I've spent a lot of the past few days thinking about eighties sitcom theme songs and wondering what cultural evolution led to all of them having these deeply sincere, soulful lyrics set to very cool, jazzy melodies Like the preceding decade's theme songs were cheery and frenetic
-
Show this thread
-
Were the theme songs of the previous decade just regarded as overtly saccharine and insincere? So the equivalent of "emotional verisimilitude" was lyrics about, like, sincere dedication to each other and promising to beat the odds?
2 replies 1 retweet 12 likesShow this thread -
I guess with the eighties being the Reagan era it kind of makes sense that there would be a lot of romanticizing Michael Bolton kinda paeans about the strength of familial love that gradually transitioned to a sanitized grunge disillusionment in the nineties but idk
1 reply 1 retweet 11 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @Nymphomachy
You could talk about broad social trends about the '80s being an era when America buried its head in the sand and embraced conservatism and its accompanying sentimentality Although it may have just been a few specific people's success coloring our view of the era
1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
Frederick and Salvay were a songwriting team who made it big in the '80s with their signature style for sitcom theme songs -- they really liked big, epic lyrics with a soaring, heartstring-tugging melody
1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
The producer duo Thomas Miller and Robert Boyett (Miller-Boyett Productions), who'd already made Mork and Mindy and Laverne and Shirley, took a shine to Frederick and Salvay and commissioned theme songs for their big '80s hits from them
1 reply 0 retweets 4 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
They're the ones who wrote the Perfect Strangers theme ("Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now"), the Full House theme ("Everywhere You Look"), the Family Matters theme ("As Days Go By"), the Step by Step theme ("Second Time Around")
4 replies 0 retweets 7 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @Nymphomachy
The theme to Perfect Strangers really stands out for me as being so absurdly over the top triumphant for the garden variety sitcom it's attached to that I kinda love it
2 replies 2 retweets 7 likes -
Replying to @autogynamelia @arthur_affect
The frustrating thing about Family Guy and American Dad is that you would THINK the content of those theme songs exists to lampoon the dissonance between the theme songs and the content in previous shows but nope Seth just loves showtunes and doesn't give a fuck about aesthetic
1 reply 1 retweet 8 likes -
Replying to @Nymphomachy @autogynamelia
Well no it's obviously an ironic reference, the lyrics of the Family Guy theme decry "violence in movies and sex on TV" and preach a return to "good old-fashioned values", when the actual nature of the show is the exact opposite of that
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes
The lyrics and the opening with Lois playing the piano are clearly a nod to All in the Family Peter Griffin is a jab at the idea of Archie Bunker as a lovable racist conservative dude (Peter is thoroughly NOT lovable for reasons that go beyond politics)
-
-
Replying to @arthur_affect @autogynamelia
yeah I guess that makes sense It's mostly that the presentation is really weird idk, like watching the sequence makes it feel like Seth WANTS the show to be sincere even though he ultimately will not do so
2 replies 0 retweets 6 likes -
Replying to @Nymphomachy @autogynamelia
Family Guy was never particularly thematically coherent but it's notable that at first it was very clearly trying to follow the Simpsons model (Peter is a jerk, the rest of the characters are decent, the sitcom model of "learning a lesson" is followed if not firmly respected)
2 replies 0 retweets 5 likes - Show replies
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.