Can’t Get You Out Of My Head at 20: The story behind Kylie Minogue’s biggest hit
At London’s Hammersmith Apollo in the spring of 2001, Kylie Minogue previewed a previously unheard song.
While new material doesn’t always receive quite the same enthusiasm in a live setting as fan favourites – particularly when you have a back catalogue of bangers such as Kylie‘s – this was Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, an instant earworm like nothing she had recorded before, a song that was soon to take on a life of its own.
Rob Davis, former Mud glam-rocker turned acclaimed pop and dance songwriter, was in the crowd to see it performed on stage, before Minogue had even recorded it. “It was really exciting,” he says. “It went down amazingly. It’s quite sing-along, isn’t it, so I think people got the gist quickly. And it’s Kylie, people love her, don’t they?”
The previous year, with three-and-a-half minutes of shiny disco pop helped by a pair of teeny gold hotpants, Minogue had firmly reinstated herself as one of our most beloved music stars, following her mid-90s period experimenting with the still brilliant (Confide In Me remains one of her best) but less commercially friendly Indie Kylie. Spinning Around was glitzy and fun and instantly propelled the singer back to the top of the charts – but if this was Minogue’s “comeback”, we hadn’t seen anything yet.
La la la, la la la la la: 20 years ago, in September 2001, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head was suddenly everywhere. Released first in Australia and the following week in the UK, it spent four weeks at number one over here (one of just two tracks that year to stay for so long, matched only by Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again) and 30 weeks in the Top 40 in total, according to Official Charts.
Another charts fact? It took just over four months to sell a million – compare that with 25 years for her second biggest-selling UK hit, 1989’s loved-up duo with Jason Donovan, Especially For You. Around the world, it is estimated to have sold more than five million copies.
It was a moment in music where the stars aligned: a song we aptly couldn’t get out of our heads; a slick, futuristic video with simple, almost robotic choreography (the start of Kylie’s jerky, face-up-close-to-the-camera moves she became known for around the period of Fever, her eighth album); and another unforgettable outfit in the form of her hooded, slashed-to-the-navel white jumpsuit.
Plus of course, the magic of Kylie.
It started in a garage-turned-studio at Davis’s then home in Epsom, Surrey. Davis – who includes Spiller’s huge summer 2000 hit Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love), featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, and dance classic Toca’s Miracle, also released in 2000, on his CV – co-wrote the track with Cathy Dennis, another former pop star turned acclaimed songwriter. It was the first time they had ever worked together.
Minoque performed the song live for the first time at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2001, before it had been released. Pic: Ilpo Musto/Shutterstock
The star performing in Munich, Germany, in 2002
“It was just one of those days where everything worked,” he says. “It was all written as we went, no preconceived ideas or anything. All I started with was a 125 drum loop… and I played a bit of guitar and [Dennis] came in with the ‘I Just Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ thing straight away. Gradually, we wrote it in sections on the keyboard. With a lot of dance music, you have a whole backing track first. But we didn’t, we gradually wrote it from top to bottom as we went along.”
Eschewing the traditional verse-chorus-verse pattern, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head has an unusual structure. “It’s funny because at the time one of my publishers said to me, ‘where’s the chorus?’ because it comes in with different hooks… this was almost chorus-bridge-chorus. But there’s no rules, really. It’s a good example, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, that you can go anywhere.”
The star went on to win numerous awards, including best pop and best dance artist at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2002, following the release of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and the Fever album
Davis says he and Dennis had a good feeling about the song, knew that in the right hands it could do very well. “But there’s other songs I’ve been excited about that haven’t done as well,” he says. So he didn’t let himself get too excited.
The song was originally sent to Ellis-Bextor’s team, who reportedly passed, and S Club 7 were said to have been in the running at one point, too. Ellis-Bextor, says Davis, is a friend and “always has a grin” when it comes up; the song that got away.
“I don’t think it could have been as big with anybody else,” he says. “It just worked for her brilliantly.” Minogue’s A&R representative wanted it immediately and, according to a 2012 interview with The Quietus, it took just 20 seconds of hearing the demo for the star herself to be hooked. She went to Davis’s garage studio to record it.
“It was a sweet moment, she was really nice,” says Davis. “She brought her own food – smoked salmon and stuff like that, from a deli – and brought enough for everybody. It was all done in the garage, just me and Cathy producing it. It was done in bits but she’d already learnt it – she’s very pro, Kylie. She’d done it live before, routined it for the [Hammersmith] live gig, which was really cool. So she already knew the song really well.”
