Down The Dumper – The 90s Part 27.

You might remember a while ago when I looked back at “Sesame’s Treet”, which was part of a genre that was often called Cartoon Rave. This was turning old children’s TV themes into dance songs, and all these years on I still can’t decide if this was an inspired idea, or one of the most absurd genres of this era, or indeed any other. But I have decided to feature another one, partly because again, there is an unusual twist in the story.

Shaft were a British production duo, although well, they supposedly were. In December 1991 they jumped on this crazy bandwagon when “Roobarb And Custard” was released. Some people clearly felt that the theme to Roobarb could be suitable for remix treatment, because this is famously rather “scuzzy” (well as far as 70s childrens’ cartoons go anyway). And oh yes, this was right banging, or whatever people said in those days.

This eventually reached no. 7, the only time they made the Top 40. It seems there was no video, as when this was featured on The ITV Chart Show, only a picture was shown (as they had no other choice). I presume it was of the people who made this, they must’ve been proud. And this was performed on Top Of The Pops, although with the “live vocals only” rule in use at the time, the mind boggles on how they got round this really.

And of course, there were a few other classics at this time, who could possibly forget Urban Hype’s “A Trip To Trumpton”? (BARNEY MCGREW BARNEY MCGREW). But the success of this genre on the chart soon passed. In July 1992, their second and final hit “Monkey” reached no. 61. I presume this is a remix of the theme to the Japanese TV series Monkey, but I honestly can’t bring myself to do a search for the phrase “shaft monkey”.

Their current whereabouts are unknown. Although you could argue nobody knew who they were at the time of their fame either. But rather oddly, in September 1999, another British production duo called Shaft had a big hit, when “(Mucho Mambo) Sway” reached no. 2. This must be a unique achievement of two different acts with the same name both having a Top Ten hit single in the same decade, unless you know better of course.