Top 7- Best TV Soundtracks
Finally, it comes to TV to be praised for soundtracks. Because of the amount of episodes they get, there are so many chances for these shows to blow us away with the selection of music. These shows took that opportunity and ran with it in a way that makes me happy to be a human.
7. It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia
Always Sunny may not be the first show you think of when it comes to music but it's certainly worth mentioning. First off, it's royalty free opening is always amusing and often comes with a strong punchline. But it also has great use of licensed music. For example, in The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award, they visit another bar. There, three different trendy songs are played. But later, when the gang have blatantly copied this bar, they also play those same three songs. Even more amusing, they play the exact same clips to emphasise how hopeless their copying is. It's a hilarious yet subtle moment that I can't help but laugh at every time and it's why I this show is on this list.
6. Firefly
Firefly proudly describes itself as a space western and it wears this genre on it's sleeve. But aside from it's style, there's one other way in which it brandishes it's space western flag and that's it's soundtrack. Aside from it's constant moment to moment music that has twanging guitars and woodwind working in it's favour, there's the fantastic theme tune. It starts every episode strongly and in it's own way, it takes us on a roller coaster of emotions from excitement to contemplation and then back to excitement again because the episode's about to start. I know no one watched Firefly and even now, few have but it's soundtrack will always get me excited.
5. Arrested Development
One of the funniest shows ever written also has a fantastic soundtrack. It never really gets any notice for how well chosen all of it's songs are and as such, I had simply no choice but to bring it up. It has wonderful little character themes such as the one when Oscar tries to tell Buster that he's his dad or the Peanuts reference when characters are feeling down. Also great is every song written by Mark Cherry in Season 4 from Practice Kisses to Getaway to Fantastic 4 (for the record, way better than this year's one) but my favourite by a mile is the replacement of Gob saying I've made a huge mistake with the Sound of Silence, effortlessly spoofing yet honouring the ending of The Graduate. There's a reason that the soundtrack album was called At Long Last because fans had waited a long time to get their hands on it.
4. Breaking Bad
I think you all knew (or at the very least hoped) that Breaking Bad, one of the best shows ever made would appear on this list. It has become fairly infamous for being largely perfect and a huge part of that was the crafting decisions made by creator, Vince Gilligan. He made so many important decisions that elevated this show above pretty much any other show ever made but one of the single most important was the music choices. From the first episode's Out of Time Man to the finale's Baby Blue and even The Ballad of Heisenberg are wonderful songs that all add to the show's themes and ideas in a beautiful way. For a show that never let up, the soundtrack had no choice but to keep it's breakneck pace.
3. Community
I love Community. There is (in my incredibly biased eyes and aside from season 4) nothing wrong anywhere in the show and that extends to the soundtrack. I love the use of all licensed music, especially any uses of Matt and Kim or Kate Nash, I love the score and will frequently listen to it outside of the show to get little tingly feelings and I especially love the cast covers, be they Somewhere Out There or any of the Christmas episodes. Community is not short on music but trust me when I say that even in Season 4, the soundtrack was superb. The most amazing thing is that there are two shows with even better soundtracks than this.
2. Mad Men
Three reasons Mad Men is here. 1. I became a tad obsessed with it over the Summer and stayed up till half six watching the final season. 2. It's soundtrack is always faultless and 3. The soundtrack is also period appropriate to a degree that is far too acurate for me to even contemplate testing. We start with the slower jams that show us the slow transistion from the 50s to the 60s but soon enough, we got fantastically appropriate, fantastic music. It does get marked down slightly for playing Rolling Stones and The Beatles and making me realise that my music taste is 50 years old. Thanks Mad Men for keeping me up and making me feel old at 16. Great show though.
1. Chuck
Personally, I knew Chuck was only ever going to top this list. It's quirkiness and nerd charm hooked me pretty much instantly, as well as it's sublime soundtrack. The theme tune was great every episode and the addition of extra cast members only made it longer, making me so very happy. It also made fantastic use of some totally unknown indie music, from Bon Iver to other total unknowns (for me anyway. They are great though). Plus, Jeffster. Have you ever wondered what a fat, middle aged dude and an Indian guy as a double act would sound like performing a-Ha and Simon and Garfunkel? Well, watch Chuck. Your questions will be answered in the most delicious way.
