Virtual Insanity
Encyclopedia
"Virtual Insanity" is the lead single from British Acid Jazz
band Jamiroquai
's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving
. The song reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart
. The song also charted at #38 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart upon the single's release in America in 1997. In December 2010, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan
as a digital download to cellphones, five years after its release on the medium.
. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
in September 1997, it earned ten nominations, winning four awards, including "Breakthrough Video" and the "Best Video of the Year." In 2006, it was voted 9th by MTV
viewers in a poll on music videos that 'broke the rules.' It was directed by Jonathan Glazer
. The single was released in the U.S. in 1997. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Jamiroquai performed the song, recreating the famous floor moving concept with two moving walkways on the stage floor, going in different directions, for Jay Kay to use to dance on.
, dancing and performing the song in a bright white room with a grey floor. Throughout the video, there are several combinations of couches and easy chair, which are the only furniture in the room. The video earned recognition from critics for its special effects: the floor appears to move while the rest of the room stays still. At some points the camera tilts up or down to show the floor or ceiling for a few seconds, and when it returns to the central position, the scene has completely changed. Other scenes show a crow flying across the room, a cockroach on the floor, the couches bleeding and the other members of Jamiroquai in a corridor being blown away by wind. This became the second video released by Jamiroquai to be successfully done in one complete, albeit composited, shot, Space Cowboy
being the first. In a short making-of documentary, director Jonathan Glazer
describes how the four walls move on a stationary grey floor with no detail, to give the illusion that the floor is moving. However, he does not state where the fourth wall is. In several shots, chairs or couches are fixed to the walls so that they appear to be standing still, when in fact they are moving. In other shots chairs remain stationary on the floor, but the illusion is such that they appear to be moving. The moving walls were not completely rigid and can be seen in some shots to wiggle slightly.
, when the "Mother" computer onboard the Nostromo spaceship receives an unidentified signal from a nearby planet. "Virtual Insanity" was covered by WaveGroup Sound
for the 2005 Xbox game Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3
and the 2006 Konami
PS2 game Beatmania
, but a different cover version by Thomas Howard Lichtenstein has also appeared on many arcade versions of DrumMania
and Guitar Freaks, also by Konami. It is also available in Konami's Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 and Lips
on some locales as downloadable content
and in others as an on-disc song. In 1997, the song was used for a commercial for the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
, with Chris Rock
parodying the video. It was also featured in the American Eagle Outfitters' Holiday 2006 in-store playlist. In 2007, the song was used in commercials to advertise Space Week on The Science Channel
. In the same year, Blake Lewis
performed the song on American Idol. In December of that year, the song peaked #70 on VH1
's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90's." On 27 December 2009, Sezairi Sezali sang this song in the finals of the third season of Singapore Idol
, on the same night he won Idol.
introduction. During this part, very faint vocals can be heard in the background, while the melody progresses. The vocals remained shrouded in a veil of mystery, until recently, after a fan did some "research" on the song. The broken lyrics seem to have been printed out by accident in a misprint of the booklet of the band's second album, The Return of the Space Cowboy
. It should also be noted that the musical structure of the "long intro" to "Bullet" bears very heavy resemblance to the one of "Just Another Story", from The Return of the Space Cowboy and it could be a possible faint remix of Just Another Story or a faint sample of Just Another Story.
UK CD2 (663613 5)
Cassette (663613 4)
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
band Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai is a British jazz funk and acid jazz band formed in 1992. Jamiroquai were initially the most prominent component in the early-1990s London-based acid jazz movement, alongside groups such as Incognito, the James Taylor Quartet, and the Brand New Heavies. Other Acid Jazz artists such as...
's third studio album, Travelling Without Moving
Travelling Without Moving
Travelling Without Moving is the third studio album released by British Acid Jazz band Jamiroquai. Released in 1996, the album features the international hit single "Virtual Insanity"...
