Children (Robert Miles composition)

"Children"
Single by Robert Miles
from the album Dreamland
B-side	"Remix"
Released	14 November 1995 (Germany) 12 February 1996 (UK)
Format	12" CD maxi CD cassette
Recorded	November 1994[1]
Genre	Eurodance dream house
Length	3:49 (radio edit) 7:21 (original version)
Label	Arista (US) Deconstruction (UK) Motor (Germany) BMG (Japan)
Songwriter(s)	Roberto Concina
Producer(s)	Miles
Robert Miles singles chronology
"Children" (1995) "Fable" (1996)
"Children" (1995) "Fable" (1996)
Audio sample
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"Children" is an instrumental composition by Italian dance composer Robert Miles. It was first released in Italy in January 1995 as part of the EP Soundtracks on Joe Vanelli's DBX label, but it did not chart.^[1] Vanelli brought the track to a nightclub in Miami where it was heard by Simon Berry of Platipus Records. Berry worked with Vanelli and James Barton (of Liverpool's Cream nightclub) to release the song in November 1995 as the lead single from his album Dreamland.^[1] The song was Miles' most successful single, being certified Gold and Platinum in several countries and reaching number one in more than 12 countries.

Background and writing

Miles gave two inspirations for the writing of "Children". One was as a response to photographs of child Yugoslav war victims that his father had brought home from a humanitarian mission in the former Yugoslavia;^[2] and the other, inspired by his career as a DJ, was to create a track to end DJ sets, intended to calm rave attendants prior to their driving home as a means to reduce car accident deaths.^[1] The song cost £150 to record.^[3]

"Children" is one of the pioneering tracks of dream trance (previously known as 'Dream House' in Europe during the mid-1990s), a genre of electronic dance music characterized by dream-like piano melodies, and a steady four-on-the-floor bass drum. The creation of dream trance was a response to social pressures in Italy during the early 1990s: the growth of rave culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of nightclub attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to car accidents as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called strage del sabato sera (Saturday night slaughter) in Italy, were being estimated at around 2000 since the start of the decade. The move by DJs such as Miles to play slower, calming music to conclude a night's set, as a means to counteract the fast-paced, repetitive tracks that preceded, was met with approval by authorities and parents of car crash victims.^[4]

Critic Boris Barabanov claimed a similarity between "Children" and Russian singer Garik Sukachov's song "Напои меня водой" ("Napoi menia vodoi" – "Quench my thirst"), and says the song was written before "Children". Sukachov explained that he gave his consent for the melody to be used.^[5]

Music videos

Billboard ascribes the final stage of the song's promotion to the airing of its music video on music television networks such as MTV Europe and Germany's VIVA.^[1] Two videos were produced, the first being the one Billboard discusses: black-and-white footage of a small girl riding in a car through a diverse range of landscape which was directed by Matt Amos. The locations are London (Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square), Paris (The Eiffel Tower can be seen), Geneva (place du Molard, rue Coutance), Morges (marina with small towers) and countryside in Switzerland (Robert Miles's home country), and France and Italy near the Mont-Blanc Tunnel.

The second video, filmed in colour, alternates between images of Miles DJing at a nightclub rave and images of children at play, thereby touching upon both of the themes of the song.

Critical reception

Reviews

Billboard magazine attributes the song's widespread success to its melodic nature, characterized by an "instantly recognizable" piano riff (which was not in the track's original version). They identify this factor as making the song accessible to a broader audience beyond clubbers and fans of electronic dance music alone by means of radio airplay.^[1] Synthmania.com, which identifies the song as being written on a Kurzweil K2000, calls this the "dream house piano" sound, consisting of "standard piano, syn bass and string/pad sounds bathed in delay and reverb".^[6]

Upon including the track on 2002's The Very Best of Euphoria compilation, TheManAdam, co-creator of the Euphoria series of trance DJ mix albums, said that the song "had a major influence on [his] generation of remixers and producers when [they] all at first started making trance".^[7]

Chart performance

"Children" was first released in Italy in January 1995 on Joe T. Vanelli's DBX imprint label, as part of the Soundtracks EP. Subsequently, following exposure at a gathering of DJs and record producers in Miami, the track was licensed by the UK-based Platipus Records who were represented by UK licensing agency Dynamik Music. In conjunction with Miles' manager, Gavin Prunas, the track was licensed to Deconstruction Records; it was then licensed to more than a dozen additional record labels in Europe through DBX, Deconstruction as well as appearing on the Platipus Records Volume 2 compilation released worldwide via Dynamik Music.^[1]

"Children" was a success worldwide, peaking at number one in more than 12 countries and holding that position for several weeks. "Children" reached number one in the following countries: Austria (six weeks), Belgium, Denmark, Finland (three weeks), France (11 weeks), Italy, Norway (five weeks), Germany, Spain, Sweden (seven weeks) and Switzerland (13 weeks); beyond that, according to Billboard magazine, it reached the top five in "every European country that has a singles chart".^[1] It spent 13 weeks at number one on the Eurochart Hot 100, reached number two on the UK^[8] staying 17 weeks on the chart, and it reached number 21 in the US, holding that position for four weeks. Along with U2 members Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr.'s reworking of the Mission: Impossible theme, it marked the first time since November 1985 that two instrumentals had simultaneously charted in the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.^[9]

