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The Music of Mad Men, True Blood and Sons of Anarchy
by Jane Boursaw, posted Sep 28th 2009 2:01PM
Some shows are really creative with their use of music, and one that stands out for me is Mad Men. In last night's episode (read Bob's review here), the song that played over the end credits was "Sixteen Tons," and they couldn't have picked a better song. After signing that contract, Don Draper did indeed owe his soul not only "to the company store," but also to Betty and to a life he doesn't seem all that happy about leading. Another show with great use of music is Sons of Anarchy. In his review of "Tears," Danny noted, "Letting Katey Sagal sing a solemn cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" was really a great move on whomever made that call." I couldn't agree more. The song just washed all of the sadness and weight of her rape over us in a big way.
And, of course, I can't talk about TV show music without mentioning True Blood. Not only is the theme song perfect -- "Bad Things" by Jace Everett -- but specific scenes and the end credits always feature the exact right songs, as well.
Some examples include "Scratches" by Debbie Davies (at the end of the "Scratches" episodes); "Deeper Into You" by Johnny Hazzard (Lafayette begging to be turned, not killed); and "Walking the Dog" by Rufus Thomas (Sookie waking up to find Sam in dog form at the end of her bed). That's just a tiny sample; great music is used in every episode, and Nathan Barr (follow him on Twitter) does a truly awesome job with the True Blood score.
Clearly, a lot of thought goes into the song choices for these shows. What other shows make great use of music?
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