The Joker’s blasting shitty muzak into the streets of Gotham City again? We’re on it, Commissioner!
The Nest wishes you another happy Monday the only way we know how… with a little forgotten song and dance from yesteryear! Yes, it’s time once again to dig up another musical gem out of that Batcave of retro awesomeness we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy’s got her classy Catwoman outfit on to dance to this week’s featured groove with, while the Sponkies work on another of The Ridder’s stupid ass puzzles. Dunna dunna dunna dunna….
If you read my blog enough, you’ve probably seen me rip on the formerly living artist that was formerly known as some random symbol before. I most recently did that when I named “Kiss” my 17th most iconic song I can’t stand in the countdown I do on that other day. I know Prince has millions and millions of fans worldwide who fall at his purple suede shoes… I’m just not one of them. For me, almost all of his biggest hits fall into the categories of OK, not very good, or “Holy fucking shit, will you stop playing that goddamn song already!?!?”
The meme is better than the song… and that isn’t saying much.
Prince’s ungreatest hits are some of the most overplayed songs on the radio today. Given that and my general dislike of his music, he’d seem to be the last artist I’d ever feature on the Dusty Vinyl Archive. But there is one 80’s hit from the Purple One that fits both criteria I demand for my DVA songs… I like it, AND it is not something you hear much if at all anymore. In 1989, Prince was asked to record a song for the soundtrack to the epic blockbuster movie Batman… as in the original of the four movie series that was raking in cash at a theater near you before superhero movies became a dime a dozen. Even I will admit that Prince is a musical genius, and he pulled out all the stops for the epic “Batdance”…
This isn’t quite the radio edit I came to know and love back in the day… but it’s still pretty damn good! And unlike a lot of 80’s videos that tried entirely too hard to look like Broadway musicals with their shitty synchronized dancing, the choreography in the “Batdance” is far from ordinary and boring, and could even be described as a bit unhinged. While I think 21st century corporate radio playlists need an enema… I’d gladly bear through the nonstop overplay of “Little Red Corvette” and “Raspberry Beret” if they’d actually play “Batdance” a few times a month…
For once, the purple squirrel isn’t the only good thing about my Prince posts…
Tune in next Monday as our heroes save the day again by rescuing another song The Penguin stole from the radio…
charismatic is the word created for Prince :O))) it’s so sad that he left our earth… but I hope his music is with us forever (not performed by another one uuuh)… I loved this video, all was arranged so properly, it is not just a video it is a movie by itself somehow ;O)
A movie within a movie, and I think Prince played all of the characters….
We love Prince. ❤ Awesome!!! XOXO – Bacon
Not really a Prince fan. Voice was too high for me in a lot of his songs. Plus the music sounds typical 80s. I love the Batman though! Now that is great!
I loved the 60’s TV series… though I haven’t seen it in probably 30 years or so. Not so much on comics or any of the movies, though, other than this song obviously…
We can watch Batman, the campy tv show, a lot here. We have MeTv & Antenna Tv & Retro tv and maybe one more. The song is a classic!
The Bartman…now that’s a great tune…
I’m sure it was. Never watched The Simpsons, and was the only one at high school not to wear a Bart shirt….
Umm…the video is more than slightly unhinged and sadly much like the artist. Definitely not your mainstream video.
Probably not something that would’ve aired on early MTV, but a sign of things to come…
You perplex me. I cannot in good conscience give this post a like.
Yes, I have standards. They might not be high and they might not be many, but I do have some…..
I seek to be entirely substandard…. even when I don’t know what the standards are in the first place. Vote your conscience, that’s what I always say….
My standards have nothing to do with Prince, it’s that I can’t like a Prince vid if it’s contained within a dis post. The perplexing part is your likes and dislikes in re: His Royal Badness.
I’m okay with this one. The annoying VIcki Vale, Vicki Vale part (I’m assuming it’s in the video version you embedded, since I didn’t watch it….ha!) is counterbalanced by Prince going Romero over Nicholson.
I was never a fan of Prince. Never even seen this video or heard this song before today. He was certainly skilled on the guitar. I liked it.
He was one of those artists that liked to play all of his own instruments, and I’m sure was skilled at just about all of them. That guitar solo was one of the things not included in the radio edit, so it was a bonus in the video….
I’m your perfect subject. I don’t remember anything Prince wrote. I don’t remember anything anyone wrote between 1978 and today. Well, I don’t remember the early stuff very well either, but at least I know I once upon a time had some memories. Time, oh time has washed them away. Most of what I remember is more than 50 years old … and amazingly, that’s long enough ago to make memory fuzzy. No, world, it’s not dementia. It’s just good, old-fashioned time.
There are so many lost songs from your time that could fill up a year’s worth of posts… but I don’t know many of them since I wasn’t around at that time. Every once in a while I’ll go pre-1975… I still have a few oldies I want to feature.
I had forgotten all about this song! Even reading the post didn’t bring back any recollection of it. Once the video started, it all came back to me and I can’t believe I couldn’t remember it. It was on the radio every day for awhile and it’s unique enough it seems like it would have made a more lasting impression. Thanks for the flashback!
Classic radio only chooses to remember Prince’s days with The Revolution… and this song got washed away with all of his solo and symbol work. It’s a much better dance song than “Kiss!”
Almost anything is better than “Kiss!”
I admit to having been a “most of the time” Prince fan. Some of his stuff was too noisy for me or just too “out there” but a whole lot of it – more of it in fact – I liked. This one I had NOT heard! Love the video though – this guy was just so danged talented. Master of all. It’s a shame his life was such a mess but musically speaking…..WOW.
Pam
Yeah, he’s a one man gang in this song and video! I wish this was played more, but I guess since it was very strongly tied in with a movie, it’s considered dated and sounds out of context 30 years later…
Wow! 1st time I’ve seen this, Wow is all I can say!
Wow!
Oookay. What the heck was that? Like a load of random noises stuck together with the occasional yell of “Batman” interspersed in the mix…
I’m going to your “songs you hate” post now, they’re usually more my thing!
That’s about all it is, but I like it for some reason…
For some reason dancing Batmans kinda freaked me out…