"The Future" is a song from American musician

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 ...

's 1989 ''

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

'' soundtrack, and the final single released from the album. The single was not the album version, but a remixed version by

S'Express S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. "Theme from S'Express", which containe ...

Mark Moore Mark Moore (born 12 January 1965) is a British dance music record producer and DJ. He was founder of the dance / Sampling (music), sampling pioneers S'Express, and runs the London nightclubs, 'Electrogogo' and 'Can Can'. Biography Moore began ...

and

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

. "The Future" was released as a single only in Europe. The standard European 7-inch single was backed with the album version of "Electric Chair", but on the

maxi-single A maxi single or maxi-single (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

, "Electric Chair" was also remixed by Moore and Orbit. Moore and Orbit's remix of "The Future" is

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

-inspired, whereas Prince's original is minimalistic. Moore and Orbit substituted a muted, pulsating beat in place of the original elements of Prince's song. Moore and Orbit also removed Prince's original bassline, synthline, and snippets of sampled dialogue. This would be the last time Orbit would work with Prince for several years. In most countries, neither "The Future" nor its B-side were a hit on the pop or dance floors. The single peaked at #9 in the Dutch charts. The LP version of "The Future" features the sampled strings of

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorate ...

lifted from the then-unreleased 1986 track "

Crystal Ball A crystal ball, also known as an orbuculum or crystal sphere, is a crystal or glass ball and common fortune-telling object. It is generally associated with the performance of clairvoyance and scrying in particular. In more recent times, the cry ...

", and samples the

Sounds of Blackness Sounds of Blackness is a vocal and instrumental ensemble from Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota who perform music from several genres music including gospel, R&B, soul, and jazz. The group scored several hits on the ''Billboard'' R&B and Hot Dan ...

choir. The lyrics speak of a bleak future, recalling the fictional

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

location

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the cit ...

, and that it needs "spirituality that will last". "Electric Chair" was recorded well before the album concept had begun, being cut in June 1988. Despite this, it fits well into the theme of the film and evokes the Joker's madness. The track blends

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

with a loud, booming drum machine pattern, and aggressive bass and lead guitar wailing throughout. The bridge combines a funky, percussive bass line with a meshed guitar synth phrase. A raspy grunt from "Electric Chair" can be heard in the Underworld remix of William Orbit's "Water From A Vine Leaf" as well as some tracks from Underworld's

Dubnobasswithmyheadman ''Dubnobasswithmyheadman'' (stylised as ''dubnobasswithmyheadman'') is the third studio album by British electronic music group Underworld, released in the United Kingdom on Junior Boy's Own on 24 January 1994. It was the first Underworld album ...

, perhaps owing to Underworld's Karl Hyde serving as guitarist at Prince's Paisley Park in 1989.

Critical reception

Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' wrote, "A brilliant

remix of one of the best tracks on ''Batman'' by Mark Moore (

) and

. The track has been skilfully converted into an up-to-date dance floor number".

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "The Future" (remix edit) – 3:30 # "Electric Chair" – 4:13 * 12-inch / CD single # "The Future" (remix) – 6:25 # "Electric Chair" (remix) – 5:36

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

Prince (musician) songs 1990 songs 1990 singles Warner Records singles Batman music Batman (1989 film series) Songs written for films Songs written by Prince (musician) Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) {{1990s-single-stub