Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" May Just Be the Best Song of the 1990's. Seriously.
Virtual Insanity released on August 19, 1996 about a week before Traveling without Moving — the third studio album by the English funk/acid jazz band Jamiroquai.
It’s music video was released the following month and a year later would be nominated for 10 awards at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards. It went on to win four of them:
Video of the Year
Breakthrough Video
Best Visual Effects
Best Cinematography
What Makes it so Great?
When you think back to the 90’s as a whole, or 1996 in particular, I’m sure you can find more notable singles. It was a decade of hits and the advent of a new generation where we saw the rise of icons like Dave Matthews, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, and the like. Jamiroquai, while a fairly prolific band in their own right, are often thought of as a one-hit-wonder here in the US — that is until people realize the dance song at the end of Napoleon Dynamite is Canned Heat from them as well. So why do I think Virtual Insanity is the best song of the 90’s? A few reasons.
A Unique Sound
First and foremost, it sounds really good. A lot of songs from decades past have the sound of that time period. I mean, when you hear something like I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls, or Sunglasses at Night by Corey Hart it sounds like the 1980’s. When you hear You Get What You Give by the New Radicals or Bye, Bye, Bye by Nsync, it sounds like the late 90’s. Because of the band’s unique blend of sounds, it doesn’t come off feeling old. Sure it’s a different sound than the hip-hop heavy beats our culture is steeped in today, but it’s not that out of place.
A Unique Message with Increasing Relevance
The lyrics of this song almost seem prophetic looking back. In a world transitioning from the grit of grunge to the manufactured sounds of bubblegum pop, Virtual Insanity painted a landscape of a world more akin to a sci-fi thriller. A world with — as Charlie Chaplin would have described as — machine men, with machine minds, and machine hearts. A world of selfishness where “we can always take, but never give”. A world of virtual insanities in which we find ourselves consumed with “these useless, twisting, of our new technology.” Where “there is no sound, for we all live underground.”
With the recent circulation a video explaining the yet-to-be-instituted concept of facilities where we would utilize artificial intelligence and other new technologies to grow babies in facilities with 30,000 growth pods — or artificial wombs — the lyric “and now every mother can choose the color of her child, that’s not nature’s way” seems more timely than ever.
Final Thoughts
Is it a perfect song? Well I’m not sure there is a “perfect” song, but it’s a darn good one. It holds up even 26 years later, and it’s lyrics paint a portrait of a world that is looking and feeling more and more like our own by the day. Off all the classics from that era of music, few stand the test of time (in my humble opinion) the way Virtual Insanity does. If you haven’t heard it, give it a listen and let me know what you think!