There was a time when you could rarely set foot in a public place without being reminded of the omnipresence of UK funk-pop sensation Jamiroquai.
The band, led by constantly behatted frontman Jay Kay, were a dominant force in the music of the late-90s and early-2000s, their blend of acid jazz, funk, disco and house a constant on radio, in nightclubs, at cafes and parties the world over.
Thirty years since forming, the band continues to perform and will be playing a very rare Australian show as part of this year's Harvest Rock festival.
In celebration of their return, we're delving into their career on The J Files, and we've brought together a few Jamiroquai fans to explain what the band means to them.
The live experience
"I found out about them pretty early on," America rapper Sa-Roc told Double J of her Jamiroquai fandom in 2020. "I was obsessed. I had all the Space Cowboy stickers that I plastered on everything everywhere.
"It was actually one of the first concerts I went to without parental supervision. I loved it, thought it was amazing."
She's not the only one to have had Jamiroquai as their first proper live music experience.
"His show in Canberra was my first concert," Australian DJ, producer and general multihyphenate Nina Las Vegas tells Double J. "My dad drove me and Kimberly Smith to Canberra and back to see Jay Kay and the gang perform. It was so cool."
For Sa-Roc, her second experience seeing Jamiroquai was maybe even better. It was just a long road to get there.
"The next time they came into town, I was like, 'I gotta go see them again'," she said. "But I waited too late and the tickets were sold out.
"I didn't let that stop me. I dressed up like to the nines, went to the ATM machine, pulled out a ridiculous amount of money, and went outside to the venue hoping to find someone who was scalping tickets. I was like, 'I'm gonna get into this concert'.
"So, I'm standing outside, all nervous, butterflies in my stomach. As I'm standing there, guess who comes out the side door? Jay Kay, the lead singer of Jamiroquai. I'm like, 'Oh my God, this is a sign. I have got to get into this show'.
"Eventually, this guy comes up to me and says, 'Are you looking for tickets? I'll sell this ticket to you for $10, but you have to come into the show with me'. I'm thinking, 'I need to figure out how to get away from him once I get into the show'.
"I agreed to it. Young and dumb. I buy the ticket from him, give him his $10, we walk in the door, and immediately I rush to the front and get lost in the crowd.
"It was one of the best shows I have ever been to in my entire life."
A dancefloor filler
"As a DJ, Jamiroquai is something that you just never ever worry about playing – you know it will get people moving," Nina Las Vegas says.
"There's often those gigs where you just have to get people to the dance floor and without a doubt it is always either 'Little L', 'Cosmic Girl', 'You Give Me Something', 'Love Foolosophy', 'Virtual Insanity', honestly, it is a filler.
"There are those tracks that make people dance that you don't want to play, but you have to play. Jay Kay is not that."
While those big hits are surefire winners, Allan McConnell of Naarm electro-disco wonders Close Counters likes to dig a little deeper when bringing Jamiroquai to the people.
"There's a song on the first album called 'Revolution 1993'," he explains. "It's over 10 minutes long, but it doesn't feel like a long song at all. It just keeps going and going and it has these incredible synth leads, really resonant sounds and incredible breakdowns.
"I have that one on my USBs for DJing because it's always a real dance floor party pleaser. Throughout the 10 minutes, the horns and strings and vocals are quite dynamic, but the groove just keeps going, it just keeps churning through the whole time."
That unforgettable video
Jamiroquai's 1996 single 'Virtual Insanity' was a force of nature upon its release. A perfect distillation of Jamiroquai's broad creative ambitions neatly packaged in a sub-four-minute pop song.
"It's just got the craziest chords," Nina says. "These wild jazz chords that shouldn't make sense and do, topped off with one of the wildest videos ever."
That video remains one of the most unforgettable moments of Jamiroquai's career.
"When I was a teenager and that came out, I remember seeing the video and being like, 'How did they do that video?'," says Ladyhawke, who'll play Harvest Rock alongside Jamiroquai this month.
"I was just blown away by the effects in the video. And the dancing as well. And the hat."
Those effects might not seem like much 27 years on, at the time they were groundbreaking.
"If you really dig into how they did that, they manually pulled the set," Nina explains. "It's not hydraulics, it's not automatic electronics. If you watch the documentary online, they only recently just posted, it's like 50 people dragging Jay Kay around.
"The best story about it, which I only just found out, is that he stuffs up the continuity and wears the wrong jacket in the final shot where he spills blood. So, they totally kooked it, but it just doesn't matter because you're just so in awe of how he moves. No one else could do it and has done it since."
Jamiroquai plays Harvest Rock in Adelaide on Saturday 28 October. More details here.
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