. The song reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The song also charted at #38 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart upon the single's release in America in 1997. In December 2010, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan
Recording Industry Association of Japan
The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...
as a digital download to cellphones, five years after its release on the medium.
Music video
"Virtual Insanity" is perhaps Jamiroquai's best known music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
1997 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1997, honoring the best music videos from June 17, 1996, to June 16, 1997. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.-Video of the Year:* Beck — "The New Pollution"...
in September 1997, it earned ten nominations, winning four awards, including "Breakthrough Video" and the "Best Video of the Year." In 2006, it was voted 9th by MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
viewers in a poll on music videos that 'broke the rules.' It was directed by Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer is an English director of films, commercials and music videos.-Biography:After studying theatre design at Nottingham Trent University, Glazer started out directing theatre and making film and television trailers, including award-winning work for the BBC...
. The single was released in the U.S. in 1997. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Jamiroquai performed the song, recreating the famous floor moving concept with two moving walkways on the stage floor, going in different directions, for Jay Kay to use to dance on.
Video description
The video consists mainly of Jamiroquai's singer, Jay KayJason Kay
Jason "Jay Kay" Luís Cheetham , is a Grammy Award-winning English musician, best known as the lead singer of the band Jamiroquai...
, dancing and performing the song in a bright white room with a grey floor. Throughout the video, there are several combinations of couches and easy chair, which are the only furniture in the room. The video earned recognition from critics for its special effects: the floor appears to move while the rest of the room stays still. At some points the camera tilts up or down to show the floor or ceiling for a few seconds, and when it returns to the central position, the scene has completely changed. Other scenes show a crow flying across the room, a cockroach on the floor, the couches bleeding and the other members of Jamiroquai in a corridor being blown away by wind. This became the second video released by Jamiroquai to be successfully done in one complete, albeit composited, shot, Space Cowboy
Space Cowboy (song)
"Space Cowboy" is the lead single from British band Jamiroquai's second studio album, The Return of the Space Cowboy. The single reached #17 in the UK Singles Chart and was their first #1 on the U.S...
being the first. In a short making-of documentary, director Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer
Jonathan Glazer is an English director of films, commercials and music videos.-Biography:After studying theatre design at Nottingham Trent University, Glazer started out directing theatre and making film and television trailers, including award-winning work for the BBC...
describes how the four walls move on a stationary grey floor with no detail, to give the illusion that the floor is moving. However, he does not state where the fourth wall is. In several shots, chairs or couches are fixed to the walls so that they appear to be standing still, when in fact they are moving. In other shots chairs remain stationary on the floor, but the illusion is such that they appear to be moving. The moving walls were not completely rigid and can be seen in some shots to wiggle slightly.
Trivia
The first 15 seconds of the album version of the song contain sampled sound effects from the beginning of the film AlienAlien (film)
Alien is a 1979 science fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm and Yaphet Kotto. The film's title refers to its primary antagonist: a highly aggressive extraterrestrial creature which...
, when the "Mother" computer onboard the Nostromo spaceship receives an unidentified signal from a nearby planet. "Virtual Insanity" was covered by WaveGroup Sound
WaveGroup Sound
WaveGroup Sound is a music production studio located in Fremont, CA specializing in audio post production and design. The primary notability of the studio is its work on many of the currently popular music games for the various major video game platforms...
for the 2005 Xbox game Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3
Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3
Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 3 is the tenth home version of Dance Dance Revolution released in the United States. It was released by Konami on November 15, 2005, for the Microsoft Xbox video game console. About 70 songs are available in total in this version...
and the 2006 Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
PS2 game Beatmania
Beatmania
is a rhythm video game developed and distributed by Japanese game developer Konami and first released in 1997. It contributed largely to the boom of music games in 1998, and the series expanded not only with arcade sequels, but also moved to home consoles and other portable devices, achieving a...
