Watchmen: Breaking the Opening-Theme Mold

Originally Aired October 20, 2020

The Wildlings are south of the wall, the robots are rising up, Seventh Kavalry's on the move, and two percent of the world's population has vanished. Time for another edition of Strong TV Songs!

This time around the focus is on HBO, a network that has defined much of the broader TV landscape over the past couple of decades. So let's dig into a bunch of great music from a bunch of good shows, with themes for Dothraki raiders, Alethiometers, robot farmgirls, nuns with guns, monstrous moguls, and lost souls.

Special thanks to the key of C minor for making this episode possible.

REFERENCED/DISCUSSED:

• “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3 from Exile on Coldharbour Lane, 1997
• “Six Feet Under” by Thomas Newman, 2001
• “Deadwood” by David Schwartz, 2004
• “Way Down In The Hole” by Tom Waits from Franks Wild Years, 1987. Performed by Waits, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Neville Brothers, DoMaJe, and Steve Earle
• “Game of Thrones” by Ramin Djawadi, 2011
• "Game of F***in' Thrones" by Anamanaguchi, 2012
• “Pacific Rim” by Ramin Djawadi feat. Tom Morello from Pacific Rim, 2013
• “Doom Patrol” by Clint Mansell and Kevin Kiner, 2019
• “His Dark Materials” by Lorne Balfe, 2019
• “Westworld” and “Sweetwater” by Ramin Djawadi, 2016
• “Ezio’s Family” by Jesper Kyd from Assassin’s Creed II, 2009
• "How The West Was Really Won,” “Nun With a Motherf***ing Gun,” and “Children of Krypton” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, 2019
• “Succession” by Nicholas Britell, 2018
• "Kiss from Daddy" by Demi Adejuyigbe, 2019
• “The Departure” and “Dona Nobis Pacem” by Max Richter from The Leftovers, 2014

OUTRO SOLOIST: Luke Price

This episode's outro soloist is Portland fiddle player Luke Price. When he's not working as a side man in a variety of killer bands, Luke joins his wife Rachael to form the excellent songwriting duo DEAN!. You can follow them on Instagram and listen to some of their stuff on their website, wearedean.com.

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