"Sesame's Treet" is a 1992 single by the English rave group

Smart E's Luna-C (born Christopher Howell, 1 May 1973) is a British DJ and record producer, known for his work in breakbeat hardcore music. He was a member of the group Smart E's in 1992, who scored a 2 hit on the UK Singles Chart with "Sesame's ...

. Although it was a remix of " Can You Tell Me How to Get to Sesame Street?", the song's title was a pun on "

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

". The song reached 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July 1992 and peaked within the top 10 in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. In the United States, it reached No. 60 on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100.

Background

At the time of its creation, dance music was not played on major radio stations. London radio station

Kiss FM Kiss FM, Kiss Radio or variants may refer to: Asia-Oceania * Various Kiss FM-branded stations in the Philippines ** 95.1 Kiss FM, Lucena, Quezon ** 102.3 Kiss FM, Tagbilaran, Bohol * Kiss92 FM, Singapore * KISS 969, Sri Lanka * Kiss Radio Taiwan ...

soon became legal but developed a slightly more commercial style. According to Luna-C of

, "It was good, because now our music was getting the recognition it deserved, but it was crap, because the money men forced it to be less than it was trying to be."

DJ Steve Jackson obtained the record and played it on the radio. Its popularity dramatically increased, and

was signed to Atlantic Records. "Sesame's Treet" followed a trend at the time of releasing tracks based on samples of children's TV themes. The first notable song that did this was "Summers Magic" by Mark Summers (January 1991), featuring the theme tune of the BBC's ''

The Magic Roundabout ''The Magic Roundabout'' is an English-language children's television programme that ran from 1965 to 1977. It used the footage of the French stop motion animation show ''Le Manège enchanté'' but with completely different scripts and characte ...

''. The Prodigy's "

Charly ''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...

" and

Urban Hype Urban Hype were an English breakbeat hardcore duo. The duo was formed in 1988, consisting of Bob Dibden (Robert John Dibden) and Mark Lewis (Mark Louis Chitty). They are best known for their toytown techno single, " A Trip to Trumpton", whi ...

's " A Trip to Trumpton" were two similar rave tunes of that era, also sampling from children's programmes (collectively known as "

toytown techno Toytown techno (also known as kiddy rave or cartoon rave) is an underground subgenre of techno that emerged in the early 1990s, characterized by merging techno, jungle, or breakbeat hardcore with samples from children's programs or public informa ...

").

Critical reception

Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' wrote, "Theme from classic kiddie TV show is the hook on which this contagious pop/

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

jam hangs. The contrast between rigid synth riffs and the bouncy melody are jolting good fun. "Hardcore" mix of the track was a fave among rave jocks on Belgian import a while back, and lighter, less-confrontational remix is custom-made for crossover and top 40 radio's increasing interest in techno. Could be the novelty smash of the year". Marisa Fox from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' commented, "Thanks to sheer novelty value, this trio's hyper, adolescent rave version of the ''

'' theme song skyrocketed to No. 2 on the U.K. pop charts. Over the course of Sesame's Treet, though,

seems a little behind the times, dishing out a few inspired dance flavors but mostly repetitious break beats."

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the song displayed an A-Z of the rave scene as follows (in the following order): A is for 'Ardcore
B is for B.P.M.
C is 4

Chill Out Chill-out (shortened as chill; also typeset as chillout or chill out) is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally ...

D is for Dance
F is for Flyerz
G is for Get Down
H is for Handz In The Air
I is for In The Mix
J is 4

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

K is for Kosmos
L is for Love (Summers Of)
M is 4 MC
N is for Nine-0-9
P is for Pumpin'
Q is for Q-Bass
R is for Rave
S is for

T is for

Techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

O is for

Oops Oops or OOPS is an interjection made in response to a minor mistake. It may also refer to: Television and film * "Oops" (Frasier episode), an episode of the TV sitcom ''Frasier'' * "Oops" (Family Ties episode), an episode of the TV sitcom ''Fam ...

U is for Ultra Violet
V is for

Vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

W is for

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

X is for X-press Yourself
Y is for Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Z is for

Zero Gravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight. It is also termed zero gravity, zero G-force, or zero-G. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational f ...

Notable is the absence of the letter E. Presumably, this implied ecstasy, and its absence was either due to not wanting to promote drug use in a commercial

, or it was deliberately left out to imply that whether or not a raver took ecstasy was their personal choice. The video was filmed in

Victoria Park, London Victoria Park (known colloquially as Vicky Park or the People's Park) is a park in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, England. It is the largest park in Tower Hamlets and one of London's most visited green spaces with approxim ...

Track listings

* Suburban Base Records (UK) and Possum Records (Australia) #"Sesame's Treet" (edit) – 3:33 #"Sesame's Treet" (Krome & Time Remix) – 5:22 #"Magnificent" – 4:36 #"Sesame's Treet" (12-inch version) – 5:10 * Pyrotech Records (US) #"Sesame's Treet" (edit) – 3:33 #"Sesame's Treet" (12-inch version) – 5:10 #"Sesame's Treet" (Krome & Time Remix) – 5:22 #"Sesame's Treet" (Beltram Mix) – 5:04 #"Sesame's Treet" (Hardcore Mix) – 3:22 #"Magnificent" – 4:36 * ZYX Records (Germany) #"Sesame's Treet" (edit) – 3:33 #"Sesame's Treet" (Krome & Time Remix) – 5:22 #"Sesame's Treet" (12-inch version) – 5:10 #"Magnificent" – 4:36

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Sesame's Treet on YouTube
{{Authority control 1992 singles 1992 songs Atlantic Records singles Sesame Street songs Smart E's songs Songs about television Songs based on children's songs Songs written by Bruce Hart (songwriter) Songs written by Joe Raposo Music Week number-one dance singles