I love love love tv theme songs. I love that they are so short and that they encapsulate the entire plot of the show in less than a minute. I love the variety in tv theme songs from the junkyard funk of "Sanford and Son" to the taut, psychological mayhem of the theme to "Unsolved Mysteries." One thing I can't stand is the fake rootsy bullshit theme songs like the mess that is "The Sopranos" theme. The overprocessed production, the lame, gravelly vocals and the horrifying shouted "Woke up this morning!" backing vocals all chill me to the bone. Thank god we watched almost every season on dvd and were able to skip this nonsense. I also hate the theme to "The Wire." Now don't get me wrong. I love Tom Waits with all my heart and "Way Down in the Hole" is stellar, but other than season 2, the other renditions of it range from passably tame to terribly embarrassing. I'd much rather have some cheeseball "Mr. Belvedere" type theme than a lame attempt at gravitas or serious rock and/or roll. Actually, I am almost never disappointed by the upbeat, silly "Charles in Charge"-type openings to shows because they immediately lift your spirits and get you ready for the comedy genius to follow. One forgotten gem of the silly tv theme songs is the Punky Brewster theme. It's so 80s and so safe and so perfect. Take a listen and make sure you stay until the end when you get to hear Brandon, Punky's cute little dog, bark. It's a masterpiece.
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4 comments:
Possible new Gamera theme?
Every time I turn around,
I see the turtle who turned my world upside down,
Lurking there...
that Sopranos theme song is by a3, a Scottish band that had vid on 120 minutes a million years ago that I kind of liked...
but what I really liked was the weird juxtaposition -- that this pseudo-blues electronic song that became the theme to a show exploring so much about American-ness was actually recorded by a couple of Scottish guys.
I'm with you on The Wire except I do kind of find myself liking the Steve Earle version from Season 5 (best thing about Season 5)
Are you saying you didn't care for season 5 very much? I just finally finished it 2 nights ago and loved it. At first, I thought it was a bit absurd - it was seemingly the least realistic and most fantastical of them all but then i realised how completely wrong i was and how perfectly it encapsulated the main ideas of the entire series.
i didn't love the beginning in its absurdity but warmed to it and the last 3 episodes pull everything together quite well.
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