Sure, there are still a few years left before this decade is kaput. But by my estimation, there's already been a cache of sweet TV tunes (thank you, HBO!) to go with some amazing and in some cases downright genius shows. Here are my faves -- and the good news is that half are still on the air. How cool is that?
I once spent an entire summer watching DVDs of this masterful series for work, and I watched the opening sequence every single time. David Chase hand-picked the thumping and bluesy, "Woke Up This Morning" by the Brit group A3, which lead singer Rob Spragg says he was inspired to write after hearing about an abused wife who shot her husband. Like Tony on many occasions, she "got herself a gun," and we got the most intensely perfect theme ever put to a guy driving home to Jersey through the Holland Tunnel.
I can't think of a group better suited to sing the chorus, "You're not the boss of me now!/You're not the boss of me now!" than the quirky man-children of They Might Be Giants. The beloved alt ensemble's John Flansburgh and John Linnell wrote the rambunctious ditty for Malcolm creator Linwood Boomer, and it paid off: In 2002, the song won the band their first ever Grammy. Apparently its whiny kicker -- "Life is unfair" -- didn't apply to this sitcom's soundtrack.
Just thinking about this one gives me chills. Show creator Alan Ball enlisted American Beauty composer Thomas Newman to create a theme for his funeral-home-family-drama (one of my all-time favorite shows) and he, um, killed it. The oboe and strings mesh in creepy perfection and you don't know whether to be scared or charmed, all while dark imagery of corpses and autopsy equipment adds that extra freaky-fasincating factor. Perfection.
I wasn't much of an Alias geek, but I dug its upbeat-electro opening music. Dangerous, fast and sexy, the theme's woven-in strings over frantic DJ beats sounded like they were crafted by a music nerd on his laptop. Turns out they were: Creator J.J. Abrams wrote the Alias music himself and says he was inspired by old-school spy flicks and the frantic, pulsing soundtrack to the German film Run Lola Run. We were left shaken and stirred.
What is left to say about this drama? Yes, the acting and writing were superb, but what about the music? Like everything on this show, it was raw and spare. How many shows almost nearly eschew a soundtrack, but then have the cajones to use a Tom Waits song -- in this case, his 1987 gospel-y yarn, "Down in the Hole" -- as the title theme? The likes of The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, and Steve Earle (who also made regular appearances as a rehab counselor) all covered it for subsequent seasons. Each managed to capture Waits' gravelly desperation, the isolation of thug life, and the empathy of cops who actually cared.
I don't know much about the backstory of this jaunty theme other than the following: I can hum it right now if you want me to, which to me is a good sign; it's fun and peppy and makes me happy 'cuz it means The Office has started; and a quick Internet search tells me it's performed by a group called The Scrantones. Sounds like some Web nerd messing with me, but I love it!
A more insiduous and sly TV theme there never was. If you've gotten knee-deep into Weeds on DVD, then you know how many times you hear singer Malvina Reynolds' 1962 song "Little Boxes" (that lampoons, among other things, suburbia and all things "ticky-tacky") and how many times you tried to get the damn thing out of your noggin. For seasons two and three, show creator Jenji Kohan (wisely) dispanded with Reynolds' version in favor of covers by 30 different artists (from Linkin Park to Death Cab for Cutie to Billy Bob Thornton) and, starting with the second episode of the fourth season, "Little Boxes" was history. Probably for the best.
The jaunty, jazzy theme for this weekly bit of genius cracks me up. It actually sounds funny. Composed by Tina Fey's husband, Jeff Richmond (who is also a producer for 30 Rock) the theme was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music last year -- an honor that clearly pales in comparison to Tina cleaning up last Sunday at this year's Emmy awards. But still. Love it, Liz Lemon!
I love, love, love everything about the opener to this newly-minted Best Drama. A talented 32-year-old DJ called RjD2 (born in Eugene, OR, as it turns out) is the man behind the moody melange of strings, Latin drums, and smooth, Moby-esque electro beats called "A Beautiful Mine." The animated, angular images of the ad man, literally falling into the superficial depths of his job, are delicious accompaniments to RjD2's tortured-modernist soundtrack.
Huh? Former House Of Pain frontman Everlast (aka Erik Schrody) wrote and recorded the theme song to a Holly Hunter show? Works for me! Show creator Nancy Miller says she was was turned onto Schrody's music while writing the pilot script, and good thing. It's that rare TV theme -- a daring mix of country, rock and soul -- that's good enough (actually probably too good) to be a radio hit. It evokes the intense hopefulness of Grace's pursuit of truth, and sticks in my head like a bowl of Southern grits sits in my belly.
Film.com's FREE movie of the week is "Love the Hard Way." Oscar-winner Adrien Brody and Charlotte Ayanna star in this drama about a thief who falls for a curious, beautiful young woman. As their intimacy grows, a slick cop (Pam Greer) is closing in.
