Alan Braxe, co-writer, guitar, production
I have three distinct memories of hearing this song. Right after we finished the track, we listened to it in the studio on a boombox. The sound was really poor. The second time, I was in a club in Paris. It was really loud and the reaction from the crowd was: “What is this?” I thought we’d overdone the production, but within a minute everyone was dancing. Then I heard the song in a supermarket, through tiny speakers, and by that point everyone knew it.
The techno and house scenes in France were small, but there were parties in the suburbs of Paris and sometimes clubs in town. I was going out a lot: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I had dropped out of my history degree because I was so serious about making music. I gave myself a year. I bought some equipment and, later, played some demos to [Daft Punk’s] Thomas Bangalter. He agreed to release Vertigo, my first single, on his label Roulé. He did a remix for the B-side and that’s how it all started.
On its strength, I was invited to perform at the Rex Club in Paris. I asked Thomas to play keyboards and Benjamin Diamond, who I knew from school, to sing. We were searching for a new song, looking for things to sample. Benjamin put on Fate, a Chaka Khan track, and that was it. We knew it had something, so we sampled it and jammed around, playing it during the live show. Afterwards, we decided to make a record, spending a week collaborating in Thomas’s studio.
He took the track to some DJs in Miami in the spring of 1998 and they all loved it. By summer, it had been released all over the world, just six months after being written. We only ever played that one live show, released this one single – and we never did an album. All three of us are happy with that. It gives it more magic, which is possibly what made the song so successful. That’s it. It’s there. It’s just music. Nothing else.
Music Sounds Better With You was only my second release. It’s still a part of my life and I’m very proud of it. Someone will get in touch to ask about it maybe four times a year. I was in a club last week and the DJ put it on. It still sounded good. And this time, everybody danced from the beginning.
Benjamin Diamond, co-writer, singer
We began with the lyrics – and we had lots. There were originally verses and verses, but in the end I think there are just four sentences in the whole song. At the time, I was in a punk band. When the guys realised I was working with Thomas and Alan, they fired me. “Go to your techno friends,” they said. “We don’t want you.” I was disappointed but it was OK. I got my revenge with the success of Stardust.
When I first heard the edit with my vocals, I didn’t like it. I wanted to do it again. Thomas and Alan thought I was crazy and said there was no way I was going to do it better. When the money started to roll in, I bought guitars and keyboards for my studio – and records. I’ve been a vinyl dealer for 25 years and there was this shop I loved that had some very cool, very expensive records in the back. So I went in and asked to see every record I’d lusted after for 10 years. “I’ll take them all!” I said. It was a brilliant feeling.
The video was directed by Michel Gondry, who Thomas knew. We were sort of in disguise: Alan and Thomas were wearing masks and I was painted silver. We filmed it in the summer in Los Angeles and it was so hot, the makeup artist had to keep coming back because the paint was running off me with all the sweat. That was the first time I’d ever shaved my head and I’ve kept it that way ever since.
I realised the song was taking off while on holiday in Italy with my girlfriend. We were on the beach and suddenly I heard it. “Fuck!” I said. “Someone is playing our song on the radio.” Soon it was everywhere. At one point, it all felt too much. I wanted success, but this was something else. It seemed like all eyes were on us.
I wanted to carry on with Stardust. We actually tried, recording a handful of demos, but Thomas was one half of Daft Punk and they were really starting to take off. What can I say? He did OK with Daft Punk!
Alan Braxe’s The Upper Cuts is out now on Smugglers Way
