You woke up this morning Got yourself a BEST TV THEME TUNES POLL NOMINATIONS AND DISCUSSION gun (End date - 12/11/12

Samurai Jack (despite having been written by Will.i.am)

Given that there shitloads of American shows that none of us over here have ever seen or heard and vice versa, there's something a bit bogus about this particular poll

― Named locally as Tom D (Tom D.), Saturday, November 3, 2012 1:17 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not sure I'd say there's anything "bogus" about it, that sort of cultural difference arises pretty much all the time. It's why we have lobbying and a breakdown analysis of ballots at the end, so the lesser-known (i.e. not American) stuff gets a chance. Also, if we Brits sort a Radiophonic bloc out we can jerrymander the results to at least a certain degree.

yeah "bogus" wtf

Sometimes a lot of the fun of these for an American is getting your first glimpse of Brit-popular stuff - like the Spectrum games in the video games poll a few years back. Seems like with TV themes the geographic effects are overlaid onto already huge generational gaps, especially with the kids's shows - I am overwhelmingly more likely to vote for shows from the 80s and early 90s than any other period, because that's when I was a kid and watched the most TV. It'll all come out fine.

60s/70s/80s was the tv theme song golden era, but I don't know if that an objective statement or just because I was watching tv as a kid in the late 70s and into the 80s. But if you put CHiPs up against Burn Notice or something, CHiPs wins.

back then TV themes seem to exist as its own world divorced from popular music or any genre. now most shows are either some pre-existing song from a major label artist edited down or some half-assed instrumental doodle.

or a single chord (cf. "Lost")

I like the half-assed instrumental doodle that opens Breaking Bad, but I don't think it stands up on its own as a piece of music enough to nominate.

tbf, if you put CHiPs up against most anything, CHiPs wins.

Yeah, I think the demographic age-range of ilx is likely to twist the results a bit more than the geographical one. Or at least in terms of US vs UK (and maybe Australia too? We definitely got/get a fair few Oz programmes over here). I suppose one thing that irks a little is that I still think of ilx as a British board but there are actually way more Americans, so it seems somewhat unfair that Brit programmes will come off worse. But, y'know, we'd all find it a bit odd if Tuomas came on and complained about a lack of Finnish programmes, so not sure why us little islanders should complain either...

Oh no, it's the Americanization of Emil.y

(sorry if that joke has been made before)

haha

I think a lot of what made 60s/70s tv themes great was that many were written and/or arranged by former big-band musicians/composers/arrangers (Johnny Mandel, Quincy Jones and Frank DeVol are three that immediately spring to mind). By the 80s, fewer working arrangers knew how to get the best from large groups, or rather, they'd grown up in an era where you didn't need (or necessarily want) to write for horns and strings. Mike Post was the most effective bridge between the two eras, but his later themes (Law & Order) dispensed with large orchestras completely.

xxp or something

I agree with that analysis complete, especially about Post being the bridge.

what about some of the mancini ones? does the pink panther count?

The Pink Panther was developed as a show after appearing in the opening credits of the films, and brought the theme over with him, so I'd say yes.

When looking up the CHiPs theme, I noticed bop-era trombonist J.J. Johnson's name among the series' composers. Had no idea he'd done any tv work:

n 1970, Quincy Jones convinced Johnson to move from New York to California to compose for cinema and television, where he eventually scored movies such as Across 110th Street, Cleopatra Jones, Top of the Heap and Willie Dynamite, as well as TV series such as Starsky & Hutch, Mike Hammer and The Six Million Dollar Man. Despite his small level of success, Johnson acknowledged that racism and other prejudices kept a black jazz musician such as himself from securing the amount and quality of work he was qualified to perform.

xp

I still think of ilx as a British board but there are actually way more Americans, so it seems somewhat unfair that Brit programmes will come off worse.

if it's any consolation, em, i am American and two of my three favorite tv themes are British, and the third is the American theme for a British show?

also, we should distinguish between the old Doctor Who theme, and the new one(s), which merit a "defend the indefensible" thread

As you'd expect, I'd ask which old Doctor Who theme you mean.

please post as many as there are, aldo!

this thread got ridiculously far without mentioning the likely winners

Baywatch theme song ("I'm Always Here")
Walker, Texas Ranger Theme Song ("Eyes Of The Ranger")

home and away
neighbours

the latter in particular is such an indefatigable earworm, or used to be; i don't know if they still use the same.

Angel
Pokemon

I love old 70s TV crime drama themes, that was like the peak of that kind of studio music.

So by that, I nominate a couple I love that haven't been mentioned

Baretta's Theme (sung by Sammy Davis Jr.) - "keep your eye on the sparrow, when the going gets narrow"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa9uhiAPBs

The Rookies- This one and genre of intro/music especially this one an influence on the Sabotage video by the Beastie Boys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUAPktt3-Xs

Police Woman - This one is also smoothe and funky too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xns7UBjYqc&feature=related

Apparently, there was a time when you could make a living as a studio tympanist.

for Police Woman is the crude edit at 1:11 part of the song? i'm into it.

Oh, and the Bikers take Belfast theme - er, the Sons of Anarchy theme from the latter part of Season 3
The regular Sons of Anarchy theme is also a-ok

xp i assumed Fat Albert existed in multiple countries.

also, we should distinguish between the old Doctor Who theme, and the new one(s), which merit a "defend the indefensible" thread

― sarahell

The basic 'ooo-EEEEEEE-ooo' is brilliant enough to survive any amount of over-orchestration. As long as a Doctor Who theme includes it I'll love it.

Anyway a few kids' TV omissions:

Thundercats
Ulysses 31

Bergerac

I like the closing theme of R&S, but they're both good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQQOjNJ7zuU

The League of Gentlemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6r1S8a1In0

"two of my three favorite tv themes are British, and the third is the American theme for a British show?"
is this the inexplicable replacement of peep show theme with harvey danger? travesty!

Futurama
King of the Hill

No one say H0meland.

xp - no, in the UK "Secret Agent" was called "Danger Man" and had a different theme tune

I kinda like the Homeland theme - sorry.

Another "defend the indefensible" - the 2000s Battlestar Galactica theme

no-one say Justified, yuk

:/

Futurama theme is an homage to Pierre Henry's "Psyche Rock": http://youtu.be/AOqfWj0HqNE

The show couldn't get the rights to the original, so they came up with something that sounds similar.

Red Dwarf Closing Theme

Oh yes I'm aware of that. And I would have probably still mentioned it if it actually was Pierre Henry's "Psyche Rock".

I never knew that about the Futurama theme (also it's the first time I've ever heard "Space Rock"), but that's neat.

The theme from Mr. Show sounds an awful lot like Blondie's "A Shark in Jet's Clothing" (so much that it has to be intentional).

lol Homeland and Justified are the worst themes on TV right now probably

runners-up are Copper and Rizzoli & Isles for both transparently trying to copy the Dropkick Murphys song used in The Departed in similar crappy ways

what is wrong with the Homeland theme?

unless they have a different theme for Season 2, which I haven't seen?

tbf it's about the awkwardly intercut dialogue from the show and cheesy visuals more than the music itself