TV show theme songs can remain in our memories for decades Musicologist Kirsten Zemke takes a look at some of the most memorable ones over the years.
She tells Kathryn Ryan some viewers use them to form a first impression and decide whether to watch the show or not.
"The theme song was kind of like a call for you to realise it was on [TV] if you were elsewhere in the house or someone was watching it ... and it kind of sets the mood for what you were going to watch."
Twin Peaks, Doctor Who, and True Blood television series. Photo: Lynch/Frost Productions / Propag/ Collection Christophel via AFP, Notimex via AFP, HBO / Photo12 via AFP
Although our nostalgic memories of the show can make us fond of the song, even if it's not necessarily a good one, she says.
"Some of them would tell the whole story before you watched the show, like The Addams Family, or Gilligan's Island. So that if you hadn't seen the show before, it would capture it and get you up to speed."
Instrumental openings and lyrical ones are both popular, she says.
For instance, the S.W.A.T. one is an instrumental that has had variations of the years, with the original reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart the year after its release.
S.W.A.T. Theme Song by Rhythm Heritage (1975)
It was also a way for composers to get their songs out into popular culture, Zemke says.
"They may have been TV theme songs, but they end up having a life outside the show, and this song I know has been sampled by rappers.
"Probably some people would recognise the song even if they've never watched the show, which just shows the power of these songs."
The S.W.A.T. song captured the funky, jazzy spirit of the time, she says.
"I think most of us would associate [the song] with action and adventure ... and think about some of the other action big orchestra songs like Mission Impossible."
Twin Peaks Theme composed by Angelo Badalamenti (1990)
The Twin Peaks theme song captures the dark, eerie underbelly of what appears to be a peaceful town in the mountains, Zemke says.
"One person wrote that it's 'sentimentality with menace', which I thought was an interesting description and surprisingly, it made into the charts too."
Bad Things by Jace Everett (2005) for True Blood show
While Bad Things wasn't composed for True Blood, it showed how a wide range of genre can be attached to the same song, Zemke says.
"Now more and more, you'll get an existing quirky song and possibly by a lesser known artist and they pick that up for a show and the song gets a second or third life.
"I think maybe it takes us outside of genre, [where] we might sort of pigeonholed ourselves into, because whether you think like country music or roots music or not, this is a cool song."
Doctor Who (1963) composed by Ron Grainer
The Doctor Who theme was created at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
"It's interesting because what sounds do you make for space and time travel? They don't have an automatic sound association.
"We've had really groovy science fiction The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, X-Files, how do we put sound to this phenomena and I think Dr Who - some people might get a little frightened shiver up their spine when they hear it.
"The use of weird technology mimicked the weird technology of the TARDIS, you know, that it looked old and steampunk but obviously was from the future, and I think they used that in the song, using interesting recording techniques."
Game of Thrones Theme (2011) by Ramin Djawadi
The Game of Thrones opening song is an example of an orchestral theme that has become iconic, Zemke says.
"[Djawadi] tries to create the good and the evil and it focuses on the cello and it's just such a - again like all the ones we play - such an evocative tune, just as iconic as the show I think."
Kirsten Zemke is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Auckland's School of Social Sciences.
