Live-Action TV/Awesome Music

Examples of awesome music in live action shows.

If any of these shows have an OST out, do yourself a favor and buy it.

Please don't introduce new examples by complaining that they're missing from the list.


 * Battlestar Galactica
 * Doctor Who (and its spinoffs)
 * Glee
 * Sesame Street
 * Twin Peaks
 * Victorious

Mike Post

 * Mike Post is responsible for over three decades worth of Crowning Themes of Awesome. If you're breathing, you know at least one of them.
 * The Rockford Files
 * Hill Street Blues
 * The Greatest American Hero This one is so good, people probably know the song better than the show itself. (Especially if they're fans of The Cinema Snob.)
 * The A-Team (full version) This theme never fails to pump you up. People who haven't seen the show but have heard the tune can admit it's awesome. Also an Ear Worm. The final season version too.
 * Magnum, P.I.
 * Blossom
 * Quantum Leap The Season 5 version wasn't half bad either. It was a little slower, but still awesome!
 * Doogie Howser, M.D.
 * L.A. Law
 * Renegade
 * Newsradio
 * NYPD Blue
 * Law & Order (and all its spin-offs) Although when Channel Five began to run Law & Order and the spinoffs they replaced the great man's work with another piece by Rob Dougan. Philistines.
 * Brooklyn South
 * In fact, Mike Post is so awesome that one of the greatest bands in the world wrote a song about him.
 * There was a cop show back in the '80s called Sonny Spoon, starring Mario Van Peebles. The most memorable thing was its kick-ass theme song, built around a bluesy harmonica and (surprise!) the spoons. It was written by...Mike Post! Surprise, surprise...
 * He got so much stick for his theme from Murder One, but guess what turned out to be his only (to date) Emmy-winner?

Buffy-Verse

 * Christophe Beck's music for Buffy the Vampire Slayer was beautiful, although it was Rob Duncan who scored the final episodes. They also had awesome song choices: Michelle Branch's "Goodbye To You" used in conjunction with  at the end of Tabula Rasa, Sarah McLachlan's "Full Of Grace" at the end of "Becoming Part 2", Aimee Mann's "Pavlov's Bell" in "Sleeper", and Angie Hart's "Blue" in "Conversations With Dead People" were all awesome, awesome, awesome.
 * Many of Beck's individual scores are simply amazing such as Close Your Eyes used throughout Season 2 and coined as the Buffy/Angel Love Theme for good reason, Slayer's Elegy from Season 3, and Sacrifice from Season 5's "The Gift."
 * The Final Fight has been used in commercials unrelated to Buffy as well.
 * Darling Violetta's theme tune for Angel was amazing (especially the extended version), and the music used in that series was pretty neat too. The Kim Richey song "A Place Called Home" used over the montage of  being remembered at the end of "Shells" is also beautiful and heartbreaking.
 * The most awesome Musical Episode ever, "Once More, with Feeling." Specifically, "Rest In Peace," "Under Your Spell," "What You Feel," and "Walk Through the Fire."
 * All beaten out by Giles singing the "Exposition Song" in "Restless".
 * The music during the final battle in "Chosen" was truly epic.
 * "Passion". Giles walking up the stairs to what he thinks is going to be a romantic tryst with Jenny, only to find her corpse in the bedroom. All the while a beautiful rendition of "O soave fanciulla" from Puccini's "La Bohème" plays, one of the all time great love songs.
 * Get ready to weep copiously whenever 'Remembering Jenny' is played.
 * The 'Danse Macabre' in "Hush"? Creepy sinister music for the creepiest, most sinister episode of the show?
 * Sarah McLachlan's "Prayer of St. Francis" playing over the scenes of Buffy and Dawn crawling out of the grave and Willow and Xander up on the hilltop in "Grave".
 * The music playing right at the end of Smashed is stunning.
 * The Suite from "Hush".
 * How awesome is Beck's music? He'd left the show by season five, but they brought him back to score the final WB episode "The Gift."
 * This is all helped by the fact that both James Marsters and Anthony Stewart Head are talented musicians in their own right. This makes James Marsters' solo "Rest in Peace" all the more awesome.

