I’m guessing this topic has been done before, but a quick search turns up nothing recent.
Anyway, tonight I was listening to Richard Thompson’s song, “Dad’s Gonna Kill Me,” and realized I might never have heard it if not for Sons of Anarchy. And it was a great surprise that their sountrack is so well-done. Awesome show, awesome music.
And it got me thinking how many other great songs I’ve been introduced to by Sons:
This great version of John the Revelator:
Great version of Hey Hey, My My:
And this version of Joan Armatrading’s This Charming Life:
And the songs done by Katey Sagal are also beautiful, of course:
Son of a Preacher Man:
Ruby Tuesday:
These are just a few examples of what I’m talking about. I wouldn’t have heard these songs without the show, and now I’m thrilled to have 'em. What songs/bands have you discovered this way?
Half the reason I love the show Chuck so much is all the excellent music it has introduced me to.
The Thermals- Now we can see
Frightened Rabbit- The Twist
Blitzen Trapper- Furr
Slow Club- Christmas tv
In flight Safety- model homes
Austin Hartley-Leonard and Kendall Jane Meade- In My Sleep
The Accidental- Knock Knock
All of those are from Chuck and I know there are several more that will later to occur to me. Thanks a lot Indygrrl, now I’m having a music marathon instead of working.
The first time I heard the music of Leonard Cohen was when watching “Natural Born Killers”. Since then, I’ve decided that NBK is pretty much garbage but enjoy Cohen’s complete catalog.
I was turned on to Tori Amos through the movie “Toys,” which had a song by her that I loved called “Happy Workers.” I sought out more info on the net about the song, found out about Tori, and bought “Little Earthquakes” soon after (along with the movie soundtrack, which also has some other very cool music on it).
Also, Jackson Browne’s “Lives in the Balance,” which I first heard on “Miami Vice.”
I went back and reinvigorated my love for disco and funk just from two movies: Summer of Sam and Boogie Nights. Both perfect soundtracks!
Also, any Quentin Tarantino movie will inevitably turn me on to something new-to-me. I think it was the Grindhouse movies that turned me on to April March’s “Chick Habit” and some other cool tunes.
I tend to gravitate toward movie directors who share my passion for films and then pick apart the soundtracks every time a new movie comes out. Spike Lee and Tarantino are my favs, if only for the soundtracks (I may not like anything else about the movie).
I discovered what was to become my very favorite piece of music when I caught the last few minutes of a movie playing on HBO. The movie was called Fearless, and while I’d never seen it and knew nothing about it, I found those final few minutes to be incredibly intense, and the music that accompanied the scene was one of the most haunting themes I’d ever heard.
It took me a couple of days to track it down, but I picked up a CD of the piece, and, on my first listening, was shaken to my very core in a way no music ever had. It’s almost fifteen years later, but I’m never had an experience to match it.
The piece was Górecki’s Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.
Castle once used Fatboy Slim’s Wonderful Night, which I’d never heard before but instantly took to. It absolves Fatboy Slim of the sin he committed by releasing Praise You.
It’s probably trite, but I first became aware of Danny Elfman’s genius on account of his motion picture scores. While I enjoyed Peewee’s Big Adventure quite a lot, it wasn’t until Edward Scissorhands that I sat up and said to myself, “Who IS that guy?”
Too many to list, but I was one of the billions lured to the music of Nick Drake by the fine people at the Volkswagen car company. That was the beginning of product placement of music, I think – here was the guy nobody had heard of who just needed exposure to become a huge success. Too bad it was 20 years after his suicide, but better late than never.
But once that commercial made such a splash, labels realized how directly a TV appearance could translate to album sales if the stars aligned, even if the band’s name was never mentioned. And Grey’s Anatomy was born.
I remember when I first heard Bubblegoose on South Park. I didn’t know of the real song and just assumed it was something stupid made up for South Park. When I finally got to listen to Carnival for the first time hearing the real version and thinking “Wow, that’s a real song” made it stick that much more. Carnival by Wyclef, to this day, remains one of my favorite albums. It’s not because of South Park, but South Park certainly put an exclamation point on the first listen.
The Powerpuff Girls got me into bis, and they’re one of my favorite bands ever.
I don’t think I had ever heard “Listen Up” by Oasis (though I was already a fan of theirs) until it played in the credits of a Daria episode, but now it’s probably my favorite song of theirs.
Me too! I had heard of him from the movie Pump Up the Volume, but it was after NBK that I became a full-fledged fan. Oh, and L7. “Shit List” is one of the best scream-it-out songs ever, and turned me on to Riotgrrls.
I’ve also picked up on a few songs from So You Think You Can Dance, NoelQ. The Nina Simone song they did on one of the dances this year blew me away, and there have also been a few from Adele that I like. In fact, there have been so many that I keep my notepad handy while watching so I can write 'em down before I forget.
Oh, I’ve gotten into all kinds of music through TV, starting with Bugs Bunny cartoons when I was a kid.
I really got into Celtic music when I heard Bonny Portmore by Loreena McKennitt on an episode of the Highlander series.
For something totally different, I really got into jazzy '20s and '30s era music after watching Jeeves and Wooster. There was also Pennies From Heaven with Bob Hoskins. Great stuff!
And this thread had taught me that Katy Sagal is a fabulous singer. I can not believe I didn’t know that.
