"Big Brother UK TV Theme" | |
---|---|
Single by Elementfour | |
Released | 28 August 2000 |
Recorded | 2000 |
Genre | Techno, Trance [1] |
Length | 3:20 |
Label | Channel 4 Music |
Songwriter(s) | |
Producer(s) |
The Big Brother UK TV Theme, also known as "Element Four" in Belgium or as "Tast-E" in Australia and Greece, is the opening theme for the British reality TV series Big Brother , written and produced by music duo Elementfour in 2000.
Following the success of the first British series that year, the theme was released as a single. It became a hit in September 2000 when it reached number 4, selling 47,186 copies in its first week. Overall the single spent 10 weeks on the UK Singles Chart and achieved more than 160,000 sales in total. [2] It also reached number 3 on the Scottish Singles Chart where it spent nine weeks in the top 100. [3]
The original theme was used through the first four series of Big Brother, however was later replaced by a revamped version from the fifth series onwards with an enhanced bassline. [4] Versions of the theme continued to be used throughout Channel 4's run of Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother and was retained when both shows moved to Channel 5 in 2011. [2] A sample from the 12-inch remixed version of the track was used in August 2022 to promote the revived 2023 series on ITV2. [5]
In July 2016, it was revealed that the track was the 14th highest-charting TV theme of all time in the UK. [6] In June 2020 it was announced the song had sold 164,000 CD singles in the twenty years since its release, with no additional downloads or streaming sales due to it not being available digitally. [7] In October 2023, the revived series began and a remixed new version of the original theme was digitally released by Oakenfold under the name Perfecto Allstarz.
The original name for the track, as evidenced by promotional copies, was "Tast-E", and this was before the duo had settled on a collective name for themselves either. [8] "Tast-E" was released in Australia on CD (WEA), [9] Belgium as "Element Four" (12", Xtra Nova) [10] and Greece (CD, Planetworks). [11]
The theme was also featured on the soundtrack for the first series, which was released that same year. [12] [13]
In September 2010, Gray said to Leo Hickman of The Guardian "I came up with the basic melody while babysitting my five-week-old daughter,". "I was rocking her with my toe under my keyboard as I was playing around with chord structures. I suppose it took three days to write.", with Oakenfold adding that he is proud of their "iconic piece of music". The single version sold nearly 300,000 copies and reached number 4 in the charts in September 2000, Oakenfold stresses, "without it even being play-listed by Radio 1". "Channel 4 took a leap of faith to use it. It's not a limp piano line; it's really quite heavy and electronic. I would say the programme and its music have changed culture, not just television." [14]
In August 2011 Oakenfold, asked if he was happy that the theme had been retained by Channel 5, told Digital Spy "Of course I was. I'm very proud of my track and it's become quite an iconic piece of music." Questioned on whether he received royalty cheques every series, Oakenfold laughed "Everyone does - of course. That's the way it works if you write music." [2]
All music is composed by Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray (as Elementfour)
No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Big Brother (Vocal Mix - Radio Edit)" |
| 3:20 |
2. | "Big Brother (Grayed Out Deep House Mix)" |
| 6:28 |
3. | "Big Brother (12" Mix)" |
| 10:02 |
Total length: | 19:52 |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 28 August 2000 | Channel 4 Music | [21] | |
Australia | 2000 |
| Warner Music Australia | [9] |
Belgium | 20 November 2000 | 12-inch vinyl | Xtra Nova | [10] |
Greece | 2000 |
| Planetworks | [11] |
Big Brother - The Original Soundtrack | |
---|---|
Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
Released | 14 August 2000 |
Genre | Soundtrack |
Length | 2:34:22 |
Label | |
Producer |
|
Compiler | Tim Binns |
The soundtrack is a compilation of contemporary and classic dance tracks featured in the first series. [22]
Paul Mark Oakenfold, formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Massive Attack, the Cure, New Order, the Rolling Stones, the Stone Roses and Michael Jackson. Oakenfold was voted the No. 1 DJ in the World twice in 1998 and 1999 by DJ Magazine.
3T is an American R&B/pop music trio featuring the three sons of Tito Jackson and Delores "Dee Dee" Jackson, from whom they inherit their Dominican ancestry. The band members include, from eldest, Tariano Adaryll Jackson II ("Taj"), Taryll Adren Jackson and Tito Joe Jackson ("TJ"). Their late uncle Michael Jackson mentored the trio, and signed them to his label MJJ Music.
Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Right Said Fred are an English pop band formed by brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass in 1989. They are best known for the hit 1991 song "I'm Too Sexy".
Robert Berkeley Davis is an English guitarist and songwriter who achieved early fame as a founding member of glam rock band Mud in the 1970s. He had songwriting success in the 1990s and 2000s, penning vocal arrangements for dance hits including "Can't Get You Out of My Head" for Kylie Minogue, Fragma's "Toca's Miracle" and Spiller's "Groovejet ".
Grace was a 1990s British dance music act, consisting of the DJs Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne and the jazz singer Dominique Atkins. The group's first single, "Not Over Yet", had lead and backing vocals by the original frontwoman Patti Low. Atkins recorded her own lead vocals for "Not Over Yet" when it was included as the first track on the group's only album If I Could Fly.