Chuck

 * The opening song to Chuck.
 * That'd be some Cake there--"Short Skirt/Long Jacket", a song that only gets more epic once you've heard the whole thing.
 * The music that's used when they first.
 * Or how about Twisted Sister's "We're not gonna take it anymore" when the employees rampage through the Buy More and Team Chuck is invading Fulcrum in "Chuck vs The First Kill." Doesn't get more awesome than that.
 * Halfway through the season 2 finale, "Chuck vs. The Ring", a firefight of epic proportions between Team Chuck and is only make more awesome by the musical accompanyment, a live performance of Mr. Roboto by Jeffster. Just... yeah. Just watch.
 * Two words... Cobra Style.
 * The use of Crooked Fingers' "Luisa's Bones" in "Chuck vs. the Dream Job" perfectly underscores the scene's mix of mystery, intensity, and sheer badassery as Chuck figures out Roarke's plans and resolves to go after him on his own.
 * In "Chuck vs. the Suburbs," Chuck's introduction to the fake "American dream" life the CIA has created for his and Sarah's latest cover is accompanied by Talking Heads' "Once In A Lifetime." The music fades out shortly after "And you may say to yourself/'This is not my beautiful house/This is not my beautiful wife!'"
 * Any time Frightened Rabbit is used (which is a few times, Josh Schwartz is clearly a fan), particularly "Backwards Walk" when Chuck leaves Sarah in Prague in the season 3 opener, and probably the best example (in early-ish season 2): "Keep Yourself Warm", when Chuck is with Jill as Casey and Sarah find out who she really is. Truly awesome music used absolutely perfectly.
 * Arguably any song performed by Jeffster. Has to count as this as well as a Crowning Moment of Funny, such as their cover of Africa.
 * The song that seems to be the theme for the Ring in season three. It's simply called The Dark Side.
 * Chuck and Sarah's theme, apparently called "A Question and an Answer" is absolutely lovely.
 * The last three minutes of "Chuck Versus the Push Mix", in which, is such a joyful scene for every single one of them, and that sense of jubilation is perfectly underscored by the use of "Young Blood" by The Naked and Famous.

Firefly

 * The Firefly soundtrack. Specifically, the legendary intro.
 * And the unbelievably beautiful and sad music during the funeral at the end of "The Message".
 * Even more so when you know that the composer was afraid it was too sad, because he wrote it to mourn the death of the series.
 * Ditto in "Safe", where Simon is prepared to die with his sister.
 * The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jaaaaaayne!
 * And the theme for Jubal Early, aka the Evil Oboe of Evilness from "Objects In Space".
 * The wonderfully upbeat village dance music during River's dance scene both highlighted one of River's first true moments of lucidity and happiness as well as providing great background for the simultaneous gunbattle. Its one of the best parts of the show and gives the viewer the feeling of the Firefly universe in one minute-long scene. Oh, and it gives us an awesome pun: Riverdance. And Simon's proud look.
 * Inara's theme is peaceful, elegant, and incredibly gorgeous.
 * In "The Train Job" when Mal, Zoe and Jayne are in a bar fight and they pull out a gun on the crew and then Wash comes and saves them with Serenity. Greatest entrance ever.
 * Also "River's Perception / Saffron", the first part of which is a perfect representation of the show's resident Ophelia and the second part is a spot-on character theme for the titular Manipulative Bitch.
 * The introductory scene of the Reavers gives us this. And it is awesomely menacing as you see that first Reaver ship in the series loom up out of nowhere.

