Music Sounds Better with You

"Music Sounds Better with You" is a single by the French house group Stardust, released on 20 July 1998. A dance track, it is built from a looped guitar riff sampled from the 1981 Chaka Khan song "Fate". Stardust comprised Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, DJ Alan Braxe and vocalist Benjamin Diamond; they disbanded after the release and resumed separate careers.

This article is about the Stardust song. For the Big Time Rush song, see Music Sounds Better with U. For the Acid House Kings album, see Music Sounds Better with You (album).
"Music Sounds Better with You"
Single by Stardust
Released20 July 1998 (1998-07-20)
Format
  • 12-inch single
  • CD
Recorded1997
StudioDaft House
GenreFrench house
Length6:48
LabelRoulé (original 1998 release)
Because Music (2019 reissue)
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Thomas Bangalter
Music video
"Music Sounds Better With You" on YouTube

"Music Sounds Better with You" was initially released on Bangalter's label Roulé, followed by a wider release on Virgin Records, accompanied by a music video directed by Michel Gondry. The single was one of the year's bestselling in the United Kingdom, where it debuted at number two in August 1998 and maintained the position for two weeks. It also spent two weeks atop the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.

Recording

In in the mid-1990s, DJ Alan Braxe met Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and gave him a demo of his track "Vertigo"; Bangalter released the track on his label Roulé in 1997. After the launch, Braxe performed at the Rex Club in Paris, with Bangalter on keyboards and Braxe's friend Benjamin Diamond on vocals. They composed the first version of "Music Sounds Better with You" for the performance, using a looped sample from the 1981 Chaka Khan song "Fate", sampled using an E-mu SP-1200.[1]

After the performance, the group worked on the track at Bangalter's home studio, Daft House. They added a bassline using a Korg Trident synthesiser, drums with a Roland TR-909 drum machine, and Rhodes piano. The group assembled the instrumental using an Ensoniq ASR-10 sampling keyboard, triggering different sections by assigning them to different keys. Diamond's vocals and the final track were compressed with an Alesis 3630.[1] The lyrics were written by all three members; the song initially had more lines, which were deleted. Diamond felt the sparse lyrics were "like a mantra ... something everyone could understand".[2] Braxe recalled the group listening to the finished song and thinking: "We were very happy because we felt like we achieved something original and quite new in its form."[2]

Release

"Music Sounds Better with You" was released as a vinyl single on Bangalter's label Roulé in early 1998.[2] According to Braxe, the song initially confused Paris clubgoers: "It didn’t take a long time for people to understand the structure of the track and start to dance on it, but the very first listen the reaction was, 'What is it?'"[2]

The single was intended for DJs, but demand grew after copies were distributed at the 1998 Miami Winter Music Conference. According to Roulé co-manager Gildas Loaec, BBC Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong was the first radio DJ to play it.[2] Loaec and Diamond said Roulé sold between 250,000 and 400,000 thousand copies.[2] Bangalter did not enjoy the pressure and attention the single brought, as his label Roulé was "supposed to be a hobby, a creative platform".[2]

Stardust signed the single to Virgin Records, which sold over two million copies worldwide on vinyl and CD.[2] It topped the charts in Greece and Spain and peaked within the top 10 in at least nine other countries.[2] It has been certified platinum in Australia and the United Kingdom,[3][4] gold in Belgium[5] and silver in France.[6] In the United States, it topped the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart for two weeks and also appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 62.[7][8]

Music video

The "Music Sounds Better with You" music video was directed by Michel Gondry. In the video, a young boy builds a model aeroplane while the members of Stardust, wearing metallic suits with faces painted silver, perform on television.[2] DJ Mag described the video as "charming" and "dreamy".[9] For Insomniac, Jonny Coleman wrote that the video "helps reinforce the notion that this whole Stardust concept is supposed to exist in some other familiar but foreign liminal space, something ghostly but still warm and inviting".[9]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[10]

