EXCLUSIVE The late very great Clive Davis left quite a music legacy, literally the soundtrack of our lives.
Davis passed away on June 22nd at age 94, but that hasn’t stopped him from inspiring and influencing new hits on the charts. I mean, of course. The Universe is reverberating now with Clive’s genius.
Clive was a huge fan of the cult 90s group New Radicals, whose 1998 album “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too” contained the massive hits “You Get What You Give” (Joni Mitchell’s favorite song, btw), and “Someday We’ll Know.” He loved the songwriting team of Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois so much that he the sent the former’s song, “Game of Love,” to Michelle Branch, and it went to number 1 in 2002.
Branch recorded the song with Carlos Santana on sizzling guitar after another version with Tina Turner — available to hear — didn’t click. But Davis always wanted Alexander to record his own duet with Branch and pushed them to do it.
Alexander tells me he was actually on a plane to New York from London to play Clive the new version on the day the music mogul died. Now the new “Game of Love” has entered the Billboard charts at number 33 with a bullet, and will be a hit all over again. It’s kind of a divine inspiration.
It’s all part of the New Radicals Renaissance that Davis instigated — so much so that he introduced Alexander to The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas. The result is a standout track called “Going to Babble On” on the Strokes’ new album. The song is performed by the Strokes, but has the New Radicals signature sound.
And even more: the New Radicals have also resurfaced with the title song of the new Callum Turner-Monica Barbaro romcom called “One Night Only.” It’s the New Radicals’ first new song really since the halcyon days some 28 years ago.
But their influence has never ebbed. Brisebois co-wrote Natasha Bedingfield’s famous pop standard, “Unwritten” in 2004. Alexander wrote “Murder on the Dance Floor,” which became a big hit again when Barry Keoghan danced naked to it in the movie “Saltburn.” Alexander and Brisebois were nominated for an Oscar for writing, “Lost Stars,” the main song from the great John Carney film, “Begin Again.”
Hey– it’s just under the wire for the Grammys — deadline is the end of this month — but I wouldn’t be surprised to “One Night Only,” “Game of Love,” and “Going to Babble On” in the mix. Real songs by real writers, no committees, or teams, the real deal. What a throwback!
PS Will all of this lead to a second New Radicals album, 30 years after the first, “Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed, Too” entered the music canon? Alexander won’t say. But you know, you get what you give, and a massive amount of people want that to happen badly.
photo c2026 Showbiz411 by Leah Sydney —
Brandi Carlile, Cameron Crowe, Dave Grohl, with Gregg Alexander and somehow yours truly.
