Jamiroquai have officially marked 30 years of ‘Virtual Insanity’. The British funk legends celebrate three decades of one of the most defining records of the late ’90s with the release of ‘Virtual Insanity: 30th Anniversary Edition’, out today on a striking transparent yellow 12-inch vinyl that pairs with the iconic sleeve artwork.
The song needs little introduction. A No.3 platinum smash in the UK, ‘Virtual Insanity’ conquered charts across Europe and pushed parent album ‘Travelling Without Moving’ to become the best-selling funk album of all time. The track also earned the band a Grammy for Best Pop Performance, a BRIT nomination, and an MTV Video of the Year trophy for its Jonathan Glazer-directed video, later named by Music Week as one of the 25 music videos that changed the world.
Released long before streaming, the song has amassed more than half a billion streams. That rediscovery turbo-charged when Jay Kay joined Dua Lipa to perform the track at her Wembley Stadium show last summer, with The Standard noting “the energy levels went stratospheric.” The song then served as the crowd-pleasing finale across his sold-out arena tour through autumn, culminating in two nights at London’s The O2.
The track’s origins are cinematic in their own right. Jay Kay had the idea while in Sendai, Japan, intrigued by the eerie silence of snowy streets, only to discover the bustling population living below in an expansive underground city. That contrast inspired a prescient commentary on overpopulation and ecological collapse. Fittingly, Jamiroquai return to Japan this summer to headline both legs of Summer Sonic in Tokyo and Osaka this August.
With the band finishing their hotly anticipated ninth album in the studio, this anniversary release lands as both a celebration of a masterpiece and a bridge to what’s next. The reissue features the ‘Virtual Insanity’ radio edit on the A-side alongside the original mix of ‘Do You Know Where You’re Coming From’, with ‘Bullet’ and the ‘Virtual Insanity’ album version on the B-side.
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