0:00

Hey, it's Allan, and I just wanted to

0:02

let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

0:04

history of new music early and add free

0:06

on Amazon music, included with

0:08

Prime. Like Homer Simpson, I

0:11

love my TV. Without

0:14

my local channels, my networks,

0:17

cable access, on demand and

0:19

streaming shows, none of us would have made

0:21

it through the pandemic. The

0:23

downside is that in order to remain

0:25

distracted and entertained, I became

0:27

oversubscribed. Mixed with

0:29

my perpetual fear of missing out, I've

0:32

ended up paying for more cable channels

0:34

than I need and I'm subscribing to

0:36

streaming services I don't even watch.

0:39

I'm just too lazy to go through my credit

0:41

card statements, find the offending charges, and

0:43

then go through the hassle of calling customer

0:45

service and cancelling my subscription. Note

0:48

to self, you you gotta do that. But

0:51

I've been a TV junkie since I was a kid.

0:53

And one of the things that's always fascinated

0:56

me are TV theme songs.

0:58

Some are bespoke compositions commissioned

1:01

specifically for a show, others

1:03

are formally standalone songs that

1:05

have been licensed for a program. In

1:08

both cases, being the writer of a theme

1:10

song can be extraordinarily lucrative

1:12

is especially if the show is a hit and

1:14

goes into syndication. Every

1:16

time the theme you wrote gets played on

1:18

TV, broadcast, or streamed, anywhere

1:21

in the world you get paid every

1:24

single time. And

1:26

since you're having your song played as

1:28

part of TV show, you're constantly

1:30

advertising its existence and

1:33

your existence to the world. If

1:35

you're lucky, it'll blow up into something much

1:37

bigger. And although that doesn't

1:39

happen much anymore, your label might

1:41

decide to release your TV theme as

1:43

a single. And if it becomes a hit,

1:46

wow. What I'd

1:48

like to do is look at the history

1:50

of some of these TV themes focusing

1:52

on rock bands who have made some very

1:54

good money sometimes and

1:56

sometimes very insane money from

1:59

somehow ending up being associated

2:01

with

2:02

television. This could

2:04

very well alter the way you listen to TV

2:07

from now on. This

2:09

is the ongoing history of new music

2:11

podcast with Alpros.

2:26

Shataway men on a shadowy planet, an indie

2:28

band that originally was from Calgary, and

2:31

got into Toronto in nineteen eighty four.

2:33

In nineteen eighty eight, they released

2:35

an album called savvy showstoppers, which

2:38

contained this surf rock like song,

2:40

entitled having an average weekend. On

2:42

the original Vinyl version, it was tucked

2:44

right at the end of side two, so pretty obscure.

2:47

But then an improv comedy group

2:49

from Toronto called The Kids in The Hall

2:51

ended up with show on the CBC, and

2:53

they asked the shadowy man if they could use

2:55

this instrumental as their theme.

2:58

Two guys in the band grew up with kids member Bruce

3:00

McCullum. He would occasionally tap

3:02

the men if the troop needed some music

3:05

for their live performances in clubs. Having

3:07

an average weekend, the band's first ever seven

3:09

inch single, was used a lot.

3:12

So when it came time for the kids to move to

3:14

TV, it only made sense to bring that

3:16

de facto theme song with them. Great.

3:19

The song was licensed and the band was paid

3:21

royalties. Once more

3:23

people started hearing the song via TV,

3:26

having an average weekend became something of

3:28

hit which boosted the band's fortunes. Enough

3:31

money came in that they were able to quit their day jobs

3:33

and go into music full time. They

3:35

did that until nineteen ninety six before they broke

3:37

up. But the money from the kids theme

3:39

still comes in. Hello, again.

3:42

I'm Ellen Cross, and I have more stories like

3:44

that for this show. If you're

3:46

developing a TV program and it

3:48

doesn't matter if it's for network, cable,

3:50

or streaming. One of the things you

3:52

need to consider is a theme song. A

3:54

catchy musical thing that will

3:56

grab the viewer's attention and become forever

3:59

associated with the program. These

4:01

catchy bits of intro and extra music

4:03

are as old as television itself. There

4:06

are two ways you can do this. First,

4:08

you can get someone to write something brand

4:10

new. Or you can repurpose

4:12

something that you found somewhere else.

