Greetings, reader!
My fiancée Martta suggested this topic a while back - it was supposed to be a top ten, but there are so many great instances I wanted to discuss that it kinda blew out of proportion. Anyhow, this week's post is all about TV soundtracks - not the composed score, nor the theme songs made for the series, but the use of a licensed, pre-existing song for a specific scene. There are many great TV scenes that are made even better due to the usage of just the right song, and these moments are the best of the best.
NOTE: Covers are generally included for this list, but instances where the song has been heavily arranged to fit the specific TV scene even better are not, as that becomes its own thing and is a bit unfair to compare to ones where a scene is molded to fit the song as it is. So, as brilliant and artistic as the moments in question are, there will be no Every Breath You Take / Peter Gunn Theme mash-up from The Sopranos, Somewhere Out There -medley from Community, or the gargantuan half-hour mix of Nine Inch Nails' Together from The Bear on today's list.
Also, a SPOILER ALERT is in order as I will be discussing specific events from key plot moments for multiple shows, so please use discretion and skip anything you might want to skip!
Here are my honorable mentions:
Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd in The Sopranos (Kennedy and Heidi, Season 6 Episode 18)
Listen to Your Heart by Roxette in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day, Season 16 Episode 8)
Purple Rain by Prince in Stranger Things (The Rightside Up, Season 5 Episode 8)
Take Five by Dave Brubeck Quartet in Twin Peaks (Part 4, Episode 4 of The Return)
The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan in The West Wing (Election Night, Season 4 Episode 7)
40. Getting in Tune by The Who in The Bear (Groundhogs, Season 4 Episode 1)
I initially thought that I'd limit the list to one entry per series, but then decided against it - some shows are exceptionally good at always picking the right song for the right occasion, and they deserve to be praised for this. The critically acclaimed culinary drama The Bear is one of those shows that you'll be seeing a lot of on today's list, and we're kicking things off with the highpoint of its season 4 premiere - this banger by The Who makes an already kick-ass montage all the more full of hype and anticipation.
39. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol in Grey's Anatomy (Losing My Religion, Season 2 Episode 27)
Grey's Anatomy is another show that definitely made it onto today's list multiple times - Shonda Rhimes' medical drama sure knows how to write and produce a massively emotional moment of storytelling, and to further punctuate said emotions with an amazing song choice. Chasing Cars ends up appearing multiple times on the show, but you can't beat the first instance - I'd estimate that Denny Duquette would make it onto a list of the top 20 saddest TV deaths even without this song, but the use of Chasing Cars might lift him all the way to the top ten.
38. Con Te Partiro by Andrea Bocelli in The Sopranos (Commendatori, Season 2 Episode 4)
Sometimes, it won't be an individual scene, but rather a certain song playing throughout multiple key moments of an episode, therefore creating a mental blueprint where you forever connect the song and the episode to one another in your brain. That's what happened here - the use of Con Te Partiro throughout the Sopranos episode where they visit the Old Country is so sublime, that it's still the #1 context I associate the song with after all these years.
37. Let Your Heart Hold Fast by Fort Atlantic in How I Met Your Mother (The Final Page, Season 8 Episode 12)
There are a few dramas that are even better at always choosing the right song, but in the realm of sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother remains undefeated in this category. One of their many immortal soundtrack moments is this one - the midseason finale of season 8, considered by many to be the show's finest hour, ends with climactic imagery as Barney and Robin have just gotten engaged while Ted soaks in the unveiling of his new building. And this beautiful song starts to play throughout those final moments. It fits so well that you'd think the song was created for this very moment.
36. Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & The Pips in Modern Family (The Late Show, Season 5 Episode 5)
My fiancée is the biggest Modern Family geek you'll ever meet, and she considers The Late Show to be the show's best episode, so you know it's a good one. And I for one cannot imagine that episode without this song, as it does such wonders for the atmosphere. We first see and hear just a snippet of it as a part of the plot, as we cut from the adults wondering how the kids are doing to a clip of Haley and company having an absolute blast with the karaoke machine.
In the grand scheme of things, that moment reads as a brilliant Chekov's gun for the viewer's subconscious, as the song feels freshly familiar when it starts to play in the soundtrack towards the end of the episode. It fits the mood of what's going on so well, and makes an already brilliant feel-good episode feel even better.
