"Theme from S-Express" is an acid house song by British electronic dance music group

S'Express S'Express (pronounced ''ess-express''; sometimes spelled S'Xpress or S-Express) were a British dance music act from the late 1980s, who had one of the earliest commercial successes in the acid house genre. "Theme from S'Express", which containe ...

, from their debut studio album, ''

Original Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of ...

'' (1989), written and produced by

Mark Moore Mark Moore (born 12 January 1965) is a British dance music record producer and DJ. He was founder of the dance / sampling pioneers S'Express, and runs the London nightclubs, 'Electrogogo' and 'Can Can'. Biography Moore began his DJ career ...

and

Pascal Gabriel Pascal Gabriel (born 15 December 1956) is a Belgian-born musician based in London, England and Paris, France. Background Pascal Gabriel's musical career began in 1977 in the punk rock band The Razors (bass guitar). He left Belgium for Londo ...

. One of the landmarks of early acid house and late 1980s sampling culture, the single became an instant hit upon its release in April 1988, peaking at number one 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 ...

for two weeks. It fared less well in the United States, only reaching number 91 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but reaching number one on the ''Billboard''

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as th ...

chart. It peaked at number 11 in Australia and number two in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, France and the Netherlands.

Production

The song samples liberally from many other works, including heavy usage of

Rose Royce Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and " Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Career ...

's "Is It Love You're After", and TZ's "I Got the Hots for You", which provided the song's

campy Camp is an aesthetic style and sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. Camp aesthetics disrupt many of modernism's notions of what art is and what can be classified as high art by inverting ae ...

hook. The song made prominent use of the line "Drop that

ghetto blaster A boombox is a transistorized portable music player featuring one or two cassette tape recorder/players and AM/FM radio, generally with a carrying handle. Beginning in the mid 1980s, a CD player was often included. Sound is delivered throug ...

" from the song "Tales of Taboo" by Karen Finley. The hi-hat is sampled from an aerosol spray. The track's "S express" refrain makes reference to the

42nd Street Shuttle The 42nd Street Shuttle is a New York City Subway shuttle train service that operates in Manhattan. The shuttle is sometimes referred to as the Grand Central/Times Square Shuttle, since these are the only two stations it serves. The shuttle run ...

, a line on the New York City Subway. The train sample used is of an

InterCity 125 The InterCity 125 (originally Inter-City 125New trai ...

. The cover artwork features a

cutaway drawing A cutaway drawing, also called a cutaway diagram is a 3D graphics, drawing, diagram and or illustration, in which surface elements of a three-dimensional model are selectively removed, to make internal features visible, but without sacrificing th ...

of a British Rail Class 56, a contemporary freight locomotive. For the North American release, some spoken word samples had to be removed due to licensing issues, and were recreated by unnamed voice artists. The female vocalist is

Michel'le Michel'le Denise Toussant (born December 5, 1970), also spelled Toussaint, is an American R&B singer known for her songs from 1989 to the early 1990s. Her highest charting song is the top ten US Hot 100 hit "No More Lies". Between 2013 and 201 ...

Samples used

This is a list of samples used in "Theme from S-Express". * Alfredo de la Fé – "Hot to Trot" from ''Alfredo'', 1979 (LP) * Crystal Grass – "Crystal World" from ''You're All I Ever Dreamed Of'', 1974 (LP) * Karen Finley – "Tales of Taboo" from ''Tales of Taboo'', 1986 (12") * Debbie Harry – "

Feel the Spin "Feel the Spin" is a 1985 song by the American vocalist Debbie Harry, featured on the soundtrack album for the film ''Krush Groove'' (1985). The song was co-written by Harry and producers John "Jellybean" Benitez and Toni C. (the latter of whom w ...

" from ''Krush Groove'' soundtrack, 1985 (LP) emoved from U.S. version* Vocal sample by Laura Olsher from "The Martian Monsters" from ''

Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House ''Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House'' is an LP album intended for "older children, teenagers, and adults", released by Disneyland Records (now known as Walt Disney Records). The album was mainly composed of sound effects that had bee ...

'', 1964 (LP) emoved from U.S. version* Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson – "

The Bottle "The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "Th ...

" from ''

Winter in America ''Winter in America'' is a studio album by American vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson. It was recorded in September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland and released in May 1974 by Strata-East Reco ...

