"Connected" is the title track and first single from the British group Stereo MCsthird studio album, released on 5 October 1992. The song samples "Let Me " by Jimmy "Bo" Horne. "Connected" peaked at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Internationally, it peaked within the Top 10 of the charts in Austria, Sweden and Switzerland, and peaked within the Top 20 of the charts in Belgium, Finland and the United States. The song appeared in the movie Hackers, starring Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller. Rob Lowe personally chose the song to be the theme to his programme Dr. Vegas.
Critical reception
from Billboard noted that the track is a "mid-tempo retro-funk affair, and has been making inroads with urban-minded DJs for several weeks now. "The song 'Connected' is about human beings and the lack of connection there is between anything today," Hallam says. "It's about the way everyone tries to categorize everything. The way every race is trying to separate from each other." Per Reinholdt Nielsen from Gaffa wrote that the song "is a clever lesson in funk. The number is extremely simple. A great sound sampled from half a beat KC and the Sunshine Band pulls back, while Owen If whips the drums forward. Three chorus girls, rapper Rob Birch and various samples decorate the landscape, but it is the sucks of the "two rhythm groups" that lock Connected into the memory and body of the defenseless listener." Music & Media stated that it is a "sure hit" and noted further "the new female vocalists shining over expressive rich grooves." Bill Lamb from ThoughtCo said the song "is propelled by a catchy but downbeat atmospheric brand of hip-hop." Victor Haseman from The Stanford Daily commented that the Stereo MCs "have made stitching their patchwork quilt of Euro-electro pop, hip-hop and house their top priority, tirelessly pushing it in new directions".
Impact and legacy
Paste placed the song at number 8 in their list of "25 Awesome One-Hit Wonders of the 1990s" in 2011. In 2014, the track was listed as number 322 in the German magazine Musikexpress ranking of the 700 best songs of all-time. The Daily Telegraph ranked "Connected" at number 34 in their "Top 50 Dance Songs" list in 2015. BuzzFeed put the song at number 82 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s" in 2017. ThoughtCo listed the song at number 65 in their list of "The Best 100 Songs from the 1990s" list in 2018.
Use in other media
The song appears in the movie, Saving Silverman. It has also been used in commercials promoting the USA Network's program Burn Notice, and by The Carphone Warehouse. "I remember performing the track in late 1992," vocalist Rob Birch told Q. "The Brixton Academy was just around the corner from our neighbourhood in London, near where we recorded the album. We were supporting the Happy Mondays for their tour in the United Kingdom, and at that venue it was just amazing. The Connected album had only been out for a while, and we thought people were just starting to get into it. When we came on to the intro of the track, the whole audience was singing along to the tune and there was just an amazing vibe and energy. Everyone connected, basically."
Music video
The music video for "Connected" was directed by Matthew Amos.
