For a year or so in college, my ringtone was the noise the phones made on 24
I heard it before I played it.
I expect you did. That one might be seared into your brain.
Yep, I've used that in the past, too. My favorite was my Windows startup sound:
Nice.
“Way Down in a Hole” from The Wire (specifically that of the Blind Boys, but any of the five will do)
Game of Thrones
Cheers, duh
Oh, damn. Also the opening theme from an anime called Gantz.
Oh, also the ending to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 😉
Cheers, duh
Dido.
I had the 45 of the Hill Street Blues theme song when I was a kid for some reason (and often listened to it for further inexplicable reasons).
Mike Post, theme song god
Indeed.
Be careful out there.
Give me the Mannix theme any day. Lalo Schifrin's Mission Impossible theme is also pretty darn good.
My first experience with the Mannix theme song was as a result of wanting context when someone (typically Crow) spat out “Mannix!” during music breaks on MST3K movies.
Parks & Rec, TNG, and The West Wing are the ones that stand out for me that haven't been mentioned.
Ooh, and The Animaniacs! - Which is coming back with new episodes this fall!
I'd put TNG behind DS9 and Voyager in that camp.
Magnum
Two of my funky favorites.
I wish Night Court was more widely available on streaming services
Oh dang -- also one of the "coolest" cartoon opening themes:
That is definitely a favorite.
Most of my favorites have already been listed, but throwing this one out there
i watched the first few minutes from conan's first show recently and was reminded how good that theme was as well.
A couple that stand out for me are the "Doctor Who" theme and the "Benny Hill Show" theme.
Theremin FTW.
no, "Yakety Sax" FTW
Dandy Warhols "We Used to Be Friends"
I'm shocked no one has yet mentioned Frasier Crane.
I thought of it right after I posted Cheers, which is odd since I’ve seen way more of Frazier. Toddler Skim would sing along with just one thing when she started realizing how much she liked singing: “...scrambled eggs.”
oh, that's NOT the scrambled eggs song (which is awesome), but something far, far superior.
No Random 10 for me this week.
I've been mostly listening to the band Haim, as they generally hit the sweet spot of music with wide family appeal. Like OK Go (but with better depth to their catalog outside their singles*).
I am having a hard time figuring out exactly what they sound like. Quite chameleonic without giving one the impression that their sound is too broad**. And they swear in about 10% of their songs, so I'm trying to do close listening while working before I re-burn a CD for the family vehicle that doesn't require skipping when the little ones are with.
I am pretty sure my favorite song of theirs is "Falling". The version of the album I downloaded had a live cut of this as a bonus track, and I much prefer that to the album cut.
A few youtube concert clips even better than that, to demonstrate:
Love the scuzzy, kindof sloppy guitar soloing here: (start at 4:16 if this doesn't)
And the grunting/barking singing here (5:36):
*When I tried listening to the OK Go songs that didn't have awesome videos, I got bored of their music.
Did I need the videos to later like the song? Do their good songs get the good videos?
**The kids informed me last month that some cruddy nondescript song on the radio was sung by 21 Pilots. From their other singles, I thought I knew what the band sounds like. (Kindof poppish NüMetal without aggro and misogyny... no scent of Limp Bizkit. They weren't my thing, but I could respect them.) But now I don't know what 21 Pilots even is. Are they also Imagine Dragons? Some lame reheated northern reggae band?
HAIM (it's capitalised) is this generation's Wilson Phillips but are also accomplished instrumentalists. Plus bass face.
Why capitalized? It's not an abbreviation, but their last name.
Wikipedia has their entry "Haim ... stylized in all caps as HAIM"
The only bands I've accepted preferred atypical capitalization styliziation on are fIREHOSE and HEALTH. I believe it was Tune-Yards that broke me from trying to adopt every band's preferred stylization.
Yep, Haim is their last name; HAIM is the band. Look at their official YouTube channel, for example- all caps
Their preference, I don't have to accept it.
Just like I don't have to accept the capitalization (or lack thereof) in song titles, album titles, etc.
If the band's name were an abbreviation, it'd be a personal style choice between including periods and spaces:
NWA vs N.W.A. vs N. W. A. vs N W A
I feel that none of those is incorrect (unless dealing within a publisher's style guide)
I don't seem alone in my usage:
The band's website, Twitter, and Facebook all use all caps.
Rolling Stone, NPR, and Wikipedia use title caps.
