Erotic City

Erotic City

"Erotic City ("make love not war Erotic City come alive")" is a song by the 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". The dance mix of "Erotic City" was released as a 3" and 5" CD single in Germany in 1989 and 1990 respectively. The artwork for the single features the same image of Prince that was used for the cover of "I Would Die 4 U", the extended version of which is the B-side of "Erotic City".

While delivering his speech prior to the induction of the Funk collective known as Parliament-Funkadelic into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May 1997, Prince explained that Erotic City was recorded directly after seeing Parliament-Funkadelic at the Beverly Theatre in Los Angeles in 1983.

The song starts with a guitar string plucked and whammied, before dropping into the drum track. The experimental number relies on a strong bass line and a simple keyboard riff in an arrangement heavily indebted to "White Horse" by Laid Back. The song features Prince's voice both sped up and slowed down at various times to sound like different singers. Also featured is Sheila E., in her recording debut, who would become a close associate with Prince and work with him extensively over the years. Even though the song was a B-side to a #1 hit, it received significant radio play itself.

The song was quite notable for its sexual references, and the use of the word fuck ("we can fuck until the dawn"), although people have claimed the word was actually funk, allowing it to be played on the radio. However, the Federal Communications Commission has in the past levied fines against stations that played the song for broadcasting allegedly indecent material, including KLUC-FM in Las Vegas, Nevada; KTFM in San Antonio, Texas; and KBZR (now KEXX) in Phoenix, Arizona.

"Erotic City" has been heard in the 1996 Spike Lee film Girl 6, and was re-released on CD on the Girl 6 soundtrack, and The Hits/The B-Sides in 1993.