''Batman'' is the eleventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American recording artist

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

to the 1989 film ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

''. It was released on June 20, 1989, by

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. As a

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

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 ''Around the World in a Day'' is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the third release on which his backing band the Revolution is billed. It was released on April 22, 1985, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. ...

'', while its lead single, "

Batdance "Batdance" is a song by American musician Prince, from the 1989 ''Batman'' soundtrack. Helped by the film's popularity, the song reached number one in the US, becoming Prince's fourth American number-one single and served as his first number-on ...

", became his first number-one song since "

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

". It is certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA).

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 Anna Garcia, known professionally as Anna Fantastic, a name given to her by Prince, is an English singer. Early life Born in London to parents of Sicilian, British and American ancestry, Fantastic spent her younger years in London and t ...

). Originally, the songs "

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

" 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

samples and lyrics. In a 2010 ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' interview, Prince revealed that the project was initially supposed to be a collaboration between himself and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

: "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 Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

songs for the villains, while Michael Jackson would have sung

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

for the heroes. This never came to fruition as Jackson was busy with his

Bad World Tour Bad was the first solo concert tour by the American singer Michael Jackson, launched in support of his seventh studio album ''Bad'' (1987). The 123-show world tour began on September 12, 1987 in Japan, and concluded on January 27, 1989 in the U ...

and already signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

(the label he had been with since 1975), while the film was a

production. The album was performed entirely by Prince, with a few exceptions:

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress who achieved recognition in an episode of the reality television series ''The Big Time (TV series), The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to gain a ...

duets with Prince on "

The Arms of Orion ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

", "Trust" features a sampled

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

part by

Eric Leeds Eric Leeds is an American saxophone player, mostly known for his work with Prince (musician), Prince. He has recorded mostly music in the Pop music, pop and funk genres, but is a studied jazz musician.Cole, George.Eric Leeds: Interviews: The Las ...

and

Atlanta Bliss Matthew "Atlanta Bliss" Blistan (born c. 1952) is an American jazz trumpeter. He is best known for his work with Prince from 1985–1991. He won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the 1986 single "Kiss" by ...

, and "

The Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently e ...

" features strings by

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorat ...

sampled from the then-unreleased 1986 track "Crystal Ball" and samples of the

Sounds of Blackness Sounds of Blackness is a vocal music, vocal and instrumental ensemble from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota who perform music from several genres music including gospel, R&B, soul, and jazz. The group scored several hits on the Billboard R&B cha ...

choir. "

" includes a sample of Prince's technician Matthew Larson, and "

Partyman "Partyman" is a song by American musician Prince from his 1989 ''Batman'' album, and the follow-up to his number one hit, " Batdance". The song is one of the few on the album to be prominently featured in the film, accompanying the scene in which ...

" features a vocal performance from Anna Fantastic. All dialogue sampled on Prince's ''Batman'' album is taken directly from a

workprint A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture or television program, used by the film editors during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for ...

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 Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for an Aca ...

speaking as Batman. The producers originally wanted composer

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...

, who was responsible for the film’s score, to collaborate with Prince but Elfman declined as he already had the score’s vision and did not want to be a

music arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestratio ...

. In the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

, 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" and "Trust" are credited to the Joker. "Vicki Waiting" is sung from the perspective of Bruce Wayne, while "Lemon Crush" comes from

Vicki Vale Victoria Vale (usually called "Vicki") is a fictional journalist appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Her character often serves as a potential love interest, character in pe ...

; the two characters share the duet, "The Arms of Orion". "Partyman" was inspired by Prince's first meeting with

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...

(out-of-character) on-set. "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 An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

that resembles Batman villain

Two-Face Two-Face is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bob Kane, and first appeared in ''Detective Comics'' #66 (August 1942). He has become one of the superhero Batman's most enduring e ...

