Being a (somewhat) musician, I am always on alert for the effect of music on a show. I work in musical theater when not teaching, so the music there is often integral to the plot. But for regular movies and TV shows, the music still can add an element of drama and emotion that would hard to obtain otherwise. Think of movies like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET (sensing a John Williams theme here??) and the impact the music played there in the emotional moments of those shows.
Brian Koppelman gets this. He has been around music all his life, and if you follow him on Twitter you know he has very strong opinions about music. (Don’t ever ask him about the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen – trust me, just don’t.) He and I both grew up in the 80’s alternative music scene. We are both REM fans, although where he prefers “Automatic for the People” I go with “Life’s Rich Pageant”, which leads me to my first musical choice for my playlist, and the one that early on got me paying attention to the song choices. Continue reading “Top Billions Songs: The Tail That Wags The Dog’s Playlist”