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It's funny, a song will pop up on my ipod/mp3 player and images from a movie or tv show will fill my brain. In some instances - it's a particular character, who via that movie or tv series I strongly identify with the song. This actually happens more often than it does with Broadway show tunes, which is odd.
For example? I can't hear the songs Pavolov's Bell, the Ramones - I'd Rather Be Sedated or Key by the Devices without visualizing the character of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As if they were written with that character in mind, they weren't of course.
Bush's Out of this World - instantly conjures scenes from Dead Things (S6 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike and Buffy in the grave-yard).
Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvtGr7eMJig
Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's Broken Halleagha - makes me think, weirdly, of the West Wing. I always see the last few scenes of that episode entitled, I believe Posse Comitatus? Not, surprising The Watchmen movie - which was a far more literal interpretation of the song.
Found it below:
Or the theme songs written for M*A*S*H and CHEERS - are forever connected to them. I hear them and I want to binge on the series or memories of the episodes flash through my head.
Another Buffy song, Buffy had a lot of songs that were so well selected for that series, it felt as if the writer wrote them specifically for it - in some cases they did, but in most - not so much. This one, is Full of Grace by Sarah Mclachlan.
True Blood's signature song - "Bad Things" and rendition of "She's Not There". And then there's theme orchestrations - for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Godfather, 2001 a Space Odyssey...which you find yourself humming long after the movie has ended. A co-worker used to whistle the theme song to the Raiders of the Lost Arc.
Songs that stick so well, that I find myself hunting them down, if only to get them out of my head. And I can't help but wonder - if the song wasn't there, would I have loved that character, episode, tv show or movie half so well?
I don't know.
I'll hear the song "What A Feeling" from Flashdance - and see Jennifer Beals dance number, also I always miss-hear the lyric, "take your passion" - in my head it will remain, "take your pants off". Xandadu - horrific movie, but the title song sticks in my head. I liked the song. Or Titantic's "My Heart Will Go On" - the ultimate in ear worm songs, which you either love or want to strangle the singer for plaguing you with day in and day out in elevators.
Of all the television series that I've seen - only a few have utilized music well.
Oh, most of them, at least up until recently, had great theme songs or orchestrations. I adore Farscape's and Star Trek's. Also Doctor Who's. But few utilize songs well during the episode itself. They either do what Grey's does - which is overkill, in which you have a song, voice over, and dialogue all overlapping each other. Or they go in the opposite direction and just tag it in there as a music video with no sound or dialogue. Soap operas like to do this. A lot. Or you'll have musicals like Nashville and Glee where the musical numbers are entwined with the series itself. Buffy was amongst the few that had actual bands perform their own songs in a bar, and used the music as background but also as metaphor for what was actually happening on screen. I've never seen a tv show do it in quite that manner before or since. Usually they do what the West Wing does above with Broken Halleagha.
(Which I obviously can't spell.) I'm trying to think of one. And am drawing a blank.
Even Whedon's other series don't quite do that.
Biz Naked performed their song - We are the Lucky Ones
Michelle Branch performed - Goodbye to You
Aimee Mann performed - Pavlov's Bell
The Devices performed - Key
And the original band that created it - performed Virgin State of Mind
A band even performed Whedon's song, which they co-wrote with him - Blue
Buffy also did what the West Wing did - which was the music video approach, with
Sarah McLachlan's Full of Grace, Bush's Out of this World, amongst others.
True Blood like everything else - did music video approach or background music. It never quite weaved it into the narrative. Although many of its songs underlined its narrative well enough to bring me back for more.
Music, at least for this viewer, can often sell a television show. Miami Vice is another example of a series - whose music stuck with you. It also made Glenn Fry's career. Almost all the songs were sung by Glenn Fry.
It's odd, but I can't think of any new television series or recent ones that utilize music quite as effectively as the old ones did.
For example? I can't hear the songs Pavolov's Bell, the Ramones - I'd Rather Be Sedated or Key by the Devices without visualizing the character of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. As if they were written with that character in mind, they weren't of course.
Bush's Out of this World - instantly conjures scenes from Dead Things (S6 Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike and Buffy in the grave-yard).
Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvtGr7eMJig
Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's Broken Halleagha - makes me think, weirdly, of the West Wing. I always see the last few scenes of that episode entitled, I believe Posse Comitatus? Not, surprising The Watchmen movie - which was a far more literal interpretation of the song.
Found it below:
Or the theme songs written for M*A*S*H and CHEERS - are forever connected to them. I hear them and I want to binge on the series or memories of the episodes flash through my head.
Another Buffy song, Buffy had a lot of songs that were so well selected for that series, it felt as if the writer wrote them specifically for it - in some cases they did, but in most - not so much. This one, is Full of Grace by Sarah Mclachlan.
True Blood's signature song - "Bad Things" and rendition of "She's Not There". And then there's theme orchestrations - for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Godfather, 2001 a Space Odyssey...which you find yourself humming long after the movie has ended. A co-worker used to whistle the theme song to the Raiders of the Lost Arc.
Songs that stick so well, that I find myself hunting them down, if only to get them out of my head. And I can't help but wonder - if the song wasn't there, would I have loved that character, episode, tv show or movie half so well?
I don't know.
I'll hear the song "What A Feeling" from Flashdance - and see Jennifer Beals dance number, also I always miss-hear the lyric, "take your passion" - in my head it will remain, "take your pants off". Xandadu - horrific movie, but the title song sticks in my head. I liked the song. Or Titantic's "My Heart Will Go On" - the ultimate in ear worm songs, which you either love or want to strangle the singer for plaguing you with day in and day out in elevators.
Of all the television series that I've seen - only a few have utilized music well.
Oh, most of them, at least up until recently, had great theme songs or orchestrations. I adore Farscape's and Star Trek's. Also Doctor Who's. But few utilize songs well during the episode itself. They either do what Grey's does - which is overkill, in which you have a song, voice over, and dialogue all overlapping each other. Or they go in the opposite direction and just tag it in there as a music video with no sound or dialogue. Soap operas like to do this. A lot. Or you'll have musicals like Nashville and Glee where the musical numbers are entwined with the series itself. Buffy was amongst the few that had actual bands perform their own songs in a bar, and used the music as background but also as metaphor for what was actually happening on screen. I've never seen a tv show do it in quite that manner before or since. Usually they do what the West Wing does above with Broken Halleagha.
(Which I obviously can't spell.) I'm trying to think of one. And am drawing a blank.
Even Whedon's other series don't quite do that.
Biz Naked performed their song - We are the Lucky Ones
Michelle Branch performed - Goodbye to You
Aimee Mann performed - Pavlov's Bell
The Devices performed - Key
And the original band that created it - performed Virgin State of Mind
A band even performed Whedon's song, which they co-wrote with him - Blue
Buffy also did what the West Wing did - which was the music video approach, with
Sarah McLachlan's Full of Grace, Bush's Out of this World, amongst others.
True Blood like everything else - did music video approach or background music. It never quite weaved it into the narrative. Although many of its songs underlined its narrative well enough to bring me back for more.
Music, at least for this viewer, can often sell a television show. Miami Vice is another example of a series - whose music stuck with you. It also made Glenn Fry's career. Almost all the songs were sung by Glenn Fry.
It's odd, but I can't think of any new television series or recent ones that utilize music quite as effectively as the old ones did.