What bugs me about Little Jerry...

[Drtooth]

Have you ever noticed that other than Telephone rock all their music sounds like 1950's style rock? But yet, the characters are dressed like late 60's hippies. I find that pretty strange. After all, they sing one type of music, yet dress another.

 

[mikebennidict]

Of course you're entitled to you opinion but why does that bug you? It's 1 thing to find something strange but to be bugged by what you stated is a different story.

 

[fuzzygobo]

groovy singing hippies

I guess their musical styles and their dress do clash a little. Jeff Moss (who wrote the first bunch of songs like Mad! and Sad and I'm Proud) and Christopher Cerf were very much influenced by such 50's artists as Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Chuck Berry. Jim Henson tired to make the Muppets look current (for 1970), hence the hippie garb.


But those Monotone puppets also sang a version of Spinning Wheel, which in 1969 was a big hit for Blood, Sweat, and Tears. And Jim performed the Little Jerry puppet, not Jerry Nelson. It was actually really cool.
Bob helped put the finishing touches on them (he puts a hat on the Fat Blue puppet) and walks off, the music cues up, and they start WAILING! And on the screen behind them, there's actually spinning wheel/psychedelic light show effect. Very trendy for the time.

You would have to be my age (at least 35) to even vaguely remember this one. hopefully when the promised Sesame box set comes out in October, they can dig up this one.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm bumping this really old thread because I totally forgot I already posted this and was about to post it again.

I just listened to "Sad" again, and it sound so incredibly like Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons I wondered why the characters are designed to look like hippies yet sing music that sounds almost exactly like parody versions of a decidedly not hippie looking band. Then it hit me. Even the name of the group sounds like a doo-wop type band. Makes you wonder why they're not all clean shaven and wear suits.

Little Jerry and the Monotones- "Incense and Peppermints" look, "Walk like a Man" sound.

 

[cjd874]

I agree with that. To me, as the years went on, their sound seemed to go backwards in time, not forwards. Remember the 1988 episode where Little Jerry & the Monotones came to Sesame Street? You'd think Gina, who was 17 or 18 years old at the time, would be into an MTV-molded, snarling Billy Idol or scruffy Bon Jovi type. But no, the Monotones come strutting onto the street singing a doo-wop song called "Rock and Roll Star." Honestly, they were better in their earlier years with "Telephone Rock," "Danger," "Mad," and "Body Full of Rhythm."

 

[minor muppetz]

It's a wonder that Little Jerry and the Monotones updated their wardrobe for their street scene appearances in the late-1980s and 2000.

 

[D'Snowth]

Remember the 1988 episode where Little Jerry & the Monotones came to Sesame Street? You'd think Gina, who was 17 or 18 years old at the time, would be into an MTV-molded, snarling Billy Idol or scruffy Bon Jovi type. But no, the Monotones come strutting onto the street singing a doo-wop song called "Rock and Roll Star."

Let us not forget, a relatively successful act during the 80s was The Stray Cats, who causes a resurgence in 50s rockabilly music... so, it's not entirely a stretch to imagine Gina being really into Little Jerry and The Monotones, also given that they're really big in-universe.

 

[Drtooth]

A lot of young people do like older music. Especially if they've been huge, and their popularity was always consistent. Which I'll guess in-universe is what Little Jerry and Little Chrissy are. And on the show too. They've been playing Little Jerry songs up until the late 90's.

Of course, the complete opposite is true for Little Chrissy. His band looks exactly like what kind of music they'd play. Even though it's a caricature of Chris Cerf, he's obviously part parody of Little Richard (especially evident in earlier songs), I'd say with just a small touch of Randy Newman thrown in for good measure... I dunno... something about Exit reminds me of an older Randy style song. Then he sings a parody of a Michael Jackson song, and somehow, it fits perfectly well.

 

[fuzzygobo]

I was lucky enough to meet Chris Cerf, and his passion for 50's music just flows from him. He does have a bit of Randy Newman's wicked sense of humor, too. He kept it in check with most of his Little Chrissy numbers on Sesame, flexed it a little more on "Between the Lions". One artifact worth checking out, 1973's "Lemmings", done when he was a member of National Lampoon. This touring company had Chevy Chase, John Belushi, and Christopher Guest (all before Saturday Night Live fame) in a savage parody of Woodstock. Besides writing the songs, Chris got to jangle the piano sometimes. Even then, there was this meshing of hippie granola and Fifties boogie-woogie. But it worked. Twisted genius.

 

[cjd874]

A lot of young people do like older music. Especially if they've been huge, and their popularity was always consistent. Which I'll guess in-universe is what Little Jerry and Little Chrissy are. And on the show too. They've been playing Little Jerry songs up until the late 90's.

Of course, the complete opposite is true for Little Chrissy. His band looks exactly like what kind of music they'd play. Even though it's a caricature of Chris Cerf, he's obviously part parody of Little Richard (especially evident in earlier songs), I'd say with just a small touch of Randy Newman thrown in for good measure... I dunno... something about Exit reminds me of an older Randy style song. Then he sings a parody of a Michael Jackson song, and somehow, it fits perfectly well.

Interesting thing is, while Little Jerry's outfits changed throughout the years, I don't recall seeing Chrissy in an outfit other than his yellow shirt, except in the song "Raise Your Hand." But Chrissy's voice is so flexible…it's suitable for various subgenres of music…just compare "Count It Higher" and "Wet or Dry" (which I presume is the MJ parody you were talking about). There's only so much that Jerry Nelson and the Muppet songwriters could create, given that Little Jerry's singing voice was so high and, to be frank, a one-note kind of deal (no pun intended).