On YouTube, the band has two official accounts: HAIM and HaimVEVO.
And the official music videos themselves show a shift to at least ignoring all caps:
Haim videos: "Don't Wanna", "Hallelujah", "Now I'm in It", "Summer Girl"
HAIM videos: "I Know Alone", All music videos from the first two albums (but not all of the audio tracks.
Never said you must accept it, was just pointing it out. Lighten up, Francis.
Ahhhh, I'm so glad to see you back here, AMR!
Wrestlers in New Japan do it as well, and I’m always torn between typing their preferred stylization and not being annoying.
2. Anime Attackon Titan
Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Too many to link to)
Durarara (reminds me of SY's "Dirty Boots"
Aldnoah Zero (Season 1 more than Season 2)
Noragami (Season 1 and Season 2 equally great)
Space Brothers (I never got far into the show, so I only know the first one)
Moribito (OK, this one is cheesy and kindof sucks. I wouldn't have d/led it if I hadn't watched the show with my daughter.)
Almost mentioned Attack on Titan, but I couldn’t settle on one.
some favorite TV theme songs, in no particular order:
Game of Thrones
Welcome Back, Kotter
Frasier
Mission: Impossible
M*A*S*H
Barney Miller
Rockford Files
Jonny Quest
The Monkees
The Jeffersons
All in the Family
The Beverly Hillbillies
ST:TOS and TNG
Laverne & Shirley
The Muppet Show
Peter Gunn
The Twilight Zone
Hawaii Five-O
The Simpsons
Sanford and Son
Cheers
oh, and Room 222.
I had forgotten that the setting for that show was Walt Whitman High. My wife is a graduate of an actual Walt Whitman High, albeit not in LA.
and The Mod Squad
and Firefly.
A week later I just found this post. I was surprised that All in the Family and Laverne&Shirley were not mentioned earlier in this thread. Those 2 plus Good Times and Gilligan's Island were the theme songs that have been singing on and off for 40 years. I think a very iconic theme song is the one for X-Files. For about 2 years I used to meet a couple softball buddies at DB Searles in St. Cloud for drinks and then we would go to the man cave at a friends house and all watch X-Files together.
The Office
MacGuyver (as with the content of the show itself, this is mostly nostalgia talking)
Peter Gunn (never seen an episode, but I found the vinyl at Goodwill a couple of years back, and the whole soundtrack is awesome)
Archer (both opening and closing titles)
The A Team
But my absolute favorite is the opening theme to Cowboy Bebop.
"Tank!" is from a movie, not TV, right? Otherwise it would definitely be on my short list
I can confirm that "Tank!" is the theme from the TV show, though I think those graphics differ subtly from my memory of the TV show, so it's possible it was used for the movie (in nearly the same presentation, only re-drawn).
I've got to get back to finishing that series.
Same. I've started it four times, enjoyed it very much every time, only to sort of put it down about three quarters through and forget to pick it back up again.
Well, no, but they never mentioned Lamb Chop's Play Along as well
Nah nah nah nah naaaah
I feel bad that I did not think until now to add The Tra-La-La Song, the theme of The Banana Splits.
Good call.
I think my favorite TV song (not really a theme song) was "Where, Oh Where, Are You Tonight" by Buck Owens on Hee Haw. I can't really rationalize it, but man, I would watch that show just with the hopes that song would pop up somewhere.
I searched the world over,
And thought I found true love.
You met another and
Phht! you were gone.
I watched that show regularly as a kid and probably have heard that song a few hundred times. TIL it's about his cow, Bessie.
Always had a soft spot for soundtrack music, but most of my collection are movie music. Here's some of what I have that are TV themes:
Bob James - "Angela (Theme from Taxi)"
Theme from Jonny Quest
Theme from The Wild, Wild West
JG Thirlwell - "No Vacancy (Venture Bros Theme)"
David Schwartz - Theme from "Northern Exposure"
Angelo Badalamenti - "Twin Peaks [Original Theme Music]"
They Might Be Giants - "Boss of Me (Theme from Malcolm in the Middle)"
Clannad - "Theme from Harry's Game"
Henry Mancini - "Theme from Peter Gunn"
Pablo Cruise - Thunder in Paradise Intro
The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse
Alexander Courage - Star Trek intro
Peter Gunn is fantastic
The whole album is outstanding.
Agreed, I have both "Peter Gunn" albums they put out.
