DJ Robert Miles’ Children: How a Trance classic was composed to save clubbers’ lives

DJ Robert Miles' Children was born out of compassion for the hardships children were experiencing as a result of the Balkan wars. But it was later used to support a cause addressing the fatal car accidents occurring on weekends in Italy. Sadly, Robert Miles passed away at the age of 47.

DJ Robert Miles’ Children had a life-saving purpose

It was in 1994 when Robert Miles’ father came back from his humanitarian trip to the former Yugoslavia. Robert’s father shared with him some photos he had taken of the war’s victims, which included children. Upset at what he saw, Robert sought solace in the soundproof studio he had set up in a garage converted to a studio near his home.

“Every single track I produced in my life has been the product of an experience I had in that particular period,” He explained in an interview. Robert further added, “‘Children’ was done after my father showed me pictures of child victims of the war in Yugoslavia.”

The song composed by DJ Robert Miles was very distinct from the kind of tough music that was being played in the nightclubs of Europe during the middle part of the 1990s. In Italy, where Robert resided, youngsters would dance all night and then drive back home in the morning. This incident became known as stragi del sabato sera, or the Saturday night slaughter in Italy.

This gave Robert Miles' Children a unique status in the clubs. It could be played by DJs as the closing song for the evening. This slower beat provided people with the opportunity to relax from dancing all night long.

The whole track starts off with the sounds of a thunderstorm, and only then does the music begin to build up. Its melancholic piano tune was its signature. The tune might stir feelings of nostalgia, peace, and desire, with listeners hearing the track as their own younger selves.

Robert Miles' Children became a huge success. It was a chart-topper in over 12 countries, staying at number one on the Euro Top 100 for 13 successive weeks in 1995. It is said to have been instrumental in bringing trance to the masses in the late 1990s and beyond.

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