The irony of Elmos popularity

[minor muppetz]

I think Elmo is the heart and fun and joy of SS and will be forever. Elmo is like, i do not even know how to word it. I love all the SS characters though. I watched SS this morning, and actually ELMO is not in every skit. Elmo mostly is in Elmo's World. I think every character gets a fair chance of showing.

I don't think it was ever said in this thread that Elmo is in every skit in the current episodes. I did say that he has been in almost every new video (not counting re-releases, such as Big Bird In China) since 1998, and on the covers of every new video production.

For example, Elmo appears in a small circled picture on the cover of Bert And Ernies Word Play, possibly a sneaky way to use Elmo as a selling point without it looking odd that he is the only character besides bert and Ernie on the cover. The cover for A Celebration Of me, grover! featured grover surrounded by Elmo, Bert, and Zoe. I have a feeling that this group might have been an excuse to include Elmo on the cover of a video focusing on the best of grover. Of course, the other characters on the covers are ones that haven't been on too many covers: Bert (in his first appearance without Ernie on a video cover) and Zoe. It seems like the characters most commonly used on video and DVD covers are Elmo, Big Bird, Grover, Ernie, and Cookie Monster.

By the way, I do like Elmo. I do not hate him at all. But I do like many other characters better.

 

[BEAR]

I am not one of the people that hates Elmo either, but I have had some moments of irritability at his expense. An example of this:

One day I purchased the Sing the Alphabet cd because there were a lot of songs (some very rare) that I wanted to add to my music collection. On the case cover of the cd is Bert, Ernie and Elmo. Fine. Then I start playing the cd. The first song is the classic favorite "ABC-DEF-GHI" which as we all know was made famous by Big Bird. This is Big Bird's signature song. The song I listened to that day was sung (very obnoxiously I might add) by Elmo. Why did they need to redo the song with Elmo? Couldn't they just use the original version? Okay, fine. I got over it once I heard the rest of the cd which was great. They were all very old vintage recordings including characters like Lefty the Salesman, Harvey Kneeslapper, Herbert Birdsfoot, Sherlock and of course many of the other great characters. After Elmo ruined that one song, he was never heard again! Why was he on the cover!? He was very unnecessary.

 

[minor muppetz]

One day I purchased the Sing the Alphabet cd because there were a lot of songs (some very rare) that I wanted to add to my music collection. On the case cover of the cd is Bert, Ernie and Elmo. Fine. Then I start playing the cd. The first song is the classic favorite "ABC-DEF-GHI" which as we all know was made famous by Big Bird. This is Big Bird's signature song. The song I listened to that day was sung (very obnoxiously I might add) by Elmo. Why did they need to redo the song with Elmo? Couldn't they just use the original version? Okay, fine. I got over it once I heard the rest of the cd which was great. They were all very old vintage recordings including characters like Lefty the Salesman, Harvey Kneeslapper, Herbert Birdsfoot, Sherlock and of course many of the other great characters. After Elmo ruined that one song, he was never heard again! Why was he on the cover!? He was very unnecessary.

I have heard that album also. That album was originally released in the 1970s and was called The Muppet Alphabet Album (the booklet mistakenly says it was originally known as The Sesame Street Alphabet Album). when it was rereleased, I guess that Sesame Workshop wanted to use Elmo as a selling point and add one Elmo song to justify using him on the cover (although the reissue of Happy Birthday From Sesame Street also had Elmo on the cover, but no song changes to include Elmo). The only song from The Muppet Alphabet Album not included on Sing The Alphabet is the closing theme.

If you listen, you might noitice that ABC-DEF-GHI has a different sound quality compared to the rest of the album.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

Another thing to consider about Big Bird being the star is that he has probably always been in the opening. I do not know if he was in the original opening or not, but he was in every opening and closing sequence that I have seen. Elmo was in the openiong that was introduced in 1992, which also had many other characters, and a few clips of Elmo appear in the current opening, but when the opening with the main cast changed in 1998, the year that Elmos World was introduced, only Big Bird was in the opening.

Personally, I liked the opening with many of the characters the best. Why would kids want to see an opening with Big Bird and a bunch of real kids when they can see an opening with Big Bird and other muppets?

Yeah, I've noticed that too. In most openings that I can remember the only Muppet that was seen was Big Bird. Even when Elmo started getting popular he wasn't in the opening credits. He was just everywhere else. Lol. That's kind of strange.

As for Elmo singing Big Bird's trademark alphabet song, I've heard parts of it on MP3 files and on those music sample thingees at Barns and Noble. I agree that he really butchered that one. How can they have Elmo sing it when he'd have to replace all occurances with the words 'I' and 'me' with 'Elmo?' It doesn't make sense.

 

[BEAR]

Yeah, I've noticed that too. In most openings that I can remember the only Muppet that was seen was Big Bird. Even when Elmo started getting popular he wasn't in the opening credits. He was just everywhere else. Lol. That's kind of strange.

As for Elmo singing Big Bird's trademark alphabet song, I've heard parts of it on MP3 files and on those music sample thingees at Barns and Noble. I agree that he really butchered that one. How can they have Elmo sing it when he'd have to replace all occurances with the words 'I' and 'me' with 'Elmo?' It doesn't make sense.

