Not all TV themes will issue the necessary lodging in your head, but those that do so will often live on longer than the shows themselves. The 21st century brought us a few real jewels, and these are the ten that literally defined this century.
Malcolm in the Middle
The ideal theme of Malcolm in the Middle was given to it by They Might Be Giants. From 2000 to 2006, “Boss of Me” aired on Fox, and the three-word punch line Life is unfair made it all. In 2001, it was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.
The Wire
The Wire was a risky decision by Tom Waits – his 1987 gospel song “Way Down in the Hole” with a new artist every season. The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, and Steve Earle each had their turn. The version recorded in season four was only recorded by Baltimore teenagers DoMaJe.
The O.C.
The O.C. was so associated with the band Phantom Planet that it became known for their song, California, was actually on their album The Guest of 2002. It is only known that a few knew that behind the drum kit on that session was Jason Schwartzman. The song was an ideal embodiment of the sunshine-filled mood of the favorite teenage drama of Fox.
One Tree Hill
Gavin DeGraw I Don’t Wanna Be did it like few other pop songs in this country it hit the charts as a true pop hit on its own, without One Tree Hill. The CW drama adapted it in eight seasons and found it relatable to its fans, who did not even watch a single episode. Season eight featured rotating artists every week.
Mad Men
It wasn’t just the opening of Mad Men where RJD2 played A Beautiful Mine, the song established a theme that the show has inhabited over seven seasons. The instrumental with its jazz influence has imbued the smoky moral of the 1960s advertising on AMC. The show became a regular between 2007 and 2015, with 16 Emmy Awards in its lifetime.
Breaking Bad
Dave Porter assembled the Breaking Bad theme in response to a twangy, percussion-driven, Southwestern sound directly ripped out of the desert of New Mexico. Porter scored every one of the five seasons of AMC, having been trained in the arts of classical and electronic music at Sarah Lawrence College. His effort got him an ASCAP Award for a composition that he deserved.
Game of Thrones
In the case of Game of Thrones, the producers gave Ramin Djawadi one rule when he scored the show in 2011: no flutes. He decided to use the cello as the main voice and said that he cracked the melody when he was on a car ride. The same score was to receive a Primetime Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Music Composition.
Stranger Things
The theme of Stranger Things was recorded by synth band S U R V I V E, consisting of 25 synthesizers layered by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. Stein played the arpeggio hand on an old Oberheim SEM Two Voice. It received an Emmy award for Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music.
Succession
Nicholas Britell combined classical piano with Roland TR-808 hip-hop beats to Succession – a sound as delightfully contradictory as the show itself. Britell was referred to the HBO team by Adam McKay, his former partner on The Big Short. It was a victory that turned out to be one of the most talked-about topics on television.
WandaVision
The Oscar-winning Frozen team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez had a big job as they had to write about the changing of eras in WandaVision. They examined I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show as some of the important references extensively. Each of the themes fixed the style and the feel of production of its decade.
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