Life On Mars/Ashes to Ashes

 * Pick a soundtrack choice from Life On Mars or Ashes to Ashes, nearly any soundtrack choice from Life on Mars or Ashes to Ashes, but these two deserve special mention.
 * The use of the title song in the finale of Life On Mars is a bittersweet example of CMOA.
 * The use of Bowie's "The Jean Genie" in 1x04 (with Sam and Gene dancing in the club) and Clapton's "Crossroads" in 2x07 (where Sam and Gene escape from Chris and Ray).
 * Can we get some love for "Vienna" by Ultravox in A2A 1x06? ("This means nothing to meeeeeee!")
 * As well as the ending to A2A 1x08, using Supertramp's "Take The Long Way Home".
 * A2A 2x02 has the first appearance of a song many fans were waiting for: "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins. The lights in CID going out as Gene exits to the drum solo is just the icing on the cake.
 * In Ep. 1 of season 3 we have Alex's fantasy of Gene in a car chase set to "Ride of the Valkyries".
 * The riot scene in 3x06, set to U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
 * 3x08's music choices: MJ's "Beat It", Wham!'s "Club Tropicana", Vangelis' "Chariots of Fire", and David Bowie's "Heroes". As well as the brief, apropos reprise of "In the Air Tonight".
 * While the opening theme to Ashes to Ashes is excedingly epic, this Tear Jerker piece of music is just... wow.

Scrubs

 * Scrubs may suffer from Music Video Syndrome, but you know what? Its music selection is nice. Just look how The Coral's "Dreaming of You" is used when J.D. and Elliot hook up or how just how effectively The Fray's "How to Save A Life" was used during Dr. Cox's breakdown. Look. It's a damn Tear Jerker.
 * Just "nice" is not capable of describing the brilliance of Scrubs' music selection. Really, this vid shows some of the best.
 * Guy Love. Really, all of that Musical Episode.
 * Turk doing an air band of More than A Feeling with the Janitor and his friends? Awesomely priceless.
 * Light and Day by The Polyphonic Spree is made only more awesome by the worlds best rugby tackle.
 * "Be Yourself" by Audioslave was seriously awesome.
 * "Winter" by Joshua Radin always does it. Okay, the scene is a huge Tear Jerker, but the music makes it even more.
 * Scrubs keeps its streak of awesome tearjerking music right to the end with "Book of Love". Admit it, you cried.
 * Waiting for my Real Life to Begin. One of Scrubs' biggest Tear Jerkers.
 * Give a Little Respect.
 * I can't do this all on my own, no I know...
 * "Overkill" from the episode Colin Hays guest starred in.
 * Try I Will Follow You Into the Dark from the second episode of the 8th season. Tear Jerker indeed. Also an example of Shown Their Work because it's actually one of the only mainstream uses that gets the point of the song right.
 * "Alive With The Glory Of Love" by Say Anything for the Season 6 finale.
 * The Worthless Peons (Ted's acapella band) provided two undeniably awesome moments. The first was singing the theme to "Underdog" at the end of 1-23, My Hero. The other was singing Over The Rainbow at the end of 5-07, the Wizard of Oz tribute My Way Home.
 * Ted's Band's version of Hey Ya!. Better than the original?
 * That episode when to the sound of Keane singing A Bad Dream. This was an enormous Tear Jerker.

Supernatural

 * Supernatural is near-perfect when it comes to choosing music. You want examples? How about all the variations of Dean's Family Dedication Theme? Or, if you're not in the mood for Tear Jerker moments, rock out like a headbanging idiot because it's the time for the end of "Nightshifter".
 * "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" at the end of A Very Supernatural Christmas.
 * This should help. The theme for Metallicar. AWE. SOME.
 * The famously epic use of "Eye of the Tiger" after the episode "Yellow Fever"
 * "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas is practically the show's unofficial theme song. Also, "Renegade" by Styx contributed to an amazing Crowning Moment of Awesome at the end of "Nightshifter."
 * Do promos count? Because the music in this one was pretty sweet.
 * O Death by Jen Titus in the newest Season 5 promo. A better version, without Sam and Dean talking over the music, accompanied by the man himself.
 * Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down" in a Season 2 promo; the song made the whole thing Badass.
 * Smoke On the Water. Only this show can give a He's Back moment to A CAR.