—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 In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

? Who can you trust—who can ya? Nobody." in "Trust"; and the word "Stop!" that ends "Batdance" and the album proper (though the "Stop!" is actually a

sound bite A sound bite or soundbite is a short clip of speech or music extracted from a longer piece of audio, often used to promote or exemplify the full-length piece. In the context of journalism, a sound bite is characterized by a short phrase or sentence ...

of Michael Keaton, directly from the film where he tells the

Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional land vehicle driven by the superhero Batman, used both to patrol Gotham City looking for crime and to engage in car chases or vehicular combat with the city's criminal underworld. The Batmobile is one of a suite o ...

to stop). The ''Batman'' era also marked a change in Prince's appearance; he switched out the elaborate costumes,

polka dot Red polka dots on a yellow background Alison Jackson wears a cycling_jersey.html" ;"title="Queen of the Mountains polkadot cycling jersey">Queen of the Mountains polkadot cycling jersey The polka dot, also written polkadot, and also called s ...

s and

lace Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is split into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...

from ''

Lovesexy ''Lovesexy'' is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. The album was released on May 10, 1988, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded in just seven weeks, from mid-December 1987 to late Jan ...

'' for much simpler attire, usually donning dark blue/black clothing and "Batman" boots. The artist's hair was fully straightened from his signature wavy curls, as shown in the "Batdance" video. A picture of the cassette soundtrack is used in the opening theme of the popular TV series "Mr D" (2012).

Reception

In 2016, film critic

Matt Zoller Seitz Matt Zoller Seitz (born December 26, 1968) is an American film and television critic, author and filmmaker. Career Matt Zoller Seitz is editor-at-large at RogerEbert.com, and the television critic for ''New York'' magazine and Vulture.com, as w ...

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". In 2019, a Symposium took place to discuss the album.

Ownership complexities

Prince had to agree to sign the publishing rights to the songs used in the film over to

; 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 ''The Hits/The B-Sides'' is a box set by American recording artist Prince. It was released on September 10, 1993, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album is a comprehensive three- disc set consisting of many of his hit sin ...

'' collection. On concert

T-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt, or tee for short) is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a '' crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shir ...

s 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 The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

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 seven-minute long video).

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from Jake Brown and Benoît Clerc

Musicians

– lead vocals , backing vocals ,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

synthesizers A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, music sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commerc ...

Roland D-50 The Roland D-50 is a synthesizer produced by Roland and released in April of 1987. Its features include digital sample-based subtractive synthesis, on-board effects, a joystick for data manipulation, and an analog synthesis-styled layout desig ...

, Wurlitzer 200 ,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, Dynacord ADD-One ,

LinnDrum The LinnDrum, often erroneously referred to as the LM-2, is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics between 1982 and 1985. About 5,000 units were sold. Development The LinnDrum was designed by the American engineer Roger Linn. It was ...

finger snapping Snapping (or clicking) one's fingers is the act of creating a snapping or clicking sound with one's fingers. Primarily, this is done by building tension between the thumb and another (Middle finger, middle, Index finger, index, or Ring finger, ...

zills Zills, zils, or sagat, also known as finger cymbals, are small metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells. In Western music, several pairs can be set in a frame to make a tambourin ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, tamborine , claps , Publison IM90 Infernal Machine ,

E-mu Emax The Emax was a line of samplers, developed, manufactured, and sold by E-mu Systems from 1986 to 1995. Sold alongside their more expensive Emulator II and III samplers, the Emax line was conceived after the release of the Akai S-612 and Sequen ...

E-mu Emulator II The Emulator is a series of digital sampling synthesizers using floppy-disk storage that was manufactured by E-mu Systems from 1981 until 2002. Although it was not the first commercial sampler, the Emulator was innovative in its integration ...

Ensoniq EPS The Ensoniq Performance Sampler (EPS) was one of the first few affordable samplers on the market. It was manufactured from 1988 to 1991 by Ensoniq in Malvern, Pennsylvania, US. The EPS is a 13-bit sampler and replaced the Mirage - widely regar ...