Yeah, it didn't fit with the rest of the album. Elmo wasn't even in the little group of them at the beginning when Big Bird got everyone together to sing about the alphabet. It not only doesn't make sense but it sorta interupts the flow of the song. His voice is just so harsh on the ears on that song. There was just absolutely no logical point for that. They should have just written a new song for him instead or why not just use the Big Bird version?

 

[minor muppetz]

Yeah, it didn't fit with the rest of the album. Elmo wasn't even in the little group of them at the beginning when Big Bird got everyone together to sing about the alphabet. It not only doesn't make sense but it sorta interupts the flow of the song. His voice is just so harsh on the ears on that song. There was just absolutely no logical point for that. They should have just written a new song for him instead or why not just use the Big Bird version?

The reissue was also released in 1996, possibly before Tickle me Elmo was released in stores, so it's not like Sesame Workshop and/ or Henson (or possibly Sony Wonder) thought that Elmo was Sesame Streets selling point at the time.

Before 1996, did Elmo ever sing any songs about any specific letters? Of course, we should be thankful that he didn't take the spot of another song (not counting the closing theme). What if he had sung a song that replaced The U Lecture (with Proffessor hastings), Would You Like To Buy An O? (with Lefty), or X Marks The Spot (with Sherlock hemlock)? What if he sang a song that replaced one or both of Herbert Birdsfoots songs?

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

They should have just written a new song for him instead or why not just use the Big Bird version?

Yeah, Elmo could have done a specific letter song.

La la la la la la la la, "L" song. La La la la la la la la "L" song. L is for lemon. L is for lime. That's the letter L.

 

[BooberFraggless]

It's amazing how most people these days identify Sesame Street with Elmo. Elmo wasn't even on the show yet when I began watching it in 1984, he didn't join the show until about a year later. When he first came on there he was a minor charachter who would just pop up every once in a while. Similar to Herry Monster believe it or not. As years passed he stayed this way, but once the 90's hit it was all downhill. He had totally taken over the show by the time it had expanded to the around the corner set in 1993. But in 1998 when half the show was changed to Elmo's World, I realized that he had officially taken over the show, and I had completley given up hope. Even after Elmo's World made it's debut Elmo still became more and more popular. The old vintage Muppet and Animated Commercials they used to show are gone now and I think the reason is because of Elmo. All kids care about is Elmo. They don't care about anything else on Sesame Street but Elmo. They have been brainwashed. It's really sad. To think if Elmo was never introduced Sesame Street just might be like it was back in the old days. JMO

 

[BEAR]

It's amazing how most people these days identify Sesame Street with Elmo. Elmo wasn't even on the show yet when I began watching it in 1984, he didn't join the show until about a year later. When he first came on there he was a minor charachter who would just pop up every once in a while. Similar to Herry Monster believe it or not. As years passed he stayed this way, but once the 90's hit it was all downhill. He had totally taken over the show by the time it had expanded to the around the corner set in 1993. But in 1998 when half the show was changed to Elmo's World, I realized that he had officially taken over the show, and I had completley given up hope. Even after Elmo's World made it's debut Elmo still became more and more popular. The old vintage Muppet and Animated Commercials they used to show are gone now and I think the reason is because of Elmo. All kids care about is Elmo. They don't care about anything else on Sesame Street but Elmo. They have been brainwashed. It's really sad. To think if Elmo was never introduced Sesame Street just might be like it was back in the old days. JMO

Well...I wouldn't say that Elmo has ruined Sesame Street. Its just that he became an instant hit (esp. with the Tickle Me doll) and they have used him because kids could identify with him or they think he is cute. I will agree that it has gotten a bit out of hand. One might compare him to the Steve Urkel character who was originally only supposed to be a guest character on Family Matters for a couple episodes. Eventually, stories centered more and more on him and he was basically the show. Similar to Fonzie on Happy Days. I guess the only difference is Elmo was introduced to us much much later. People think that all of the attention is always on Elmo and the other Muppets (and I have noticed even the humans) have become secondary and in some cases forgotten.

 

[Rosewood]

The irony of Elmo's popularity

You know, when you really think about it, you have to hand it to the people at S.W. for recognizing a gold mine when they saw one. At the time Elmo's popularity began to peak, the age of robotics was probably just starting to get off the ground. Up untill then, all of the S.S. memorabilia that had so far been released and tried as a possible income source for them had never got much farther than plush toys. So when the possibility of creating a figure that would actually do something besides sit on your bed came along, what better characature to choose than Elmo? He's cute, he's little, he talks in a way that appeals to kids, (and mothers of kids who like him are probably going to like him even more because he provides them with a whole hour durring the day to do things while their kids sit and vegitate as he performs his cute little antics for them!). His color also has a motive behind it - red is meant to be eye catching and attention-grabbing, while colors like blue are known to be more calming and neutral, (like Grover). So it's no wonder "Tickle-me-Elmo" was such a big success. His attention catching ability basically screamed out to kids in the store "tell mommy to buy me!" , and buy him they did. It then grew to include Hokey-Pokey Elmo, and believe it or not today its "Potty training Elmo", which consists (I kid you not) of Elmo sitting on a toilet! But, (no pun intended) I guess when you are presented with a little red cash cow, the most logical thing to do is to milk it for all its worth!