Berry worked with Vannelli and James Barton (of Liverpool's Cream nightclub) to release the composition in November 1995 as the lead single from Miles's debut album, Dreamland (1996).
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;[5] 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.
[6] "Children" is one of the pioneering tracks of dream house, 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 house 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 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.
[10] Billboard attributes its 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 track accessible to a broader audience beyond clubbers and fans of electronic dance music alone by means of radio airplay.
[1] The magazine's Larry Flick noted that Miles "wisely takes his time unraveling his melody, letting it breathe over an urgent, nu-NRG beat and coloring it with twinkling electro effects and vibrant synths.
[12] Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report wrote, "In the time it takes you to listen to this song, another nation has probably taken this remarkable instrumental to the top of their chart.
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.
[1] In the US, major airplay included pioneering Los Angeles-area dance music station "Groove Radio 103.1," which used "Children" as its first-ever track on 21 June 1996.
Я сказал "да, милости просим, почему нет".They phoned me (either an Italian performer, or a group) and they asked me whether they can use the melody from the song "Napoi menia vodoi" ("Quench my thirst") in their sample (or something like that).