Gregg Alexander wasn’t planning to make a splashy return with New Radicals, his pop-rock collective that burned bright and fast in the late 1990s before abruptly disbanding. So it’s fitting that “One Night Only (Break Loose Break Free!),” the group’s first new song in 28 years, arrived last Friday without warning. Its release was so under the radar, in fact, that it was a virtual obstacle course to track down the song on streaming services, unlisted on New Radicals’ own profile pages yet discovered and disseminated far and wide across the media.
“It’s like most things that happen in New Radicals’ world: organically and seemingly out of nowhere,” Alexander tells Variety just days after its release. The jubilant tune, written and recorded as the title track for Will Gluck’s freshly released new rom-com “One Night Only,” picks up right where New Radicals left off, setting jaunty handclaps and candy-sweet melodies against heavier lyrics that question the systems humming just in the background of society. Alexander, who largely stays out of the limelight, met the song’s fervent reaction with typical candor: “Sometimes, you just hop on the roller coaster and go along for the ride.”
For Alexander, that’s been something of a de facto mantra over the past three decades as New Radicals have endured well beyond their heyday. Since releasing their sole album “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too” in 1998, the set’s lead single “You Only Get What You Give” has become a song of the people, a cross-generational hit that rallies against corporate America with a sentiment that’s trickled down family trees. Last year alone, Geese went viral with a cover of the song on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge; the MTV Video Music Awards featured a re-recorded version with Benee in a promo; and Journeys reimagined its iconic video set to a cover by Gus Dapperton.
