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[[File:LittleJerryandtheMonotones2.jpg|thumb|300px]]
[[Image:SSMadSad.jpg‎|thumb|300px|The group's only single, "Mad"/"Sad".]]
[[File:Monotones-Proud.jpg|thumb|300px|Little Jerry and the Monotones pose for closing shot of "[[Proud (Moss)|Proud]]."]]
[[Image:LittleJerrylastshot.jpg|thumb|300px|The band in a 2000 episode.]]

'''Little Jerry and the Monotones''' are a rock group on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' that first appeared in [[Season 2 (1970-1971)|Season 2]] in 1971.

The members of the 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.

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The band evolved from recurring [[Anything Muppets|Anything Muppet]] hippies that appeared in Muppet inserts, often in musical numbers, as early as [[Season 1 (1969-1970)|Season 1]]. As with the nature of Anything Muppets, the physical puppets, clothes and facial features were often interchanged. One example is an insert with [[Grover]] on the word "exit," which sees the [[Green]] AM that would become Little Jerry {{medialink|filename=BlackhairedJerry.jpg|text= with black hair}} rather than red. {{first|0210}}

The first appearances of the name "Little Jerry and the Monotones" include a verbal mention in [[Episode 0216]], and on [[The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album|the second ''Sesame Street'' cast album]]. From there, the band members became personalities named after their primary performers; Little Jerry is named after [[Jerry Nelson]], Big Jeffy after [[Jeff Moss]], Chrissy after [[Christopher Cerf]], and Rockin' Richard after [[Richard Hunt]]. The members are introduced individually by name in the song "[[Four (song)|Four]]." In some performances, the names and voices for the back-up singers have been swapped (an example includes the Pumpkin Monotone having Big Jeffy's name and voice in "[[Mountain of Love]]").

The band usually consisted of a quartet, but later appearances changed the line up of members, including an extra unnamed [[Purple]] Anything Muppet in the song "[[Body Rhythms]]." In their appearance in [[Episode 2452]] (1988), the group was reduced to a trio, consisting of Little Jerry, Big Jeffy, and another [[Fat Blue]] AM performed by Richard Hunt. At this point, the group's previous hippie attire were replaced with more contemporary, yet still flashy clothes. A drawing of the members as they appear in this episode can also be spotted in a framed photo in [[Jackman Wolf]]'s studio in the 1990 video ''[[Rock & Roll]]''. In addition, the entire original group (complete with hippie garb) appear near the end of the video reprising their hit song "[[Telephone Rock]]." [[Little Chrissy]] of [[Little Chrissy and the Alphabeats|the Alphabeats]] has also been referenced as a member of the band in [[Episode 2867]] and [[Episode 2972]].

After ten years of absence, in ''Sesame Street'' [[Episode 3898]] (2000), the group made a comeback appearance in a concert to perform "[[When You Move the Mouse]]." The group again is pared down to three members; with a Lavender member in an [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]]-like pompadour, named "Richie," playing the guitar.

Though the band members have been mostly consistent, their performers have occasionally varied, especially prior to Chris Cerf and Richard Hunt joining the show. The song "[[Surprise! (Moss)|Surprise!]]" features an early iteration of the group; with a black-haired Lavender AM singing for Little Jerry, and [[Joe Raposo]] and [[Caroll Spinney]] providing backup vocals. Similarly, alongside Caroll, [[Fran Brill]] provides backup vocals in "[[Mad (song)|Mad]]." [[Thad Mumford]] can also be heard supplying backup vocals for the song "[[With Every Beat of My Heart]]," and [[Kevin Clash]] provided Big Jeffy's voice in Episode 2452. On occasions, Jerry Nelson has performed double-duty with providing lead vocals and backup vocals, in the songs "[[Proud (Moss)|Proud]]," "[[Danger]]" and "[[Telephone Rock]]."

In one early appearance, the Monotones unenthusiastically assist Grover in demonstrating the word "Walk" {{first|0221}}, where all members have a different performer than their usual primary ones. Here, Jerry Nelson performs Big Jeffy, Caroll Spinney performs the Lavender and Pumpkin AMs, and Fran Brill performs Little Jerry.

The Monotones (without Little Jerry, but Nelson can still be heard providing backing vocals) also sang back-up for [[Don Music]], in the song "[[Mary Had a Bicycle]]."

{{br}}
<gallery orientation="landscape" widths="200" spacing="small">
Image:AMSong-BeforeAfter.jpg|An early group of hippies from season 1 that would eventually inspire the original designs of Little Jerry and his band.
Image:GroverWalk1.jpg‎|The group in their biggest non-musical sketch, spelling out "WALK" in a season 2 sketch. 
Image:MaryHadaBicycle.jpg|The Monotones singing back-up for Don Music. 
Image:PurpleMonotonewithgroup.jpg‎|An unnamed Purple Muppet appears with the group in "Body Rhythms".
Image:RockNRollStar.jpg|The group, as a trio, perform "[[Rock 'N Roll Star]]" in Episode 2452.
</gallery>

==Notes==
*In addition to usually providing two of the back-up vocals, Jeff Moss and Christopher Cerf wrote most of the group's songs.

==Songs==
<gallery widths="200" spacing="small" orientation="square" navigation="true">
1707f.jpg|"[[Body Rhythms]]"|link=Body Rhythms
LittleJerryDanger.jpg|"[[Danger]]"|link=Danger
NumbersLP.jpg|"[[Four (song)|Four]]"|link=Four (song)
Mad Little Jerry.jpg|"[[Mad (song)|Mad]]"|link=Mad (song)
Molove.jpg|"[[Mountain of Love]]"|link=Mountain of Love
SSProud.jpg|"[[Proud (Moss)|Proud]]"|link=Proud (Moss)
RockNRollStar.jpg|"[[Rock 'N Roll Star]]"|link=Rock 'N Roll Star
SSSad.jpg|"[[Sad (Moss)|Sad]]"|link=Sad (Moss)
SSSurpriseSong.jpg|"[[Surprise! (Moss)|Surprise!]]"|link=Surprise! (Moss)
Littlejerryandthemonotones.jpg|"[[Telephone Rock]]"|link=Telephone Rock
3898b.jpg|"[[When You Move the Mouse]]"|link=When You Move the Mouse
Everybodys.jpg|"[[With Every Beat of My Heart]]"|link=With Every Beat of My Heart
</gallery>

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

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[[Category:Muppet Bands]]