4:15

We'll cover both on this program. Take

4:17

the case of Larry David, When he was developing

4:20

Seinfeld with Jerry, a guy

4:22

named Jonathan Wolf was contracted

4:24

to come up with some appropriately quirky

4:26

music. Now, Wolf knew

4:28

about music and TV having worked on seventy

4:31

five different shows. Wolf

4:33

realized that TV themes had become

4:35

stale and boring. So, he

4:38

started searching for a sound and approach.

4:40

That would sound fresh and distinctive. He

4:43

began by listening to hours and hours of Jerry

4:45

Seinfeld stand up, and he discovered

4:48

that Jerry has a particular rhythm

4:50

to his delivery running at about

4:52

one hundred and ten beats per minute. Using

4:55

a preset on a Korg m one

4:57

synthesizer, out of base guitar is a lot

4:59

of people think. Wolf created

5:01

this, which runs at, around

5:04

a hundred and ten BPM. That's

5:23

easily one of the most familiar

5:25

TV themes of all time. Slap

5:28

base sounds were still brand new in the show debuted.

5:30

And the beat boxing rhythm track really

5:33

made it stand out. NBC

5:36

hated it and wanted it upgraded. But

5:38

Larry David stood firm saying that he liked

5:41

the theme's annoying qualities, which is

5:43

something Larry David would probably say. And it

5:45

was a good call. Now

5:47

fast forward to curbier enthusiasm, which

5:49

also has a piece of music that can be annoying

5:51

to some. Its official name is

5:54

frolic, a once super obscure

5:56

piece of music dating to nineteen seventy.

5:59

It was written by an Italian composer named

6:01

Luciano Macholini, for a movie

6:03

called La Bessolima estate. Frolic

6:16

didn't do anything for decades outside of

6:18

being used in a few European TV

6:20

commercial and in an Italian TV series

6:23

that nobody remembers. Larry

6:25

first heard the song in a commercial for a Los

6:27

Angeles bank around the time he was developing

6:29

curbed for HBO. When

6:32

the show became a hit, frolic blew

6:34

up. Somewhere, Luciano

6:36

Michelini, who as far as I know

6:38

still hasn't met Larry in person, loves

6:41

getting the royalty checks in the mail. Okay.

6:43

Hold on back up. We we need to cover some television

6:45

history. In the old days, which

6:48

really wasn't that long ago, TV

6:50

shows have theme songs written for them.

6:52

We had this, And

7:07

this Boy no way

7:09

Glen Miller played. And

7:22

this. Some

7:35

TV theme songs went on to become hit

7:37

records on top forty radio. Like

7:39

this instrumental piece by Mike Post that

7:41

opened the Rockford files. Or

7:52

even the greatest American hero,

7:54

It was a giant top forty smash in nineteen

7:57

eighty one. And

8:09

this is the TV theme that rock my

8:11

world when I was a kid. I

8:24

learned much later that the composer was

8:27

a guy named Neil Hefti, a jazz trumpet

8:29

player for Woody Hermann's Big Band, and

8:31

a collaborator with Duke Ellington, Count Bassy,

8:33

and Frank Sinatra. By the nineteen

8:36

sixties, he was deeply involved in TV

8:38

and movie work. When he was asked to write

8:40

the theme for Batman, he must

8:42

have just dashed that off in a couple of minutes.

8:45

I mean, it's really just a standard twelve bar blues

8:47

thing with some horns and an eight member

8:49

vocal corps singing Batman eleven

8:51

times. Since nineteen sixty

8:53

six, that theme has been parody

8:56

thousands of times and released

8:58

as legitimate singles by other artists.

9:00

Here, for example, is the jam

9:03

doing a version. The

9:18

Batman theme, originally by Trumpator

9:20

Neil Hefti, who made good money each

9:22

time that song was played. He also wrote

9:25

the theme for the odd couple TV show,

9:27

by the way. Today though,

9:29

things are much different. Why write

9:31

a theme song when you can just license

9:33

something really cool from an indie artist?

9:36

The game changer was in nineteen ninety seven.

9:38

When David Chase was looking for some appropriate

9:40

music for the opening sequence of his new HBO

9:43

series about a New Jersey gangster. That's

9:45

when he heard a track by an English group

9:47

called Alabama three that had been released

9:49

earlier that year on a record entitled exile

9:52

on Cold Harbour Lane. It had been released

9:54

as a single and received a little airplane, an

9:56

alternative in campus radio, but it wasn't

9:59

anything that you would call a hit, not even close.

