Production Music

Cafe Society
1

Being a “Child of the 50s” I was acquainted with music like Laurie Johnson Happy Go Lively and “Plink, Plank, Plunk” by Leroy Anderson from an early age and it has remained a constant source of nostalgia ever since.

I’m curious how many others here have similar fondness for that sort of thing, and if there may be some standout examples that come to mind.

More recent examples of the genre permeated TV cartoon shows like Ren and Stimpy Soundtrack - Workaday World

  1. Were you ever a fan of this variety of music?
  2. Do you have a favorite example?
  3. Which musical group or composer do you think of first for this kind of stuff?

Feel free to expand on the general concept…

2

It occurred to me after posting the OP that we had another thread on this same topic a while back:

What’s the name for that 50’s commercial type music?
07-01-2006, 11:41 AM
Zeldar
#35 02-25-2010, 10:35 PM
Zeldar

3

Powerhouse, anyone?

4

My go-to is Sound 8 Background Music, a record that came with Kodak movie projectors (back in the '50’s, judging by the cover photo.)

5

Your first example reminds me of the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia theme music, which is in the same style. The second example, with its heavy reliance on pizzicato, reminds me of Strauss’s Pizzicato Polka. The Strausses wrote light classical music that isn’t that far removed, it seems to me, from the kind of music you’re talking about here.

6

I’ve been a radio Production Director for almost 40 years. On the earliest records of production music from the 50’s (the earliest I believe were sold to stations from Capitol) that style was often referred to as “Meringue.”