You Get What You Give

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“You Get What You Give”
“You Get What You Give” cover
Single by New Radicals
from the album
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too
B-side "To Think I Thought"
Released April 20, 1999
Format CD, 12"
Genre Rock
Length 4:42 (single edit)
5:02 (album version)
Label MCA Records
Writer(s) Gregg Alexander
Rick Nowels
Producer Gregg Alexander
New Radicals singles chronology
"You Get What You Give"
(1998)		 "Someday We'll Know"
(1999)

"You Get What You Give" is a song by the New Radicals. It was an international smash hit, the first and most successful single from their album Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too. It reached No. 30 on Billboard Hot 100 Airplay in January 1999 and No. 36 on the overall Hot 100. It was a bigger hit in the UK, reaching No. 5. The song is an upbeat youth anthem in classic Gregg Alexander production style, based around a piano chord sequence and an electric guitar lick in the background over a steady drumbeat. Many were drawn to the song's optimistic attitude and feel-good atmosphere (the song itself is about remaining true to who you are and not being "a fake"), making it one of the mainstay singles of the late 1990s. It has been played over one million times on U.S. radio.[1]

The B-side was "To Think I Thought", a bizarre rock song with largely unintelligible lyrics.

Contents

[edit] Single track listing

  1. "You Get What You Give" (Edit)–4:42
  2. "To Think I Thought"–2:47
  3. "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too"–5:42
  4. "You Get What You Give" (Album)–5:02 (Not on some copies)

[edit] Use in media

The song has also been used in films such as The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Open Season, and it was used on the end credits for Click. It also provided the soundtrack for the final scene of the 2007 film Surf's Up. The song was famously used in Australia and New Zealand in an advertising campaign for Mitsubishi Motors,[2] leading a repressing of Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too to be issued with the sticker "Featuring the song from the Mitsubishi ad". The use of the song by a car manufacturer has some controversial connotations, as the opening stanza contains the line "Ev'ry night we smash a Mercedes Benz". It is also the theme song used by Dr. Dean Edell and Dennis Miller on their radio shows, and has been used in promotional spots for PBS. Movistar uses the song in the Latin American media in its advertising campaigns as a jingle.

[edit] Other appearances/Reaction

In a Time Magazine interview, U2 lead guitarist The Edge is quoted saying "You Get What You Give" is the song he is most "jealous of". "I really would love to have written that," he stated.[3]

The song was listed #440 on Blender's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born.[4]

The song is an unofficial Newcastle United anthem and is regularly played at their home ground St James' Park. The song was used by local radio station Metro Radio during Newcastle's FA cup-run of 1998-99, with Mick Lowes' commentary of Newcastle's cup goals mixed over the song.

In the liner notes to her 2004 compilation Artist's Choice, Joni Mitchell praises "You Get What You Give" for "rising from the swamp of 'McMusic' like a flower of hope".[5] Michelle Branch, Lulu and Martin Fry have covered this song live in concert. It was also performed by the Final 13 of Australian Idol 2005 & 2006. Both times the controversial "Health insurance..." section was omitted.

LMC released a remix of this song sampling the original Alexander vocals as "LMC vs. New Radicals" in 2005, under the title "Don't Let Go". Another remix entitled "You Get What You Give" was released in 2006, this time with a re-recorded vocal performance by a woman. "You Get What You Give" charted at #30 in the UK.

In 2006, Ice-T was asked on Late Night with Conan O'Brien about what he has heard, besides rap music, of late in the last few years that really grabbed him and his only reply was "You Get What You Give".

[edit] Controversy

Much of the media attention "You Get What You Give" received centered on the closing lyrics:

"Health insurance, rip-off lying
FDA, Big bankers buying
Fake computer crashes dining
Cloning while they're multiplying
Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson,
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson
You're all fakes, run to your mansions
Come around, we'll kick your ass in".

According to Alexander, he had written this section for the song as a test; to see whether the media would focus on the important political issues of the first few lines, or the petty celebrity-dissing. As he suspected, the music press raked considerable muck about the name-dropping and the rest of the song was glossed over entirely. [6]

Marilyn Manson commented that he was "not mad he said he'd kick my ass, I just don't want to be used in the same sentence as Courtney Love.... I'll crack his [Alexander's] skull open if I see him."[7] Beck reported that Alexander personally apologized for the line when they met each other by chance in a supermarket, claiming that it was never meant to be personal. [8] Recently Alexander has been collaborating with Hanson, who called him "a bit of a character, but a cool guy".[9]

[edit] Critical reception

VH1 voted it as the 64th greatest one-hit wonder in 2002.

In 2007, the song was voted #90 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s".

[edit] Music video

The music video for "You Get What You Give" was filmed in the Staten Island Mall, New York and directed by Evan Bernard. New Radicals' front man Gregg Alexander said he chose this setting because he sees the shopping mall as a metaphor for society - a fake, controlled environment engineered to encourage spending. The video showed a group of teenagers led by Alexander, going through the mall wreaking havoc -- tossing nets on security guards, placing businessmen in animal cages, knocking over merchandise, hijacking Lambrettas, and moshing in the foodcourt. According to some reports, the original idea was to completely destroy the mall, but before the video shoot the teenagers were "too tripped out on ecstasy".[citation needed]

[edit] Live versions

Two live recordings of "You Get What You Give" were officially released:

  • "You Get What You Give" (Live at WXPN's World Cafe) on Live at the World Cafe - Volume 8 (1999)
  • "You Get What You Give" (Live at KBCO, September 13, 1998) on KBCO Studio C - Volume 11 (1999)

Also there is an MP3 circulating:

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Mitsubishi ad featuring "You Get What You Give" at YouTube
  3. ^ 10 Questions for The Edge, Time Magazine, September 25, 2006
  4. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born: 401-450". Blender. Retrieved on November 23, 2006.
  5. ^ PopMatters Short Takes: Brief Reviews of New Music
  6. ^ New Radicals Song Misunderstood, Singer Says. VH1.com. Retrieved on August 6, 2005.
  7. ^ New Radicals Discuss Slighting Marilyn Manson And Courtney Love, Manson Responds. MTV.com. Retrieved on August 6, 2005.
  8. ^ "No turning Beck", The Sunday Times, July 10, 2005. Retrieved on August 6. 
  9. ^ Fuoco, Christina. "liveDaily Interview: Zac Hanson of Hanson", Live Daily News, July 19, 2004. Retrieved on December 30. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"...Baby One More Time"
by Britney Spears		 RIANZ (New Zealand)
number one single
7 March 1999		 Succeeded by
"My Side of Town"
by Lutricia McNeal
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