I'm currently tracking through Season 1 of "The Streets of San Francisco" on DVD, the opening theme music from which I'd almost forgotten in the 30 years since I last saw the show on TV. It gave me the inspiration for yet another list...
World's Greatest Crime Drama TV Theme Songs:
10) "Barnaby Jones" Well, doggies! Buddy Ebsen cuffin' and stuffin' the bad guys—his theme song was far hipper than he was...
9) "Mod Squad" Another example of theme music that was far superior to the show it fronted.
8) "Mannix" This jazzy little number was a bit out of place for a crime drama, but for some reason, it worked.
7) "Rockford Files" Mike Post and his synthesizers had a huge hit with this one in '75.
6) "Miami Vice" And ten years later, Jan Hammer and his synthesizers had a big hit with this one.
5) "Baretta" "Don't do the crime, if you can't do the time..." Sammy Davis, Jr. admonishes. Too bad the star of the show didn't heed his advice, even though he ain't doing the time...
4) "Streets of San Francisco" Rather easy to forget that this is where Michael Douglas got his start. And of course, this was Karl Malden's stepping stone to his lucrative career in American Express traveler's check commercials.
3) "Starsky & Hutch" Go with Tom Scott's "Gotcha!" theme from the second season, which was so funky even Huggy Bear woulda dug it.
2) "S.W.A.T." The group Rhythm Heritage scored a fairly sizeable hit in the Fall of '75 with this one, and it rocks. Too bad the show wasn't as good as its theme song.
1) "Hawaii Five-O" Was this song fucking cool, or what? You bet your Chinny-Chin-Ho, it was!
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1 comment:
Good stuff. There were a lot of cool TV theme sogs back in the day.
Watch it with Buddy Ebsen, though. My grandpa went to grade school with him.
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