Batdance

Love the soundtrack of Batman

Wolfie87 said:

Scandalous is the maybe the main reason why my Prince golden timeline extends from 1978-1989. Not 1988. He sure could do that ethernal drum programming in maybe the most difficult time to do a timeless beat, the end of the 80's. That beat is fucking unbelievable to this day. I don't know how he worked his magic in the studio, but it sounds so good. The highly praised Babyface released Whip Appeal, and THAT sounds soooo 1989-1990 in production, Scandalous don't. In my personal top 3 Prince songs of all time.

Interesting point. With the onslaught of big reverb production (a la Taylor Dayne's producer Ric Wake), and that canned sound, it was almost too easy to make a memorable beat. We have to remember that Prince was writing this music during the Lovesexy Tour. So he was still in his 'golden era' while working on songs for the soundtrack. And Prince was still in the mode of doing something unique and different, and not following a trend. (However, I believe he sorta did with some of the GB remixes and outtakes, because they're all either a reverby hollow sound and/or what seems to be 160bpm; just manic.)

In fact, in my mind, I've always thought of Graffiti Bridge was a direction descendant of Lovesexy, with their pseudo-religious themes, and over-produced aesthetic (eg: the red metering on Lovesexy that Eric Leeds talked about). Batman almost felt like a pause in Prince's musical direction with Lovesexy and Graffiti Bridge. Batman feels more like it could've come right behind Sign O The Times. Darker mood, grittier production, etc.

So for me, Batman has as much strength in each song (minus one) as Sign O The Times. Of course they're different records, coming from different areas, but the muscle is all there. What's the minus one? "Lemon Crush" It just seems to blather on and on (not unlike this post HA!). It's not horrible, but I do tend to skip it a lot.

However, all the other songs are just as strong. Yes, even "The Arms of Orion," which I still don't fully get why people hate that song. It's my go-to on the piano to warm up. I used the intro of "I Love U In Me" as a bridge (faster tempo) years ago, in a song I wrote. It served as a good key change.

Batman's strength lies not just in great songs, but "Batdance" itself. It's a song but not a song. It's ... something. It's fun, though, and with the sheer hysteria around Batman the movie at the time, the soundtrack and a solid and fun track like "Batdance" helped bolster it to #1, I'm not surprised it's in the top 100 for Albumism.

TrivialPursuit said:

Yes, Lemon Crush is not the greatest track, but it's got some great programming on it.

I've always enjoyed this album and it's one that I return to more than others from the 80's. It was such a cool period, the videos, the album and singles artwork, good b-sides, Batdance just being bat shit crazy, The Scandalous Sex Suite release, and then the Batman songs played on The Nude Tour. Great stuff.

[Edited 1/10/22 2:38am]

mb71 said:

That soundtrack is my up there as one of my fav releases of his.

RODSERLING said:

mb71 said:

Yes, Lemon Crush is not the greatest track, but it's got some great programming on it.

I've always enjoyed this album and it's one that I return to more than others from the 80's. It was such a cool period, the videos, the album and singles artwork, good b-sides, Batdance just being bat shit crazy, The Scandalous Sex Suite release, and then the Batman songs played on The Nude Tour. Great stuff.

[Edited 1/10/22 2:38am]

While you're at it, can you explain me the point between Lemon Crush and the movie? In Dance with the Devil, this is obvious.

I have no idea. Each tracks relation to the film is not something I've ever been interested in. I get that it was a soundtrack of sorts, but I've never been into comic book characters, and I've still never even seen the film or been interested in it.
For me it was the new Prince album which just happened to have some pretty cool imagery attached.
Some people think Lemon Crush is just filler... I don't know.

mb71 said:

LoveGalore said:

"Lemon Crush" is the only track that seems like filler.I like the music and the groove,but the lyrics aren't very good.

SoulAlive said:

"Lemon Crush" is the only track that seems like filler.I like the music and the groove,but the lyrics aren't very good.

It has that WDC synth run in it, though.

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said:

"Lemon Crush" wasn't written for the movie so, like the other songs not written for Batman but used for the soundtrack anyway, any connection is tenuous and an afterthought. "Vicki Waiting" being the other obvious one. As well as "Scandalous" and "Electric Chair."

An afterthought of what? "Scandalous" can be heard twice in the movie. Even Elfman use it in his own soundtrack. "Electric Chair" is also heard on the movie, and fits well to the Jokers character. "Vicki Waiting" is obviously about Vicki Vale, Batman's loving lady. How else could you interpret these lyrics :

Do you really think this has nothing to do with Batman ? Even a cathedral is referenced in the 1st verse in the joke. The cathedral, just like in the movie. Amd who is the first person in the world who makes jokes, if not the Joker? But in "Lemon Crush" I don't see the reference at all. Is lemon because of the color of the bat-symbol? How silly would that be.

I think we're assuming that only songs like "Trust" and "Partyman" were written for the movie, and nothing else was. Clearly, that's not the case. We hear "The Future," "Electric Chair," "Scandalous" in there as well. Remember, Prince wrote "200 Balloons" and then had to go back and do another song because Burton didn't want that? Riffing on that note...

