Shaft (rave)

Shaft was a UK-based dance music act that scored a Top 10 hit in the UK singles chart in December 1991 with a rave anthem called 'Roobarb and Custard', featuring vocal samples from the vintage children's television cartoon Roobarb as well as a variety of hypnotic sound effects that placed it firmly in the rave genre.

Although the single reached the Top 10 in 1991, it climbed to its highest position of #7 in January 1992.

The use of samples from children's television programmes was not unique to this hit within the genre, with Mark Summers having sampled 'The Magic Roundabout' in his early 1991 hit 'Summers Magic', but Shaft was the first dance act to reach the Top 10 with a track using this type of formula. Other bands who went on later in 1992 to repeat this success were Urban Hype, who reached the Top 7 with 'A Trip to Trumpton', and Smart E's, who achieved No. 2 with 'Sesame's Treet' at the same time.