What songs do you think are too good for their subject matter, like a song for an ad that's actually good, or a children's show theme song that slaps, ect?
@RickiTarr Schoolhouse rock, all of it but especially the political ones. E.G. "Elbow Room" manages to combine genocide apology with a literal Hitleresque Lebensraum reference with an unforgettable catchy tune and snappy animation, and it's not an outlier. They're all like that
The way was opened up for folks with bravery.
There were plenty of fights
To win land rights,
But the West was meant to be;
It was our Manifest Destiny!
This is going to get me in a whole load of trouble on the Fediverse but...
Delia Derbyshire - Dr Who theme
I mean no disrespect to the show or whovians, but as an artifact of electronic music, it's a work of art in its own right, rather than a sidenote on a well loved TV show
@Twoclownseating@RickiTarr I don't know why that would get you into trouble, particularly with Doctor Who fans who are likely to agree with you than anything else. I know I agree with you completely. What she created was something amazing.
@RickiTarr I think “too good” is too much, because kids deserve excellent music, but my vote is for The Powerpuff Girls theme song, which is excellent and has lived rent-free in my head for what, 30 years?
@pjohanneson@RickiTarr I didn't want to mention it, but ask any 80s kid to sing 3 Sesame Street songs, its the Pinball counting song (those are the Pointer Sisters btw), the C is for Cookie song and LadyBug Picnic.
@RickiTarr I could actually write an entire dissertation on what's going on here musically. But a small breakdown so others can listen to this theme in the way a musician does might be helpful.
The first thing we hear is a bell. Chimes are often used to signal importance or solemnity in music. This chime also sets the key or tonal center. It's also, frankly, an instrument made of metal. A big musical nod to the Cylons.
Two voices, in harmony. Their timbre is breathy, almost ethereal. Neither one sings the root. They instead outline a minor seventh chord. I think this is intentional. Musically, this is saying this is not a story about humanity, but about the Cylons.
The one singing the harmony drops through a melisma to meet the other voice in unison, on the fifth of the chord. Humanity needs to come together. The fifth of the scale is diatonically opposed to the root.
A two-note announcement on low brass, announcing the root and the fifth again. Brass instruments representing the cyclone, likely. This motive is similar to medieval heralds or wartime fanfares, used on the battlefield to give orders to troops.
The first voice sings, low in the alto range, and chant-like, in an unknown language. The human motive moves from the root to the second, to the flatted seventh, back to the root. Establishing the minor harmony. This evokes a sense of mourning.
The second voice answers, high in the soprano range. The motive is the same, but moved up to the fifth of the scale. Two voices, in dialogue, distantly echoing one another. There is a sense of massive scale and space between these two.
The brass instruments respond again, this time in harmony with one another. The cylons are unified, while the humans are distant, disorganized, and still talking amongst themselves.
The two voices finally sing in harmony. A new theme emerges, moving stepwise up from the third of the scale up to the fifth and back down again, then descending briefly to the flatted seventh before jumping back up to the third, and walking down from there again to the flatted seventh. This theme is in downward motion constantly, and lands on a very uncertain place.
The single voice, now the only one remaining, sings a final repetition of the root note, before fading away entirely.
Silence.
A human male voice shouts. No language, just a gutteral grunt, like a man being gut-punched.
Suddenly, taiko drums, in a manic flurry of energy. Highly rhythmically complex, in a strong 2/2 time signature, drums in this context are almost certainly a war theme.
The drums are intercut with highly syncopated human vocalizations. Less actual words than simple grunts.
Slowly, strings rise from this sonic landscape into the prominent voice, ascending in a chromatic quasi-melismatic line. They crescendo into a tortured scream, until
Everything drops into utter silence as the strings reach the MINOR SIXTH of the scale. A note that has not been played at ALL until this moment. And then everything goes quiet.
@RickiTarr apologies for any mistakes in transcription here. They are entirely mine. I am doing this breakdown from memory, while sipping wine, laying in the bathtub. 😆🍷🛀
@RickiTarr I would never say it's too good for its movie, but I love listening to the soundtrack to Last of the Mohicans (1992). It's absolutely gorgeous and moves me every time.
@RickiTarr The theme for the (original) 80s "The Equalizer", written by Stewart Copeland of the Police (who did a lot of movie/tv soundtracks then). https://youtu.be/Wz8gAfRvPjE
The show was good - Denzel's movie version of Robert McCall is good, but Edward Woodward's was better (my $0.02), but the theme was up there with like Jan Hammer's Miami Vice them imho.
@RickiTarr Did anyone mention The Dukes of Hazzard theme song yet? A great song that makes the memory of a mediocre show feel way better than it should. I tried watching an episode a couple of years ago and it was just dumb.
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