Linn LM-1 The Linn LM-1 Drum Computer is a drum machine manufactured by Linn Electronics and released in 1980. It was the first drum machine to use samples of acoustic drums, and one of the first programmable drum machines. Its designer, the American en ...

Simmons SDS-V The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer (notated as ''SDS-V'' on the following) was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by M ...

Christopher Fairbank Christopher Fairbank is an English film, stage and television actor, best known in the UK for playing Moxey in the comedy drama series ''Auf Wiedersehen, Pet''. Career In 2010, he appeared as a detective in '' Five Daughters'', and as Alfred ...

(as "Nick") – sampled vocals *

(as "

") – sampled vocals *

(as "

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' on ...

") – sampled vocals *

– choir *

– lead vocals *

Kim Basinger Kimila Ann Basinger ( ; born December 8, 1953) is an American actress. She has garnered acclaim for her work in film, for which she has received various accolades including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a ...

(as "

") – sampled vocals * Anna Garcia – spoken vocals *

Femi Jiya Fẹ́mi is a common Nigerian given unisex name of Yoruba origin which means "love me". Femi is most commonly a diminutive form of "Olufemi" (or Olúfẹ́mi) which means ''The Lord loves me'' ,("Olú" means Lord, Leader, or the "Prominent one," ...

– spoken vocals *

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

–

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

Robert Wuhl Robert Wuhl (born October 9, 1951) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series '' Arliss'' (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim B ...

(as "

Alexander Knox Alexander Knox (16 January 1907 – 25 April 1995) was a Canadian actor and writer. He appeared in over 100 film, television, and theatrical productions over a career spanning from the 1920s until the late 1980s. He was nominated for an Oscar ...

") – sampled vocals * Matthew Larson – vocals *

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel music, gospel singer and civil rights activism, activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers, of which she is the last surviving memb ...

– sampled vocals

Technical

Peter Guber Howard Peter Guber (born March 1, 1942) is an American film producer, business executive, entrepreneur, educator, and author. He is chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment. Guber's films have grossed over $3 billion worldwide and received ...

, Gary LeMel,

Jon Peters John H. Peters (born June 2, 1945) is an American film producer and former hairdresser. Early life Peters was born on June 2, 1945, in Van Nuys, California. Peters is of Cherokee (father) and Italian (mother) descent. While growing up in a ro ...

–

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

* Prince – producer * Femi Jiya –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

* David Friedlander, Heidi Hanschu, Eddie Miller, Chuck Zwicky – assistant recording engineers *

–

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orch ...

sample Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings

" (#1 US, #1 US R&B, #2 UK) #"Batdance" (edit) #"200 Balloons" #"Batdance" (The Batmix) (maxi single) #"Batdance" (Vicki Vale Mix) (maxi single) *"

" (#18 US, #5 US R&B, #14 UK) #"Partyman" #"Feel U Up" #"The Purple Party Mix" (maxi single) #"Partyman" (music mix) (maxi single) #"Partyman" (video mix) (maxi single) *"

" (#36 US, #27 UK) #"The Arms of Orion" with Sheena Easton #"I Love U in Me" *" Scandalous!" (US) (#5 US R&B) #"Scandalous!" #"When 2 R in Love" #"The Crime" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi single) #"The Passion" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi single) #"The Rapture" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi single) #"Sex" ("The Scandalous Sex Suite" maxi single) *"

" (UK/Germany) #"The Future" (Remix) #"Electric Chair" (Remix)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

*
Batman
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

{{Authority control 1989 soundtrack albums 1980s film soundtrack albums Albums produced by Prince (musician) Batman (1989 film series) music Batman film soundtracks Prince (musician) albums Prince (musician) soundtracks Warner Records soundtracks 1989 albums Albums recorded in a home studio Warner Records albums

Production

Reception

Ownership complexities

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

Technical

Singles and Hot 100 chart placings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Further reading

External links