Sensing a Theme
Nov. 19th, 2006 10:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogDon't ask how I got started on this tangent; I probably couldn't tell you. Unlike research for my dayjob, which is structured, and hierarchical, and borrrrrring, googling tends to be a very gestaltish process, where one thing just leads to another, almost (and at times, completely) randomly.
Through that, I found this: The Top 100 TV Theme Songs.
You'll need to scroll through four sets of them- that link points to the bottom 25- but it's worth it. It's not just a list, but all of them have info on the composers or contexts, and most have links to recordings or vids of the actual songs. It's fairly old-loaded, leaning mostly to the 60s and 70s (although things as recent as Spongebob make the list), and I have some issues particularly at the very top (in particular with the #1, which I liked but would never have put that high, and with the ones tied for #2, which I think are both highly overrated), but time after time I found myself saying, "Yeah! That was a cool one!"
Feel free to comment on your faves. If you want, we can re-create the old joke about how they tell jokes in heaven.
A guy dies and goes to heaven. All around, he would hear people yell out numbers and everyone would laugh. Someone would yell 15, and there would be laughs. Another person would yell 34, and howls were everywhere. When the new guy asked what that meant, St. Peter explained said that they had memorized all the jokes so each just called out its number to tell it. The new guy wanted to join in and asked what was a good joke. St. Peter told him to try 37- it was really good. So, the new guy yelled out "37!"...but, no one laughed. He asked why, and St. Peter said....
"You didn't tell it right."
So yeah. The link for 99 is dead, but I remember that little CBS Special thing. Night Court came in too low in the 90s. I never much cared for all the buzz about Square Pegs, but that Waitresses theme is already back in my head even without clicking the link to it. I hadn't realized how many were done by Danny Elfman, who's done a lot of full-film soundtracks; his on this list include the underappreciated "Sledge Hammer!" at 74 and the familiar "Simpsons" at 62. Joe Raposo gets two on the list: Sesame Street's theme at 72 but wtf? Three's Company only five below it? Good mix throughout- cartoons (Underdog and George of the Jungle), game shows (the Feud, which almost used Dueling Banjos as its theme before the eeriness of that became apparent, and Price is Right) and the Tonight Show theme (the one Paul Anka song nobody can ever make into a scary Paul Anka cover version). The Banana Splits theme makes the list; it also made Wait Wait a few weeks back, when it was revealed that Bob Marley based a riff in "Buffalo Soldiers" on the 7-note riff from that theme song. I didn't believe it, either, until they played them back to back.
Notable omissions in my book: Northern Exposure. Firefly. Dead Like Me (although they did include Six Feet Under, and fairly high up). Even my onetime guilty pleasure from law school, Dallas. Those all not only introduced the titles, they conveyed tons about the mood and the history, which is what these pieces are supposed to do.
Let the arguments and earworms begin.
Through that, I found this: The Top 100 TV Theme Songs.
You'll need to scroll through four sets of them- that link points to the bottom 25- but it's worth it. It's not just a list, but all of them have info on the composers or contexts, and most have links to recordings or vids of the actual songs. It's fairly old-loaded, leaning mostly to the 60s and 70s (although things as recent as Spongebob make the list), and I have some issues particularly at the very top (in particular with the #1, which I liked but would never have put that high, and with the ones tied for #2, which I think are both highly overrated), but time after time I found myself saying, "Yeah! That was a cool one!"
Feel free to comment on your faves. If you want, we can re-create the old joke about how they tell jokes in heaven.
A guy dies and goes to heaven. All around, he would hear people yell out numbers and everyone would laugh. Someone would yell 15, and there would be laughs. Another person would yell 34, and howls were everywhere. When the new guy asked what that meant, St. Peter explained said that they had memorized all the jokes so each just called out its number to tell it. The new guy wanted to join in and asked what was a good joke. St. Peter told him to try 37- it was really good. So, the new guy yelled out "37!"...but, no one laughed. He asked why, and St. Peter said....
"You didn't tell it right."
So yeah. The link for 99 is dead, but I remember that little CBS Special thing. Night Court came in too low in the 90s. I never much cared for all the buzz about Square Pegs, but that Waitresses theme is already back in my head even without clicking the link to it. I hadn't realized how many were done by Danny Elfman, who's done a lot of full-film soundtracks; his on this list include the underappreciated "Sledge Hammer!" at 74 and the familiar "Simpsons" at 62. Joe Raposo gets two on the list: Sesame Street's theme at 72 but wtf? Three's Company only five below it? Good mix throughout- cartoons (Underdog and George of the Jungle), game shows (the Feud, which almost used Dueling Banjos as its theme before the eeriness of that became apparent, and Price is Right) and the Tonight Show theme (the one Paul Anka song nobody can ever make into a scary Paul Anka cover version). The Banana Splits theme makes the list; it also made Wait Wait a few weeks back, when it was revealed that Bob Marley based a riff in "Buffalo Soldiers" on the 7-note riff from that theme song. I didn't believe it, either, until they played them back to back.
Notable omissions in my book: Northern Exposure. Firefly. Dead Like Me (although they did include Six Feet Under, and fairly high up). Even my onetime guilty pleasure from law school, Dallas. Those all not only introduced the titles, they conveyed tons about the mood and the history, which is what these pieces are supposed to do.
Let the arguments and earworms begin.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-19 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-19 05:41 pm (UTC)Ha, I started singing along as soon as I opened that. What a fantastic site! :-) I actually loved the Square Pegs theme, but...that show was totally my generation. So, I guess that explains a lot, huh?
I'd forgotten the theme to Night Court, although that was one of my favorite shows back in the day.
Thanks for posting that! :-)
(Oh, and I heard that joke once, except they were in prison, not heaven. ;-P)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 01:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 07:43 pm (UTC)Though I give them props for including Doctor Who so high, they lose serious cred for not including Rawhide.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 08:09 pm (UTC)I'd put it higher, though- certainly higher than CHiPs at 59 or Knight Rider at 46 or any of a dozen others.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-20 10:58 pm (UTC)And I was lookin' for it.
OK, it's a really good list.