‘Within A Minute, Everyone Was Dancing Stardust On Making Music Sounds Better With You
Alan Bracks, writer, guitar, producer
I have three distinct memories when I listen to this song. Right after the track was finished, we listened to it in the studio with a boom box. The sound was very bad. The second time I was in a club in Paris. It was really loud and the crowd's reaction was: 'What is this?': I thought we overproduced it, but within a minute everyone was dancing. Then I heard the song in the supermarket, on the small speakers, and at that moment everyone knew.
The French techno and house scenes were small, but there were parties in the suburbs of Paris and sometimes clubs in the city. I went out a lot: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I left it out of history because I was too serious about music. I gave myself a year. I bought some gear and then played some demos with [Daft Punk's] Thomas Bangalter. He agreed to release Vertigo, my first single, on his Roulé label. He did a remix of the B-side and it all started.
Because of his power, I was invited to play at the Rex club in Paris. I asked Thomas to play the keyboard and Benjamin Diamond, who I know from school, to sing. We were looking for a new song, we were looking for things to try. Benjamin put on a track by Fate, Chaka Khan, and that was it. We knew he had something, so we tried it and hit it straight. Then we decided to do a recording, together for a week in Thomas's studio.
In the spring of 1998 he went to some DJs in Miami and everyone liked him. By summer, it had already been released worldwide, six months after it was written. We just played it live, released this single and never made an album. All three of us are happy. It adds more magic, which is probably what makes the song so successful. That's it. It's there. It's just music. Nothing else.
Musiek Klink Beter By Jou was my second album. It is still part of my life and I am very proud of it. Someone will contact you four times a year to ask. Last week I was at a club and the DJ was playing. It still sounded good. And this time everyone was dancing from the start.
Benjamin Diamond, co-writer, singer
We started with lyrics and we had a lot. At first there were rhymes and verses, but in the end I think there are only four sentences in the whole song. I was in a punk band at the time. When the guys found out I was working with Thomas and Alan, they fired me. "Go with your techno friends," they said. - We don't want you. I was disappointed, but it was okay. I got my revenge with the success of Stardust.
When I heard the modification of my voice, I didn't like it. I wanted to do it again. Thomas and Alan thought he was crazy and said there was nothing he could do better. When the money started coming in, I bought guitars and keyboards for my studio and records. I was a vinyl dealer for 25 years and there was this store that I loved that had amazing and very expensive records in the back. So I went in and asked to see all the records I wanted for 10 years. - I'll take them all. I said It was a great feeling.
The video was directed by Michel Gondry, who knew Thomas. We were kind of a pack. Alan and Thomas wore masks and I was painted silver. We shot it in the summer in Los Angeles and it was so hot that the makeup had to go back because the paint was dripping off me with all the sweat. It was the first time I shaved my head and I've kept it that way ever since.
I was on holiday in Italy with my girlfriend when I realized they were releasing the song. We were on the beach and suddenly I felt it. "Shit!" i said "Someone's playing our song on the radio." Soon it was everywhere. At one point it all seemed too much. He wanted success, but this was something else. It seemed that all eyes were on us.
I wanted to follow Stardust. We actually tried to record some demos, but Thomas was one half of Daft Punk and they really took off. what can i say He did well with Daft Punk.
