Prince and the Bat

In this episode of The Violet Vault, host Ava Cyr explores the fascinating story behind Prince's 1989 Batman soundtrack—an album that became far more than just a movie tie-in. Discover the surprising original plan to pair Prince with Michael Jackson, the mysterious "Gemini" character Prince created to embody both Batman and The Joker, and the hidden meanings behind the album's character-based songwriting. Ava also dives into Prince's relationship with actress Kim Basinger, the original inspiration for "Vicki Waiting," the unrealized collaboration with composer Danny Elfman, and how the chaotic brilliance of "Batdance" became an unlikely number-one hit. Join us as we uncover the creative vision, behind-the-scenes stories, and lasting legacy of one of the most unique and ambitious projects in Prince's legendary career.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

The first time Ava Steer heard Prince was the day he passed. At 12 years old, she sat in her room listening to Purple Rain, and something in her changed. Now, years later, that moment lives on through the Violet Vault, a podcast exploring Prince's legacy, his music, and the world he created. Join Ava Steer as she opens the Vault. One story, one era, one purple mystery at a time.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hello and welcome back to the Violet Vault. I'm your host, Ava Steer, and today we're talking about one of the most fascinating and honestly one of the strangest albums in Prince's catalog, his 1989 Batman soundtrack. Now on paper, it kind of sounds like an odd pairing. Prince and Batman. But actually, Prince was a huge Batman fan. He actually learned the theme song back on the piano way back in his younger days. But not only did the the pairing work, it became one of the biggest albums of his career, and it gave us one of the wildest number one hits of the 80s with Bat Dance. But what's really interesting is everything that happened behind the scenes. There were some huge ideas that never happened, secret characters Prince invented, a Hollywood romance, and an album that's much more connected to the movie than most people realize. So let's head back to the year 1989. By this point, Prince really didn't have much left to prove. He'd already released 10 studio albums, won an Oscar for Purple Rain, and had just finished the Love Sexy Tour. And he was known for doing things his own way, usually creating entire worlds around his own music. And that's what makes Batman so different. This was actually the first time Prince got involved with a major motion picture that wasn't one of his own projects. And instead of making a movie around his music, he was actually stepping into someone else's universe, which was Tim Burton's Gotham City. Now, here's one of my favorite what if stories from the album. So the producers knew that this was going to be a big movie. Back in those days, superhero movies weren't coming out every other year like they are today. It had been, I believe, 20 years since the last Batman movie had been made, so they wanted this film to be big. And they originally didn't want just Prince. They wanted both Prince and Michael Jackson. And honestly, the idea was pretty brilliant. So since the movie was built around Batman and the Joker, Prince would have handled the music for the villains, which would be more funky, interesting, theatrical songs that fit the Joker perfectly, and Michael Jackson would have written the emotional ballads for the heroes. And honestly, I think that soundtrack would have been incredible. But Michael Jackson passed on the project. Most sources say that it was because he was assigned to Epic Records and this was a Warner Brothers project, and because he was finishing up the bad tour. But instead of simply taking over everything, Prince came up with a completely different concept. He invented the character called Gemini. And if you don't already know, Prince is a proud Gemini. He was born on June 7th, which is Gemini season. And Gemini was basically half Bruce Wayne and half Joker. They were two personalities living inside one person. And once you know about Gemini, you can't unsee it. So go and watch the Bat Dance video or Party Man. Prince is constantly switching personalities, acting refined one second and completely unhinged the next. And he's not really playing Batman and he's not really playing Joker, he's playing both. And that idea carried over into the album itself. And one thing a lot of people don't notice is that several of the songs are actually credited to different characters instead of Prince. The Future and Scandalous are credited to Batman, while Electric Chair and Party Man and Trust belong to the Joker, and Vicky Waiting is credited to Bruce Wayne, Lemon Crush belongs to Vicky Vale, and The Arms of Orion is shared between Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale. It's almost like Prince created a musical diary for almost every major character in the film. And around this time, Prince's personal life was changing too. And while visiting the Batman set, he started dating the film star Kim Basinger, and their relationship became one of Hollywood's biggest celebrity stories for a while, and Kim would eventually record music with Prince after Batman. But she wasn't the only important person in Prince's life during this period. Singer Anna Fantastic was also very close to him creatively. And in fact, Vicki Waiting wasn't even supposed to be called Vicki Waiting. Originally, Prince wrote it as Anna Waiting, which was inspired by Anna Fantastic. And when he adapted the song for Batman, he simply changed the focus to Vicki Vale. And it's one of those little details that shows how Prince often recycled ideas from his personal life into his art. And another interesting behind-the-scenes story involves Danny Elfman. So kind of once the Michael Jackson and Prince combo deal fell out, the producers hoped that legendary film composer would actually collaborate with Prince on the soundtrack. But Danny Elfman ended up declining because he figured he'd only be arranging music and he wouldn't have much creative control over the project like Prince would. And so most of the album was entirely produced by Prince, as with most of them. Except for The Arms of Orion, which was a duet with Sheena Easton, and there was also a few other additional musicians that contributed. And believe it or not, Bat Dance, which is the song that most people remember, was actually recorded last for the album. And maybe that's fitting because it feels like Prince is throwing every idea he had into one six-minute song. I mean, there's rock guitars, rap, dance music, movie dialogue, character voices, tempo changes. It's complete chaos, but somehow it works. And it became a number one hit. And I think that's only something Prince could pull off. When Batman was released on June 20th, 1989, it became Prince's 11th studio album, and it was a massive success. It shot straight to number one on the Billboard 200 and stayed there for six weeks. And that was actually a lot better than what people expected it to be. They just thought it would be some movie soundtrack. And instead, Prince turned it into one of the defining albums of 1989. But as big as Batman was, Prince was already looking ahead. And that's just how he worked. He never stayed in one place creatively for very long, and the ideas he was developing during this period would soon evolve into Graffiti Bridge, which was another project where music, characters, and storytelling all blended together. And his vault of unreleased songs just kept growing, and his relationship with Warner Bros. would eventually become more complicated. And before long, Prince would begin another major reinvention that would define the next chapter of his career. So while Batman is remembered as one of the biggest superhero movies ever made, it's also an incredibly important moment in Prince's story. It showed he could step into someone else's creative world without losing what made him unique. And he didn't just make a soundtrack, he created characters, invented mythology, and somehow made Gotham City sound like Minneapolis. And honestly, I think only Prince could have done that. So thank you so much for tuning into the Violet Vault today. If you liked what you heard, be sure to check out our support page and our show notes. And don't forget to like and follow both our Instagram and Facebook pages to stay updated on new content. I hope that you continue to join me next week as we further explore this purple journey. I'm your host, Ava Spear, Peace and Be Wild.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

The Violet Vault is hosted by Ava Steam, celebrating the sound, style, and spirit of prince. Subscribe wherever you find your podcasts and follow the Violet Vault on Instagram and Facebook for new episodes and bonus stories.