"Babylon" is a song by British singer-songwriter David Gray. Originally released on 12 July 1999 as the second single from his fourth album, White Ladder (1998), it was re-released as the album's fourth single on 19 June 2000. Described as Gray's signature song, "Babylon" is "about a love that is lost and found again".
"I Believe in You and Me" is a song written by Sandy Linzer and David Wolfert in 1982. The song was first recorded and released by the R&B group The Four Tops, who released it as a single from their album One More Mountain (1982). While it failed to reach the US Top 40, it became a moderate hit for the group on the US Billboard R&B chart, peaking at number 40 in early 1983.
"Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece written by Barry White around 1965. Recorded and released as a single by White's Love Unlimited Orchestra in 1973, it was one of the few instrumental and purely orchestral singles to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, which it did in early 1974. Billboard ranked it as #3 on the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1974.
Richard Norris is a London-based record producer, songwriter, sound engineer, musician, DJ and author. He is best known as a member of electronic dance band The Grid. Richard has also worked as a producer and engineer since the 80s with artists such as: Bryan Ferry, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Marc Almond, Joe Strummer and the Pet Shop Boys.
Perfecto Presents: Another World is the twelfth DJ mix album by British electronic music producer Paul Oakenfold, released in 2000. It is the second instalment in his Perfecto Presents series, a series of DJ mix albums themed around Oakenfold's label Perfecto Records. The album employs Oakenfold's progressive trance sound and sees a return to the Goa trance sound he had helped popularise with Goa Mix (1994) and Perfecto Fluoro (1996). Similar to those albums, it also features a more eclectic array of music genres, featuring music from film soundtracks, the ethereal wave band Dead Can Dance and a remix of a Led Zeppelin song. Although the album received mixed reviews from critics, at the time of release, it became the biggest-selling DJ mix album in the United States, where it reached the Top 50 of the Top Electronic Albums chart.
"Starry Eyed Surprise" is a song by English record producer Oakenfold featuring vocals from Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town. The song was released on 19 August 2002 as the second single from Oakenfold's debut album, Bunkka (2002), reaching number six in the United Kingdom, number 19 in the Netherlands and New Zealand, number 21 in Ireland, and number 37 in Australia. It also reached the top 50 in Italy and the United States. It was later included on Shifty Shellshock's 2004 album Happy Love Sick and Oakenfold's 2007 album Greatest Hits & Remixes.
The Space Brothers are a British trance music duo comprising Richard 'Ricky' Louis Simmonds and Stephen Christopher Jones, noted for producing under a variety of pseudonyms such as Chakra, Lustral, Ascension, Essence, Ultra High, Lamai and The Realm.
"Bodyrock" is a song by American electronica musician Moby. It was released as the third single from his fifth studio album Play on July 12, 1999. Heavily inspired by hip hop music, the song incorporates vocal samples from "Love Rap" by Spoonie Gee and the Treacherous Three. The single peaked at number 38 on the UK Singles Chart.
British big beat duo The Chemical Brothers have released ten studio albums, one live album, five compilation albums, two remix albums, five mix albums, one soundtrack album, two video albums, six extended plays, thirty-seven singles, fifteen promotional singles and thirty-two music videos.
"History Repeating" is a 1997 song written by Alex Gifford and originally performed by English electronic music duo Propellerheads featuring Welsh singer Shirley Bassey. It was released shortly before their only album, Decksandrumsandrockandroll, released in 1998 by Wall of Sound in Europe and DreamWorks in the US and Japan. The single was a No. 1 hit on the UK Indie Chart, and was also Bassey's first top ten appearance on any US chart since 1973's "Never Never Never", making No. 10 on the US Dance Club Songs chart. According to Bassey, Gifford wrote the song especially for her. The sleeve cover, an illustration by Duke D. Jukes, takes its inspiration from classic album sleeve from the Capitol 1957 release Just One of Those Things by Nat King Cole.
This is the discography of the trance DJ and record producer Paul Oakenfold.
"I'm in the Mood for Dancing" is a single by the Irish pop group The Nolan Sisters. Originally released in December 1979, the song became a top-three hit in the UK in February 1980. A blend of pop and disco, it has since become synonymous with the group and remains their biggest hit. It was also a hit in many countries around the world. In Japan and South Africa, it reached number one.
Elementfour was a music producing duo made up of DJ Paul Oakenfold and musician/composer Andy Gray. Sometime before July 2000, they collaborated in writing and producing the opening theme for the Channel 4 reality series Big Brother. The theme, which was later released as a single, continued to be used when Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother moved to Channel 5 from 18 August 2011 until the show was axed and ended on 5 November 2018. A sample from the track was used again in 2022 to promote the upcoming 2023 series on ITV2.
Irving Martin is an executive producer, creative director and record producer. Not including other record labels he worked with, during the 1960s, he produced more than forty-five singles that were released on the CBS label. He produced Guy Darrell's Top 20 hit, "I've Been Hurt" and had further chart success with the London Philharmonic Choir. In addition to producing solo artists and bands, he has either produced or composed music for television shows or films such as Return of the Saint, The Sweeney, Space 1999 and The Jigsaw Man, and has appeared on Make 'Em Laugh. He has often worked with Brian Dee and has also worked with Des Champ.