"Let's Go Crazy" is a 1984 song by

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. Th ...

and

The Revolution A revolution is a drastic political change that usually occurs relatively quickly. For revolutions which affect society, culture, and technology more than political systems, see social revolution. Revolution may also refer to: Aviation *Warner ...

, from the album '' Purple Rain''. It was the opening track on both the album and the film '' Purple Rain''. "Let's Go Crazy" was one of Prince's most popular songs, and was a staple for concert performances, often segueing into other hits. When released as a single, the song became Prince's second number-one hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and also topped the two component charts, the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

and

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

charts, as well as becoming a UK Top 10 hit. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

was the lyrically controversial "

Erotic City "Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" is a song by the musician Prince (musician), Prince. It was released as the B-side to the 1984 single "Let's Go Crazy" and the 12" version of the 1986 single "Girls & Boys (Prince song), Gi ...

". In the UK, the song was released as a double A-side with "

Take Me with U "Take Me with U" is a song by Prince and the Revolution, and the final US single released from their album, '' Purple Rain'' (1984). Background The song is sung as a duet with Apollonia Kotero, and was originally intended to be performed by Va ...

". Common to much of Prince's writing, the song is thought to be exhortation to follow

Christian ethics Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system: it is a virtue ethic which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, whic ...

, with the "De-elevator" of the lyrics being a metaphor for the Devil. The extended "Special Dance Mix" of the song was performed in a slightly edited version in the film ''Purple Rain''. It contains a longer instrumental section in the middle that includes a chugging guitar riff, an atonal piano solo and some muddled samples of the spoken word intro. This version was originally going to be used on the album but when "Take Me With U" was added to the track list, it was edited down to its current length. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called the song "one of the finest fusions of jump rock and synth pump." Following Prince's death, the song re-charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart at number 39 and rose to number 25 by the week of May 14, 2016. As of April 30, 2016, it has sold 964,403 digital copies in the United States. In 2013, British rock band The Darkness performed the song at the 44th Annual Rock Music Awards.

Musical style

The song was also notable for opening with a funeral-like

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

solo with Prince giving the "eulogy" for "this thing called life." The introduction's words are overlapped with each other on the single version. The song climaxes with a distinctive drum machine pattern and then features a heavy

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

outro leads,

electronic drums Electronic drums is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sound ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

and whirring

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

and a climatic drum outro. The song's percussion was programmed with a

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 ...

drum machine, an instrument frequently used in many of Prince's songs. The song is also known for its two guitar solos both performed by Prince.

Track listing

;7" Warner Bros. / 7-29216 (US) # "Let's Go Crazy" (edit) – 3:46 # "

" (edit) – 3:53 ;7" Warner Bros. / W2000 (UK) # "Let's Go Crazy" (edit) – 3:46 # "

" – 3:51 ;12" Warner Bros. / 0-20246 (US) # "Let's Go Crazy" (Special Dance Mix) – 7:35 # "Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" – 7:24 ;12" Warner Bros. / W2000T (UK) # "Let's Go Crazy" (Special Dance Mix) – 7:35 # "Take Me with U" – 3:51 # "Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" – 7:24

Personnel

Unless otherwise indicated, Credits are adapted from Prince Vault. *

– guitar, lead vocals *

Wendy Melvoin Wendy Ann Melvoin (born January 26, 1964) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Prince as part of his backing band The Revolution, and for her collaboration with Lisa Coleman as one half of the duo Wendy ...

– guitar, vocals * Lisa Coleman – keyboards, vocals *

Matt Fink Matt Fink (born February 8, 1958), better known as Dr. Fink, is a keyboardist, producer, and songwriter best-known for playing keyboards in Prince's band, The Revolution. At Prince concerts, he was distinguished onstage for performing dressed i ...

– keyboards, vocals *

Brown Mark Mark Brown (born March 8, 1962), better known by the stage name Brown Mark, also styled Brownmark and BrownMark, is an American musician, bassist and record producer. Life and career Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, Brown's early ...

– bass guitar, vocals *

Bobby Z. Robert B. Rivkin (born January 9, 1956), better known by the stage name Bobby Z., is an American musician and record producer, most known as being the original drummer for Prince's backing band The Revolution from 1978 to 1986. Life and ca ...

– drums, percussion

Charts and certifications

Charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Lenz v. Universal

In 2007, Stephanie Lenz, a writer and editor from

Gallitzin, Pennsylvania Gallitzin is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is bordered by Gallitzin Township and Tunnelhill, all of which sit astride the Eastern continental divide. Tunnel Hill and Gallitzin both are pierced by railroad t ...

made a home video of her 13-month-old son dancing to "Let's Go Crazy" and posted a 29-second video on the video-sharing site

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. Four months after the video was originally uploaded,

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

, which owned the copyrights to the song, ordered YouTube to remove the video enforcing the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or s ...

. Lenz notified YouTube immediately that her video was within the scope of fair use, and demanded that it be restored. YouTube complied after six weeks—not two weeks, as required by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act—to see whether Universal planned to sue Lenz for infringement. Lenz then sued Universal Music in California for her legal costs, claiming the music company had acted in bad faith by ordering removal of a video that represented fair use of the song. Later in August 2008, U.S. District Judge

Jeremy Fogel Jeremy Don Fogel (born September 17, 1949)San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...

, ruled that copyright holders cannot order a deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected "fair use" of the copyrighted material. In 2015 the court affirmed the holding that Universal was required to consider fair use before sending its initial takedown request.

References

* Uptown: ''The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince'': Nilsen Publishing 2004, {{authority control 1984 singles Prince (musician) songs Songs written by Prince (musician) Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Funk rock songs Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) 1984 songs Songs written for films