St. Elsewhere was always a favorite of mine. It was my favorite show.
Would you hate me if I told you that watching that intro is the most St. Elsewhere I’ve ever seen?
Definitely not! I was on the young side for it so there's no way it would have hit your radar.
I never watched it either; I wonder what was on opposite it?
"The Good Place" is my ringtone
I should make the "bing" my notification tone.
This is my current ring tone:
I've been meaning to make the ding my text notification too, just haven't sourced it yet.
This reminds me... my incoming e-mail notification used to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SwNXQMoNps
For a year or so in college, my ringtone was the noise the phones made on 24
I heard it before I played it.
I expect you did. That one might be seared into your brain.
Yep, I've used that in the past, too. My favorite was my Windows startup sound:
Nice.
“Way Down in a Hole” from The Wire (specifically that of the Blind Boys, but any of the five will do)
Game of Thrones
Cheers, duh
Oh, damn. Also the opening theme from an anime called Gantz.
Oh, also the ending to Jojo's Bizarre Adventure 😉
Dido.
I had the 45 of the Hill Street Blues theme song when I was a kid for some reason (and often listened to it for further inexplicable reasons).
Mike Post, theme song god
Indeed.
Be careful out there.
Give me the Mannix theme any day. Lalo Schifrin's Mission Impossible theme is also pretty darn good.
My first experience with the Mannix theme song was as a result of wanting context when someone (typically Crow) spat out “Mannix!” during music breaks on MST3K movies.
Parks & Rec, TNG, and The West Wing are the ones that stand out for me that haven't been mentioned.
Ooh, and The Animaniacs! - Which is coming back with new episodes this fall!
I'd put TNG behind DS9 and Voyager in that camp.
Magnum
Two of my funky favorites.
I wish Night Court was more widely available on streaming services
Oh dang -- also one of the "coolest" cartoon opening themes:
That is definitely a favorite.
Most of my favorites have already been listed, but throwing this one out there
i watched the first few minutes from conan's first show recently and was reminded how good that theme was as well.
A couple that stand out for me are the "Doctor Who" theme and the "Benny Hill Show" theme.
Theremin FTW.
no, "Yakety Sax" FTW
Dandy Warhols "We Used to Be Friends"
I'm shocked no one has yet mentioned Frasier Crane.
I thought of it right after I posted Cheers, which is odd since I’ve seen way more of Frazier. Toddler Skim would sing along with just one thing when she started realizing how much she liked singing: “...scrambled eggs.”
oh, that's NOT the scrambled eggs song (which is awesome), but something far, far superior.
No Random 10 for me this week.
I've been mostly listening to the band Haim, as they generally hit the sweet spot of music with wide family appeal. Like OK Go (but with better depth to their catalog outside their singles*).
I am having a hard time figuring out exactly what they sound like. Quite chameleonic without giving one the impression that their sound is too broad**. And they swear in about 10% of their songs, so I'm trying to do close listening while working before I re-burn a CD for the family vehicle that doesn't require skipping when the little ones are with.
I am pretty sure my favorite song of theirs is "Falling". The version of the album I downloaded had a live cut of this as a bonus track, and I much prefer that to the album cut.
A few youtube concert clips even better than that, to demonstrate:
Love the scuzzy, kindof sloppy guitar soloing here: (start at 4:16 if this doesn't)
And the grunting/barking singing here (5:36):
*When I tried listening to the OK Go songs that didn't have awesome videos, I got bored of their music.
Did I need the videos to later like the song? Do their good songs get the good videos?
**The kids informed me last month that some cruddy nondescript song on the radio was sung by 21 Pilots. From their other singles, I thought I knew what the band sounds like. (Kindof poppish NüMetal without aggro and misogyny... no scent of Limp Bizkit. They weren't my thing, but I could respect them.) But now I don't know what 21 Pilots even is. Are they also Imagine Dragons? Some lame reheated northern reggae band?
HAIM (it's capitalised) is this generation's Wilson Phillips but are also accomplished instrumentalists. Plus bass face.
Why capitalized? It's not an abbreviation, but their last name.
Wikipedia has their entry "Haim ... stylized in all caps as HAIM"
The only bands I've accepted preferred atypical capitalization styliziation on are fIREHOSE and HEALTH. I believe it was Tune-Yards that broke me from trying to adopt every band's preferred stylization.
