The real reason Robin Gibb wrote a song for Sesame Street’s Bee Gees spoof album
27 January 2025, 15:51
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In 1978, the Bee Gees were on top of the world.
After the release of dance-floor drama Saturday Night Fever in 1977, the Gibb brothers rose to unprecedented levels of superstar success thanks to their now-iconic soundtrack.
The film became a cultural phenomenon, centred around a group of working class teenagers – including Tony Manera played by John Travolta – in New York City that escaped the humdrum of their daily lives by letting loose in discotheques when the weekend came around.
But it was the Bee Gees' timeless soundtrack that solidified the film's status as a symbol of the 70s.
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Songs like 'Stayin' Alive', 'Night Fever', 'How Deep Is Your Love' and 'More Than A Woman' broke chart records whilst becoming iconic tracks at the same time.
So understandably, if there was any music you'd hear pouring out of nightclubs around the world throughout 1978, it was disco.
Saturday Night Fever - More Than A Woman (Bee Gees)
At the same time, popular children's puppet show Sesame Street used cultural references to explain society and its habits to the show's young viewers.
With the disco trend reaching its peak, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and co. got in on the act.
The show made their own disco album, spoofing Saturday Night Fever with the uncannily titled, Sesame Street Fever.
Remarkably, the producers behind the music even convinced the Bee Gees' very own Robin Gibb to get involved. But how?
The Bee Gees were the band of the moment as disco reached its peak. But like most trends, they eventually become uncool or easy targets for detractors.
The band received their fair share of criticism and jokes about their sound and look in years gone by, though it's unlikely they'd have ever thought the Sesame Street crew would've been the first to parody them.
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At that time, however, Barry, Maurice, and especially Robin Gibb were in on the joke.
That's because Robin's children Melissa and Spencer were so desperate to meet their fluffy on-screen heroes, he agreed to sing on the album.
The concept album unfolds as the disco movement sweeps over the Sesame Street characters, inciting similar levels of strutting and falsetto singing that was flooding through the actual streets of New York City.
Each of the characters get their chance to sing a Bee Gees-style song, though Robin lent his vocals to usher the television show into the disco era.
Robin lead vocals on 'Trash', the opening track 'Sesame Street Fever', and can be heard chatting to the Cookie Monster on a disco-fied vrsion of 'C is For Cookie'.
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It was the Cookie Monster who was the main draw for Robin Gibb in contributing to Sesame Street Fever.
His main stipulation in order to participate was that Melissa and Spencer could meet the Cookie Monster in person, so he travelled with his family from England to New York to make it happen.
Sesame Street: Trash - Music Video
Well, one thing is for certain - Robin made it happen in terms of the spoof record becoming a major success.
The album went gold in 1978, and was a hit "like everything else the Bee Gees touched" commented biographer Bob Stanley.
Who would've thought that the puppets – with Grover, dressed up as John Travolta's Tony Manera, and Bert, Ernie, and Cookie Monster featuring as the Bee Gees on the album cover – would go down so well in disco garbs?
It was a tie-in that was destined for success given disco music's popularity that year.
Sesame Street Fever was even nominated for a Grammy Award the following year for Best Recording for Children, but lost to The Muppet Show.
No matter what accolades the parody album might have won, it won the hearts of Melissa and Spencer Gibb, knowing that their father made sure they made memories to last a lifetime.