35. The Day the World Went Away by Nine Inch Nails in Person of Interest (The Day the World Went Away, Season 5 Episode 10)
Goosebumps…major goosebumps. The episode that even takes the name of the song in question is many things: the 100th episode of Person of Interest, the fourth-last episode of the entire series, and the dramatic turning point in the greatest final season any series has ever produced.
The only reason why this isn’t ranked even higher is that the final moments of this episode would be 10/10 television even without the song, so it’s not quite one of those cases where the song absolutely makes the scene and/or you can’t imagine the moment without that specific music. Still, it’s a great addition to an already perfect episode, and a real cherry on top for these moments of escalating endgame madness.
34. Baby Blue by Badfinger in Breaking Bad (Felina, Season 5 Episode 16)
The all-time best needle drop for the very final scene of an entire series will appear later on today’s list, but the close runner-up is this one right here. The bittersweet, utterly poetic atmosphere is just too good to be true: the opening riff starts to play, followed by the line ”Guess I got what I deserved”, just as a fatally wounded Walter White starts to take a final walk around the meth lab that was his undoing. Couldn’t have gone with a better tune.
33. You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & the Pacemakers in Ted Lasso (The Hope That Kills You, Season 1 Episode 10)
This one defies all logic, as this Merseybeat classic is absolutely specific to Liverpool F.C. and not football in general - yet Liverpool has nothing to do with the events of football dramedy Ted Lasso’s season 1 finale, where the fictional AFC Richmond has just faced off against Manchester City. But somehow, it all fits - of course I might be biased as a lifelong Liverpool fan, but hey, at least it hits incredibly hard for me.
It’s not just that they chose a song associated with football - the moment works because the lyrics to You’ll Never Walk Alone fit that specific moment in the show’s trajectory so incredibly well, that in that specific moment, it doesn’t feel like the Liverpool anthem, but something much larger. After being berated by his dad and his own team, former Richmond player Jamie Tartt enters the team bus feeling terrible - and then he notices the note from Ted, saying "Way to make that extra pass" and including one of his toy soldiers. In the show's narrative, this is an emotionally charged major moment, and the sweet melodies of YNWA fit it like a glove.
32. Reflecting Light by Sam Phillips in Gilmore Girls (Last Week Fights, This Week Tights, Season 4 Episode 21)
Ah, what an absolute vibe. Lorelai and Luke dancing at Liz and TJ's reneissance-themed wedding is arguably the most romantic moment in the entire series, and oh boy, what a song choice they went with. This beautifully eloquent Sam Phillips ballad really tugs at the viewer's heartstrings, and that scene juxtaposed with the song is just as much a match made in heaven as Luke and Lorelai themselves.
31. No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (99, Season 5 Episode 9)
HELL YES! It was only a matter of time that this Brooklyn-themed anthem would play on the show, and oh man, they couldn't have gone with a better moment. It was a special moment, as B99 is (for obvious reasons) the only show where the show's ninety-ninth episode is an even bigger deal than the 100th - and the appropriately titled 99 was it.
In the highpoint of this magnificent episode, the squad realizes that Captain Holt still has a chance of becoming commissioner - if they can make it back to New York in time. Amy Santiago, who had been trying to ditch her uptight persona and be laid-back for a majority of the episode, is unveiled as their secret weapon, as she taps into her utmost Amy-ness in what is one of the finest character-defining moments in sitcom history. And as her organizational skills lead the squad on their way, this Beastie Boys banger sets the mood for a totally badass travel montage.
30. The Story by Sara Ramirez in Grey's Anatomy (All of Me, Season 14 Episode 24)
Mm, more Grey's Anatomy - they sure know how to pick 'em. The song The Story, originally by Brandi Carlile, has had quite a bit of mileage in the series, even being one of the performed songs in the infamous musical episode Song Beneath the Song. However, the instance that I chose for this list is the cover, performed by former cast member Sara Ramirez (who played the legendary Callie Torres), in the season 14 finale.
Having a song that already had a strong Grey's connotation, and such a version of it with such a delightfully familiar voice singing, in the final moments of an episode that would be the final episode for both Arizona Robbins and April Kepner as main castmembers, was enough to make me shed my share of tears. It's especially powerful when considering Callie and Arizona, one of the show's best love stories - they never got back together, at least in a canonically confirmed way, but having Callie's actor sing this song in the background while Arizona exits the show is such a strong signal to them possibly finding each other again off-screen, that I certainly choose to believe.
29. Home by Vitamin String Quartet in Modern Family (The Wedding Part 2, Season 5 Episode 24)
The only instrumental song on today's list is this brilliant Vitamin String Quartet composition, that plays in Modern Family's iconic wedding episode as Jay walks Mitch down the aisle. In a show full of storylines that tug at one's heartstrings, this is the most tear-jerking moment from all eleven seasons, and the song choice enunciates the emotions at hand in a raw, vulnerable fashion. It truly hits you right in the feels.
28. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley in The West Wing (Posse Comitatus, Season 3 Episode 22)
The West Wing doesn't feature all that many major character deaths, but when they do, they're exceptionally cruel ones. Such was the case with special agent Simon Donovan, played by a pre-NCIS Mark Harmon - the absolute sweetheart had a four-episode arch of being a bodyguard (and budding love interest) to CJ, and their electric chemistry made those episodes amazing.
In the season 3 finale, the threat on CJ's life is finally neutralized and the couple is finally free to explore a romantic relationship - and agent Donovan happens to be at the store, buying flowers for her, when an armed robbery takes place and trying to defuse the situation costs him his life. This Jeff Buckley masterclass starts to play as the backdrop to the visual of CJ finding out, and the inherent sadness of the song's fits Allison Janey's heartbreaking acting performance incredibly well in this harrowing moment.
27. I Will Wait For You by Michel Legrand in Futurama (Jurassic Bark, Season 5 Episode 2)
One of the most emotionally haunting melodies ever created, I Will Wait For You was originally composed for the French musical film Les Parapluies De Cherbourg. Not to take anything away from that masterful film - but the song hits arguably even harder here, in a f**king Futurama episode. You just have to see it in order to believe it. The story of the show's highest-rated episode is incredibly moving in itself, and this song choice is the nail in the coffin to guarantee major waterworks for us emotional viewers.
26. Sinnerman by Nina Simone in Person of Interest (Witness, Season 1 Episode 7)
There are many shows that are exceptionally good in the skill of choosing the right licensed songs for key scenes - The Bear, How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy all appear multiple times on today's list - but the undisputed king is Jonathan Nolan's sci-fi crime drama Person of Interest, with a record-breaking 7 appearances on this top 40 -list.
One of these greats is Nina Simone's Sinnerman, which is heard in its entire runtime for the ending montage of the season 1 episode Witness. The episode features one of the coolest, most mind-blowing plot twists in the show's run, and the juxtaposition that is created from this song's intro starting to play just as the viewer realizes how they've been fooled is just SO. FUCKING. GOOD. Nobody does it better than the POI crew.
25. Love Story by Taylor Swift in The Bear (Forks, Season 2 Episode 7)
A part of me wanted to rank this even higher, largely because the entire episode is such a goddamn masterpiece that everything associated with it feels extra good. When ranking these purely as soundtrack choices for specific scenes, there are quite a few even better ones out there - but man, it's still one of the best.
The episode Forks is one of the most efficient character-driven episodes in TV history, with the character Richie undergoing such a transformation and some brilliantly realistic character growth throughout the episode. And among the many great moments throughout it, one that stands tall is the Love Story scene. It creates a victorious mood for the moment, and the joy in actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach's facial expressions melts together with the vibe of the song to create a truly larger-than-life feeling of gleeful hype. It's a magnificent, genuinely wholesome moment.
24. Make Your Own Kind of Music by Cass Elliot in Lost (Man of Science, Man of Faith, Season 2 Episode 1)
The first season of Lost ended with one of modern television's most iconic cliffhangers (the survivors blowing up the entrance to the mysterious hatch, and looking down) - and the first scene of the second season follows up by becoming one of the all-time greatest openings to a TV season.
Make Your Own Kind of Music starts to play, as we see a mysterious man waking up in some sort of building, and going through a morning routine, begging the viewers to contemplate questions like "Whose flashbacks are these" and "Why are we opening the season with this". The vibes, especially thanks to the song choice, are immaculate. And when the plot twist hits - we hear a big BOOM, the music stops, and it's gradually revealed that it's no flashback at all but rather taking place beneath the hatch, on the island, in the very moment that season 1 ended on - the contrast from song to no song makes the sudden jump in atmosphere extra mysterious and jarring.
23. Come Sail Away by Styx in Community (Geothermal Escapism, Season 5 Episode 5)
"Why am I crying? Did I accidentally listen to Come Sail Away by Styx again?"
This is what Troy says when watching Abed's short film about the study group, way back in season 1 - now that's foreshadowing. You see, when the time came for Donald Glover to exit the series four seasons later, this was the song choice for Troy's last-ever scene in his emotionally charged swan song episode. Well, technically it's Aimee Mann's cover of the Styx song, but still - the song fits the imagery and emotional atmosphere with perfection.
To the backdrop of those visuals, as Troy (and shipmate LeVar Burton) leaves on his grand adventure while the study group (Abed in particular) looks at him with bittersweet emotion, no other song would've been fitting as this one. It's a majestic end to an emotional powerhouse of an episode, bidding farewell to a truly special character with style.
22. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler in Grey's Anatomy (Get Up, Stand Up, Season 10 Episode 12)
Again, it's the Jill Andrews cover and not the original, but really, it works so well that I do not care. While this isn't quite as legendary and beloved among the Grey's Anatomy fan community as the usage of Chasing Cars and The Story, I would personally rank this even ahead of those instances. I'm not sure whether it's more because of the song itself being even greater, the mixture of song and scene hitting even harder for me specifically, or due to the moment being extra special because Jackson and April are my #1 favorite love story from the series and this was their big moment.
In any case, I know I'll never listen to this song (the original or the cover) the same way again. The moment of Jackson interrupting April and Matthew's wedding, in all melodramatic messiness, is such a massive juggernaut of emotions, that the song will be forever tied to it in my mind. Honestly, just thinking about the song makes me think about the scene and suddenly I'm on the verge of tears. Indeed, every now and then I fall apart...
21. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails in Rick and Morty (The Wedding Squanchers, Season 2 Episode 10)
The Johnny Cash cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt had surpassed the original in pretty much every regard, so much so that Trent Reznor stopped wanting to perform the song live because he felt it belongs to Cash now - so using the original Hurt, after it had fallen into obscurity, was quite the out-of-the-box choice. And for this out-of-the-box TV moment, it was perfection.
By now, Dan Harmon's animated sci-fi sitcom Rick and Morty has gotten real and emotional for its fair share of occasions, but when the season 2 finale rolled around, this was a new thing - the show had been silly, cynical and full of dark humor, but never particularly sentimental, genuine or wholesome. That makes it hit all the harder, when in a completely surprising move, the selfish and jaded Rick finds his inner humanity and sacrifices his freedom to save the Sanchez family. The very specific vibe of the original Hurt, with raw emotion stylized behind an experimental industrial-rock sound, is so fitting for that specific moment in that specific show, and the juxtaposition of that song and the visual of Rick turning himself in is quite simply spine-chilling.
20. New Noise by Refused in The Bear (Multiple episodes)
For most songs that appear in multiple episodes of a series, I chose the best individual instance to represent the song on this list. But I couldn't do that with New Noise, because the whole thing is how the song is used as a motif throughout many key scenes, especially in season premieres and finales, across The Bear. It has come to a point where I love to blast this song when I start cooking, because the association with the show and its vibe is so strong and special.
If I had to choose my favorite appearance of the song in the show, I'd go with the montage from the season 2 premiere Beef, where the trio in charge lays out their plans for the restaurant opening timetable. Totally badass.
19. Baba O' Riley by The Who in The Newsroom (The Greater Fool, Season 1 Episode 10)
I feel like this should be even higher, as it's one of my favorite songs of all time and it appears in a key moment in one of The Newsroom's greatest episodes - but still, for whatever reason, there are many song+scene combinations that hit even harder even if the song and/or the episode aren't as 10/10 as the ones in this combo. That being said, this is definitely among the better ones out there.
The season 1 finale of The Newsroom is a classic dramatic arch, where things look more and more bleak and desperate until a sudden turning point makes things look up against all odds. The specific moment of this happening begins in a hospital bed, when an over-worked, over-stressed Will McAvoy has a sudden realization that he knows will help him get the upper hand against the corrupt forces who have been sabotaging his ambitious News Night project. The intro to The Who's masterpiece starts to play in this moment, to ensure an effect of maximum hype, leading up to the next scene on full blast.
18. New York Minute by Don Henley in The West Wing (Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail, Season 2 Episode 16)
Many of the songs on today's list come in ending scenes of episodes, or at least towards the end - but it's a whole other skill to pick the perfect song for an especially important opening sequence. Only a few such cases made it onto today's list, but this right here is the third-highest-ranking one from the realm of brilliant opening tracks.
This episode, that gets its title from the lyrics of the song they chose, is probably the best West Wing episode for Rob Lowe's character Sam Seaborn, as we take a deep look at his psyche while Lowe delivers a brilliantly nuanced performance. The opening montage wants to make it clear that Sam is feeling melancholic and not doing too well, and oh man, the atmospheric intro to New York Minute gets that done to a staggering degree. No other song would've been quite as effective for the visual of Sam looking out of the window on a rainy night than this one.
17. Simple Song by The Shins in How I Met Your Mother (Something New, Season 8 Episode 24)
I adore a good ending montage, and the finale to How I Met Your Mother's penultimate season is one of the best to ever do it. For this montage, where each character is about to embark on some important journey and/or make a consequential decision, and that culminates in the huge moment of seeing the mythical Mother character for the first time, they really needed the right song. And they f**king nailed it.
Simple Song sounds like it was made for a montage scene - and I don't mean this in a generic sense, but rather that it just has such a specific sound that works incredibly well in this context. From the moment where the ominous intro starts to play right as Lily warns Ted to be careful with his bizarre idea, every moment where a certain part of the song matches with a certain visual is just fantastic.
16. Exit Music (For a Film) by Radiohead in Person of Interest (Deus Ex Machina, Season 3 Episode 23)
Radiohead's greatest song was, as one might surmise from its title, originally written for a movie - specifically Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet from 1996. It has garnered a lot of additional soundtrack mileage since, and this usage in particular is even greater than the context it was originally written for. In the long-ass ending montage of Person of Interest's third season, we hear the song in its entirety, and for the cataclysmic chain of events the show's narrative was dealing with at that turning point, Exit Music makes every second of it feel extra haunting and tragic.
15. Don't Stop Believin' by Journey in The Sopranos (Made in America, Season 6 Episode 21)
Here we have the only licensed song choice for the final scene of an entire series to be even better in its context than Baby Blue in Breaking Bad. The way in which The Sopranos ends is many things - bold, unforgettable, absolutely f**king bonkers, and made infinitely better by the song playing in the background.
It's such a weird contrast because it almost feels like it shouldn't work - an inspiring, even cheesy feel-good song like Don't Stop Believin' would fit in a conventional manner if it was a show like Ted Lasso or The Good Place, but in a show as anti-heroic and cynical as The Sopranos, the ethos of the song feels somewhat out of place. But, for whatever reason, it just fucking works. Something about the specifics in Journey's composition just feels made for this scene, and the end result is amazing.
14. Animal by Pearl Jam in The Bear (The Bear, Season 2 Episode 10)
Yeah, The Bear is ridiculously good at choosing the right songs to elevate its best scenes, and their soundtrack department deserves all the acclaim. A brilliant example is this moment from the dramatic and eventful season 2 finale - with Carmy stuck in a walk-in freezer on the grand opening night of the restaurant, panic is running high among the staff and things look bleak.
But Richie, having arrived at a point in his character arch where he has gained the cool-headed responsibility required to save the day in just the nick of time, takes charge of the kitchen. This utterly badass grunge banger sets the mood as Richie starts to call the shots, creating a method to the madness and order to the chaos, and the song and the scene play together in delightful harmony. Top notch work.
13. Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds in Community (Heroic Origins, Season 4 Episode 12)
The use of this song in Community is very nearly as good as it is in the movie it was composed for. And no, I'm not talking of the time where the outro of a Don't You Forget About Me cover plays in the closing moments of the pilot episode, although that one is also really good. No, I'm referring to the time when they finally got the rights to use the original Simple Minds version, and used in such a profound, full-circle manner for the penultimate episode of season 4.
Throughout the episode, Abed has been mapping the study group's 'origin story', finding bizarre connections from their past - which was cool, until it wasn't, as all sorts of dark twists of fate were revealed. But then, he dug even deeper, and uncovered something incredible: by all accounts, all seven of them have been at the same fro-yo stand, at the same exact time, before they knew each other, when they decided to apply to Greendale. The flashback scene is as emotionally hard-hitting as it is hilarious, and the use of this song (especially considering the Breakfast Club thematics in the pilot episode that those events would lead to) is quite simply profound.
12. Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds in Futurama (The Luck of the Fryish, Season 3 Episode 10)
Here we have the same song back-to-back, and yes, the use in Futurama is even better (and honestly right up there with the original Breakfast Club use). Out of the infamous, abruptly emotional episodes in Futurama's run, I've always considered the underrated Luck of the Fryish to be even better than the more generally acclaimed Jurassic Bark, and while this whole episode is remarkable, it's the very ending that really gets to you and seals the deal. And they couldn't have gone with a better song - in the context of those closing moments, it hits you deep in the feels.
11. Hurt by Johnny Cash in Person of Interest (The Devil's Share, Season 3 Episode 10)
Even though I issued a spoiler alert at the beginning of this post, I still won't disclose certain facts about Person of Interest in this text, just to make it absolutely certain that I don't accidentally ruin key events of this magnificent show to anyone. Let's just say that in the midst of the show's third season, there's a notorious trilogy of back-to-back episodes, where a certain long-term storyline explodes into an action-packed, game-changing chain of events. One of these episodes ends in a thoroughly shocking manner - and the next one opens with a bleak montage, colored by the use of Johnny Cash's Hurt cover.
The song is played in its entirety across the episode's cold open, and the tone it sets for that specific scene and for the rest of the episode is haunting, gripping and sentimental all at once. The whole thing reads like a music video, and an exceptionally good one at that.
10. Prophets by A.C. Newman in How I Met Your Mother (The Leap, Season 4 Episode 24)
This one is so masterfully executed. The season 4 finale The Leap is one of HIMYM's finest episodes, and it is forever linked to this A.C. Newman song in my mind. Parts of the song's instrumental section are already heard in the opening moments, and in a few other key scenes throughout the episode, to create an atmosphere that feels determined and important - and when the episode's unforgettable climax arrives, we hear the full version and it fits in a thoroughly satisfying manner.
The monologue by the older Narrator Ted, right before he makes the titular leap, is one of the show's best moments, and the song choice is a massive part of why it works so well.
9. Chicago by Sufjan Stevens in The Bear (Review, Season 1 Episode 7)
Review, one of the most acclaimed episodes in The Bear, is best remembered for its zany cinematography gimmick, with basically the whole episode consisting of one impressively coordinated camera take. But people forget that before that begins, the episode's very opening is a montage of the city of Chicago, with Sufjan Stevens' song Chicago setting the mood.
I can only imagine what this opening sequence fels like for people who have lived in the Windy City - I haven't even visited, with my only experience so far being an airport layover, but watching this scene makes me feel inexplicable levels of sentimentality for the city. It's just a such an exceptionally well-built montage, and the song choice takes it to profound levels.
8. Future Starts Slow by The Kills in Person of Interest (Relevance, Season 2 Episode 16)
One of the many remarkable song choices from Person of Interest's soundtrack department, this one takes place at the end of Relevance - the episode where we first meet Sameen Shaw, who would go on to become one of the show's best and most important characters. The episode follows Shaw from its beginning, with the show's main cast at the time only making minor appearances - so as a first-time viewer, you wonder if this is a one-off conceptual adventure or the start of something new.
In a strange way, it's the song choice that answers this question, at least on a subliminal level. This song by The Kills is so good, with its main riff and badass atmosphere fitting the tone of the episode and the character of Shaw so well, that when it starts to play at the beginning of the final scene, the viewer really gets the sensation that this person is going to be important, and some big stuff is brewing. The vibe in those last minutes is exhilarating, largely thanks to the song choice and how it elevates everything we had learned about this new character in her brilliant introduction episode.
7. Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones in Person of Interest (Shadow Box, Season 2 Episode 10)
Next week's post will focus on the greatest soundtrack moments from movies, and Gimme Shelter will appear more than once, as its mileage in movie and TV soundtracks is quite legendary. One of its best uses has been in none other than today's mainstay Person of Interest, where the song's signature atmosphere of cool excitement and an oncoming storm is used to the point of perfection.
The midseason finale of season 2 seems like just a regular, crime-of-the-week episode - until those final moments arrive, and certain things start to go wrong. It's been over 10 years since I watched this for the first time, but I can still remember the exact feeling I had when the intro to Gimme Shelter started to play over that moment - you immediately get goosebumps, as you start to realize what's about to happen, and how it is a nerve-wracking cliffhanger on one hand, but an extremely cool and badass turn of events on the other. And out of all the songs in the world, this is the one that manages to convey both sensations simultaneously.
6. The Funeral by Band of Horses in How I Met Your Mother (Farhampton, Season 8 Episode 1)
Out of the many great soundtrack choices from How I Met Your Mother, there are none that hold a candle to this one. The season 8 premiere Farhampton is a big favorite of mine, and everything that the episode does well seems to tie into those final moments and the ultimate chills-down-your-spine effect of this song choice.
Choosing the right song for a scene is a delicate skill in itself, but finding the right exact timing of the song's best parts matching the scene's key parts takes some next-level artistry. And here we have one of the finer examples of that: the first half of The Funeral, with its fragile ballad sound, plays as we see a montage of emotional moments tying together the episode's key storylines, as Ted hears some wisdom about how he'll eventually meet the love of his life but no one can know the where and when of it beforehand. Then, the camera pans slightly as future Ted narrates: "Unfortunately, the when of it was still a little ways down the road...but the where of it?"
And then, in the most satisfying timing imaginable - right as the song explodes into its blistering, rock-anthem second half, we jump ahead in time to a flash-forward of the same location, on a rainy night a little ways down the road, as the imagery of the iconic yellow umbrella confirms for the first time where the fateful encounter that the whole series has been leading up to will happen. The scene might have felt clever in a light, gimmick-y fashion if they had gone with a lesser song choice, but with this one, it feels powerful and borderline epic.
5. If You Want Blood (You've Got It) by AC/DC in The Bear (Omelette, Season 2 Episode 9)
Going into this list, it felt impossible to choose which of The Bear's magnificent soundtrack choices is the show's best - but I eventually landed on this one. And not just because I'm an AC/DC fan - there's no way to know for sure, but I'm guessing that if I had never heard the band when going into this episode, I still would've ranked it this high. It's just such next-level perfection.
The best soundtrack moments are ones where the song choice, together with the scene it accompanies, conveys a very specific emotion. In this case, it's that larger-than-life sense of anticipation of a longtime project finally coming to the moment it has built up towards. Anyone who has done ambitious passion projects in their life will know that special feeling - I associate it with the final minutes before the musical that I wrote and directed last year had its premiere. That feeling is unlike any other, and a hard one to describe with words - but The Bear manages to convey that sensation through its artistic audiovisual combination.
The moment in which this AC/DC banger starts to play, in the final scene of season 2's penultimate episode, as the opening night of the restaurant they've been working on has arrived and they're just seconds away from opening to customers, is just unreal. You can feel exactly what the characters are feeling, and how important this is for them. The hype goes through the roof, and the moment couldn't be any better.
4. Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd in Person of Interest (YHWH, Season 4 Episode 22)
Person of Interest appears more times on today's list than any other series, and as its crowning achievement we have Pink Floyd's underrated masterpiece setting a unique tone for the final minutes of season 4. For everything that is happening in those moments - and in a larger sense, everything that has happened in the entire series leading up to these climactic and game-changing moments - it's pretty insane that a song as fitting as Welcome to the Machine exists.
The song and the storytelling work together to create what seems like a whole new emotion - there's nothing that makes me feel quite that same rush of emotions as that sequence. It's deeply emotional, but in such a sci-fi way, feeling computerized and dystopian yet sentimentally humane all at the same time. Bravo.