10:01

But Chase thought it was perfect.

10:04

The song had menace and hinted

10:06

of violence. The song

10:08

was written by Alabama frontman Rob

10:10

Sprague after reading about a nineteen eighty nine

10:12

English murder case involving a woman who stabbed

10:14

her husband to death after being abused

10:16

for two years. She was first sentenced

10:19

to jail and then later freed upon appeal.

10:22

At first, Chase wanted to use a different

10:24

theme song for every episode of the show.

10:27

But that was a licensing nightmare. Best just

10:29

settle on one song and be done with it.

10:31

From what I understand, Alabama three

10:34

received a flat forty thousand dollars

10:36

for the song. Hey, listen, it seemed

10:38

like a good idea at the time. Who would have guessed

10:40

that the show would have become one of the most

10:42

praised TV productions of all

10:44

times? When you woke

10:46

up and Alabama

11:00

three or a three as they're known in

11:02

the US for legal reasons. With woke

11:04

up this morning, a song they sold to the Sopranos

11:07

for about forty grand in nineteen ninety seven.

11:10

And this, for better or worse, was

11:12

the real beginning of shows on

11:14

premium television using indie

11:16

songs for their themes. Here's another

11:18

example. The refreshments were

11:20

a post Grunge ban from Tempe, Arizona,

11:23

who scored a one hit wonder in nineteen ninety six

11:25

with a song called Banditos, from

11:27

their debut album, Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Busy.

11:29

Things weren't going well until it came time for

11:31

their second album. That's when their

11:33

record label lost all enthusiasm for

11:36

the band. There were internal problems,

11:38

guitarist Brian Blush had substance abuse

11:40

issues, and they were basically cast

11:42

adrift, breaking up in nineteen ninety eight.

11:45

Just before that happened though, Mike

11:47

Judge and Greg Daniels and a new

11:49

adult animation show for Fox in development

11:52

called King of the Hill, and they put

11:54

on a casting call to indie bands who might want

11:56

to submit something for consideration for the theme

11:58

song. The refreshments were

12:00

on tour in San Francisco when they got a call from

12:02

their manager. It was suggested that they enter

12:04

a track called Yahoo! And triangles

12:07

that they often play during Soundcheck. The

12:09

band figured, alright, why not? And

12:12

at a gig in Wichita, Kansas, they

12:14

told their audience what was happening. At

12:16

the end of this instrumental they said from the stage,

12:18

whoop and holler like you're having good time at a

12:20

Texas barbecue. The performance

12:23

in the hallow ring was recorded and a tape

12:25

was sent off to Fox. Two

12:27

weeks later, Fox called and asked

12:29

them to come to LA and record for the TV

12:31

show, and we've been hearing it ever since.

12:51

Here's where things get kinda sad.

12:53

The refreshments got the king of the hill gig

12:55

on a work for higher bases, meaning

12:58

that they recorded the song for Fox

13:00

and Fox ended up owning Yahoo!

13:03

And triangles. They received

13:05

a one time buyout and that was it.

13:07

The refreshments do not get any further cash

13:09

from that theme. The group still exists

13:12

under the name Roger Klein and the peacemakers. And

13:14

when guitarist Brian Blush left the band,

13:17

his share of the song was bought out

13:19

for twenty five hundred dollars. Let's

13:22

go through a few more acts who managed to snag

13:24

a TV theme song gig. Do you watch

13:26

Shameless with William h Macy? The

13:29

opening song is called The Luck You Gout

13:31

by a Detroit Garage Band called The High

13:33

Strung. That song was plucked from their two

13:35

thousand six album Moxie Bravo. True

13:38

blood starts with bad things by

13:40

Jayce Everett. He released the song in two

13:42

thousand five. If you remember

13:44

HBO's Hung, The block keys

13:46

did the theme, as long as I'll be your man.

13:49

We have true detective, which begins

13:51

with far from any road, a two thousand

13:53

three track by the handsome family. It was

13:55

on a record called singing bones. And

13:57

here's a good one. The Brian Jonestown

14:00

massacre was a band that had been

14:02

around for a long, long time, but never seemed to

14:04

catch any kind of a break. They were formed

14:06

in nineteen eighty eight and had gone

14:08

through dozens of members over the course of more

14:10

than a dozen albums. Lots of indie

14:12

cred but not much in terms of financial success.

