Thursday, November 5, 2009
Classic / Television / Zzzzzzzzzzzzz Ode to Cathode: The Best TV Theme Songs Ever
Posted by Dave Segal on Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Below are the greatest television theme songs ever composed, in my brash opinion. Note: I haven’t watched TV with any regularity since Twin Peaks and Cheers; there’s just been too much music to listen to and too many books to read, you know what I’m sayin’?
This is where you come in. Present your favorites in comments and fill me in on what I’ve missed over the last 16-17 years. YouTube links are welcome (however, you must register for your links to work).
Sanford & Son (composed by Quincy Jones; sampled by Diplo for M.I.A.’s “URAQT”; converted into a Baltimore club joint and remixed at least a few times)
Barney Miller (composed by Jack Elliot and Allyn Ferguson)
Dr. Who (composed by Delia Derbyshire [of White Noise] and Ron Grainer)
Mission: Impossible (composed by Lalo Schifrin)
Get Smart (composed by Irving Szathmary)
The Monkees (composed by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart)
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (composed by Harry Nilsson)
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (composed by Jerry Goldsmith)
Iron Man (composed by Ramin Djawadi)
The Twilight Zone (composed by Bernard Herrmann)
The Banana Splits (composed by Nelson B. Winkless, Jr. [credited to Ritchie Adams & Mark Barkan])
Batman (composed by Neal Hefti)
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4
"Each and every note was individually created by cutting, splicing, speeding up and slowing down segments of analogue tape containing recordings of a single plucked string, white noise, and the simple harmonic waveforms of test-tone oscillators which were used for calibrating equipment and rooms, not creating music. The swooping melody and pulsating bass rhythm was created by manually adjusting the pitch of oscillator banks to a carefully-timed pattern. The rhythmic hissing sounds, "bubbles" and "clouds", were created by cutting tape recordings of filtered white noise. [1]
"Once each sound had been created, it was modified. Some sounds were created at all the required pitches direct from the oscillators, others had to be repitched later by adjusting the tape playback speed and re-recording the sound onto another tape player. This process continued until every sound was available at all the required pitches. To create dynamics, the notes were re-recorded at slightly different levels.
"Each individual note was then trimmed to length by cutting the tape, and stuck together in the right order. This was done for each "line" in the music - the main plucked bass, the bass slides (an organ-like tone emphasising the grace notes), the hisses, the swoops, the melody, a second melody line (a high organ-like tone used for emphasis), and the bubbles and clouds. Most of these individual bits of tape making up lines of music, complete with edits every inch, still survive.
"This done, the music had to be "mixed". There were no multitrack tape machines, so rudimentary multitrack techniques were invented: each length of tape was placed on a separate tape machine and all the machines were started simultaneously and the outputs mixed together. If the machines didn't stay in sync, they started again, maybe cutting tapes slightly here and there to help. In fact, a number of "submixes" were made to ease the process - a combined bass track, combined melody track, bubble track, and hisses. Eventually, the piece was finished."
6
First, the game show... The Joker's Wild.. the original one.. the theme? "The Savers" by Perrey & Kingsley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-o6Q-Qtf…
And the rivethead/industrual in me LOVES the theme to The Equalizer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB1NiNKwu…
Honorable mention:
America's Most Wanted... it sounds a bit like Nitzer Ebb and more dancy Cabaret Voltaire. Can't find a youtube though. :(
10
That is tight—and kind of Perrey-Kingsley-esque in its insane chipperness. I never watched Price Is Right. Game shows work my last nerve.
15
80s: Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Star Trek the Next Generation, Malcom in the Middle, Square Pegs, The A Team, Greatest American Hero, Welcome Back Kotter
and better than the Iron Man theme, i think The Hulk & Captian America ones from the same series are sweet.
and not the tv version, but i like this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx6XeBhZE…
18
I'm not sure how everyone missed this, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oDuGN6K3… . It's not like it's set in the state that we fucking live in or anything.
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