1984 · Behind the Songs
It was the flip side of “Let’s Go Crazy” — and the moment Sheila E. stepped into Prince’s world.
In 1984, the B-side of “Let’s Go Crazy” carried a subtitle — “Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive” — and a song that refused to behave like a throwaway. Written and produced by Prince and credited to Prince and Sheila E., “Erotic City” was recorded between March 25 and April 4, 1984, at Sunset Sound in Hollywood. It was Sheila E.’s recording debut alongside Prince.
Prince later said he cut the track right after seeing Parliament-Funkadelic — a remark he made at his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in May 1997 — and the influence is audible in the song’s rubbery funk and chant-like pulse. The original ran 3:55; the dance mix stretched to 7:24. The song also resurfaced as the B-side of the 1986 twelve-inch single “Girls & Boys.”
The song’s explicit content made it a target: the FCC fined radio stations in Las Vegas, San Antonio, and Phoenix for playing it. But the groove outlasted the controversy. “Erotic City” resurfaced on The Hits/The B-Sides in 1993, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic re-recorded it for the 1994 film PCU, and in 2022 Rolling Stone placed it at number 135 on its “200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time” list; Slant ranked it 33rd on its own dance-songs list in 2020.
The personnel was minimal — Prince on vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, Oberheim OB-8, bass, and LinnDrum, with Sheila E. on vocals. A B-side, two players, and a funk vamp that still fills dance floors.