John Bush from AllMusic gave the single 4.5 stars out of 5 and also labels it as an "Album Pick" calling it "One of the most irresistible, sublime dance singles of the decade".[10] Larry Flick from Billboard described the song as a "euro-splashed ditty [that] has the potential to enjoy widespread commercial success on the strength of an infectious li'l hook and a solid, old-school disco bassline." He noted that "there's actually not a lot here, songwise. Singer Benjamin Diamond repeatedly warbles a thin verse that becomes downright hypnotic after about a minute. He's surrounded by spare keyboard fills and a yummy instrumental sample." He also added that "its execution makes it pop with a refreshing energy".[11] Another editor, Annabel Ross called the song "sublime in its simplicity" and regarded it as one of the best dance songs of all time.[12] DJ Mag wrote that the song "doesn’t do much of anything, really, nor does it have to. It exists in a state of pleasure-giving perfection."[13]

It was ranked 46th on Pitchfork's "Top 200 songs of the '90s".[14] The publication included "Music Sounds Better with You" in its collection of The Pitchfork 500.[15] In 2001, the magazine from the United Kingdom, Mixmag, listed the "100 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" with "Music Sounds Better with You" listed at number 11.[16][17] In 2003, Q Magazine ranked it at number 521 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[18] The song also appears at number six on Mixmag's "50 Greatest Dance Tracks of All Time" in 2013.[19] In 2012, Porcys ranked the song at number 1 in their list of "100 Singles 1990-1999".[20] In 2017, BuzzFeed listed the song at number 72 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s".[21]

Legacy

According to Billboard, Virgin offered Bangalter $3 million to produce a Stardust album.[2] The group recorded more demos, but decided to keep the Stardust project to a single song. Braxe said there were no plans to release the demos, saying: "I think it gives the record a certain magic and mystery."[1] Apart from their performance at Rex Club, Stardust performed only once, in a 30-minute set at the Borealis festival in Montpellier, France.[2]

Diamond and Braxe resumed their solo careers; Diamond said he found it difficult to return to his "own style of music" after Stardust, and his record company Sony pressured him to release more music like "Music Sounds Better with You".[22] Bangalter continued to work on music as Daft Punk with his partner Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo.[23] Daft Punk included "Music Sounds Better with You" on their live album Alive 2007.[24]

In 2018, Stardust remastered "Music Sounds Better with You" for its 20th anniversary. It was reissued by the independent label Because Music and added to streaming platforms.[2]

Track listing and formats

12-inch vinyl single

No.TitleLength
1."Music Sounds Better with You"6:48

CD single

No.TitleLength
1."Music Sounds Better with You" (7" Edit)4:24
2."Music Sounds Better with You" (12" Club Mix)6:48
3."Music Sounds Better with You" (Bob Sinclar Remix)6:46

CD single (re-release)

No.TitleLength
1."Music Sounds Better with You" (7" Edit)4:24
2."Music Sounds Better with You" (12" Club Mix)6:48
3."Music Sounds Better with You" (Bibi & Dim's Anthem from Paris Mix)10:30
4."Music Sounds Better with You" (Chateau Flight Remix)7:17

Music Sounds Better with You Remixé EP

No.TitleLength
1."Music Sounds Better with You" (Bibi & Dimitri from Paris's Anthem from Paris Mix)10:30
2."Music Sounds Better with You" (DJ Sneak's 32 on Red Dub Mix)5:41
3."Music Sounds Better with You" (Chateau Flight Remix)7:17
4."Music Sounds Better with You" (DJ Sneak's 32 on Red Mix)8:16

Charts

Sales and certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[3] Platinum 70,000^
Belgium (BEA)[5] Gold 25,000*
France (SNEP)[6] Silver 125,000[61]
United Kingdom (BPI)[4] Platinum 600,000^
United States — 140,000[62]
Summaries
Worldwide — 2,000,000[63]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Use in other media

See also
  • List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References
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