7. It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia
Always Sunny may not be the first show you think of when it comes to music but it's certainly worth mentioning. First off, it's royalty free opening is always amusing and often comes with a strong punchline. But it also has great use of licensed music. For example, in The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award, they visit another bar. There, three different trendy songs are played. But later, when the gang have blatantly copied this bar, they also play those same three songs. Even more amusing, they play the exact same clips to emphasise how hopeless their copying is. It's a hilarious yet subtle moment that I can't help but laugh at every time and it's why I this show is on this list.
6. Firefly
Firefly proudly describes itself as a space western and it wears this genre on it's sleeve. But aside from it's style, there's one other way in which it brandishes it's space western flag and that's it's soundtrack. Aside from it's constant moment to moment music that has twanging guitars and woodwind working in it's favour, there's the fantastic theme tune. It starts every episode strongly and in it's own way, it takes us on a roller coaster of emotions from excitement to contemplation and then back to excitement again because the episode's about to start. I know no one watched Firefly and even now, few have but it's soundtrack will always get me excited.
5. Arrested Development
One of the funniest shows ever written also has a fantastic soundtrack. It never really gets any notice for how well chosen all of it's songs are and as such, I had simply no choice but to bring it up. It has wonderful little character themes such as the one when Oscar tries to tell Buster that he's his dad or the Peanuts reference when characters are feeling down. Also great is every song written by Mark Cherry in Season 4 from Practice Kisses to Getaway to Fantastic 4 (for the record, way better than this year's one) but my favourite by a mile is the replacement of Gob saying I've made a huge mistake with the Sound of Silence, effortlessly spoofing yet honouring the ending of The Graduate. There's a reason that the soundtrack album was called At Long Last because fans had waited a long time to get their hands on it.
4. Breaking Bad
I think you all knew (or at the very least hoped) that Breaking Bad, one of the best shows ever made would appear on this list. It has become fairly infamous for being largely perfect and a huge part of that was the crafting decisions made by creator, Vince Gilligan. He made so many important decisions that elevated this show above pretty much any other show ever made but one of the single most important was the music choices. From the first episode's Out of Time Man to the finale's Baby Blue and even The Ballad of Heisenberg are wonderful songs that all add to the show's themes and ideas in a beautiful way. For a show that never let up, the soundtrack had no choice but to keep it's breakneck pace.
3. Community
I love Community. There is (in my incredibly biased eyes and aside from season 4) nothing wrong anywhere in the show and that extends to the soundtrack. I love the use of all licensed music, especially any uses of Matt and Kim or Kate Nash, I love the score and will frequently listen to it outside of the show to get little tingly feelings and I especially love the cast covers, be they Somewhere Out There or any of the Christmas episodes. Community is not short on music but trust me when I say that even in Season 4, the soundtrack was superb. The most amazing thing is that there are two shows with even better soundtracks than this.
2. Mad Men
Three reasons Mad Men is here. 1. I became a tad obsessed with it over the Summer and stayed up till half six watching the final season. 2. It's soundtrack is always faultless and 3. The soundtrack is also period appropriate to a degree that is far too acurate for me to even contemplate testing. We start with the slower jams that show us the slow transistion from the 50s to the 60s but soon enough, we got fantastically appropriate, fantastic music. It does get marked down slightly for playing Rolling Stones and The Beatles and making me realise that my music taste is 50 years old. Thanks Mad Men for keeping me up and making me feel old at 16. Great show though.
1. Chuck
Personally, I knew Chuck was only ever going to top this list. It's quirkiness and nerd charm hooked me pretty much instantly, as well as it's sublime soundtrack. The theme tune was great every episode and the addition of extra cast members only made it longer, making me so very happy. It also made fantastic use of some totally unknown indie music, from Bon Iver to other total unknowns (for me anyway. They are great though). Plus, Jeffster. Have you ever wondered what a fat, middle aged dude and an Indian guy as a double act would sound like performing a-Ha and Simon and Garfunkel? Well, watch Chuck. Your questions will be answered in the most delicious way.
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