'', 1974 (LP) emoved from U.S. version*

Ish Ledesma Ismael Angel Ledesma (born October 2, 1952) professionally known as Ish Ledesma is an American, Miami-based singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. Ledesma has fronted, written for, or produced hits for the bands Foxy, Oxo, and Company B ...

– "Scream for Daddy" from ''I Could Love You'', 1986 (12") * Peech Boys – "Don't Make Me Wait" from ''Life Is Something Special'', 1983 (LP) * Gene Roddenberry – "The Star Trek Dream" from ''The Star Trek Dream'', 1976 (LP) emoved from U.S. version*

– " Is It Love You're After" from ''Rose Royce IV: Rainbow Connection'', 1979 (LP) * Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs – "Oh That's Bad, No That's Good" from ''Oh That's Good, No That's Bad'', 1967 (7") emoved from U.S. version* Stacey Q – " Two of Hearts" from ''

Better Than Heaven ''Better Than Heaven'' is the debut studio album by American singer Stacey Q, released on October 17, 1986 by Atlantic Records. Produced by Jon St. James, ''Better Than Heaven'' is predominantly a dance-pop album with elements of Hi-NRG, Freestyl ...

'', 1986 (LP) emoved from U.S. version* TZ – "I Got the Hots for You" from ''I Got the Hots for You'', 1983 (12") * Yazoo – " Situation" from ''

Upstairs at Eric's ''Upstairs at Eric's'' is the debut studio album by English synth-pop duo Yazoo (known in North America as Yaz). It was released on 16 August 1982 by Mute Records. It was produced by the band and E.C. Radcliffe, with assistance from Mute labe ...

'', 1982 (LP)

Impact and legacy

In 2020, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' ranked the song at number 51 in their list of "The 100 greatest UK No 1s". They added,

"To watch
Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...
as 1987 gives way to 1988 is to watch the freaks taking over the asylum: after
MARRS MARRS (stylised M, A, R, R, S) were a 1987 recording collective formed by the groups A.R. Kane and Colourbox, which only released one commercial disc. It became "a one-hit wonder of rare influence" because of their international hit " Pump Up t ...
and Bomb the Bass’s earlier acid house hits, S-Express’s sample-heavy track affirmed the sound’s chart coronation, making the
Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considere ...
stable look even more square, and stuck one in the eye of London’s throttlingly cool club scene with its euphoric, queer collage."

Track listings

* CD maxi # "Theme from S-Express" – (3:55) # "The Trip" (Microdot House Mix) – (5:41) # "Theme from S-Express" (Herbal Tea Casualty Mix) – (8:05) * 7" single # "Theme from S-Express" – (3:55) # "The Trip" (Microdot House Mix) – (4:18) * 12" maxi, Europe 1 # "Theme from S-Express" – (5:58) # "The Trip" (Microdot House Mix) – (5:40) # "Theme from S-Express" – (3:55) * 12" maxi, Europe 2 # "Theme from S-Express" (Herbal Tea Casualty Mix) # "The Trip" (Microdot House Mix) – (5:40) # "Theme from S'Express" – (3:55) * 12" maxi, Canada & UK # "Theme from S-Express" (12" U.S.A. Mix) – (5:53) # "Theme from S-Express" (7" U.S.A. Mix) – (3:53) # "The Trip" (Microdot House Mix) – (5:53) * Cassette # "Theme from S-Express" (7" U.S.A. Mix) # "Theme from S-Express" (12" U.S.A. Mix) # "The Trip" # "Theme from S-Express" (7" U.S.A. Mix) # "Theme from S-Express" (12" U.S.A. Mix) # "The Trip" * CD maxi - Theme From S-Express (The Return Trip) (1996 release) # "Theme from S-Express" (Tony De Vit 7" Mix) – (4:04) # "Theme from S-Express" (Aquarius 7" Mix) – (4:12) # "Theme from S-Express" (Original Theme 7" Mix Plus-8) – (3:36) # "Theme from S-Express" (Tony De Vit 12" Mix) – (8:51) # "Theme from S-Express" (Aquarius 'Party On The Orient Express' Mix) – (7:36) # "Theme from S-Express" (Carl Craig's Edited Birthday Surprise Mix) – (7:36)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Theme From S-Express 1988 songs 1988 debut singles 1996 singles Capitol Records singles European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Number-one singles in Greece Number-one singles in Switzerland S'Express songs Songs written by Pascal Gabriel UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles