Moloko “Sing It Back”

The birth of our underground brand, Factory 93, not only brought on an adrenaline rush reminiscent of the renegade warehouse era of raving—on which Insomniac was founded—but it also had us thinking back to all the people, places and parties that made this whole operation possible. And with that came a burning desire to crack open our collection and dust off the classic records we couldn’t live without. Through our From the Crate series, we break out seminal and obscure cuts alike, imparting some knowledge in the process.

Sassy Irish electrodiva Roisin Murphy has always managed to straddle the line between many genres—disco, house, hip-hop, trip-hop, techno, and most certainly anthemic pop—in a way that could only be described as absolutely her own. Known to perform onstage in seemingly endless costume rotations—donning everything from a toy gun hat to a gingham deer (or was it a goat?) to streams of caution tape—her boundless, bold creativity and raw, soulful voice have left a lasting mark on dance music in her 20-year-plus career. Close your eyes and listen to Murphy; you’ll hear that she sounds and feels somehow like everyone from Björk to Beck, Pharrell to Crystal Waters, Beth Gibbons to Tricky, and back again. Plenty of today’s pop stars, especially Lady Gaga, would have never managed to break through barriers had the blonde bombshell not managed to quietly shatter them in the first place as one half of Moloko.

Named for the narcotic milk drink in A Clockwork Orange, Moloko got its start at a Sheffield party in the mid-‘90s. Murphy hit on producer Mark Brydon (who had then done some work with Cabaret Voltaire and Boy George) by saying, “Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body!” Though she had no previous singing experience, Brydon brought Murphy to his Fon Studios. He auditioned her voice on tape and was impressed by her theatrical delivery. They began dating, and the newly formed Moloko were signed to the Echo Label (Morcheeba, Marc Almond, Ray LaMontagne), releasing their debut album Do You Like My Tight Sweater? in 1995.

But the real club hit kicker came three years later, when the couple released their 1998 album I Am Not a Doctor. The album was high on critical praise, though low on sales. However, that would change in 1999, when German producer Boris Duglosch remixed its single “Sing It Back.” The track not only swept through every DJ (and karaoke) booth more or less on the planet, but it peaked at #1 on the UK singles charts and the US dance charts.

Put simply, the song was played so frequently on every type of conceivable dancefloor—from Warwick University Monday discos (see definition #2), to London West End cocktail bars, to Midwestern sorority parties—that even the most blacked-out of Y2K partygoers could belt out its chorus line on cue. And it kept on playing, over and over and over again, until you could all too easily find yourself dancing to it while waiting to check out at the grocery store. It also plays over and over and over again in your mind the day after you hear it (for better or for worse). Always.

The formula is fairly simple. At its base, “Sing It Back” is a fairly simple disco ditty, with catchy hi-hats and a slow-rolling bassline that peak and trough over Murphy’s sexy vocals. She donned a disco-ball flapper-girl dress in the track’s video, grooving in front of the camera and adding simplicity to simplicity for a seriously winning formula.

But that’s the thing about Moloko, and especially Murphy: Even at their corniest best, they were always somehow just a step ahead of the curve. Murphy is on a plane of her own design. As much as the thought of “Swing It Back” is synonymous with late-‘90s nights filled with more vodka/Red Bulls than any of us care to admit, few divas are as genuinely amazing, beautiful and groundbreaking than she. It’s hard to imagine even Kylie Minogue’s 2001 megabomb “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” having a musical legacy without Murphy and this track having come first. Love it or hate it, “Swing It Back” paved the way for many female disco freaks to follow. All hail Queen Murphy.

Now, if you can only get the damned song out of your head.