Five months after the song’s release, Minogue performed it at the Brits, a mash-up with New Order’s Blue Monday, arriving on stage on a giant Kylie CD. She won the awards for best international female and album, for Fever. At the MTV Europe Music Awards later in 2002, she was named best pop act and best dance act.
“The whole buzz around it was incredible,” says Davis. “It was an amazing time. I think now, it’s considered an iconic song for her.” Davis and Dennis also wrote Come Into My World, another track on Fever, which won a Grammy in 2004.
Can’t Get You Out Of My Head even broke through to the NME Awards and was nominated for best single that year. As Minogue has put it herself, the song “kick-started a whole different phase in my career”. The music has never stopped, with the star releasing her 15th album, Disco, in 2020 – and becoming the first woman to top the UK album chart across five decades.
“Wow. I mean, WOW!!! What a moment in my lifetime,” she said, sharing a clip from the Can’t Get You Out Of My Head video on social media to mark the Australia release earlier this month. “I’ve been singing it ever since!!!”
Haven’t we all?
Entertainment
Quincy Jones: Oprah Winfrey, Elton John and Barack Obama among famous figures paying tribute to music legend
Oprah Winfrey, Sir Elton John and Barack Obama among the famous figures who have paid tribute to Quincy Jones following his death at the age of 91.
Following the announcement of his death on Monday, a string of friends, collaborators and admirers have been speaking out to praise the music producer and composer.
TV host Oprah Winfrey said her life “changed forever for the better” after meeting Jones as he helped secure her role in the 1985 film adaptation of The Colour Purple, which earned her an Oscar nomination.
Jones, the jazz musician known for collaborating with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Michael Jackson, wrote the film score and also co-produced the film.
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Quincy Jones dies aged 91
Winfrey wrote on Instagram: “My beloved Q. The world’s beloved Q. The one and only Quincy Jones ‘discovered’ me for The Color Purple movie in 1985. My life changed forever for the better after meeting him.
“I had never experienced, nor have since, anyone who’s heart was so filled with love.
“He walked around with his heart wide open, and he treated everybody as if they were the most important person he’d ever met. He was the Light. No shadows.
“He was love lived out loud in human form and he was the first person I ever loved unconditionally.”
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10 things about Quincy Jones
Whoopi Goldberg, who was also in The Colour Purple, also wrote on Instagram: “I was lucky enough to have him in my life for all these years.
“My heart is breaking for his friends and his extended family who loved and adored him… my condolences.”
Read more:
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Quincy Jones’s best-known collaborations
Former US president Barack Obama, who honoured Jones with the US National Medal of Arts in 2010, said: “For decades, Quincy Jones was music.
“From producing Thriller, to composing the score for The Color Purple, to working with Frank Sinatra to Ray Charles, it seemed like every big record – and every big film – had Quincy’s name on it.
“His music appealed to listeners of every race and every age. And by building a career that took him from the streets of Chicago to the heights of Hollywood, Quincy paved the way for generations of Black executives to leave their mark on the entertainment business.”
Barack Obama honoured Quincy Jones with the US National Medal of Arts in 2010. Pic: Reuters
He added: “Michelle and I send our thoughts to Quincy’s friends, family, and everyone who has lived their lives to his songs.”
Sir Elton John remembered Jones as someone who had a more “incredible” career in music than anyone else.
He shared a photo with him at the Elton John Aids Foundation Oscar viewing party, and called him a “loyal supporter of this important fundraiser”.
The singer added: “Nobody had a career as incredible as Quincy Jones. He played with the best and he produced the best. What a guy. Loved him.”
Rapper Ice T hailed Jones as a “genius”, while US Grammy-winner Lenny Kravitz said he was “speechless”, but added: “What a life. What an expression of authenticity. What a teacher. I am humbled that I was given the gift of your openness and friendship”.
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Singers react to death of ‘hero’ Quincy Jones
Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland thanked Jones for being “such a wonderful teacher” and creating the soundtrack to “some of the most extraordinary moments” in her life.
Jones also helped to launch and was an executive producer on the popular US sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air, starring Will Smith.
Jones with his daughter, actress Rashida Jones, and Will Smith in 2007. Pic: Reuters
Smith said: “Quincy Jones is the true definition of a mentor, a father and a friend. He pointed me toward the greatest parts of myself. He defended me. He nurtured me.
“He encouraged me. He inspired me. He checked me when he needed to. He let me use his wings until mine were strong enough to fly.”
Chic co-founder Nile Rodgers, who was friends with Jones, shared a video that said “Rest In Power Quincy Jones. The Greatest of All Time”.
