The New York Times posted a cool piece today on how the music in The Office is decidedly un-hip, and why it couldn’t be any other way. During the Christmas ep, Michael (Steve Carell, pictured) couldn’t stop playing samples of a cheesy James Blunt song (on iTunes — nice cross-promotional product placement there, NBC) in an effort to get over Carol. The choice was so perfectly lame for that man at that moment. Which got me thinking: What kind of music do you prefer to hear on TV — random new artists or tongue-in-cheek throwbacks to the ghosts of yesterday’s hits?
There once was a time when I completely delighted in waiting for the end of an episode of The O.C. so I could see which masterfully selected indie tune would be plucked from semi-obscurity and shotgunned onto message boards everywhere so all the teens (and, ahem, adults) could immediately download them and then pretend they’d had them on their iPods for months. (Guilty.) In 2003, this tradition was considered my "livelihood," along with other cool activities such as insomnia, Spicy Chex Mix, and memorizing the repetivie trivia on eight different Music Choice channels (see: insomnia).
But now I’m older, cooler, and have graduated to 99-cent sacks of Nutter Butters. I’m also less ecstatic about which new music gets showcased on TV. It’s just not as big of a deal to me anymore — the trend has become more of a commodity than anything else. The O.C. has released six different Mixes in CD form. And yeah, it’s sometimes fun to Google a chunk of lyrics from the closing montages of Grey’s Anatomy or Scrubs to see what the hell is playing. But by and large, I’d much rather gape at the utter hilarity of a karaoke jam to Pat Benatar’s "We Belong" (The Office). And I’m generally much more impressed at eerie-fantastic time capsule choices like Cass Elliot’s "Make Your Own Kind of Music" on the Season 2 premiere of Lost (for me, that was one of the most awesome song choices ever) than a cool new tune slapped over one of the CSI "Behold, Science at Work!" montages. What say you? What music on TV gets you the most hot and bothered?
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I think I like a little a both. I’m always on the look out for new tunes. Dramas and/or Dramedies are great for that. I’m still waiting for Susan Enan to release the version of “Bring on the Wonder” (played on Bones early in the fall) with Sarah Mclachlan singing backup. But I love catching up with old tunes I haven’t heard in awhile, especially on The Office. Both give me a reason to update my music library.
Not all of the songs on “The Office” are unhip. I distinctly remember hearing the New Pornographers’ “Use It” playing in Chili’s (!) in the episode where Tim Meadows was a guest star. But, yes, I’ve got quite a laugh lately out of the show’s use of “Lovefool” by the Cardigans and “Zombie” by the Cranberries.
Haha, in early episodes Michael’s ringer was “my humps” too. It’s all nice and cheesy.
Oh, definitely old and/or cheesy. I totally agree about how awesomely Lost used “Make Your Own Kind of Music”. Actually, that show has consistantly used all the right music at all the right times, whether it’s the original score or a pop song. House uses pretty good music too a lot of the time, but never when it’s new, hip music: the best moments are when House has just done something diabolical, as House is wont to do, and a kickass rock anthem kicks in.
Now that the record store clerks we all knew in college have gotten jobs choosing soundtracks, I’m psyched about all the new music tv wants to expose us to. For example, I discovered the Strokes thanks to Target. Maybe not as hip as my own record store clerk days, but I hate radio while loving music…
I like both as well. The Office is great for old school songs that make you laugh. Grey’s Anatomy is great to find new music to make you feel.
I enjoy random throwbacks like, the “Almond Joy” commercial song at the end of “Weeds” or perfectly silly stuff like, “Bye Bye Bye” on “Scrubs.”
Definitely throwback. When Veronica Mars rocked out to Barenaked Ladies this week, I fell off my couch.
Anything I hear on Smallville, I download.
“We belong, we belong together…Ryan!”…LOVE “The Office”
Love how on Veronica Mars they seem to use a combination of old and new songs. There was a scene in season 1 where Aaron was awkwardly driving Veronica home and a goofy ’60’s song came on. The mood was just right. I love how the adults on that show listen to oldies. It reminds me of my parents.
Jay and the American’s “Come a Little Bit Closer” also popped up on a recent episode of Gilmore Girls. I almost jumped for joy.
My favorite use of cheesey music in a show is still Gob playing Europe’s “Final Countdown” to accompany his “illusions” on Arrested Development. It was just SO fitting that his character would use it, even if it meant carrying a $39 boombox will him. GOD I MISS THAT SHOW!
The Sopranos uses music perfectly. Mostly old stuff (Sinatra, etc.) which I was not aware of before I watched the show.
For me the ending scene to season 2 of The Sopranos was wonderful. Set to Rolling Stones’ “Thru and Thru”…just beautiful.
Meh, for the Ofice, the cheesy stuff is great, but since I am still in my early twenties I am still loving the emo/indie/alternative/pop stuff played on The OC. Some episodes have some great stuff on them, some don’t. But that said I was way into the Killers before they appeared on the show and before what seems like everyone (including my 40 year old boss) became fans… now they are not as cool in my books.
what about randy’s obsession with “true colors” on “my name is earl.” amazing television.
