6.23.24
Get the funk up!

Thirty-five years ago tonight, I did something I’d never done before. I went to see a movie on opening night. Then, over the weeks ahead, I saw it a few more times. I’d never done that before either.

I was 14 years old and caught up in the mania sweeping the nation. And given the intensity of that mania, I was able to convince my parents to drop me and a friend off at the local movie theater to see Tim Burton’s Batman. 

I was out-of-my-mind excited. 

Part of that excitement was driven by my burgeoning interest in comic books. The other was driven by Batdance, the lead single off the movie soundtrack, which was performed entirely by Prince. Batdance was (and is) an absolute banger and was the song of the summer for me back in 1989.

Before it was a thing, Batdance was a mashup, combining elements from most of the songs on the soundtrack. It was a feverish combination of sounds and ideas, competing for the soul of the listen in the same way Batman and Joker fought for the soul of Gotham. And the repetitive choir singing “Batdance” recalled the lighter sounds of the Batman TV series. In that sense, it wasn’t just a mashup of music, but a mashup of memories. 

I went a step further with my Batdance appreciation, purchasing the cassingle on top of the entire soundtrack. Some nights I’d throw that thing in the tape deck and just let it go on repeat for a while, cycling again and again through the A side and B side (200 Balloons, which was fine). 

There’s been a fair amount of buzz about the 35th anniversary this year. I’m not sure why year 35 hits harder than year 30, but I’m not complaining. The other day I found myself in an amazing comic book shop (Bigfoot Comics in Belleville, Ill.; totally worth a visit if you’re in the area), and I happened upon a copy of the Batman novelization. I used to own a copy, but over the years it went somewhere. So I took it upon myself to buy the one in the shop. 

Just picking the book up, Batdance started playing on my internal jukebox, and I smiled. Which was appropriate.

As Jack Nicholson’s Joker said 35 years ago, “If you gotta go, go with a smile.”

Thanks for coming back to the Cosmic Jukebox. It’s good to be back.