14:15

Then Martin Scorsese decided

14:18

to get into TV. He

14:20

wanted to do a gangster film set

14:22

in Atlantic City during prohibition. He

14:24

got together with series creator Terence Winter,

14:27

a guy who worked as an executive producer and

14:29

writer on the Sopranos. After

14:31

combing through lots and lots of records,

14:33

He went through the Brian Jones town massacre's

14:35

discography. He'd always been a fan

14:37

apparently. And when he reached their nineteen

14:40

ninety six album to take it from the man, He

14:42

was immediately attracted to track

14:45

six from the record, which he

14:47

says created a feeling of the unexpected.

14:50

A deal was done, and the Brian

14:52

Jones down Master got their big break

14:54

using a song that was more than fourteen years

14:56

old. It's called straight up and down

14:58

and the series of course is worldwide

15:01

impact. More

15:12

stories of TV theme songs coming up.

15:15

Welcome back. We're going through some stories behind some

15:17

familiar TV theme songs. That were either

15:20

composed for or licensed to shows

15:22

that we all know. It can sometimes

15:24

take years for a song to end up being

15:26

resurrected for television. In nineteen

15:29

seventy one, Harry Nielsen, an American

15:31

songwriter and good drinking and drug taken

15:33

buddy of John Lennon, released

15:35

an album entitled, Nielsen Schmeelsohn.

15:37

At the time, he was considered to be one of rock's

15:40

top songwriters. He had top ten

15:42

singles, a Grammy Award, and lots

15:44

and lots of money. Which he spent on

15:46

booze and drugs. His

15:48

biggest single came from this particular

15:51

record. It was a cover of a song

15:53

where British band bad finger called

15:55

without you. And the

15:57

b side of the seven inch single featured an

15:59

album track called Gotta Give Up.

16:02

The song came and went as did Harry

16:04

who died of a heart attack in nineteen ninety three.

16:07

However, the album, Nielsen Schmillsen,

16:09

lived on in the hearts of those who loved

16:11

early seventies rock. That

16:13

apparently included actress Natasha

16:15

Leon who was working with Amy Poehler few

16:18

others on this new mystery comedy show for

16:20

Netflix called Russian Doll. Now,

16:22

if you remember the show Nadia, played

16:24

by Natasha, repeatedly dies

16:27

at a party, only to be reincarnated

16:30

to exactly the same time and place.

16:32

And every time she returns, gotta

16:35

give up is playing at the party. Russian

16:38

doll debuted on February first twenty nineteen,

16:40

and people immediately began

16:42

searching out that song. Streams

16:45

went through the roof resulting in nice

16:47

payday for the Nielsen estate. Meanwhile,

16:50

the producers of Russian Doll played the song

16:52

so many times that had pretty much destroyed

16:54

their musical budget. It

16:56

also limited the number of times Nadia could be

16:58

reincarnated because Nielsen's estate

17:00

said that the song could only be used so many

17:02

times. Let

17:14

me ask you this. Is there a time anywhere

17:17

on the planet where an episode of

17:19

the Big Bang Theory is not running?

17:21

There were two hundred seventy nine episodes,

17:24

more than enough keep the show in syndication

17:26

for years. And few

17:28

people are happier about this than the Bear Naked

17:30

Ladies. They, of course, wrote and formed

17:32

the theme song for the show. Couple of facts

17:34

about that. First, it does have

17:37

a title. It's called the History

17:39

of Everything. Second,

17:41

the band didn't think they had a chance of getting

17:43

the gig in the first place. They had been asked

17:45

to write for movies and television before, but nothing

17:47

had ever really worked out. In

17:50

two thousand seven, the band's manager brought

17:52

them another opportunity. Take this

17:54

conference call. He told the group said Robertson,

17:57

Ed's reaction was, yeah, well, you know,

17:59

we're we're we're busy touring. I can't be

18:01

bothered. The subject came up

18:03

with Ed's wife, Natalie. Who's the call

18:05

with she asked? Oh, some guy named Chuck Lohrey.

18:09

She immediately recognized the name. I

18:11

think he better Google him. So

18:13

Ed did and, oh, wow.

