Mix with Caution
Mary Iannone on Nov 11th 2009
When I have nothing else to do, I draw entertainment from two main sources. I’m a self-admittant TV junkie, and I love listening to music. But recently, I’ve noticed that for me, the two just don’t mix. One of my favorite TV shows, Supernatural, airs right after this new show The Vampire Diaries. So when I go to watch “my show” – we all have one, right? – I usually catch the last couple minutes of the latter show. Right from the beginning, I knew I wasn’t going to watch it, simply because of what I heard. Every week, I can barely hear the dialogue due to the incessant alt-rock music playing in the background.
Threading music through TV scenes is far from a new concept, especially for the CW. But according to www.tvshowmusic.com, a website that lists all the songs used on various programs every week, The Vampire Diaries used nine different songs in last week’s episode. In the pilot, it used THIRTEEN. This is an hour-long program – with commercials, it averages to be about 40 minutes. Even if the show only uses snippets of each song, this means that there can hardly be any air time without lyrics blaring in the background.
Using music in TV is a fine art – there are some shows that do it extremely well. Another of my favorites, Friday Night Lights, is perhaps the best example I can come up with. And oddly enough, TV Show Music’s website lists an average of about eight songs per episode for them, as well. Maybe I’m biased – after all, I actually watch this show, not the vampire one. Maybe it’s simply the quality of the show itself. (I can’t help but plug FNL as one of the most well-acted and art-directed shows on TV).
I feel as if shows are trying so hard to get in with the younger generation these days by filling their shows with (in all but a few cases) god-awful music. I’m not trying to sound like a music snob, but I kind of hate it when I hear a song I love on a show I hate. Bright Eyes on Melrose Place? Bloc Party on THE HILLS?! Phoenix on pretty much everything lately? Ugh.
I would love it if more television programs only relied on musical scores. Take my hands-down favorite show, Lost. Michael Giacchino’s score for each show fits the suspense perfectly, and during the more emotional scenes, is downright beautiful. I even have some of the pieces on my iPod. It’s much more worthwhile to focus on the show itself – isn’t that why they were made in the first place?
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6 Responses to “Mix with Caution”
This entry certainly deserves some good comments. Your observations are good. Noise feills up so much space. What you are saying reminds me of really noisy restaurants where you can’t hear what anyone is saying. Some of them are really popular. Not being able to hear what is being said to you is such great self-protection.
Yes. I come from a house than has the t.v. on in the evenings only. Most of the time, it seems as though shows write episodes to match a song, hardly ever vice versa. It is rare to hear scores. And I agree! I HATE to hear music I love on a show that I hate!
I hate how phoenix is used on everything now too!!! The cadillac commercial featuring the song “1901” made me want to scream at the top of my lungs. It frustrates me how one person will like a song featured on a show then that’ll become their obsession. Afterwards they’ll get heir friends into that ONE song. In the end they’ll think they’re big fans of that band because they can hum the chorus to one of their songs. I go on the website you mentioned and the funniest soundtrack’s list is Gossip Girl. It ranged from The Pierces “three wishes” to Does it offend you? yeah! In general tv doesn’t make sense anymore. I stick to some good ole’ Office episodes which feature no music.
Well-composed musical scores can make a show, and show/movie scores are some of the few media in which relatively classically-styled music can hold the appeal of a mass-consumer audience. The introduction of relatively commercial music to prime-time network shows is aesthetically unpleasant and, within the context of halfway-decent film composition, makes no sense. The rationale behind such a move seems just as reasonable as mixing bubblegum with bacon and mushrooms and expecting the final product to taste good.
I couldn’t agree more, hearing some of your favourite bands or songs on popular television shows is so annoying! I guess it’s cool that producers are trying to get ‘new’ music out to younger audiences, but Bright Eyes and Bloc Party shouldn’t be mixed with shows like Melrose Place or The Hills, I feel like it takes away from the amazing context that the song was written in.
I completely agree about Phoenix too! Everytime I hear ‘1901’ on a Cadillac commercial, I cringe on the inside.
Don’t worry, you’re not a music snob, you’re just trying to protect what you love.
That Cadillac commercial haunts my dreams. Especially since they start the song about one beat in, so for a minute my head is all scrambled up because it just sounds wrong.