As promised, the celebration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s Inauguration Day included a virtual parade that featured the New Radicals gathered together. Remotely, the band made a unique performance 22 years after breaking up in 1999. Watch them do their 1998 hit “You Get What You Give” below (at 06:42:52).
After the announcement of the band’s meeting for the opening parade, many on social media wondered whether or not they would update the original bridge of the song – which mentions both political issues (FDA, big banks, cloning) and the pop stars making headlines. late 90s (Beck, Hanson, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson). They ended up cutting the bridge entirely. “For the opening and just four minutes to play, I couldn’t get to the rap part anyway,” Alexander explained to Rolling Stone.
The song has sentimental weight for the Biden family – a song that Beau Biden would listen to with his family in his final days. “Playing music again after so long is a great honor because we all have deep respect for Beau’s military service and great hopes for the unity and normalcy that Joe and Kamala will bring our country back to in this time of crisis,” New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander said in a statement.
Biden was sworn in earlier today. Lady Gaga sang the national anthem; Jennifer Lopez sang a medley for “This Land Is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful”; and Garth Brooks sang “Amazing Grace”. Tonight, a special will feature performances by Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Ant Clemons, Foo Fighters and more.
“You Get What You Give” by New Radicals was voted one of Pitchfork’s “200 most popular tracks of the 1990s”.