18:16

Okay. This this guy is a player. I

18:19

I better pay attention. It

18:21

turns out that Lori was a fan of the Bear

18:23

Naked Ladies and wanted them and only

18:25

them to write a nerdy song for

18:27

a TV show about a bunch of nerds. When

18:30

Ed realized what they were being offered, he

18:32

then had to convince the other guys in the band

18:34

and they weren't all that interested. They

18:36

were living all over North America time and the idea

18:39

getting back together for a quick piece of music wasn't

18:41

all that appealing. Drummer Tyler

18:43

Stewart was especially reluctant. Finally

18:46

though, Ed convinced him. Tyler's reaction

18:48

was and I quote, I won't do

18:50

it, but this had better be the next

18:52

effing seinfeld. The

18:54

song itself came to Ed in a five minute

18:57

shower. He got out, put

18:59

on a bathing suit, recorded himself singing

19:01

into his laptop using just the built in mic

19:03

and emailed it away. Laurie

19:05

got back to him immediately with just

19:07

one note. Can you end it with a

19:09

phrase? It all started with a big bang?

19:13

Sure. No problem. Two versions were

19:15

recorded, a band version, and an acoustic

19:17

one. And when the show debuted in September two

19:19

thousand seven, everything was in place.

19:22

And the song is a lot longer than what we hear on

19:24

TV. Here is the full version

19:27

of the history of everything, the official

19:29

theme song to the

19:30

big bang for it. The ocean's adventure

19:32

to see you wouldn't gotta be a set

19:34

motion by the same big bang. It

19:38

all started with the biggest bang

19:42

is standing ever out.

19:45

One more thing about the Bear Naked Ladies Big Bang

19:47

Theory theme song. Ex Bear

19:49

Naked Lady Steven Page filed

19:51

a lawsuit over the song in twenty fifteen,

19:54

claiming that he'd been promised twenty percent of

19:56

the proceeds. Something must have

19:58

been quietly settled because Page later ended

20:00

up performing live with the band a few times.

20:03

There can be a lot of money in TV themes

20:06

especially if the show lasts a long

20:08

time. And some of the highest earning themes

20:10

come from late night TV shows and

20:13

game shows. For example, Johnny

20:15

Carson asked Canadian Paul Anchor

20:18

to come up with something for his new program called

20:20

The Tonight Show. Paul

20:33

Ankega paid four hundred dollars

20:36

each time that got played. And the Tonight Show

20:38

ended up running for almost thirty years,

20:40

four and five nights a week, with

20:43

ANCA earning close to a million dollars

20:45

annually. Merf

20:47

Griffin composed the music for both Wheel

20:49

of Fortune and Jeopardy. The opening

20:51

themes have changed But the most

20:54

enduring is the piece called THINK,

20:56

which runs for above thirty seconds when the players

20:58

are putting down their answers in final jeopardy.

21:01

Merve Griffin originally wrote that for his

21:03

five year old son in nineteen sixty three

21:05

to help the kid fall asleep. So yeah, it

21:07

started out as a lullaby. The arrangement

21:10

has been altered and updated a number

21:12

of times over the decades, but it's still essentially

21:14

the same. Of

21:33

course, Murphy Griffin got royalties

21:35

from that. His estate has

21:38

banked close to a hundred million

21:41

dollars from the Jeopardy Think

21:43

Music. And although

21:45

Alan Thick was known mainly as an actor,

21:48

he also wrote TV theme songs. He

21:50

wrote the themes for growing pains, different

21:52

strokes, and the facts of life. He also

21:54

wrote four game shows, The Joker's Wild

21:57

celebrity sweepstakes, and the original

21:59

theme for Wheel of Fortune. There's

22:01

Walter Murphy, As part of a TV

22:04

commercial project in nineteen seventy six,

22:06

he created a disqualified version of Beethoven's

22:09

fifth symphony. It was released under the

22:11

title a fifth of Beethoven. Back

22:25

got the ball rolling and offers to write for TV

22:27

and film King pouring in. His

22:29

best known theme these days is

22:32

probably the opening for family

22:34

guy. And then there's Danny

22:36

Elfman He's written music for over a hundred

22:38

movies and TV shows, including a bunch

22:40

of Batman movies, men in black, good

22:42

will hunting, desperate housewives. And,

22:44

of course, the opening theme for

22:47

The Simpsons. Over more than

22:49

seven fifty episodes of the show, he

22:51

has made a fortune. His net worth is

22:53

around fifty million dollars. That

22:55

theme has to be one of the most

22:57

recognizable in the entire universe

23:00

now. And remember the time Green

23:02

Day recorded a version for a Simpsons movie back

23:04

in two thousand seven, and it all the way

23:06

up to number seven on the Billboard Hot one hundred

23:08

charts. Green

23:19

Day earning Danny Altman just a little

23:21

bit more for his Simpsons theme.

