Muppet Music Rate-A-Record: “Trash” vs. “Mahna Mahna”
Rate these classic songs and let us know which one you prefer
Writer Terry Barr started the “Rate-A-Record” series here in Plethora of Pop in June. This was Terry’s first article about it:
If you didn’t click on the above and read the article, well…go and read it! Terry’s a great writer and it’s a fun piece with awesome music in it.
Basically, though, here’s how the whole Rate-A-Record thing works: Two songs are presented and readers are asked to rate each of them on a scale of 35–98 (which is how it used to be done on the popular television series American Bandstand.)
Since Terry’s original article, other writers have been inspired by him and have done their own Rate-A-Record articles. I’ve included some of them at the end of this article.
But, hey, you’re not getting rid of me that easily! At least not yet. Before I get to the others, I’d like to present my choices of two classic songs for you to listen to and rate:
Trash — Robin Gibb
“Trash,” a solo song by Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees appeared on the album Sesame Street Fever in 1978. As the title and the album’s cover image clearly show, the album was a parody of the popular Saturday Night Fever soundtrack from 1977.
Since Robin Gibb and his brothers Barry and Maurice were such a big part of the success of Saturday Night Fever as The Bee Gees, Robin was a perfect choice to guest star on the album and sing about…well…trash!
Oscar The Grouch may be the ultimate trash-lover, but let’s face it, his singing voice is nowhere near as good as Robin Gibb’s voice was. The producers of the Sesame Street Fever album definitely made a wise choice here.
Mahna Mahna — Mahna Mahna and The Snowths
Up until today, I’d spent the last 46 years thinking that “Mahna Mahna” first came to life in the above sketch on The Muppet Show, when the series debuted in 1976. While doing research for this article, I discovered that the original version of the song was actually written and performed by an Italian film composer named Piero Umiliani in 1968. The song was released as a single then and was quite popular all over the world.
The song later took on a new life when it was frequently used as background music during slapstick-style sketches on the popular television comedy series The Benny Hill Show.
While I’m happy that Piero and Benny each had success with the song, the version of it from The Muppet Show will always be how I remember and love “Mahna Mahna.”
It’s truly a classic!
As for how I would rate each of the two songs on a scale of 35–98, well, here I go:
“Trash” — 98 “Mahna Mahna” — 97.9 (It loses .1 because it’s so short.)
Do you agree with me?
Yes? Wonderful!
No? Oh well.
Either way, my question now is how would you rate the songs? Give us your scores in the comments section below.
Speaking of “below” — below are some of the other entries in the Rate-A-Record series so far. Check them out:
And that Terry Barr kid again:
Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on X, YouTube, Instagram, Threads, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the GOTTA POP podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.