Lost

 * Lost: One of Losts most famous usages of non-original music was "Make Your Own Kind of Music" in the season 2 premiere, in which Desmond plays it in the hatch during the opening scene.
 * The opening of season 2, after we see going about a normal life. After an explosion interrupts him, he uses a series of mirrors to look further and further through the complex. His gaze continues up a shaft to the faces of none other than.
 * Season 3, "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead:" Hurley and Charlie are trying to jumpstart a van by rolling it down a hill and popping the clutch. Just as they are about to crash into some big rocks, the engine fires up, and the car's tape deck starts playing "Shambala"
 * John Locke's second theme, which appears often during his flashbacks, is a fantastic, emotional piece that accurately portrays how far he's come.
 * The music from Exodus is stunning, especially over the saying goodbye montage in the episode.
 * Similarly Ben's theme, known as "Dharmacide" is almost perfect in representing Ben. There's the sinister first part, the tragic second part and a sort of mixing together for the thrid. Pure bliss. Also the S5 Ben centric version is even better
 * 's wonderfully mysterious theme from The Incident, which goes with the opening scene perfectly.
 * "Hollywood and Vines", aka the "setting off" theme as it always plays when a group is going off to explore the jungle and has an air of adventure and mystery about it.
 * The haunting "Ocean's Apart", which plays at the end of "Stranger in a Strange Land," and is the only good thing about the episode. It serves as Juliet's character theme. Especially in The Incident when they combine the "Ocean's Apart" theme with the frantic strings and the "Life and Death" theme while . Hauntingly poignant.
 * Desmond's theme, anyone? It most famously plays as he in The Constant. It can be seen/heard in that context here.
 * The medley of themes from the final scene of the show as is a guaranteed tearjerker. 'Moving On'. You will be bawling by the seven minute mark.
 * The theme that frequently plays when important characters die or during other emotional moment is "Life and Death." Used when, among other moments.

Power Rangers and Super Sentai

 * Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. They've got REAL SONGS for Zordon's sake!
 * Before we begin, we should acknowledge the contributions of Power Rangers composer Ron Wasserman. In his History of Power Rangers videos, Linkara refers to the "Wasserman factor", whereby awesome music can enhance the viewing experience of the show.
 * If Ron Wasserman is the King of Ranger Music, his successors, Jeremy Sweet and Jim Cushinery should be nominated for a close second place. They created their fair share of awesomeness as well, such as "Big Bang" and "Invincible"
 * Go Green Ranger Go.
 * Zords..... The lyrical version of "Zords" is great as well, and almost seems more Earwormy.
 * Surprisingly, while most of the show is supposed to be kind of a comedy, the first three seasons had a very epic soundtrack, spearheaded by a theme song that becomes doubly epic in season 2 when the extended version is revealed, and has actual lyrics. All of this, alongside a robotic Asian dragon weaving through stormclouds. The debut of the Ninja Zords did it one better... with a second verse.
 * And we keep dreaming of a world where all was good as we were told, We Need a Hero. Any old routine putty fight of the show, set to this music, becomes less obligatory and more awesome just by being set to it.
 * Any fight in a keystone episode of the show turned to gold when that song touched it.
 * You think the original theme was good? Try listening to it when it's being sung MASAAKI MOTHERFUCKING ENDOH!!! Your head will explode from the epicness.
 * Set controls to outer space now!
 * Thought Lord Zedd's theme from the show was awesome? Wait till you hear the extended version!
 * AHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Rangers... Turn on the Power!! Power Rangers! (Lost!) Lost Galaxy!
 * LIGHT. SPEED. GOOOOOOOOOOO!
 * SPD EMERGENCY! Also a Wasserman creation.
 * Zeo! ZEO~!
 * Power Rangers RPM: What could have been.
 * Power Rangers Dino Thunder: Dino Rangers roar!
 * Super Sentai. Engine Sentai Go-Onger's ending themes, and let's face it, the Shinkenger opening is leaking awesomeness out of every freakin pore.
 * For some other Sentai awesome tunes: well, let's start with Himitsu Sentai Goranger, the ending theme for the series of the same name, sung by Isao Sasaki. When all 33 main Sentai mecha (and two airships) took on a huge assortment of monsters in the Gokaiger 199 Heroes movie, guess which song it was set to?
 * Then there's main themes done by Mojo: Dai Sentai Goggle Five and later Kagaku Sentai Dynaman.
 * Dengeki Sentai Changeman, Hikari Sentai Maskman and Choujin Sentai Jetman (all three sung by the aforementioned Hironobu Kageyama). The Ending songs to those series, also by Hironobu Kageyama are also very awesome.
 * When the Red Ranger gets to sing their own theme song, it's always awesome. Here's one from Choujuu Sentai Liveman's Red Falcon and one from Kousoku Sentai Turboranger's Red Turbo.
 * Gosei Sentai Dairanger.
 * Kyuukyuu Sentai Go Go V.
 * JIKU ~ Mirai Sentai Timeranger.
 * Gaoranger! Hoero (GAAOOOOOOOO!!!). Even the henshin music is AWESOME.
 * Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (sung by Psychic Lover, who later went on to do the Shinkenger theme). And It's awesome ending, which uses jazz! Seriously, you'll be surprised how jazz works with the whole idea of Dekaranger.
 * GoGo Sentai Boukenger's ED, On The Road (also by aforementioned Psychic Lover)
 * Go-Onger has several mixes of its ending theme, which are cool enough in themselves- but the real winner comes in the Shinkenger vs. Go-onger movie, with "Samurai First Rap Ginmaku-BANG!!", which gives the focus to Shinkenger and blends in parts of their themes.
 * Say what you will about Tensou Sentai Goseiger, but don't deny the awesomeness of Gosei Knight's theme.
 * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger's ED Super Sentai Hero Getter is a perfect example of how to do an anniversary song right!