French nightclubs began playing the imported record from Italy in 1995, making France one of the first countries to popularize the track. Spreading through the underground from clubs to, eventually, the radio, it was licensed there by an independent record label in November 1995. Spain and Italy itself were the other early adopters that brought the track into clubs. Club charts in these countries signalled "Children"'s popularity to other countries: In Denmark, club and radio play followed the single's release, while in Belgium radio play only followed by crossing over from club play, and in the Netherlands radio play was the primary factor in the single's promotion. In Germany, a domestic release came after demand built up from club play through promotional releases from the UK and Italy.^[1]

In the United Kingdom, BBC Radio 1 did not play the song on its daytime playlist at first,^[2] though Radio 1 DJ Pete Tong did play it for three weeks in a row on his Essential Selection program in 1996. Tong's appointing it Essential Tune of The Week each week for three weeks in a row culminated in a frenzied bidding war amongst UK major record companies.^[10] Meanwhile, Kiss FM was among the first to play the song, even using it in one of the station's minute-long television commercials.^[1] "Children" reached the number two position on the UK Singles Chart prior to promotion and marketing,^[11] and became the year's eighth best-selling single.^[12]

Track listings

Charts and sales

Chart successions

Cover versions and samplings

In 2001, the trance project 4 Clubbers covered the song and it spent two weeks on stage one in the German Dance Charts (number one). The string quartet Escala, most famous notably from Britain's Got Talent, covered the song for their debut album which was released in May 2009. The song also served as inspiration for one of the songs in the video game Garou: Mark of the Wolves, notably the theme of protagonist Rock Howard.

DJ Calvin West released a cover version of the song on March 2, 2011, on Spinnin' Records. On March 28, 2016, Keanu Silva released his cover also on Spinnin' through the SPRS imprint.

On April 20, 2017, Armin Van Buuren premiered at his weekly radio show A State of Trance a new version produced by David Gravell that was released one day later on the label A State of Trance. This track is also part of the album A State of Trance 2017 (Mixed by Armin Van Buuren), with tunes from other artists like Gaia, Rodg, Super8 & Tab, Gareth Emery, Orjan Nilsen, First State, MaRLo, etc.

In June 2017, Australian post rock band sleepmakeswaves performed a cover version of the song for radio station Triple J, as a part of its weekly Like a Version segment.

• Sampling

In 2004, the song was sampled for "Do You Know (I Go Crazy)" by Angel City, reaching number one on the UK Dance Charts. The song was sampled by Jackie Chain for his song "Rollin'" and "Rollin' (Remix)", which appeared on the unofficial Kid Cudi mixtape Dat Kid from Cleveland.^[50] The track is also sampled on Natalie Bassingthwaighte's track "Could You Be Loved?", from the album 1000 Stars.

In 2012, the song is sampled in (and forms the basis of) musician Dot Rotten's dubstep and rap single, "Overload",^[51] released digitally as a single on June 3.^[52] The prominent piano part is present from the beginning of the song and recurs throughout.

In 2015, rapper Tyga sampled the song in his single "Stimulated". In the song, "Children"'s recognizable piano intro is sampled and repeated with the addition of a kick drum. The irony of sampling a song titled "Children" in a rap song defending statutory rape wasn't lost on the general public, due to the controversy the artist faced while dating then-underage reality television personality Kylie Jenner.

4 Clubbers version

"Children"
Single by 4 Clubbers
B-side	"Remix"
Released	July 2001
Format	CD maxi CD
Genre	Trance
Length	3:38
Label	Dropout
Songwriter(s)	Roberto Concina
4 Clubbers singles chronology
"Children" (2001) "Someday" (2002)
"Children" (2001) "Someday" (2002)

In 2001, German trance group 4 Clubbers remixed the song and released it as a single. It reached the top 20 in Spain and charted in France, Germany, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Track listing

1. "Children" (Club Radio Edit) – 3:38
2. "Children" (FB vs. JJ Radio Edit) – 3:28
3. "Children" (Club Mix) – 9:00
4. "Children" (Future Breeze vs. Junkfood Junkies Mix) – 7:49

Peak positions

Jack Holiday and Mike Candys version

"Children 2012"
Single by Jack Holiday and Mike Candys
from the album Smile
Released	3 February 2012
Format	CD
Genre	Electro house
Length	3:07
Songwriter(s)	Roberto Concina
Jack Holiday and Mike Candys singles chronology
"Around the World" (2011) "Children 2012" (2012) "2012 (If the World Would End)" (2012)
"Around the World" (2011) "Children 2012" (2012) "2012 (If the World Would End)" (2012)

In 2012, Jack Holiday and Mike Candys remixed the song and released it as a single.

Track listing

1. "Children" (Radio Edit) – 3:07
2. "Children" (Christopher S Radio Edit) – 3:08
3. "Children" (Original Higher Level Mix) – 5:00
4. "Children" (Christopher S Remix) – 5:35
5. "Children" (Mike'N'Jack Club Mix) – 4:56
6. "Children" (Steam Loco Mix) – 4:57

Peak positions

See also

• List of number-one dance singles of 1996 (U.S.)

Notes