{"id":26334,"date":"2023-12-24T05:30:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-24T10:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26334"},"modified":"2023-10-24T14:58:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T18:58:57","slug":"take-5-gregg-alexander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/24\/take-5-gregg-alexander\/","title":{"rendered":"Take 5: Gregg Alexander"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Radicals\u2019 1998 single \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d was a major hit in three countries (U.S. #36, Canada #1, UK #5), and it charted in several others. Led by singer and songwriter Gregg Alexander, New Radicals quickly became known as a one-hit wonder; after a short tour (and before the release of a second single), the group would disband, never making another record. (They did reunite for a one-off streaming performance in January 2021, in honor of the inauguration of Joe Biden as the United States\u2019 46th President.)<\/p>\n<p>But New Radicals\u2019 brief time in the spotlight belies the fact that Alexander has always been busy behind the scenes. As a songwriter, musician and producer, he\u2019s been key to the success of many other artists. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of <em>Maybe You\u2019ve Been Brainwashed Too<\/em>, here\u2019s a look at five songs that showcase the artistry of Gregg Alexander.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Gregg Alexander \u2013 \u201cIn the Neighborhood\u201d from <em>Michigan Rain<\/em> (1989)<\/strong><br \/>\nAlexander had a solo career before launching New Radicals; signed to A&amp;M Records, he released his debut album. It featured this song as the lead track of the 12-song record, all of which were original compositions. While reviews were very positive \u2013 Allmusic awarded it four and a half stars \u2013 sales were minimal. By the time he released its followup (1992\u2019s <em>Intoxifornication<\/em>, which featured new version of three of the debut\u2019s songs \u2013 Alexander was signed to Epic.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CP7DCGaq7BQ?si=YnzCQJg0T52Sa55U\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>New Radicals \u2013 \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d from <em>Maybe You\u2019ve Been Brainwashed Too<\/em> (1998)<\/strong><br \/>\nThis song\u2019s exuberant, life-affirming character and dance vibe were keys to its success. Some listeners heard the influence of Todd Rundgren in the song. \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d stands in sharp contrast to the album\u2019s second single, the melancholy heartbreak of \u201cSomeday We\u2019ll Know.\u201d Former child actor Danielle Brisebois was one of Alexander\u2019s main collaborators on the record; Paul McCartney\u2019s guitarist Rusty Anderson was another.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DL7-CKirWZE?si=sykENJwcIb5D7eyF\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Santana \u2013 \u201cThe Game of Love\u201d from <em>Shaman<\/em> (2003)<\/strong><br \/>\nLong running popular rock band Santana released their 19th album, <em>Shaman<\/em> in 2002. The record\u2019s single and standout number was this track, co-written by Alexander under the pseudonym \u201cAlex Ander.\u201d Several artists including Macy Gray and Tina Turner took turns recording the lead vocal, but it would be the version featuring Michelle Branch that landed on the album. Alexander \u2013 who also produced some of the recording sessions \u2013 won a Grammy Award for the song.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HKLnmMacEB4?si=N7B7x5lHGAX2UYLh\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Adam Levine \u2013 \u201cLost Stars\u201d from Maroon 5\u2019s <em>V<\/em> (2014)<\/strong><br \/>\nMaroon 5 vocalist Adam Levine recorded this song \u2013 with a songwriter credit to Alexander, Brisebois and others \u2013 for the comedy-drama motion picture <em>Begin Again<\/em>. Levine would perform the song in at least two notable instances: the first was on the seventh season finale of <em>The Voice<\/em>, and the second was with Maroon 5 during the broadcast of the 87th Academy Awards. The song was among the nominees for that year\u2019s Best Original Song, but lost to John Legend and Common\u2019s \u201cGlory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cL4uhaQ58Rk?si=AI3BuQnn7gF2uXWh\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Struts \u2013 \u201cPut Your Money on Me\u201d from <em>Everybody Wants<\/em> (2014 and 2016)<\/strong><br \/>\n21st century rock\u2019s answer to arena-oriented \u201870s superstars like Queen, The Struts were one of the most exciting groups to come out of the U.K. in the early 2010s. Their debut album, 2014\u2019s <em>Everybody Wants<\/em> featured this song, a co-write by Alexander, his frequent collaborator Nick Southwood and Struts band members Luke Spiller and Adam Slack. The song was released as the third single from the well-received album. When a revised version of <em>Everybody Wants<\/em> was issued in 2016, it included a new remix of \u201cPut Your Money on Me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9GuUbziASwE?si=AMQrk3K8M0VpQ0i-\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Radicals\u2019 1998 single \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d was a major hit in three countries (U.S. #36, Canada #1, UK #5), and it charted in several others. Led by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26335,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,51,62],"tags":[5268,5269],"class_list":["post-26334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-pop","category-rawk","tag-gregg-alexander","tag-new-radicals","cat-27-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26336,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26334\/revisions\/26336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}