23:24

We're not done yet. Stories behind more

23:26

TV themes in just a sec. Let's

23:29

go through a few more notable songs that ended

23:31

up being associated with TV shows. They

23:33

might be giants, made some good cash,

23:36

with the song boss of me, which was

23:38

the theme for Malcolm in the middle, that ran

23:40

for seven years. It was originally written for

23:42

a radio contest with a different course before it was

23:44

picked up for the show. In two thousand

23:46

two, they want a Grammy for best song written

23:48

for a motion picture or television.

23:51

It remains their biggest hit. John

23:53

Macrae of Cake managed to recycle

23:55

his song short, long jackets

23:58

several times. It first appeared on a

24:00

two thousand one album entitled Comfort Eagle,

24:02

And then for five seasons, it was the theme for the

24:04

spoofy spy series Chuck on NBC,

24:07

and it can also be heard in a number of

24:09

movies and at least one Apple commercial. In

24:13

two thousand four, the Von Bondi's,

24:15

the Detroit band, who was a fierce rival of the

24:17

white stripes in the early days, Release

24:19

their one commercially successful single

24:21

on an album entitled, pawnshop Heart.

24:24

Denis Leary chose that song for his

24:26

FX series Rescue Me. It

24:28

ran for ninety three episodes over seven seasons.

24:31

And then there was the Lock Jane's addiction head

24:33

with the HBO series on to Raj. For

24:36

eight seasons and ninety six episodes, each

24:38

show opened with a track for the band's two thousand

24:40

three album Strace. It was never

24:42

a single But because of its inclusion

24:45

in the opening sequence, it became a fan favorite.

24:47

It's called superhero. Here

25:04

are a couple more proper songs that ended up

25:06

as TV themes. The Danny Warhols,

25:09

earned a little extra coin when their two thousand

25:11

three song we used to be friends was

25:13

picked up as the theme for the series Veronica

25:15

Mars. Remember the band Remi

25:17

Zero? They had moment in the early two thousands,

25:20

and their song Save Me was used for the series

25:22

SmallVille. Washed out

25:24

the blissed out electronic band and

25:26

their song feel it all around used for the

25:28

Kerry Brownstein, Fred Armisen series, Portlandia.

25:32

If you're fan of peaky blisters, you'll

25:34

know the menacing song that opens each episode.

25:36

That's a nineteen ninety four track by Nick Cave

25:39

in the bad seeds called red right hand.

25:41

If you're a fan of Nick, you'll know that that's

25:43

probably his most popular song. After

25:46

that song started being used in peaky blinders,

25:48

the song reached a whole new audience. In fact,

25:51

it became so popular that it was re released

25:53

as a single in twenty fourteen and

25:55

has been covered by everyone from the Arctic Monkeys

25:57

to Snoop Dog. And still

25:59

in the UK, I want to finish with something that

26:01

might be a little under the radar for some people.

26:05

In December nineteen ninety four, Oasis

26:07

released a CD single for whatever, a

26:09

standalone song that fell between the release of

26:11

definitely maybe and the watch the story

26:13

morning glory album. It came with three

26:15

bonus tracks, one of which was a non album

26:18

track sung by Noel entitled Half

26:20

the World Away. It remained

26:22

known only to the Oasisfaithful until

26:24

nineteen ninety eight when the creators

26:26

of a BBC comedy series called The Royal

26:28

Family asked to use it as a theme.

26:31

The show featured a lay about working class

26:33

Manchester family, so why not have

26:35

a song from a local band with working class

26:37

roots? Nall was a bit

26:39

confused at first thinking that the BBC wanted

26:41

another song called married with children, but no, no,

26:43

no, they wanted half the world away. Okay.

