Friday, November 5, 2010

Music in the Media Week (cont.): Top 5 Favorite TV Soundtracks

I'm trying to get back on track with my old posts since my departure. The first thing I thought that I'd tackle would be Music in the Media Week. However, I think that I'll probably stretch it out to Music in the Media Month. I simply don't like bogging down my blog with all those videos. I need words in between posts, actual words! So the five or so posts that I have lined up, in addition to my first 'Music' post from a few weeks back will make up Music in the Media Month.

Here we go with the next post.

My Top 5 Favorite TV Soundtracks:*

*No, Glee's not one of them. I'll say that you need to listen to each and every song! Also, the additional songs are fantastic! The only reason I didn't place them in the post itself was to conserve space. Also, each additional song is a link, so click away!


5. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Bringing about some of the most touching and chilling music heard on television, The Sarah Connor Chronicles resonated with the hearts of many fans of good television before it's untimely cancellation. The show also managed to stay true to it's movie predecessors as is clearly evident in all three of the following songs.


Sarah Connor's Theme: Heart felt, but oozing with a sense of dread and foreshadowing that just can't be shaken off.


Cromartie in the Hospital: A perfect example of the suspenseful music that perfectly transcended from the big to small screen.



Opening Theme: A great theme that captured the action/adventure feel that accompanied the show.


Additional Listening: Sampson & Delilah-End Credits

4. Chuck:

Featuring old hits by famous artists like The Talking Heads and Rush, and adding new songs from relatively unknown artists like Spoon and Franz Ferdinand, Chuck adds a great bit of variety to the monogamy that is weeknight television music.

The Underdog: Upbeat, fun and a great example of one the indie songs that Chuck features regularly.



Chuck Theme Song/ Short Skirt Long Jacket: Can I just say that this is one of the catchiest songs ever? Every Monday night I find myself whistling along with the opening montage.



Beat the Devil's Tattoo: Another relatively unknown band who's find a welcome home on one of Chuck's latest episodes.


Additional Listening: Got Nuffin'-Once in a Lifetime-Tom Sawyer-Bite Hard

3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: With a movie composer, Kevin Kiner, behind the wheels of the music composed for The Clone Wars, you'd think that a quality soundtrack would be produced. Well you would be correct in that assumption. The music created for The Clone Wars is, epic, dramatic and diverse in it's ethnicity-derived themes. But first and foremost, it's Star Wars.

Jabba's Palace: Kiner was specifically instructed by George Lucas to create a different theme for each planet visited in the show and to incorporate music from Earth's many different cultures. The first song that features this new brand of Star Wars music was the Arabic-inspired piece that accompanied multiple scenes taking place in Jabba's Palace.




Battle of Christophsis: Absolutely magnificent in it that it evokes a sense of absolute epicness and relays the feeling that The Clone Wars is grand in magnitude.


Battle of Teth: Heard during the ascension of the Tethan cliffs, this fantastic piece of work helped to set the pace for this fast paced action sequence.


Additional Listening: Anakin vs. Dooku-Courtyard Fight-Jabba's Chamber Dance-Ziro's Nightclub Band

Yes, I'm aware that all of these songs are originally from the soundtrack used for The Clone Wars feature film, but the film itself was intended for television to begin with and much of the music used in the movie is used in one way or another in the show itself.

2. Heroes: Do you ever get moved so much by a piece of music that you shiver? No? Just me? I've seriously embarrassed myself by putting this little tidbit about me on the world wide web? Oh well, because that's what happened to me when I first heard Fire & Regeneration. The music composed for Heroes fit with the overall theme of the show extremely well.
From the feeling that you're part of something larger than life while listening to Fire & Regeneration, to the creepiness that is Sylar's Theme, Heroes' diversity and epicness set the tone perfectly for what would be one heck of show. *cough* ...season.


Fire & Regeneration: This is what plays when Chuck Norris defecates. Yes, I went there.



Heroes Action Theme: The title itself suitably sums up this great piece.




Sylar's Theme: The tale of Sylar, the mass murderer of 'heroes', was certainly a disturbing one, all the while accompanied by Sylar's theme.



Additional Listening: He's Frank-David Bowie's Heroes

1. Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Last Airbender spawned some of the most intriguing and inspirational pieces of music my ears have had the fortune to be graced by. The score created for the show set the tone for the show itself with the utmost perfection.
Agni Kai: This song would play every time Firebenders would engage in a mutual duel. Powerful and exhilarating.



The Avatar's Love: Please forgive the poor quality, yes those are footsteps in the background. Beautiful and enchanting, 'Love' is a great example of the passionate side that the show frequented regularly.



Season 3 Trailer Music: Dark, mysterious and foreboding, the music that accompanied the trailer for Avatar's final season couldn't have been more perfect.



Additional Listening: Yuyen Capture Aang-Azula's Theme-Dai Li Headquarters

Wow, that's a lot of videos. Can you tell that I ran out of ways to describe songs? Yeah...

Keep on the lookout for my next MITMM post, The Top Ten Best Trailer Scores along with my reviews of Toy Story 3, The Last Airbender, Karate Kid and The Town, which should actually have words in it. Coherent words, in paragraph form!

What are your favorite TV soundtracks or songs? Feel free to leave links to them in the comments below.

4 comments:

  1. Cake is one of my all time favorite bands, and that song from Chuck is one of the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great choices for your top 5!!

    Stopping by from Follow Friday on Blog Frog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Alex,

    Nice music! I don't know how you keep up with it all. You have certainly expanded my auditory horizons. I really liked the music selections from Chuck and the Terminator: TSCC

    Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails