Recently, I came across a Watch Mojo list of the the Top 30 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. While I agreed with some of them, many I did not. So I decided to make my own list. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t go with the Top 30. There were too many great themes that fell in the 50-31 range. That being said, I decided to count down my Top 50 Greatest TV Themes of All Time.
When I get to #30, I will post my #30 along with the Watch Mojo #30, and so on. For now, sit back and enjoy 20 themes that “bubbled under” the Top 30.
Today, we look at #46. Admittedly, the theme for Seinfeld is rarely heard in its entirety. Many shows begin with the bass and bubble pops as it segues into the show itself. However, the full theme is an interesting piece to listen to, especially in headphones.
Wiki states: The Seinfeld music was composed by Jonathan Wolff, who had previously composed for sitcoms including Who’s The Boss? The pilot episode had a theme composed by a different composer, but Seinfeld felt it interfered with his standup sequences. Whereas previous sitcoms had been melodic and lyrical, Wolff did not want to create a typical theme and instead wanted to create an instantly recognizable “audio signature”. He composed a theme comprising samples of slap bass taken from multiple sources, edited and processed with compression, equalized and other effects. He added percussion with finger snaps and mouth noises to create an organic “percolating energy” and blend with the “quirky” patterns of Seinfeld’s speech. When the network asked for a more conventional theme for the second season, Larry David refused. Wolff composed variations on the theme to match the rhythms and dialogue of each episode.
The theme really does what Wolff set out to do. I love that they use a “percolator” to describe the music.
Next week we climb to #45 and we’ll head to outer space for a classic!
