Craig Roseberry from Billboard cited Parliament and Funkadelic as inspirations for the track.
Content
"Red Alert" contains a clean sample of the 1980 Locksmith single release on Arista records titled "Chinese Funk Song". This track, subtitled "Far Beyond", was the B-side of "Unlock the Funk" ID number K-8081. The intro section of the "Jaxx Club Mix" contains several electronic sound effect samples from various sources like the audible beeping sound used at pedestrian crossings for blind people in many countries including Australia. Basement Jaxx remixed the track themselves calling it "Miracles Keep on Playin'". It appears on the "Rendez-Vu" single and samples The Jackson Sisters' track "Miracles".
Critical response
"Red Alert" received critical acclaim from music critics. Billboard described the song as a "zippy, ears-pricking pop/dance track" and noted further that it is loaded with "space-age lasers, bloopy bounce rhythms, an unexpected dollop of cello, and a beat meant to ignite the airwaves into a froth of summertime glory." They also added that "Red Alert" is "a gallon hat full of fun, with a female vocal that will force fingers to drum, toes to tap, and heads to nod with abandon. The message here: oh, never mind, it's just about dancing and letting the music raise your soul to the rafters." Joshua Klein from The A.V. Club stated: "For the BPM-minded, the retro single "Red Alert" has more than enough faux funk and chic camp to keep the masses moving, proving that Buxton and Ratcliffe know well enough to think with their feet as well as their heads." Robert Christgau and AllMusic's John Bush both chose the song as one of their track picks from Remedy. Writing for Rolling Stone, Barry Walters called the song a "sharp, steady groove is subverted by a succession of P-Funk chanting, G-funk synth screeching, string-section interludes, furious bass doodles and sassy diva wails." Marc Savlov from The Austin Chronicle described the track as a "club staple" with "the propulsive, feel-fucked-up joy." USA Today's Edna Gundersen said the song and "Rendez-Vu" "have personality as well as slapping bass lines and deep grooves." The Village Voice listed the track at number 27 on their annual Pazz & Jop poll. Bill Werde, assistant editor of CMJ New Music Monthly listed the song as one of his best tracks of 1999.
Music video
The song has two different music videos, one for the UK and the other for the US. In the UK version, which was directed by Dawn Shadforth, Basement Jaxx work at a truck stop diner that is encounter by the group of Androids and causes a meteor that was flying above them to crash into the diner, that turns everyone into the group of Rave-attire zombies. While this happens, one chef gets a plate in his head, another is morphed wearing a Chinese Dragon head, the waitress is given an outfit in the similar style of the androids and several cafe patrons are forced to dance. The US video takes place in a world where music is outlawed and follows cops as they find and bust musicians, similar to the plot of Fahrenheit 451 but substituting books with music. The video includes cameo appearances by other musicians being arrested, most notably Moby. The US version was shot in New York City, directed by Brian Beletic with creative direction by David Levinel, features the Giuliani-era NYPD busting musical instrument owners.
Legacy
ranked the song at number 69 in their list of the "Top 200 Songs of the 1990s". Dutch author Ray Kluun's first and well-known novel Komt een vrouw bij de dokter quoted the lyrics from the song. Mixmag included the Steve Gurley mix of "Red Alert" in their list of "16 of the Best Uplifting Vocal Garage Tracks".