26:46

Fine. A special edit was created and

26:48

the song ran over the closing credits for

26:50

the show's twenty five episodes as well as

26:53

few specials. The song became

26:55

so popular as the result of its inclusion

26:57

with the royal family that had sold

26:59

more than six hundred thousand copies and has

27:01

been covered by a couple of other artists. Again,

27:05

nice unexpected windfall for

27:07

Nodalica. I

27:31

want to end with something tangentially related

27:33

to TV themed songs, and and you'll

27:35

see it by this as an important story. It

27:38

begins with a label called TVT.

27:40

That stands for TV Toons Inc.

27:43

The founder was a Harvard grad named

27:45

Steve Gottlieb, who started the company in

27:47

nineteen eighty four in his New York apartment.

27:50

He was fascinated by the music he heard on

27:52

television, especially theme songs. The

27:55

first thing he did was collect sixty five

27:57

themes from shows that were big in the fifties

27:59

and sixties under the title, television's

28:01

greatest hits. You know, the Flintstones, Beverly

28:04

Hills Billies, both the Munsters and

28:06

the Adams family and dozens more. Now

28:08

remember that this was the era before

28:11

the Internet, so Although this

28:13

was a niche market, Steve's compilation

28:15

was the only place anyone could get this

28:17

music, and Steve sold quite a few copies.

28:20

This got him thinking about branching out.

28:23

With his TV theme song compilation funding

28:25

things, TV tunes morphed

28:27

into TVT records. Steve's

28:31

first signing was, wait

28:33

for it, nine inch

28:35

nails. At the time,

28:38

Trent Resner was an unknown commodity

28:40

from Cleveland who couldn't find any other

28:42

record label interested in releasing his music.

28:45

Steve, having heard the demos and determining

28:47

that nine inch nails was the new Depeche

28:49

mode, signed them up. The

28:51

result was the pretty hate machine out one

28:53

of the great debut records in history of Alt

28:56

Rock. However, Steve

28:58

did not like the final version submitted by

29:00

Trent, Again, he thought

29:03

he had signed a dancy, dipesh mode

29:05

like band. Well, no.

29:07

He he got something far heavier far

29:10

angrier and way more aggressive than

29:12

he bargained for. He went so far

29:14

as calling the album an abortion, that's

29:16

a quote. The result was

29:18

a legal war that went on for

29:20

years. Trent was allegedly underpaid

29:23

while simultaneously being pressured to come up with something

29:25

more commercial for a second album. Trents,

29:28

anointed everything, especially Steve's meddling

29:30

in his creative process, basically

29:32

went on strike and refused to give TBT

29:35

any more music. Oh, he was recording

29:37

stuff, but in secret. It

29:39

wasn't until Trent met Jimmy Ivy of

29:41

inner scope records that the stalemate was

29:43

broken. Steve and TBT were

29:45

paid off. Trent moved to InterScope and resumed

29:48

his career. As part of the deal,

29:50

TBT gets cut of some nine inch nails

29:52

royalties. Now, as you listen to

29:54

this, it's instructive to remember

29:56

that this album and the start

29:58

of nine inch nails as an institution

30:00

in old rock, was financed by

30:03

the resale and distribution of

30:06

TV themes like Green

30:08

Acres and The Jetsons. The

30:21

music industry is a very different place

30:23

since we all started moving away from buying our music

30:25

and pieces of plastic. It's all

30:27

about digital files and streaming now.

30:30

Artists have had to get very creative when it

30:32

comes to finding new sources of revenue. And

30:34

if they have the good fortune of being offered a chance to

30:36

be part of a TV show, well, they're

30:38

most likely gonna take it. I

30:40

once asked Ed Robertson of the bare naked ladies

30:43

about their good fortune with the big bang

30:45

theory theme, and he just smiled

30:47

and said, Yeah. That paid for

30:49

a few mortgages. I'm sure some

30:51

of the other people mentioned in the show can say the same

30:53

thing. There were hundreds of

30:55

ongoing history of new music podcasts available

30:57

for the taking, go to any podcast app

30:59

and download they're all free. If you're

31:01

on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, so am I?

31:03

If you need music news and information on a daily basis,

31:06

there's my website, journal of musicalthings dot

31:08

com. You should be getting the free daily newsletter

31:10

by now. And if you want to communicate about anything

31:12

specific, use allen at allencross dot

31:14

c a. Technical protection by

31:16

Rob

31:17

Johnston. We'll talk to you next time. I'm Alan

31:19

Cross. You've been listening to

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