, but a different cover version by Thomas Howard Lichtenstein has also appeared on many arcade versions of DrumMania
DrumMania
is a music video game series produced by Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., where colored notes travel down the screen which correspond with color coded parts of an electronic drum set...
and Guitar Freaks, also by Konami. It is also available in Konami's Karaoke Revolution Volume 2 and Lips
Lips (video game)
Lips is a video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. The game was released on November 18, 2008 in North...
on some locales as downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
and in others as an on-disc song. In 1997, the song was used for a commercial for the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
1997 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1997 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 4, 1997, honoring the best music videos from June 17, 1996, to June 16, 1997. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.-Video of the Year:* Beck — "The New Pollution"...
, with Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...
parodying the video. It was also featured in the American Eagle Outfitters' Holiday 2006 in-store playlist. In 2007, the song was used in commercials to advertise Space Week on The Science Channel
The Science Channel
Science is a United States cable, satellite and IPTV Television Network produced by Discovery Communications. Science features programming in the fields of space, technology, prehistory and animals.-History:...
. In the same year, Blake Lewis
Blake Lewis
Blake Colin Lewis is an American singer-songwriter and beatboxer who was the runner-up on the sixth season of American Idol. His major label debut album A.D.D. was released on December 4, 2007 through 19 Recordings/Arista Records. On October 30, 2007, his first single "Break Anotha" was released....
performed the song on American Idol. In December of that year, the song peaked #70 on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90's." On 27 December 2009, Sezairi Sezali sang this song in the finals of the third season of Singapore Idol
Singapore Idol
Singapore Idol is a television show on Channel 5 of MediaCorp TV. It is a competition among undiscovered singers in Singapore. Like others in the Idol series, it is modelled after Pop Idol. The current judges are singer/songwriter Dick Lee and record producers Florence Lian and Ken Lim. Previous...
, on the same night he won Idol.
Single Information
The first B-side of the single is the song "Do You Know Where You're Coming From", which features M-Beat. It was released as a single earlier in 1996. The second B-side of the single, "Bullet", is probably one of the most mysterious Jamiroquai tracks ever written. The song starts with a 3-second percussion intro, and switches into a longer, very claustrophobicClaustrophobia
Claustrophobia is the fear of having no escape and being closed in small spaces or rooms...
introduction. During this part, very faint vocals can be heard in the background, while the melody progresses. The vocals remained shrouded in a veil of mystery, until recently, after a fan did some "research" on the song. The broken lyrics seem to have been printed out by accident in a misprint of the booklet of the band's second album, The Return of the Space Cowboy
The Return of the Space Cowboy
The Return Of The Space Cowboy is the second album by the band Jamiroquai. Released in 1994, it is usually classified under the acid-jazz and funk genre.-Album information:...
. It should also be noted that the musical structure of the "long intro" to "Bullet" bears very heavy resemblance to the one of "Just Another Story", from The Return of the Space Cowboy and it could be a possible faint remix of Just Another Story or a faint sample of Just Another Story.
Tracklisting
UK CD1 (663613 2)- "Virtual Insanity" – 4:04
- "Do You Know Where You're Coming From?" (Original Mix) – 4:59
- "Bullet" – 4:19
- "Virtual Insanity" (Album Version) – 5:40
UK CD2 (663613 5)
- "Virtual Insanity" – 4:04
- "Space Cowboy" (Classic Radio) – 4:01
- "Emergency On Planet Earth" (London Rican Mix) – 7:10
- "Do You Know Where You're Coming From" – 4:59
Cassette (663613 4)
- "Virtual Insanity" – 4:04
- "Virtual Insanity" (Album Version) – 5:40
- "Virtual Insanity" (Unreality Mix) – 3:54
Chart performance
| Chart (1996/1997) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts... (Wallonia) |
15 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 7 |
| French Singles Chart | 15 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
63 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
7 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 32 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
3 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop Songs Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart... |
39 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs... |
38 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 37 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 34 |