for the first time with a track that was nearly a decade old. Thanks to a Honda commercial that dedicated TV viewers must’ve watched hundreds of times in the beginning of 2016, Empire of the Sun hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. Never underestimate the power of capitalism. Empire of the Sun, “Walking on a Dream” (Honda commercial) But when creators the Duffer Brothers went a little deeper, they occasionally hit pay dirt, as with the mid-season funeral for Will Byers (spoiler alert: not really dead), set to New Order‘s foreboding instrumental epic “Elegia” - which children of the ’80s may recall previously soundtracking Andie’s pre-prom drama in Pretty in Pink - providing perhaps the doomiest moment of a show that rarely soft-pedaled its darkness. New Order, “Elegia” ( Stranger Things)Īs obvious as some of the filmic reference points were for the surprise breakout series of 2016, its new wave-era musical cues were often even less nuanced, with soundtrack choices that felt forced, unnecessary, and occasionally downright anachronistic. In order to disrupt a swarm of drone spaceships, the crew of the Enterprise needs to blast some sort of rhythmic music to jam their frequency - and “Sabotage” is the perfect choice. It started as an Easter egg alluding to William Shatner’s weird way of pronouncing “sabotage” (“sabataage”), but in the new series’ surprisingly fun installment, Beyond, it becomes a crucial plot point. Kirk’s obsession with the Beastie Boys - music that would be centuries old by the time he’s rocking to it - has always seemed a little forced. Beastie Boys, “Sabotage” ( Star Trek: Beyond)Ĭaptain James T. JAMES GREBEYīoJack Horseman, both the funniest drama and most depressing comedy on TV Netflix, always saves a wallop of a musical cue for each season’s closing sequence, and this year the show really went for the jugular with Nina Simone‘s melodramatic meditation on fame and aging, “Stars.” Simone’s live cover of the Janis Ian song plays as the animated show’s titular anthropomorphized, past-his-prime protagonist considers literally letting go of the wheel, but as the pianos swell underneath him and he sees a number of horses running free off the side of the road, he momentarily regains control - a moment of ambiguous but powerful grace in a show capable of eliciting just about every emotion at once. In other words, the sonic version of Marcia’s perm. The 1995 chart-topper - which originally became a smash after appearing on the soundtrack to Batman Forever - is one of those tracks that has become a victim of its own success: a classic, but rarely heard without some sense of retroactive irony. The music selections (and some extremely wide ties) certainly helped, and nothing set the mood better than hearing Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” while Sarah Paulson’s Marcia Clarke showed off her now-infamous hairdo for the first time. Simpson was such a thrill was that it made the ‘90s seem like a bona fide period piece. Seal, “Kiss From a Rose” ( The People vs. Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah” ( Saturday Night Live)ĭid Saturday Night Live try to have it both ways by allowing Donald Trump to guest in 2015, then having franchise player Kate McKinnon (in her Hillary Clinton guise) open the first post-election episode in 2016 with a funereal rendition of “Hallelujah”? Certainly, but there’s no doubting that McKinnon’s performance was spellbinding, and that in a national moment of mourning - for songwriting great Leonard Cohen, if not for the future of the whole country - the moment was more cathartic than a lot of us would easily admit.
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