Little Jerry and the Monotones



Little Jerry and the Monotones is a rock group on Sesame Street that first appeared in 1970.

The members of band were Little Jerry as the frontman, backed by Big Jeffy along with Lavender and Pumpkin Anything Muppets, usually known as Chrissy and Rockin' Richard.

All members of the band are named after the people who served as their original (and primary) voices: Little Jerry is named after Jerry Nelson, Jeff Moss supplied the voice for Big Jeffy, Rockin' Richard's by Richard Hunt, and Christopher Cerf was Chrissy. The individual members introduced themselves by name in the song "Four," while the group name first appeared on a 1971 record. On occasions, the names and voices for the back-ups, especially the latter two, were swapped.

Although there were usually four members of the band, an extra member, a nameless Purple Anything Muppet, appeared in the song "A Body Full of Rhythm".

The group appeared in new wraparound footage in the 1990 video Rock & Roll. In addition, a photo of Little Jerry and Big Jeffy (along with another Fat Blue Anything Muppet) can be seen on Jackman Wolf's desk (later in the backround). In a 2000 episode of Sesame Street, the group made a comeback appearance in a concert to perform "When You Move the Mouse, It Makes the Arrow Go." The Pumpkin Monotone was absent in this performance. The group's previous hippie-style clothes were replaced by more contemporary, yet still flashy clothes. The Lavender member of the band appeared with an Elvis-like pompadour and went as "Little Richie" for this episode.

Members of the band appeared in two early 70s sketches with Grover, as background characters. In one sketch, Grover demonstrates the word "Exit", with the band exiting and entering the door where the exit sign is. In another sketch, Grover demonstrates the word "Walk", with the band (minus the Lavender Monotone) holding up the letters representing the word (the lead singer from "Surprise!" appears in this sketch, but is seen with a different wardrobe, and his regular voice is heard in this sketch). The other members, however, had different performers than usual.

Songs

 * "A Body Full of Rhythm"
 * "Danger"
 * "Mad"
 * "Mountain of Love"
 * "Proud"
 * "Sad"
 * "When You Move the Mouse"
 * Album only
 * "Four"
 * "With Every Beat of My Heart"
 * Two performances
 * "Telephone Rock"
 * Album credit only
 * "Surprise!"

Book Appearences

 * Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
 * The Sesame Street Library Volume 9 (1978)
 * The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)