Batman (album)

Batman is the eleventh studio album by American recording artist Prince and the soundtrack album to the 1989 film Batman. It was released on June 20, 1989 by Warner Bros. Records. As a Warner Bros. stablemate, Prince's involvement in the soundtrack was designed to leverage the media company's contract-bound talent as well as fulfill the artist's need for a commercial revival. The result was yet another multi-platinum successful cross-media enterprise by Warner Bros., in the vein of Purple Rain. The album stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for six consecutive weeks, being his first number-one album since Around the World in a Day, while its lead single, "Batdance", became his first number-one song since "Kiss". It is certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

For the Danny Elfman musical score, see Batman (score).

Batman
Studio album / soundtrack album by
Prince
ReleasedJune 20, 1989
RecordedJune 1988 – March 1989
StudioPaisley Park Studios
Genre
Length42:52
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerPrince
Prince chronology
Lovesexy
(1988)		 Batman
(1989)		 Graffiti Bridge
(1990)
Batman soundtrack chronology
Batman (score)
(1989)		 Batman
(1989)		 Batman Returns
(1992)
Singles from Batman
  1. "Batdance"
    Released: June 8, 1989
  2. "Partyman"
    Released: August 25, 1989
  3. "The Arms of Orion"
    Released: October 16, 1989
  4. "Scandalous!"
    Released: November 28, 1989
  5. "The Future"
    Released: May 18, 1990

Production

The album was recorded in six weeks, from mid-February to late March 1989, and Prince used three tracks recorded earlier: "Electric Chair", "Scandalous!", and "Vicki Waiting" (originally known as "Anna Waiting", named for his then-girlfriend Anna Fantastic). Originally, the songs "1999" and "Baby I'm a Star" from earlier albums were slated to be used in the film, but Prince instead recorded an entire album's worth of material with Batman samples and lyrics. In a 2001 Rolling Stone interview, Prince revealed that the project was initially supposed to be a collaboration between himself and Michael Jackson: "Did you know that the album was supposed to be a duet between Michael Jackson and me? He as Batman, me as the Joker?" Prince would have sung funk songs for the villains, while Michael Jackson would have sung ballads for the heroes. This never came to fruition as Jackson was busy with the Bad World Tour and signed with Epic Records, while the film was a Warner Bros. production. The album was performed entirely by Prince, with a few exceptions: Sheena Easton duets with Prince on "The Arms of Orion", "Trust" features a sampled horn part by Eric Leeds and Atlanta Bliss, and "The Future" features strings by Clare Fischer sampled from the then-unreleased 1986 track "Crystal Ball" and samples of the Sounds of Blackness choir. "Batdance" includes a sample of Prince's technician Matthew Larson, and "Partyman" features the vocal performance of then-girlfriend Anna Garcia (credited as Anna Fantastic).[1] All dialogue sampled on Prince's Batman album is taken directly from a workprint of Batman and therefore lacks ADR and foley. This is especially noticeable in the beginning of the first track, "The Future", with dialogue of Michael Keaton speaking as Batman.

In the album's liner notes, the lyrics of each song are associated with one of the characters in the film: "The Future" and "Scandalous" are credited to Batman; while "Electric Chair", "Partyman" and "Trust" are credited to the Joker. "Vicki Waiting" is sung from the perspective of Bruce Wayne, while "Lemon Crush" comes from Vicki Vale; the two characters share the duet, "The Arms of Orion". "Batdance", whose lyrics consist mostly of samples from the film, is credited to all aforementioned parties, as well as Gemini, Prince's Batman-centric alter ego that resembles Batman villain Two-Face—Prince on the right half of the body and the Joker on the left. Prince himself is credited with singing two lines of the album as himself: "Who do you trust if you can't trust God? Who can you trust—who can ya? Nobody." in "Trust"; and the word "STOP!" which ends "Batdance" and the album proper (though the "STOP!" is actually a sound bite of Michael Keaton, directly from the film where he tells the Batmobile to stop.)

Batman also marked a change in Prince's appearance; he switched out frilly clothing, polka dots, lace, and controversial attire for a much darker and simpler attire, usually donning dark blue/black clothing and "Batman" boots. The artist's hair was also completely straightened from wavy curls, as shown in the "Batdance" video.

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[3]
Chicago Sun-Times[4]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[5]
The Guardian[6]
Los Angeles Times[7]
Q[8]
Rolling Stone[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[10]
The Village VoiceB+[11]

In 2016, film critic Matt Zoller Seitz praised Prince's songs and music videos for Batman, more so than the film itself, stating that his songs "suggest a goofy, perverse, sensuous, somewhat introverted Batman film that so far we've never gotten from anyone", and arguing that Prince's music videos "are more psychologically perceptive than any of the Batman films."[12][13][14]

In 2019, a Symposium took place to discuss the album[15]

Ownership complexities

Ownership of the Batman franchise is notoriously complex. Prince had to agree to sign the publishing rights to the songs used in the film over to Warner Bros.; Prince's hit singles from this album were not permitted to appear on any of his hits compilations until the 2016 release of 4Ever, which included "Batdance". Only the B-sides "200 Balloons", "Feel U Up", and "I Love U in Me" appeared on his 1993 The Hits/The B-Sides collection. On concert T-shirts which listed all of Prince's album titles to date, the song "Scandalous!" appeared in place of the album Batman. Despite this, Prince performed a number of the album's tracks in concert over the years. A 2005 special-edition DVD of the Batman film contains Prince's related videos as a bonus feature (although the video for "Partyman" is an edited-down version of the original 7-minute-long video).

