‘Batdance,' ‘The Perfect Drug,' and ‘Bohemian Rhaphsody'

I had ripped my Prince CDs to the new iPod and was listening to ‘Batdance’ and was comparing it to NIN’s ‘The Perfect Drug’ and Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhaphsody’ for sheer pop madness. All three of these songs feature an entire album’s riffs and bass lines in one track – it’s sort of like Sondheim where it changes tempo, signature and meter constantly. And none of these songs would have made it on a conventional committee-made pop/rock album.

The ‘Vicki Vale’ in the middle of Batdance funk remains one of my favorite Prince funk lines (along with ‘Get Off’ and ‘Undisputed’.). And though I tire of Prince’s falsetto slither – you can’t deny the crotch-power of his newest single ‘Black Sweat’.