Peter Hook, the bassist and co-founder of Joy Division and New Order, wrote on social media: “It’s so sad to hear about Quincy Jones. When he signed us to his label, he made us feel so welcome – inviting us to dinner at his home every time we were in town.
“He made us big in America. He was so humble & sweet that you immediately fell in love with him.”
Hook added: “And to this day I still got a lovely message from him every year on Christmas and birthday cards! A musical genius and a great, lovely man.”
Amy Dowden will not take part in the rest of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The professional dancer made a return to the celebrity contest this series after undergoing treatment for breast cancer and had been partnered with JLS star JB Gill.
However, the 34-year-old has now had to pull out of the competition due to a foot injury.
In a statement on Instagram, she said: “I’m so sad, so upset and asking why me, why now that our journey has been cut short.
“My heart right now is breaking having to pull out of the competition due to a foot injury.”
Dowden added: “I know only too well ‘this too shall pass’ and I’ll be soon better and back dancing. Something I’ve had to get used to in my life. I’m sure at some point we will dance again JB.
“To all the fans, to my loved ones, my strictly family thank you.”
JB Gill and Amy Dowden. Pic: BBC/Ray Burmiston
A spokeswoman for Strictly added: “Sadly, Amy Dowden MBE will not be partaking in the rest of the competition this year.
“Whilst Amy focuses on her recovery following a foot injury, fellow professional dancer Lauren Oakley will step in as JB’s dance partner.
“The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in Strictly are always the utmost priority. The whole Strictly family sends Amy love and well wishes.”
The news was first announced on Monday evening during the show’s spin-off programme Strictly: It Takes Two.
Lauren Oakley partnered with Krishnan Guru-Murthy last year.
Pic: PA
Dowden was taken ill during the live show the previous weekend and missed the Sunday results programme.
She was taken to hospital from the BBC show’s production centre, Elstree Studios, as a “precaution” after “feeling unwell”, a spokesman for Dowden said at the time.
Last year, Dowden found a lump in her breast while on her honeymoon in the Maldives with fellow professional dancer Ben Jones, and was unable to compete on Strictly.
After treatment for stage three breast cancer, she announced in February that tests showed she had “no evidence of disease“.
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Dowden was made an MBE in this year’s New Year’s honours list for services to fundraising and raising awareness of Crohn’s. She was diagnosed with the disease as a teenager and is a UK ambassador for the charity Crohn’s and Colitis.
She was also admitted to hospital in Manchester following a Crohn’s flare-up during the 2022 Strictly live tour.
Dowden also said in her statement that in the past few months she had “finally felt like me again”.
She added: “Cancer was no longer the first thing I thought of when I woke up. It was choreography, music choices, which dances in which order, what we needed to work on. I felt free again.
“My goal since hearing those words you have cancer was to get back on the strictly dance floor. It’s been such a challenge to get back.”
Dowden also praised JB Gill for being the “perfect partner” on the dancefloor.
“I know you and Lauren will continue to ace that dance floor. I’ll forever be your biggest cheerleader,” she added.
Quincy Jones, the music producer and composer, has died at the age of 91.
Jones worked with Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and many other artists.
Among his best-known credits was as the producer of Jackson’s historic Thriller album.
Jones oversaw the all-star recording of the 1985 charity record We Are The World.
He also composed the soundtrack to the hit 1969 British film The Italian Job, starring Michael Caine.
Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones. Pic: Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch /IPX/AP
Naomi Campbell, left, and Claudia Schiffer flank Quincy Jones. Pic: AP
His publicist, Arnold Robinson, confirmed Jones died at his Los Angeles home on Sunday surrounded by his family.
In a statement, his family said: “Tonight, with full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’s passing.
“And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him.”
Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. Pic: AP
Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton. Pic: Ralph Dominguez/MediaPunch /IPX/AP
His family added Jones was “truly one of a kind” who they would “miss dearly”.
“We take comfort and immense pride in knowing that the love and joy, that were the essence of his being, was shared with the world through all that he created,” they added.
“Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’s heart will beat for eternity.”
His career, which spans more than 75 years, saw him achieve 28 Grammy award wins out of 80 nominations.
He was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century by Time magazine.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote We Are The World and was among the charity single’s featured singers, called Jones “the master orchestrator”.
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Jones, a father of seven, was married three times to Jeri Caldwell, Ulla Andersson and Peggy Lipton.
His children include music producer Quincy Jones III and actress Rashida Jones, known for Parks And Recreation and the US version of The Office.
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