‘Hit the Hague, hit the bong!’ Hear Gregg Alexander’s original demo of Murder on the Dancefloor | Sophie Ellis-Bextor

If it weren’t for a busted car, Murder on the Dancefloor might never have existed, songwriter Gregg Alexander – formerly of the New Radicals – told Dave Simpson today, in a very rare interview detailing the creation of a song experiencing a huge renaissance thanks to its spot in the film Saltburn. Unable to head out for a night in Detroit, he grabbed the acoustic guitar on the back seat and started singing “it’s murder on the dancefloor, but you’d better not kill the groove”.

That’s one of the lyrics that made it into Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s finished recording of the song, though many others from its demo – “I won’t make us hit the hay!” – were left on the cutting room floor. For the first time ever, you can hear a sample of that demo right here, shared with a message from Alexander:

“I’m an artist at heart, but moonlighting I produced the Strokes to Tina Turner. As Sophie has spoken in interviews of the New Rads’ 90s Murder ‘rough cassette’ inspiring our new lyrics, in lieu of my dance-murder metaphors let’s ‘hit The Hague! Then hit the bong!” – as well as Sophie also awesomely retweeting Murder covers – my bandmate Danielle [Brisebois] and I thought why not share a snippet of that cassette ruff track we sent Sophie containing New Radicals’ nearly ‘lost hit’? A song which may have gone unheard, and the world never known, were it not for Sophie’s belief in the song and her pop brilliance! Enjoy – and eternal thank you from New Radicals to Sophie Ellis-Bextor!”

If it weren’t for a busted car, Murder on the Dancefloor might never have existed, songwriter Gregg Alexander – formerly of the New Radicals – told Dave Simpson today, in a very rare interview detailing the creation of a song experiencing a huge renaissance thanks to its spot in the film Saltburn. Unable to head out for a night in Detroit, he grabbed the acoustic guitar on the back seat and started singing “it’s murder on the dancefloor, but you’d better not kill the groove”.

That’s one of the lyrics that made it into Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s finished recording of the song, though many others from its demo – “I won’t make us hit the hay!” – were left on the cutting room floor. For the first time ever, you can hear a sample of that demo right here, shared with a message from Alexander:

“I’m an artist at heart, but moonlighting I produced the Strokes to Tina Turner. As Sophie has spoken in interviews of the New Rads’ 90s Murder ‘rough cassette’ inspiring our new lyrics, in lieu of my dance-murder metaphors let’s ‘hit The Hague! Then hit the bong!” – as well as Sophie also awesomely retweeting Murder covers – my bandmate Danielle [Brisebois] and I thought why not share a snippet of that cassette ruff track we sent Sophie containing New Radicals’ nearly ‘lost hit’? A song which may have gone unheard, and the world never known, were it not for Sophie’s belief in the song and her pop brilliance! Enjoy – and eternal thank you from New Radicals to Sophie Ellis-Bextor!”