3. Fix You by Coldplay from The Newsroom (I'll Try to Fix You, Season 1 Episode 4)
Usually, even the best soundtrack choices are ones where the scene has been written and more or less planned when the song is chosen, and it's the editing department where the scene might be slightly modified to fit the music better (or the other way around). It's a rare thing that a screenwriter imagines a scene with a specific song in mind, and the entire scene is built around the music, to make sure that it fits with perfection - but based on the two times that Aaron Sorkin has tried this in his TV shows, I want to see more of this.
The second of these instances comes from The Newsroom, with a sequence that solidifies the episode (which is even named after the song) as the show's finest hour. The Coldplay song plays in its entirety across the final scenes, and the atmosphere that it creates is profoundly harrowing. The events taking place from the moment that the atmospheric intro starts to play are appropriately dramatic, and the song lifts their emotional power to astronomical levels. Tears, man.
2. Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits in The West Wing (Two Cathedrals, Season 2 Episode 22)
Yeah, the OG instance of Aaron Sorkin writing an entire scene with a specific song in mind is even greater than the Newsroom follow-up. The season 2 finale of The West Wing is probably the greatest television episode ever made, and among the reasons for it is this goosebumps-worthy final sequence. I remember my emotional journey when first watching this - with the rainstorm banging the windows of the Oval Office and the lead-in motifs in the instrumental score, the transition to the atmospheric Brothers in Arms intro is so smooth that it took me a solid while to realize what song was playing - Mark Knopfler's iconic guitar licks enter your consciousness in a profound manner at just the right time.
Throughout the final sequence, the song works wonders to elevate the dramatic stakes, and it makes all the sense in the world that the song was playing in Sorkin's mind throughout the entire process. The imagery of Bartlet and company walking out of the White House, taking the motorcade to the press conference and entering the room, mixed together with the inherently powerful mood of Brothers in Arms - there's nothing quite like it.
And as we get to those final seconds - The West Wing fans will know how iconic it all is, from Leo's "watch this" and Bartlet calling on a random reporter despite CJ's instructions all the way to the journalist's series-defining question and Bartlet's hands-in-pockets determined look - everything we see is TV history, and all of it is infinitely better thanks to the use of Brothers in Arms.
1. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush in Stranger Things (Dear Billy, Season 4 Episode 4)
No words. There are no words to do this one justice. I had to think long and hard about which way I'd rank the obvious top two, as they're both a part of my three-way tie for my favorite TV scene of all time (the third one, the climactic scene from Doctor Who's The Day of the Doctor, has an instrumental score). In the end, I had to go with this one, where the song choice plays an arguably even greater role.
Max running from Vecna in Stranger Things' best episode is a series-defining moment if I ever saw one, and just thinking about it makes my eyes water. What makes it the possibly greatest television scene of all time is a combination of many elements - the dramatic stakes of what's happening on a sci-fi level coupled with the themes of depression and one's will to live on a metaphorical level, the blockbuster visuals making the imagery of Max running while Vecna hurls apocalyptic obstacles in her way so amazing, and of course, Sadie Sink's sledgehammer acting performance where her facial expressions encapsulate the experience of a young girl who has given up, then changed her mind, and is quite literally running for her life after realizing she doesn't want to let go.
And the crown jewel to this gargantuan combination is Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, a needle drop that works on every possible level - its existence as a plot device and Max's favorite song makes it hopeful and comforting, yet the song's dramatic chords and melodies make the scene incredibly desperate and drastic (which makes the payoff of Max's getaway hit all the harder), and its otherworldly sound fits so well with the apocalyptic imagery. I've re-watched the scene tens of times and analyzed it to death, and every time, nothing prepares me for the unique rush of emotions that spawns from Max running to Running Up That Hill. There's nothing better.
And finally, here's a fun statistic!
The shows with the most appearances on today's list: Person of Interest (7), The Bear (6), How I Met Your Mother (4), Grey's Anatomy (3), The West Wing (3), Community (2), Futurama (2), Modern Family (2), The Newsroom (2), The Sopranos (2).
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I continue these themes with a list of the greatest soundtrack moments from movies.
No comments:
Post a Comment