In the past, tv shows had background music and rarely if ever used current songs in their episodes. Now, it’s all the rage. Sometimes it’s heavy-handed and overdone (Grey’s Anatomy!). But sometimes the song - whether well-known or obscure - is a great fit for the moment. I’ve discovered new songs I enjoy from Good Wife, Gossip Girl and from Scrubs, to name some diverse examples.
So - Which shows do you guys think use songs well? Have you discovered any new music or groups from TV shows?
(I guess I could add comercials as well, as far as discovering music, but that’s really a different topic.)
Breaking Bad has used lots of obscure and fantastic songs. Off the top of my head from this current season there was Ana Tijoux and Honey Claws, both used perfectly.
Gonna add to this with some youtube videos (full scenes with music to get context on how it was used) with obvious spoilers…
[spoiler]
“TV on the Radio” by DLZ although I prefer this tribute video with the full version of this song.
“Negro y Azul” by Los Cuates De Sinaloa - Opening scene to Season 2, Ep. 7
“Black” by Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
My Current Favorite (Although not part of an actual song used in the show, I still have to say that this):Breaking Bad Tribute Video with a song that SHOULD be in a season 5 episode…heh…wishful thinking…but enjoy this one…it’s BAAAAADASSSSSS.[/spoiler]
I discovered this gem from watching “Intervention”
Breaking Bad, as mentioned above, seemed to have people scouring the internet constantly in search songs that perfectly fit the mood of each scene and the nailed it every single time. It seems like once per episode or so they would write a song for the scene, but mostly they found them.
Here’s my favorite so far. (No spoilers, just to kids playing some flamenco guitar)
I found the song on youtube when they mentioned on the podcast that it was just a couple of kids that played it, so of course I had to go watch it.
I think part of this phenomenon rests on the current trend of ending every hour-long drama with a “music video moment” - all the main characters facing their fate, doing what they must, accepting their lot in life… all wordlessly to the plaintive sounds of some soulful pop song. *House *does it all the time, and *Scrubs *did it a lot too. Even though it has become almost cliche, I still kinda like it.
^ The short-lived Stargate: Universe followed this trend of ending the episodes with a soulful song playing over a montage of scenes. Here’s one I remember liking (Alexi Murdoch’s Breathe).
Chuck used songs to great effect. Also, Veronica Mars, but can’t quickly find any clips on YouTube (specifically I Hear the Bells, A Momentary Thing, Sway).
A song can also be used to introduce a character. Case in point: O Deathfrom Supernatural.
I suspect a lot of these songs are paid product placements. One CSI type show played a Hot Chip song that hadn’t even been released yet.
I love music much more than television, but I don’t like musical montages at the end. It just feels like filler, especially when everything is slow motion.
it’s not new but Danny’s Song, written for the birth of a baby, in Raising Hope.
“Even though, I ain’t got money~”
Hopefully, they’ve gotten smarter with licensing the music, or we’ll have piles of shows facing the same fate as WKRP in Cincinnati, where the licensing is too thorny to untangle, so they just die in the vault.
They used this one several times on Dead Like Me, I liked it quite a bit: Boom Boom Ba - Metisse.
Most shows aren’t as music-dependent as WKRP, so they’ll go ahead and live with replacing songs with generic substitutes rather than give up the money they’d make on DVD releases.
As for shows that use music well, House has had a couple of winners that I can think of. An early episode featured the Grant Lee Buffalo song “Happiness” effectively as the characters dealt with the aftermath of a case that didn’t go so well. And I liked the episode with Dave Matthews as a musical savant that had “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats (with House himself clapping in time).
I remember House himself playing the piano intro to “I Don’t Like Mondays” on the piano, and it was awesome. I don’t know if it was actually Hugh Laurie playing it (although I’d guess it was), but the character definitely did. A great music moment in TV history.