To prove that we’re not stuck-up music snobs all the time, we’ve decided to center this week’s list around that most base and vulgar songwriting platform, the tv show theme. Here are some of our favorites:
Golden Girls- A cover of Andre Gold’s 1978 hit single, re-recorded by Cynthia Fee. We don’t know these names any more than you do, but it’s a darn good song, huh?
Fresh Prince of Bel Air- The only rap song that every surbaban white kid knows. Easily the best song of Will Smith’s career.
M*A*S*H*- Originally written for the film upon which the show was based, this melancholy theme reinforces the bleak undercurrent that gave M*A*S*H* its poignancy.
Greatest American Hero -- Immortalized as the basis for George’s answering machine message in Seinfeld, this tune’s balance of schmaltz and catchy-ness has allowed its memory to endure beyond the show itself.
Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place- The perfect introduction for this Britcom. If there’s anything bad that can be said about this theme, it’s that it’s pretty much funnier than anything on the show itself (which is still great).
Doctor Who- This iconic piece of music has been around for as long as the show itself, which is to say nearly fifty years. Does any other tv theme have as massive a wikipedia page?
Night Court -- Rember Level 42? They performed this little ditty.
9. Mad Men -- Mad Men’s intro contrasts sharply with the show itself. The visuals and the music that open Mad Men are unmistakably modern whereas the show itself is set in the early 60’s. Does it work? Yes. Yes it does.
Happy Days- A period show like Mad Men, Happy Days goes the other way with a theme that evoke’s the show’s setting so well it sounds like it could be a 50’s artifact.
Mystery ScienceTheater 3000- There’s as much wit and self-awareness in this theme song as most comedy shows have in an entire episode.
Fraggle Rock- Most Jim Henson project’s are associated with great songs and Fraggle Rock is no exception. Like all great tv themes, Fraggle Rock’s is infectious and immediately memorable.
There were a number of themes we felt were worth mentioning that seem to exist in a theme collective. Here they are:
Classic Disney Cartoons- (See: Gummi Bears, Ducktales, Chip n’ Dale’s, Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck) These songs all have a similar feel. They’re all bright, uplifting and have ridiculously anthemic choruses. Sure, Disney, as always, was playing us for fools with this contrived crap, but the songs were good, dammit.
Anime- (See: Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, FLCL) These could easily be seperated, as the only thing they really have in common is their excellence, but there’s only so much we can write about tv music. Trigun’s rifftastic intro, Cowboy Bepop’s imacculately crafted genre mish-mash and FLCL’s pop-rock excellence are among many great anime themes.
The Frederick/Salvay Set- (See: Family Matters, Perfect Strangers, Step by Step, Full House) The illustrious songwriting partnership of Jesse Frederick and Bennett Salvay are the Lennon/McCartney os shitty family sitcom theme songs. Granted, these songs aren’t good by any stretch of the imagination. We’re just mentioning them because they are permanently burned into the memory of the collective consciousness. (Fun fact! Jesse Frederick released a solo album in 1971 on Bearsville records, making him a labelmate of Todd Rundgren, NRBQ and Sparks.)
File this one under, “Jesus it’s 2009, way to stay on top of current events.”
Found this nice little breakdown of Kanye’s video for “Stronger”. Generally not considered one of his better tracks from 2007’s Graduation; i’d go as far as to say it sounds like a clunky fan mashup than never really gets off the ground. Regardless, someone went through the video and took stills out and put them up side-by-side with some from Akira to help point out the homage he was paying to the film. I didn’t notice this the first time i watched the video, but i blame that on being blinded by the stupidity of lyrics like “you could be my black kate moss tonight” ah shit, i did it again.
