Time once again for us to revisit all the biggest UK chart hits of a quarter of a century ago, in The Story of Pop: 1998. And it’s time to grab the popcorn once again this week, with another – quite literally – monster movie soundtrack success…
- Artist: Jamiroquai
- Song: Deeper Underground
- Released: 13/07/1998
- Writers / Producers: Jason Kay / Toby Smith / Rick Pope
- Highest UK Chart Position: #1
- Weeks on Chart: 12
From their debut in 1992 with “When You Gonna Learn”, acid jazz and funk pioneers Jamiroquai, fronted by the charismatic Jay Kay, had established themselves as cool, credible and forward thinking, with an undeniable stack of chart smashing earworms to their credit, including “Space Cowboy”, “Cosmic Girl” and “Virtual Insanity”.
Six years into their career though, and the one thing they lacked at this point was a number one single. But in the summer of 1998, that was all about to change. Following the epic success of Titanic earlier in the year, almost as if primed ready to gain the interest of audiences who had flocked to the spectacle, were even more films high on the big screen carnage.
One of these was Godzilla, the eponymous and 23rd film in the long running monster movie franchise of the same name, but the first to be produced entirely by a Hollywood studio, namely TriStar Pictures. Starring Hank Azaria, Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno, it focused on the eponymous mutant beast unleashing havoc on New York City as it looked to nest its young.
However, despite taking a hefty mauling from the critics (“It’s so clumsily structured it feels as if it’s two different movies stuck together with an absurd stomping finale glued onto the end,” wrote The New York Times in their review), with a box office taking of $379m, audiences didn’t care.
All this was to the advantage of the film’s soundtrack, on which Jamiroquai had been asked to write and record the title song, “Deeper Underground”. It says a lot that it’s one of those rare instances where it’s a song from a film which doesn’t sit at odds with the artist’s wider remit musically and lyrically.
Indeed, with previous songs such as “Emergency On Planet Earth” – and even later into their career with the likes of “Don’t Give Hate A Chance”, Jay Kay had always been keen to touch on issues of social and environmental justice in the band’s music.
“Deeper Underground”, even though it touches on the film’s theme and storyline – “Something’s come to rock me / And I can’t keep my head / I get nervous in the New York City streets / Where my legacy treads / I know I’m better off standing in the shadows / Far from humans with guns / But now it’s too late, there’s no escape / From what they have done” – it’s chorus also touches on the claustrophobia of such situations (and those in real life) with its repeated refrain: “I’m going deeper underground / There’s too much panic in this town”).
The single is undoubtedly one of those ones where it goes hand in hand with its video. Filmed at an old cinema in Grays in Essex, it was equally as blockbusting as the film it was for, with the giant foot of Godzilla smashing through the cinema screen and releasing a trail of destruction in its path to a packed house of movie goers, with Jay Kay all the while moving in and out and narrowly dodging exploding cars and falling debris in the flooded theatre. Little wonder then, that it found itself nominated at the BRIT Awards the following year for Best British Video.
It was no surprise too, that “Deeper Underground” roared into the top of the UK charts on its first week of release 25 years ago, thus giving Jamiroquai their first and only UK number one hit. And it wasn’t the only song from the soundtrack of Godzilla to be a success; just a couple of weeks later, the equally epic “Come With Me” by Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page was also a hit, and went straight into the charts at number two.
Even if the film was a critical turkey, the box office success of Godzilla, and the success of its soundtrack proved that marrying the right artist to the foreboding, anxious energy and undercurrent of the film, proved, as it did for Jamiroquai, that chart gold could be the only outcome.
Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 1998. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop1998.
The Niche Reference 