The art of the "Theme Tune"

120_Minutes · 18-11-2007 8:24pm #1

I recently bought an SFX mag special about retro sci-fi and they had an excellent article about opening credits, and how they were an art form in itself, which has all but dissapeared. While credits could be a thread onto itself, I'm going to concentrate on theme music (which was also touched upon in the article)

What are your favourite themes? has anyone a collection? i used to have about 200 on minidisc (many original recordings) which i've sadly lost. Some still make the hairs on my neck stand when i hear them today. Among my favourites (which could also be in the list of best pieces of music ever) are, in no particular order:

1. Knight Rider
2. The A Team
3. The streets of san francisco
4. Six million dollar man
5. Buck Rodgers
6. Battlestar Galactica (original)
7. Avengers
8. The Sweeney
9. Thunderbirds
10. Stingray (dada dada daa daa)
11. Doctor Who (the quintessential whooo eeee oooo one )
12. Wonder Woman

...there are many more I could include, but it saddens me that if you try to pick a contemporary tv theme that could hold its own against the ones mentioned you'd have your work cut out. Lost, Heroes, Friends??? the TV theme is a dying art, pushed aside by network execs to make room for more ad revenue.

Discuss.....

(BTW the mag came with a CD of 10 retro themes, rerecordings though :mad:
but it had buck rodgers!!)

Ruu_Old · 18-11-2007 8:30pm

I have a few MP3s of a few of the 80s shows but mostly cartoons. Magnum PI, The Odd Couple, Northern Exposure, Get Smart and The Wonder Years are among them.
I loved the Streets of San Francisco one, introducing all the characters at the start.

mike65 · 18-11-2007 9:13pm

TV themes are yesterdays news, so many series episodes now just sort of start, the action unfolding as the credits spool across the screen.

Bring back stuff like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4fk97IKnA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfg01nZdgI

Mike.

davejones · 18-11-2007 9:23pm

I liked the "Fall guy" and the tune to "Hill street Blues".

Latchy · 18-11-2007 9:36pm

I love the intros, theme tunes, and station ids ( jingles ) from the radio of the 60s and 70s era ie, radio London , England ,Caroline and i have quite a bit of this stuff on cd and cassette ..For me they are so cool and somtimes as good if not better than some of the songs .Kenny Evertt was a master of the jingle although like a lot of Dj , the concept was taken from the americans who were masters of the radio jingle .

http://www.pams.com/

Ginger · 18-11-2007 9:40pm

When I was DJing I used to randomly through in at the start of a live mix one of the more well known ones.. like Dallas, A Team, MacGyver, Hill Street Blues and the likes. Twas wicked, you would see the older people in the crowd all going nuts and the younger ones going what the hell is that..

Most of the themes were mixed with a bass undertone synced to a slightly speeded up theme tune..

Such fun

mike65 · 18-11-2007 9:41pm

Kenny Everett special on ITV at 10 pm btw

Mike.

It BeeMee · 19-11-2007 12:32pm

Always liked the theme to Airwolf myself.....

And IMHO the theme to Are You Being Served was pretty clever too.....

Latchy · 19-11-2007 1:04pm

mike65 wrote: »

Kenny Everett special on ITV at 10 pm btw

Mike.

I watched it ,Ironic to think it was the same guy/lover who Kenny and Freddie Mercury both got Aids from .

The Don · 19-11-2007 4:00pm

Got alot of them from a friend. Good drinking game to get everyone to try and guess the show. Gets everyone to remember their favourite episodes.

tricky D · 24-11-2007 11:23pm

Dealing poker can be boring at times so sometimes I discreetly whistle off a theme tune and see how long it takes for someone to repeat it. The Odd Couple works almost every time, within 5 minutes. Other tunes include Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler' (know when to hold em, know when to fold em), Vera Lynn 'We'll Meet Again'. Then again we do a good bit of singing at our casino, sometimes over the PA.

steveone · 26-11-2007 9:03pm

seemingly ronnie hazlehurst died recently, famous for many theme tunes...
look him up..

_Kaiser_ · 30-11-2007 6:37pm

This contest is over

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

+1 for Battlestar 78 tho:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wDpHTRhTXo

JæKæ · 01-12-2007 12:25am

M-m-m-MASK!
Is the mighty power that can save the day,
m-m-m-MASK!
No-one knows what lies behind their masquerades!

I used to think it was:
M-m-m-MASK!
Workin overtime along a mask crusade