I think “Weeds” has the best song selection on TV today–a mix of obscure, sometimes corny old songs and oddball new indie selections, which are usually perfectly married to what’s happening on screen. The use of “Satan, Lend Me a Dollar” right after Nancy makes her shocking discovery at the end of the first season, or “What the F*** Was I Thinking?” as a follow-up, in the season premiere were particularly brilliant.
The Office is the best. I love hearing “My Humps” on Michael’s cell phone or Kelly singing “We Belong” and Dwight singing “Lady” by Styx. Actually, anything The Office does is gold in my opinion.
I love Supernatural’s classic rock selections each episode. The choice of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane a few weeks ago for “Hunted” was really awesome.
I second Mark’s comment. He must be a very smart man!
You know, I have to say that “Grey’s Anatomy” does have the best current music selection. However, I find the references of music on “The Office” to be my music of choice, I am not talking about Blunt or Meyer, but The Cardigans, The Indigo Girls, and The Cranberries. Being a “Gen-Xer” I find completely fantastic and awesome to have these musical bits come back up into references. So much cooler than anything else. When they Andy sang “Rainbow Connection” to Pam…brilliant!
I am 39 and have all the OC CD’s although I have never watched the show. I just love indie music–the Killers, Interpol, Death Cab, Hot Hot Heat, Sufjan Stevens. But I also LOVE hearing music from the 80’s & 90’s on my favorite shows. Overkill on Scrubs was phenomenal. The writers on my favorite show–The Office–always choose songs that invoke a certain mood and nostalgia. As for Target–they pick out great music for their fun ads. It took me a few minutes to place the B52s song Junebug on the new ad for Global Bazaar. It’s great fun to make those connections. Makes me feel not so old. Because—really many of these songs have held up well over the years and are definitely better than the typical bland radio fare. But of course it shouldn’t surpise anyone in this world of Paris Hilton, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls that people are relieved and excited to hear The Go, Go’s, Cranberries, and Cyndy Lauper. If you are going to listen to pop at least let it be good pop.
The musical selection of the office is genius mainly because they aren’t tacked onto the end of an episode in a sentimental montage. One of my favorite moments on TV this year came from seeing Kelly seranade Ryan with “We Belong” by Pat Benetar and Kevin singing a fittingly raging and creepy performance of “You Oughtta Know” by Alanis Morisette. And Andy and Jim getting drunk and singing Indigo Girls!
Besides the musical hilarity of The Office, I also know that shows need to stop the musical montages at the end. It’s cheap writing. I love a good montage now and then, but every episode? With sappy “indie” songs? Lame-o.
Annie brought up a great point about the montage songs at the end of episodes. I really am not a big fan of that. I know that Scrubs and House are big in to doing that as a way to get an emotional ending. I think it’s a cheap gimmick. The Office, on the other hand, uses music as a back drop and really doesn’t move the story forward. In fact, I think that The Office’s strength is NOT having any kind of soundtrack. Last weeks episode, when Karen went to Jim and asked him if he had feelings for Pam, he sat there for a moment, started shaking his head and finally acknowledged her with a simple yes. That was more powerful then having a song in the background to move the viewers to tears, etc. Also, last seasons kiss between Jim and Pam, no music, just them kissing, was powerful and didn’t need a musical soundtrack to get our emotions racing. Another reason why The Office rules.
I agree about Veronica Mars and Arrested Development and I also think Cold Case deserves some credit here. The music sends us back to the time of the crime – whether it’s the ’50s, ’70s, or 2003 – and the genre of music tells us about the people involved. Nearly every flashback to the past is accompanied by historically appropriate music, so ending with a reflective musical montage feels natural. I’d say Cold Case’s intelligent use of music is what sets it apart from all other procedural crime shows.
Speaking of amazing Office songs, how about the most recent episode with Andy’s “acapella” of the Jackson 5’s “Rockin’ Robin”. Great choice by the writers.
Sports Night had the best music possible, but I love the use of Baba O’Reilly by the Who in any show that uses it.
I hope we never hear cool music on The Office. I’d hate to think of those guys suddenly being hip and on the cutting edge. What makes The Office so cool is that these people are NOT cool.
One of the best non-Office uses of an oldie was last week’s Knights of Prosperity, in which the gang (specifically their leader) picked Rush’s “Tom Sawyer” as their theme song. This led to a hilarious karaoke moment and a couple of inspired uses of the actual song. If you haven’t seen the show (and you haven’t, I’ve seen the ratings), find it online and get your Getty on.
I agree with whoever said not all the songs on The Office were unhip – they were playing Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, “The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth” at Jim’s house party in Season 2.
Ah…what about Jim torturing Karen with “lovefool” by the Cardigans when she was trying to bug him with her squeaky chair? That was awesome…and it got stuck in my head for days after that.