Yep, Haim is their last name; HAIM is the band. Look at their official YouTube channel, for example- all caps
Their preference, I don't have to accept it.
Just like I don't have to accept the capitalization (or lack thereof) in song titles, album titles, etc.
If the band's name were an abbreviation, it'd be a personal style choice between including periods and spaces:
NWA vs N.W.A. vs N. W. A. vs N W A
I feel that none of those is incorrect (unless dealing within a publisher's style guide)
I don't seem alone in my usage:
The band's website, Twitter, and Facebook all use all caps.
Rolling Stone, NPR, and Wikipedia use title caps.
On YouTube, the band has two official accounts: HAIM and HaimVEVO.
And the official music videos themselves show a shift to at least ignoring all caps:
Haim videos: "Don't Wanna", "Hallelujah", "Now I'm in It", "Summer Girl"
HAIM videos: "I Know Alone", All music videos from the first two albums (but not all of the audio tracks.
Never said you must accept it, was just pointing it out. Lighten up, Francis.
Ahhhh, I'm so glad to see you back here, AMR!
Wrestlers in New Japan do it as well, and I’m always torn between typing their preferred stylization and not being annoying.
Theme songs for me come in two categories:
1. Instrumentals
Little House on the Prairie
The Practice
Boston Public
Sunday Night Baseball
(remembering ones I burnt to disc at some point)
2. Anime
Attack on Titan
Fullmetal Alchemist, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Too many to link to)
Durarara (reminds me of SY's "Dirty Boots"
Aldnoah Zero (Season 1 more than Season 2)
Noragami (Season 1 and Season 2 equally great)
Space Brothers (I never got far into the show, so I only know the first one)
Moribito (OK, this one is cheesy and kindof sucks. I wouldn't have d/led it if I hadn't watched the show with my daughter.)
Almost mentioned Attack on Titan, but I couldn’t settle on one.
some favorite TV theme songs, in no particular order:
Game of Thrones
Welcome Back, Kotter
Frasier
Mission: Impossible
M*A*S*H
Barney Miller
Rockford Files
Jonny Quest
The Monkees
The Jeffersons
All in the Family
The Beverly Hillbillies
ST:TOS and TNG
Laverne & Shirley
The Muppet Show
Peter Gunn
The Twilight Zone
Hawaii Five-O
The Simpsons
Sanford and Son
Cheers
oh, and Room 222.
I had forgotten that the setting for that show was Walt Whitman High. My wife is a graduate of an actual Walt Whitman High, albeit not in LA.
and The Mod Squad
and Firefly.
A week later I just found this post. I was surprised that All in the Family and Laverne&Shirley were not mentioned earlier in this thread. Those 2 plus Good Times and Gilligan's Island were the theme songs that have been singing on and off for 40 years. I think a very iconic theme song is the one for X-Files. For about 2 years I used to meet a couple softball buddies at DB Searles in St. Cloud for drinks and then we would go to the man cave at a friends house and all watch X-Files together.
The Office
MacGuyver (as with the content of the show itself, this is mostly nostalgia talking)
Peter Gunn (never seen an episode, but I found the vinyl at Goodwill a couple of years back, and the whole soundtrack is awesome)
Archer (both opening and closing titles)
The A Team
But my absolute favorite is the opening theme to Cowboy Bebop.
"Tank!" is from a movie, not TV, right? Otherwise it would definitely be on my short list
I can confirm that "Tank!" is the theme from the TV show, though I think those graphics differ subtly from my memory of the TV show, so it's possible it was used for the movie (in nearly the same presentation, only re-drawn).
I've got to get back to finishing that series.
Same. I've started it four times, enjoyed it very much every time, only to sort of put it down about three quarters through and forget to pick it back up again.
I'm about due for try #5.
I can't say as ever I was lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
And The Virginian.
And Laramie.
Late to this, but has anyone said Daria yet?
Well, no, but they never mentioned Lamb Chop's Play Along as well
Nah nah nah nah naaaah
I feel bad that I did not think until now to add The Tra-La-La Song, the theme of The Banana Splits.
Good call.
I think my favorite TV song (not really a theme song) was "Where, Oh Where, Are You Tonight" by Buck Owens on Hee Haw. I can't really rationalize it, but man, I would watch that show just with the hopes that song would pop up somewhere.
I watched that show regularly as a kid and probably have heard that song a few hundred times. TIL it's about his cow, Bessie.