To say these songs were inspired by the movie, as noted on the album, is more than a fair representation of the music. Even in the lyric sheet, the songs are from any certain character's point of view. I don't believe they were after thoughts.

I believe Prince, being Prince and a machine, was churning out music left and right. Batman, in itself, certainly lends plenty of source material for a musician.

Burton, being a director with a vision, listened and used what he felt was appropriate for his movie, here and there. Just as he did with Elfman. One has to assume that Elfman, as well, wrote music that didn't make it into the movie.

"Vicki Waiting" isn't an afterthought to me. It could've been in there somewhere, but Burton didn't put it in. Clearly, Vicki getting stood up in the film is what made this song happen. She could've easily had the radio on with that song playing, just as a random thing. (Sorta like Mary having "I Wonder U" on the radio when in bed and calling Christopher.)

Remember that the Joker palm-zapped someone in one scene after Grisham died. Ergo, that's likely the inspiration for "Electric Chair." Just the idea in general. Not everything was that specific, but some things were.

For me, it's a reason the soundtrack is good. Not just because Prince did it, but because even the songs not in the movie had a tone about them, either an aural aesthetic or lyrical content, that reflected the storyline of the movie.

Not sure about that "Lemon Crush" thing with the Bat symbol. It was not the color of a lemon in the movie. The Bat symbol can be any color.

LoveGalore said:

The question is whether Lemon Crush, Anna Waiting, Electric Chair, and Scandalous were written for Batman. They were not.

I don't think "Lemon Crush" was written for any reason, just to be clear. HAHAHAHA

RODSERLING said:

TrivialPursuit said:

TrivialPursuit said:

LoveGalore said:

TrivialPursuit said:

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said: An afterthought of what? "Scandalous" can be heard twice in the movie. Even Elfman use it in his own soundtrack. "Electric Chair" is also heard on the movie, and fits well to the Jokers character. "Vicki Waiting" is obviously about Vicki Vale, Batman's loving lady. How else could you interpret these lyrics :

Do you really think this has nothing to do with Batman ? Even a cathedral is referenced in the 1st verse in the joke. The cathedral, just like in the movie. Amd who is the first person in the world who makes jokes, if not the Joker? But in "Lemon Crush" I don't see the reference at all. Is lemon because of the color of the bat-symbol? How silly would that be.

I think we're assuming that only songs like "Trust" and "Partyman" were written for the movie, and nothing else was. Clearly, that's not the case. We hear "The Future," "Electric Chair," "Scandalous" in there as well. Remember, Prince wrote "200 Balloons" and then had to go back and do another song because Burton didn't want that? Riffing on that note...

To say these songs were inspired by the movie, as noted on the album, is more than a fair representation of the music. Even in the lyric sheet, the songs are from any certain character's point of view. I don't believe they were after thoughts.

I believe Prince, being Prince and a machine, was churning out music left and right. Batman, in itself, certainly lends plenty of source material for a musician.

Burton, being a director with a vision, listened and used what he felt was appropriate for his movie, here and there. Just as he did with Elfman. One has to assume that Elfman, as well, wrote music that didn't make it into the movie.

"Vicki Waiting" isn't an afterthought to me. It could've been in there somewhere, but Burton didn't put it in. Clearly, Vicki getting stood up in the film is what made this song happen. She could've easily had the radio on with that song playing, just as a random thing. (Sorta like Mary having "I Wonder U" on the radio when in bed and calling Christopher.)

Remember that the Joker palm-zapped someone in one scene after Grisham died. Ergo, that's likely the inspiration for "Electric Chair." Just the idea in general. Not everything was that specific, but some things were.

For me, it's a reason the soundtrack is good. Not just because Prince did it, but because even the songs not in the movie had a tone about them, either an aural aesthetic or lyrical content, that reflected the storyline of the movie.

Not sure about that "Lemon Crush" thing with the Bat symbol. It was not the color of a lemon in the movie. The Bat symbol can be any color.

Partyman is originally from '82 or '83 or something (i'd love to hear the differences between that version and the Batman version) and 200 Balloons was a reworked song from '87 or so.

[Edited 1/10/22 23:49pm]

RODSERLING said:

LoveGalore said:

You guys really love arguing nothing at all.

The songs I listed were recorded well before he signed on for any Batman project. Some were on initial Rave tracklists. He was making music at the time and thought, oh cool I can bring these songs over here and tweak it like this to be relevant to the movie.

Yes. Fucking obviously you hear some of them in the movie. That's not the question. The question is whether Lemon Crush, Anna Waiting, Electric Chair, and Scandalous were written for Batman. They were not.

You could say that of every soundtrack in the world.
Of course some material was created before, that's not the point.
Even Partyman was created before, and you wouldn't have guessed it.

I don't know what s your point with Anna Waiting : it's neither in the movie, nor in the soundtrack.
Can you quote the lyrics from Anna Fantastic please, to say it was already talking about Gotham City and the Joker?

JorisE73 said:

Partyman is originally from '82 or '83 or something (i'd love to hear the differences between that version and the Batman version) and 200 Balloons was a reworked song from '87 or so.

I'm in!