Things I Dislike.
Jan. 25th, 2005 06:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tyggerjaiTV theme songs that sound like cheap ripoffs of good music.
The Black Books theme song is the least objectionable example of this - it's such a blatant Tom Waits ripoff it sounds just like Tom Waits, but it's hard to pin down a precise song. "Hang on St Christopher", perhaps, or Telephone Call from Istanbul, in the more instrumental sections. "Blow wind, blow", and "Singapore". The rhythm, the orchestration, it's all .. evocative of Frank's Wild Years and _Rain Dogs_. That guitar, for example, is straight out of "Jockey full of Bourbon". Of course, it's possible both that Tom was ripping off other people, and that the theme song was written well before Tom did it. The first is more likely than the second, I feel. Anyway. It's hard to tie it to a particular song, it's just ... in the style of, which isn't so bad - I love the style.
Two Guys and a Girl - or at least the bit they use in the ads, since I don't watch the show - is a really, *really* objectionable example. The Violent Femmes would be turning in their graves if they were dead. Licensing your music to sell 4 wheel drives is one thing (and I think there's a subtle bit of irony there - "Blister in the Sun" is apparently about masturbation, which is immediately relevant for SUVs, but "pajero" is also spanish (Mexican?) slang for wanker. Cute, eh?), but having someone take your song, change two of the chords, and use it as a TV theme song must really chafe.
sol.
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The Black Books theme song is the least objectionable example of this - it's such a blatant Tom Waits ripoff it sounds just like Tom Waits, but it's hard to pin down a precise song. "Hang on St Christopher", perhaps, or Telephone Call from Istanbul, in the more instrumental sections. "Blow wind, blow", and "Singapore". The rhythm, the orchestration, it's all .. evocative of Frank's Wild Years and _Rain Dogs_. That guitar, for example, is straight out of "Jockey full of Bourbon". Of course, it's possible both that Tom was ripping off other people, and that the theme song was written well before Tom did it. The first is more likely than the second, I feel. Anyway. It's hard to tie it to a particular song, it's just ... in the style of, which isn't so bad - I love the style.
Two Guys and a Girl - or at least the bit they use in the ads, since I don't watch the show - is a really, *really* objectionable example. The Violent Femmes would be turning in their graves if they were dead. Licensing your music to sell 4 wheel drives is one thing (and I think there's a subtle bit of irony there - "Blister in the Sun" is apparently about masturbation, which is immediately relevant for SUVs, but "pajero" is also spanish (Mexican?) slang for wanker. Cute, eh?), but having someone take your song, change two of the chords, and use it as a TV theme song must really chafe.
sol.
.