Track listing

All songs written by Prince, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The Future"4:07
2."Electric Chair"4:07
3."The Arms of Orion" (with Sheena Easton; writers: Easton, Prince)5:02
4."Partyman"3:11
5."Vicki Waiting"4:51
Side two
No.TitleLength
6."Trust"4:23
7."Lemon Crush"4:15
8."Scandalous" (writers: John L. Nelson, Prince)6:14
9."Batdance"6:13

Personnel

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings
  1. "Batdance" (edit)
  2. "200 Balloons"
  3. "Batdance" (The Batmix) (maxi-single)
  4. "Batdance" (Vicki Vale Mix) (maxi-single)
  1. "Partyman"
  2. "Feel U Up"
  3. "The Purple Party Mix" (maxi-single)
  4. "Partyman" (music mix) (maxi-single)
  5. "Partyman" (video mix) (maxi-single)
  1. "The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton (#36 US, #27 UK)
  2. "I Love U in Me"
  1. "Scandalous!"
  2. "When 2 R in Love"
  3. "The Crime" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
  4. "The Passion" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
  5. "The Rapture" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
  6. "Sex" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi-single)
  1. "The Future" (Remix)
  2. "Electric Chair" (Remix)

Charts
Chart (1989) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 4
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 3
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[18] 1
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[19] 3
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[20] 4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[21] 2
Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[22] 5
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 2
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 1
UK Albums Chart[25] 1
US Billboard 200[26] 1
US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[26] 1
Chart (2016) Peak
position
US Billboard 200 61

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[27] Gold 35,000^
France (SNEP)[28] Platinum 488,100 [29]*
Germany (BVMI)[30] Gold 250,000^
Hong Kong (IFPI Hong Kong)[31] Gold 10,000*
Japan (RIAJ)[32] Gold 100,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[33] Gold 50,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[34] Gold 7,500^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[35] Platinum 100,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[36] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[37] Platinum 300,000^
United States (RIAA)[38] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References
  1. Alex Hahn (2003). "Possessed: The Rise And Fall Of Prince". Billboard Books.
  2. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Batman – Prince". AllMusic. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  3. Harris, Keith (June–July 2001). "Prince — Every Original CD Reviewed: Batman". Blender. New York (1). Archived from the original on August 20, 2004. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  4. McLeese, Don (June 19, 1989). "'Bat' dancing // Prince spreads his wings with hot movie soundtrack". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  5. Browne, David (September 21, 1990). "Purple Products". Entertainment Weekly. New York (32). Retrieved August 6, 2011.
  6. Price, Simon (April 22, 2016). "Prince: every album rated – and ranked". The Guardian. London. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  7. Willman, Chris (June 18, 1989). "Prince's Gotham City Batdance: Id and Ego". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 16, 2017.
  8. Bradley, Lloyd (August 1989). "Prince: Batman: Music from the Motion Picture". Q. London (35): 100.
  9. Pareles, Jon (August 24, 1989). "Prince's Personal Purple Soundtrack Side Trip". Rolling Stone. New York (559).
  10. Matos, Michaelangelo (2004). "Prince". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 654–57. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  11. Christgau, Robert (October 3, 1989). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. New York. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
  12. Matt Zoller Seitz [@mattzollerseitz] (October 8, 2016). "Watching Burton's BATMAN. Not a good film but many striking elements; like that it has full scenes, contrasting w/Nolan's trailer aesthetic" (Tweet). Retrieved October 19, 2016 – via Twitter.
  13. Matt Zoller Seitz [@mattzollerseitz] (October 8, 2016). "I wish Prince had directed at least one Batman movie. His BATMAN-themed videos are more psychologically perceptive than any of the films" (Tweet). Retrieved October 19, 2016 – via Twitter.
  14. Matt Zoller Seitz [@mattzollerseitz] (October 8, 2016). "Prince's songs for BATMAN suggest a goofy, perverse, sensuous, somewhat introverted Batman film that so far we've never gotten from anyone" (Tweet). Retrieved October 19, 2016 – via Twitter.
  15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPQQKHwGch0 Batdance30ATL Symposium Opening Keynote: Chuck Zwicky
  16. "Australiancharts.com – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman". Hung Medien.
  17. "Austriancharts.at – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman" (in German). Hung Medien.
  18. "Dutchcharts.nl – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  19. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
  20. "Charts.nz – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman". Hung Medien.
  21. "Norwegiancharts.com – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman". Hung Medien.
  22. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  23. "Swedishcharts.com – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman". Hung Medien.
  24. "Swisscharts.com – Soundtrack / Prince – Batman". Hung Medien.
  25. "Batman (OST)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 15, 2011.
  26. "Batman: Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums" at AllMusic. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  27. The ARIA Report. 1. ARIA. January 14, 1990. p. 19.
  28. "French album certifications – Prince – Batman" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  29. https://www.infodisc.fr/Ventes_Albums_Tout_Temps.php?debut=550
  30. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Prince; 'Batman')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  31. "IFPIHK Gold Disc Award − 1990". IFPI Hong Kong. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  32. "Japanese album certifications – Prince – Batman" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved September 11, 2019. Select 1989年9月 on the drop-down menu
  33. "Dutch album certifications – Prince – Batman" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. Retrieved September 11, 2019. Enter Batman in the "Artiest of titel" box.
  34. "New Zealand album certifications – Prince – Batman". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  35. "Sólo Éxitos 1959–2002 Año A Año: Certificados 1979–1990" (in Spanish). Iberautor Promociones Culturales. ISBN 8480486392.
  36. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Prince; 'Batman')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
  37. "British album certifications – Prince – Batman". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Batman in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  38. "American album certifications – Prince – Batman". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
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