I have wondered for a while if anyone else notices this. I listen to the intro to NPR’s The Takeaway featuring John Hockenberry and hear the Powerpuff Girls theme.
I can only find a smidge of the Takeaway theme - The Takeaway: Contact Us | WNYC Studios | Podcasts you will see an embedded video on that page. At about 3:18 into the clip there is a brief snippet of the theme music. (If anyone can find a longer version that woudl be great - on that same page, the Takeaway Theme is credited to a couple of guys going as Wounded Buffalo Theory, but I can’t find a clip).
Here is the Powerpuff Girls theme, starting 30 seconds in: - YouTube
I can’t listen to this at work.
I’ve always maintained that the X-Files theme is basically the theme from the 1960s sitcom [The Mothers -in-Law, just slowed down and played “spookily”
I don’t hear it myself, but maybe it’s because of the short Takeaway clip (I’m very familiar with the Powerpuff Girls, theme, though.) Are you talking about those melodic bass notes (or whatever they are)? I guess the contour of the melody is reminiscent, but it’s not something I’d ever make a connection with PPG.
I (IMHO) usually have a pretty good ear for recognizing melodies and when one song “borrows” from another, etc.
I can hear what you mean. It’s a similar sequence of notes. The timbre and surrounding noise (and on my computer here I can only play it very softly) makes it difficult for me to tell if it’s the same notes. But the intervals of the melody are similar (though the Takeway riff sounds like it might have a note or two that are a half-step different one way or the other). If you imagine the PPG theme as evenly-spaced single quarter-notes, it would closely resemble the bit in the Takeaway video. Beyond that, one’s obviously more relaxed and legato, which the other has a peppy, staccato feel to it and a completely different rhythm, which makes all the difference in distinguishing a lot of musical pieces from one another (as in this reasonably well-known send-up of the idea).
So I see what you mean, but there’s no way to think that the two are in any way related by anything other than the coincidence that there are only so many notes and ways to string them together in the world.
I don’t mean to imply that one is an exact lift of the other. More that they have a very similar melodic “contour” and it is pretty funny that a cartoon theme song riff is kinda used for an NPR news program…
One that I’ve always found entertaining, and that hardly ever escapes my notice for some reason, is how inspiring the old Home Depot jingle must have been that it keeps showing up so often: old Home Depot commercial
And several others where I’ve heard it, though not familiar enough with the songs to remember what they were. I’ve accidentally stumbled into that same exact melodic line improvising around on my guitar. It happens.
I’m always surprised that no one really seems to notice it much, and if I point it out they’ll even say they don’t hear much resemblance.
It’s always funny how something can jump out at one person so much while going unnoticed by others. I agree the melodies in the OP are similar, but no way would I relate them to each other without being prompted. You’ve either got keen senses, WordMan, or maybe that particular melody just resonates with you a lot.
I know precious little about the technical side of music and I’m not sure if I heard the similarity you did. Maybe for about a second. Are you talking about the amen break?
I wasn’t referring to the drums, but rather the melody. The drums from PPG is clearly a lift from the Amen break that you link to. I knew that similarity, but only because the Amen break is so commonly used…
I’m talking about Dah Dah DahDahDah Daaahhh Dah! (to use a technical term)
True (which I also linked above in a previous post), though slightly distinguished (in my mind) because of the similarity in the particular melody. Most of the “four chords” songs sound different from one another primarily due to overlaying significantly different melodies on those same 4 chords (progression, technically, since they can certainly be different specific chords).
The particular “Home Depot” example sticks out to me because the melody line is so similar – which is probably because that particular melody is basically just sort of voice-leading the chords with some logical passing notes thrown in (which is why I keep accidentally stumbling into it while strumming my guitar).
Just to help clarify, we are talking about these two snippets, right? (I’m playing it on the piano in the same key. There may be a toddler at the very end adding her interpretation to the piece… )
Okay, been listening to your 8 second clip. Other than the fact that they ascend at roughly the same time in the riff, they aren’t close enough note-wise.
Worth a try and thanks for helping me noodle it through!
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