Stick to the plan

I decided that I'd try a little harder this Friday because last Friday I only managed to write what I thought was a very entertaining anecdote involving the Monkees, White Out and the 80s classic Repo-Man. Others disagreed. So I suppose I'll put in some effort. Even though I drank enough whiskey last night to be medically excused from work today. I know that this isn't work as such, but I don't do much else, and I accept your unflinching support and devotion to my every word as payment.

So I mentioned in the Sunday night Facebook note(now considered a Facebook institution, as far as I'm concerned. Once again, be our friend, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Grief-Digestion-Theater/36520823239) that I would talk about tv show themes, or the lackthereof. So lets see what I can get out of myself here.

As you may have noticed, basically nothing is as good as the Sandford and Son theme. This isn't anyones fault, Quincy Jones just wrote a piece of music that no one could top. You also may have noticed that there isn't any good theme music on TV anymore.

MASH, Cheers, Taxi, all excellent. Hell, even show specific lyrics like The Brady Bunch were great. Its funny because everyone knows the words, everyone knows how good that song was for its purpose, but everyone would be embarrassed if they were caught singing it. And if you really think about it, every single legendary show from the last 40+ years has a distinctive theme song that you probably know some of the words to. Even shows that weren't very good like Charles In Charge, but credit goes to Family Guy for putting that back in everyones head.

There really hasn't been anything instantly recognizable over the past 18 years with the exception of Friends, which I always sort of hated. The last big classic theme song would probably be The Simpsons, written by Danny Elfman who has been nothing short of perfect for his entire career, although hes no John Williams(Superman, Indiana Jones, All Star Wars music. You can't do better than that). In the 90s the big shows took that kind of minimalist approach, think of Seinfeld, Fraiser and Everybody Loves Raymond, they all just had a few notes on bass or piano and then straight into the show. Not to say that what they did on Seinfeld wasn't great in its own right.

Currently all the best themes seem to be on Adult Swim. Even if they aren't exactly essential listening, theres a generation who are going to remember the Aqua Teen Hunger Force theme for the rest of their lives. Family Guy has a good one, Metalocalypse had its theme immortalized on Guitar Hero. Even the canceled shows, Harvey Birdman had a very good throwback theme. And speaking of which, the best is one is The Venture Brothers theme which, if you aren't aware, is the best animated show on television and I refuse to be told differently. This is really all the proof I need. Maybe I'm partial to the clip because I 'played' Mars(thats the song 21 and 24 sing) in concert band. Mostly I just pretended to play saxophone. But thats a story for a different day.

(edit: the video I wanted to link the first time didn't work, so heres an ode to the henchman, which does feature them shout singing the Gustav Holst piece. This one has a lot more of 24's powder blue Nissan Stanza)

(and this is just the song, extended of course. They're both worth posting. By the way I don't know why these links don't pop, I know its inconvenient having to click them and hit back to keep reading)

Anyway, I hope someone learned something. I realize that I didn't break much ground here, or even make that many jokes. Die Hard is on Encore right now, excuse me if I'm a bit distracted.

Be sure to read Greg's post tomorrow, and Monday begins our year end bonanza. Guaranteed to be the most solid week of the year.