"Deeper Underground" is a single by British

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

acid jazz Acid jazz (also known as club jazz, psychedelic jazz, or groove jazz) is a music genre that combines elements of funk, soul music, soul, and hip hop music, hip hop, as well as jazz and disco. Acid jazz originated in clubs in London during the 1 ...

band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1998 film ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and co-written by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films p ...

''. The song was also included as a bonus track on the group's fourth studio album, ''

Synkronized ''Synkronized'' is the fourth studio album by English funk and acid jazz band Jamiroquai. It was released on 8 June 1999 by Work Group in the United States, and on 14 June 1999 by S2 Records in the United Kingdom. Bassist Stuart Zender left the ...

'', as well as on the special edition of the group's fifth album, ''

A Funk Odyssey ''A Funk Odyssey'' is the fifth studio album by English funk band Jamiroquai. The album was released on 29 August 2001 in Japan, 3 September 2001 in the United Kingdom by Sony Soho Square and 11 September 2001 by Epic Records in the United Stat ...

'' (2001). Released in Japan in May 1998 and in the United Kingdom two months later, "Deeper Underground" became a hit in several countries, giving Jamiroquai their only number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, selling over 339,100 copies in the UK as of March 2017. This song was one of the last to feature founding bassist Stuart Zender, before his departure during the recording of ''

''.

Music video

Directed by Mike Lipscombe, the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was used as a promotional tool for the 1998 film ''

''. Partly shot on location at Grays' State Theatre, it depicts a 3D film theatre in which the movie is being shown. However, as the screen shows Godzilla walking on the ocean floor, one of its feet breaks the screen, causing water to flood into the theatre as if the screen were made of glass and everything behind it were real. The theatre turns into chaos as the audience tries to get out alive, in the midst of which Jay Kay appears and sings and dances on top of the seats. Several other things go through the screen, including a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

, cars, and New York taxis. Some stills from the movie are also interspaced between various scenes. At the end of the video, the camera pans out, and it emerges that this entire flood was itself being watched by a different cinema audience on another screen. In an interview, Jay Kay claimed that the extras were not informed beforehand about the sudden influx of water near the start of the video, so the terrified reactions as they try to escape are actually genuine. Another version of the video replaces Godzilla with a man in the movie who smashes an aquarium, causing the theatre to flood. The rest of the video is completely identical.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Deeper Underground" (radio edit) – 3:33 # "Deeper Underground" (The Metro Mix) – 6:59 # "Deeper Underground" (instrumental) – 4:44 UK CD2 # "Deeper Underground" – 4:44 # "Deeper Underground" (The Ummah Mix) – 5:01 # "Deeper Underground" (S-Man Meets Da Northface Killa Dub) – 9:02 UK cassette single and European CD single # "Deeper Underground" (radio edit) – 3:33 # "Deeper Underground" (The Metro Mix) – 6:59 Australian and Japanese CD single # "Deeper Underground" (radio edit) # "Deeper Underground" # "Deeper Underground" (The Metro Mix) # "

High Times ''High Times'' was an American monthly magazine (and cannabis brand) that advocates the legalization of cannabis as well as other counterculture ideas. The magazine was founded in 1974 by Tom Forcade. The magazine had its own book publishing d ...

" (radio edit)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1998 singles 1998 songs Columbia Records singles Epic Records singles Jamiroquai songs Music videos directed by Mike Lipscombe Number-one singles in Scotland Songs written by Jason Kay Songs written by Toby Smith UK singles chart number-one singles S2 Records singles