I “discovered” Moby when I heard “Run On” during the chase sequence in the premiere episode of “Harsh Realm.”
That’s still my favorite Moby song. “Tell that amblin’, ramblin’ back-slider, tell him ‘God Almighty’s gonna cut you down.’”
Andreas Johnson - Glorious…thank you, HBO
J. Ralph - One Million Miles…thank you Volkswagen
Soul Coughing - Rolling…thank you Cartoon Network
Kenna - hell bent…best music video ever. period. Thank you Toonami
Audiogalaxy.com no longer has that song up, but if it is the one I think you mean (what are the chances of Nissan using two songs from The Matrix?) it is called “Clubbed to Death” (Kurayamino Mix) by Rob D. It is on The Matrix soundtrack which is availble from cdnow.com at: http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=294591388/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/ArtistID=MATRIX/ITEMID=650019
They have downloadable audio clips so you can make sure!
Mr. BlueSky–Tori for me on VH1 too!..I kept seeing just the end of the video with her entrancing face filling the screen…and I was in love…and as I sit here listening to Tori now I sigh and think how good the last 10 yrs with her have been.
Nick Drake–from the already mentioned Cabrio commercial…such a sad voice.
120 Minutes–James/Public Image Limited/Sugarcubes/-----when MTV actually played some nonmainstream stuff…and whatever happened to Liquid TV?
“Racing turtle the grapefruit is winning”
Although I was familiar with some songs off “The River,” I’m ashamed to admit that I first heard Springsteen’s “Born To Run” when it was used in an episode of THE FALL GUY, wherein Lee Majors and company went undercover in a motorcycle gang.
First heard of John Hiatt when I surfed onto his video for “Slow Turning.”
Saw Nanci Griffith on the TODAY SHOW.
Heard “Eve of Destruction” first on THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO.
Saw John Cougar and The Zones (one of whom is convicted child molestor!) on SNL.
Sir Rhosis
Luscious Jackson - Saturday Night Live
One night I was watching TV with my mom and she turned on Due South, and that’s where I first heard Sarah McLachlan. I went to Europe for a year, came back, and tracked down the Fumbling Towards Ecstasy CD.
I second 120 Minutes (or third or whateverthehell) as far as introduction to music.
I lived in a small town, and the radio was hideous. Imagine the radio in your town and remove any bits of inspiration. My only respute was 120 Minutes, which in my mind played 100 minutes of crap and 20 minutes of inspiration, and that’s being charitable.
But it did introduce me to Tool and Rage Against The Machine, which are not non-mainstream now, but were back then. Of course I got to brag that I listened to them before everybody else. (Yes, I know everybody hates that guy, and I was even worse because I saw them on national TV. But I wasn’t that bad. Really! Just a feather in my hat.)
The one band that I discovered on TV that I’m glad of is Prick. Prick was pretty much one guy making music on Trent Reznor’s Nothing label. I would never have heard of the band without 120 Minutes, and this CD and the music on it mean quite a bit to me now. I also introduced this CD into my group of friends which spread throughout most of the community, even though they didn’t know I was the impetus.
Good God, people don’t know how good they have it with the internet nowadays. Used to be you’d have to search and travel to find out-of-the-way music, now you can just look it up and buy it off the internet.
Tindersticks - from an episode of The Sopranos.
Nick Drake - from the Cabrio commercial. I actually had not seen the commercial but heard so much about the music that I went to find an MPG to hear what all the fuss was about. Like Cliffy, I was hooked. It’s a damn shame that guy died so young.
A whole bunch of music from La Femme Nikita. The show is kind of bad but boy do they have some good tunes in the background.
Went out and bought Beth Neilson Chapman’s CD after I heard “Sand and Water” on ER.
Started listening to both Shawn Colvin and Emmylou Harris after seeing them separately on Austin City Limits. Now own multiple albums of each.
Me too 
[sub]Damn, I miss that show…[/sub]
Filter from La Femme Nikita. I liked a lot of the other music on that show too but I never found out who the artists were.
First heard Patti Smith on an episode of “Millenium”, the song being the way-cool “Dancing Barefoot.” Picked up the album it was on and…enh. It was the right song to hear first, let’s just put it that way.
I first heard vangelis on television. “Heaven and Hell” plays while Carl Sagan gazes out of his Cosmos-mobile with a look of pure rapture on his face…
Believe I also first heard Enya on t.v. during a car commercial…or was it a cruise line? “Sail away, sail away, sail away.”
Moist. I saw them on Much once at a friend’s house and went out and bought the CD.
I stand corrected on the Bneff tune. Many thanks!! This is a great thread. I am looking for all kinds of new tunes now because I’m always on the hunt for good music.