"Emergency on Planet Earth" is a song by British

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

/ acid jazz band

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai () are an English funk and acid jazz band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in the ...

, released as the fourth and final single from their debut studio album of the same name (1993). The song was written by

Jay Kay Jay Kay (born Jason Luís Cheetham; 30 December 1969) is an English singer and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of the acid jazz and funk band Jamiroquai, which was formed in 1992. Early life Jay Kay was bo ...

, and has an

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

tone, urging the listener to "stop

modernisation Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...

going on." The track peaked at number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and at number four on the US Dance Chart. A remix of the song, which uses a completely different bass track and intro, and includes some changes in the arrangements, was featured on the single, and in the music video for the song. This version was later released on the group's greatest hits compilation, '' High Times: Singles 1992–2006''.

Composition

"Emergency on Planet Earth" is in the key of

B flat major B-flat major is a major scale based on B, with pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor. The B-flat major scale is: : Many transposing instr ...

. Kay's voice in the song ranges in pitch from F4 to B5.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' wrote, "U.K. acid jazz/

act is given a second shot at stateside acceptance with this

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

-fried throwdown." He added further, "Remixer

Danny Tenaglia Daniel "Danny" Tenaglia (born March 7, 1961) is an American DJ and record producer. He is a Grammy nominee for the best remixed recording (44th Annual Grammy Award). He is also a three time International Dance Music Award winner, 3 time DJ Awa ...

lays a crafty groove beneath the song that will work for discerning DJs, but maintains the integrity of the song and vocal. At a time when post-production seems to mean tossing out the entire track and starting all over, this is a nice change of pace. Deserves a shot."

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

deemed it "another piece of soul-funk revival" in his weekly UK chart commentary. Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated it four out of five, noting, "A cinematic

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

intro ushers in a typical but slightly more uptempo retro-funk workout, complete with period electronic squelching that lopes purposefully under some fine vocal emoting." James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update described it as "another uncompromisingly late Seventies style jazz-funk burbler". Also Tony Cross from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' gave it four out of five, stating that "this is still strong stuff and the message is as important as the music - a green warrior that pop can be proud of."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the single was directed by

W.I.Z. Andrew John "W.I.Z." Whiston (born 4 January 1964) is an English director of films and music videos. Career W.I.Z. has directed a number of high-concept videos for major music artists from the United Kingdom and the United States, including Ma ...

It features the members of Jamiroquai on a spaceship, resembling the Sith spaceship from '' Star Wars: A New Hope'', receiving a video message from Kay, who is singing and dancing in the middle of nowhere. The video was published on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

in November 2009. It has amassed more than 3.9 million views as of November 2021.

Track listing

* UK CD single # "Emergency on Planet Earth" – 3:39 # "Emergency on Planet Earth" (extended version) – 4:12 # "If I Like It, I Do It" (acoustic) – 4:26 # "Revolution 1993" (demo) – 10:19

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emergency on Planet Earth (song) 1993 singles 1993 songs Jamiroquai songs S2 Records singles Songs written by Jason Kay Songs written by Toby Smith