Whatever Happened to New Radicals, the ’90s One-Hit Wonder?

Whatever happened to New Radicals, the ’90s one-hit wonders who scored the major alt-rock hit “You Get What You Give” off their 1998 album, Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too?

Let’s find out (and learn more about the band)!

Who Were the New Radicals?

Though presented as a group, the New Radicals were essentially singer-songwriter and guitarist Gregg Alexander and keyboardist-percussionist Danielle Brisebois, with a group of session musicians helping the pair flesh out their debut album.

Among those session musicians who contributed to the first album were noted rock drummers Josh Freese (Foo Fighters, Weezer) and Matt Laug (AC/DC, Alice Cooper, Slash’s Snakepit). Pianist Greg Phillanganes, who had toured with Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder and Toto, while working as a musical director for Michael Jackson, was also among the session contributors.

Alexander and Brisebois would eventually add Jim McGorman, Stuart Johnson, Sasha Krvitsov and Brad Fernquist when it came time to tour in support of the record. Both Krvitsov and McGorman had also played with KISS‘ Paul Stanley on his solo tour and were part of the house band for TV’s Rock Star: INXS competition.

Both Alexander and Brisebois had recorded solo albums prior to the formation of the band, and Brisebois had also achieved fame as a child star appearing in the late ’70s and early ’80s sitcoms All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place.

New Radicals Touring Lineup in 1999

About Their Biggest Hit

“You Get What You Give” essentially called its shot. The song took aim at big business and consumerism, served as a wake-up call and motivational push for the dreamers of the world and had hooks so catchy that artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to The Edge (U2) took notice. Mitchell, at one point, called it one of her favorite songs while The Edge even admitted he was jealous of the big hit.

“You Get What You Give” was an international smash, topping the charts in Canada and New Zealand, while it rose to No. 8 for Alternative Airplay and No. 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 stateside.

READ MORE: The 75 Biggest Rock Songs of the 1990s

But while the song’s title “You Get What You Give” may suggest a karmic reckoning, one stanza certainly perked up the ears of music listeners and rock media:

Health insurance, rip off lying / FDA, big bankers buying / Fake computer crashes dining / Cloning while they’re multiplying / Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson / Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson / You’re all fakes run to your mansions / Come around, we’ll kick asses.

Alexander revealed that he penned the lyric as a sort of test to see where the attention would go. Obviously the lyric starts with some major ills of society, but the addition of naming four major music stars of the day also is hard to miss. Alexander revealed in an MTV interview that he was actually a fan of all four acts.

“There’s this whole hysteria and curiosity over peripheral stupidity instead of focusing on real issues and a lot of people I talked to asked me about those real things, while a lot of rock media tried to turn it into a cat fight,” said the singer. Manson initially bristled at the notion of being included alongside Courtney Love in a lyric, while Alexander later had a chance to apologize to Beck and even worked with Hanson on another song, 2004’s “Lost Without Each Other.”

New Radicals, “You Get What You Give”

What Happened With New Radicals?

This was not Alexander’s first rodeo in the music industry. He had twice been signed and dropped from recording deals before New Radicals came around and provided his greatest opportunity to date. Through his experiences, he had found parts of the music industry that were not to his liking, but with newfound fame over “You Get What You Give,” he was back in the spotlight.

Speaking to Billboard in 1998, Alexander remarked of their hit song, “I enjoy watching it climb up the chart. I’m ready to be carted around like a piece of meat. You have to cut a deal with the machine and be thrown to the wolves.”

But as the song took off, that meant more promotional activities and the band were hitting the road to support the album. The band toured as the opening act for Goo Goo Dolls in the spring, and then by mid-summer of 1999 Alexander decided to shut down all group activities despite their current success.

“I’d lost interest in fronting a one-hit wonder to the point that I was wearing a hat while performing so that people wouldn’t see my lack of enthusiasm,” said the singer in a statement at the time.

A follow-up single, “Someday We’ll Know,” was just starting to get footing at the time, but largely tailed off after the band’s decision to split. No additional singles were issued and that would be the last of the New Radicals for quite some time.

What Happened After New Radicals?

In the aftermath of New Radicals,  Alexander focused more on music life behind the scenes. He wrote and produced songs for Enrique Iglesias, Texas, Geri Halliwell, S Club 7, Melanie C., Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Rod Stewart and the aforementioned Hanson.

Arguably the biggest song that he had a hand in was “The Game of Love,” a collaboration between Santana and Michelle Branch. He received a Best Pop Collaboration Grammy for his composition of the song.

Santana Featuring Michelle Branch, “The Game of Love”

Alexander also got involved in the film world, co-writing and co-producing the music for the 2013 film Begin Again. Brisebois and longtime collaborator Rick Nowels worked with Alexander on the project. “Lost Stars” from the movie received a Best Original Song Oscar nomination.

Adam Levine, “Lost Stars” (From Being Again)

In recent years, Alexander has co-written for The Struts and The Kaiser Chiefs among others.

Brisebois, meanwhile, revisited her solo career after New Radicals. Despite the abrupt end to New Radicals, Alexander produced her 1999 solo effort, Portable Life.

Like Alexander, Brisebois also turned to writing and producing earning credits for material featuring Clay Aiken, Carly Smithson, Kelly Clarkson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Paula Abdul and Kylie Minogue.

She was also a co-writer on Natasha Bedingfield’s two biggest songs – “Unwrtten” and “Pocketful of Sunshine.” In more recent years, she was a co-writer on Halestorm‘s hit single “Here’s to Us.”

Halestorm, “Here’s To Us”

Did New Radicals Ever Reunite?

Yes. On Jan. 20, 2021, New Radicals agreed to get back together to play at Joe Biden’s inauguration concert.

“You Get What You Give” had been a favorite of the Biden’s son Beau who had died of brain cancer in 2015.

“Performing the song again after such a long time is a huge honor because we all have deep respect for Beau’s military service and such high hopes for the unity and normalcy Joe and Kamala will bring our country again in this time of crisis,” said Alexander.

New Radicals, “You Get What You Give” at Biden/Harris Inauguration

It was politics that then allowed the band one more reunion.

In 2024, a full 25 years after their original split, Alexander and Brisebois teamed up to record their own versions of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s single “Murder on the Dance Floor” that had gone viral after its use in the movie Saltburn and “Lost Stars,” the Oscar-nominated song from Begin Again.

“In the spirit of artists supporting democracy, and for our fans, my bandmate Danielle and I are soft-launching what was nearly New Radicals’ late ’90s debut single, ‘Murder on the Dancefloor,’” said Alexander in a statement to Variety.

“Sophie’s Saltburn version went Global 200 top 10 becoming one of 2024’s biggest viral hits. And [we released] our version of ‘Lost Stars’ to celebrate the news Adam Levine’s friends, Train, are adapting our Oscar-nominated ‘Begin Again’ hit music and some of theirs for John Carney’s Broadway follow-up to Once.”

New Radicals, “Murder on the Dancefloor”

New Radicals, “Lost Stars”