Let's Go Crazy

This article is about the Prince song. For the 1951 film, see Let's Go Crazy (film). For the Clash song, see Sandinista!

"Let's Go Crazy"
US 7" single
Single by Prince and The Revolution
from the album Purple Rain
B-side	"Erotic City" "Take Me with U" (UK)
Released	July 18, 1984 [1]
Recorded	August 7, 1983
Studio	The Warehouse, St. Louis Park
Genre	Hard rock [2] funk rock [3] [4] glam rock [5] garage rock [5] synth-funk
Length	3:50 (7"/video version) 4:39 (album version) 7:35 (12"/movie version)
Label	Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)	Prince [6]
Producer(s)	Prince and the Revolution
Prince singles chronology
"When Doves Cry" (1984) "Let's Go Crazy" (1984) "Purple Rain" (1984)
Purple Rain singles chronology
"When Doves Cry" (1984) "Let's Go Crazy" (1984) "Sex Shooter" (1984)

Weekly charts 1984–1985 weekly chart performance for "Let's Go Crazy" Chart (1984–1985) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report) [17] 10 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) [18] 11 Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [19] 2 France (SNEP) [20] 50 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [21] 18 Netherlands (Single Top 100) [22] 11 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [23] 13 UK Singles (OCC) [24] 7 US Billboard Hot 100 [25] 1 US Dance Club Songs ( Billboard ) [26] 1 US Hot Black Singles ( Billboard ) [27] 1 US Mainstream Rock ( Billboard ) [28] 19 2016 weekly chart performance for "Let's Go Crazy" Chart (2016) Peak position US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs ( Billboard ) [29] 5

Year-end charts 1984 weekly chart performance for "Let's Go Crazy" Chart (1984) Position Canada Top Singles ( RPM ) [30] 26 US Top Pop Singles (Billboard) [31] 21 2016 year-end chart performance for "Let's Go Crazy" Chart (2016) Position US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard) [32] 37

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales for "Let's Go Crazy"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI) [33]	Silver	200,000‡
United States (RIAA) [34] 1984 sales	Gold	1,000,000^
United States digital sales	—	964,403 [11]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Lenz v. Universal

Main article: Lenz v. Universal Music Corp.

In 2007, Stephanie Lenz, a writer and editor from Gallitzin, Pennsylvania 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. Four months after the video was originally uploaded, Universal Music Group, which owned the copyrights to the song, ordered YouTube to remove the video enforcing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 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. ^[35]

Later in August 2008, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel, of San Jose, California, 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.

See also

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1984

References

• Uptown: The Vault – The Definitive Guide to the Musical World of Prince: Nilsen Publishing 2004, ISBN   91-631-5482-X

1. Uptown, 2004, p. 50
2. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (June 7, 2023). "Essential Prince: His greatest songs of all time, ranked". The A.V. Club . Retrieved June 13, 2025. The hardest rocker Prince ever cut, "Let's Go Crazy" finds the Purple One preaching that we "Better live now before the grim reaper comes knocking on your door.
3. Elliott, Paul (May 30, 2016). "The Top 20 Greatest Funk Rock Songs". TeamRock. Team Rock Limited. Archived from the original on June 2, 2016. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
4. Mitchell, Matt (December 8, 2024). "Every #1 Hit From 1984, Ranked Worst to Best". Paste . Retrieved June 16, 2025. Prince's second #1 hit of 1984, "Let's Go Crazy" is funk-rock turned to an 11.
5. Levy, Joe (May 18, 2016). "Essential Prince: His Best, Most Overlooked Albums". Rolling Stone . Retrieved July 7, 2025. ...and then the glam-garage rocker "Let's Go Crazy."
6. The original single release credits the authors of the song as Prince and The Revolution, but the song's authorship is registered with ASCAP as solely by Prince.
7. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 471.
8. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 208.
9. Woodworth, G.M.; University of California, Los Angeles (2008). "Just Another One of God's Gifts": Prince, African-American Masculinity, and the Sonic Legacy of the Eighties. University of California, Los Angeles. p. 268. ISBN   9781109120745 . Retrieved 2015-06-22.
10. "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box . August 4, 1984. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
11. "Hip Hop Single Sales: Prince, Desiigner & Drake". HipHopDX . April 30, 2016. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
12. Ariza, Sergio. "The 10 Best Prince Solos". Guitars Exchange. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
13. Tudahl, Duane (2018). Prince and the Purple Rain Era Studio Sessions: 1983 and 1984 (Expanded ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN   9781538116432.
14. Clerc, Benoît (October 2022). Prince: All the Songs. Octopus. ISBN   9781784728816.
15. "Purple Rain". guitarcloud.org. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
16. ""Let's Go Crazy"". mixonline.com. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
17. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
18. "Prince And The Revolution – Let's Go Crazy" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
19. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 8968." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
20. "Prince And The Revolution – Let's Go Crazy" (in French). Le classement de singles. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
21. "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 10, 1985" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
22. "Prince And The Revolution – Let's Go Crazy" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
23. "Prince And The Revolution – Let's Go Crazy". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
24. "Prince & The Revolution: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
25. "Prince Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
26. "Prince Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
27. "Prince Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard . Retrieved December 3, 2017.
28. "Prince Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved December 3, 2017.
29. "Prince Chart History (Hot Rock & Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
30. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9638." RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved December 8, 2024.
31. "Talent Almanac 1985: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 96, no. 51. December 22, 1984. p. TA-19.
32. "Hot Rock Songs – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
33. "British single certifications – Prince & The Revolution – Lets Go Crazy". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved December 15, 2023.
34. "American single certifications – Prince – Let's Go Crazy". Recording Industry Association of America . Retrieved May 31, 2016.
35. Egelko, Bob (August 21, 2008). "Woman can sue over YouTube clip de-posting". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved 2008-08-25.