Kamen Rider

 * The Kamen Rider franchise has a wealth of awesome music, beginning with the original series' opening theme "Let's Go Rider Kick"
 * "Lonely Kamen Rider", custom made to pull at your heartstrings.
 * Kamen Rider Den-O, two words: "Climax Jump". Also available in Imagin flavor. And the many remixes of "Double Action".
 * The best Rider song of them all? Believe Yourself by Fuuga Naoto from Kamen Rider Agito. You're welcome.
 * Kamen Rider Kiva had a ton of awesome tracks during its series' run, most if not all of which were sung by the actors themselves. Then, June this year, Toei released a reunion album featuring redone versions of some of the previous songs. The fact that this happened at all makes it even more awesome, as it's probably the first time it's happened to any Rider series that isn't Den-O.
 * "Supernova", Kiva's Super Mode theme song (with Love Edit performed on the aforementioned Re-Union album by Kiva's father's actor) and "Shout in the Moonlight", Kiva's Garulu Form theme song.
 * Speaking of Garulu/Jiro, there's also his personal Image Song. Sung by the actor. Live.
 * The "acoustic version of Roots of the King" and "Fight For Justice," a remixed version of IXA's battle theme sung by IXA himself. That is awesome in it's own right.
 * Kamen Rider Decade had the titular character travel to an AU version of the universe of Kamen Rider Hibiki in episodes 18 and 19. Hibiki features Oni using musical instruments to destroy monsters, and Decade episode 19 ended with seven Riders performing a practical orchestra in order to destroy a Giant Enemy Crab. Considering this is the type of finale we never got in the original, the scene and its associated soundtrack was all the more awesome. It's possibly the most awesome, and the most important, Fix Fic in the Kamen Rider franchise to date.
 * Gackt's "Journey Through the Decade" as well as Decade's theme "Ride the Wind" and Diend's "Treasure Sniper", both examples of Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune.
 * The almost bittersweet "Journey Through the DECADE ~ Re-Mix RIDE 'Symphony'".
 * And from the Summer Film for Decade, there's Riders United, a BGM Piece used in the movie's big team up fight scene.
 * The Kamen Rider Black RX (Masked Rider in the US) intro music by Takayuki Miyauchi will get you pumped. Listen here and see if you don't find yourself singing along to the chorus.
 * The opening of Kamen Rider Black, which is also awesome. And you'll be hearing it a lot in the series since it has a tendency to play during battles. Here you go.
 * Oh god, too many examples. Let's see...11 Rider Dai-Sanka from Kamen Rider Black RX, a song dedicated to all eleven original Riders. Sung by Ichiro Mizuki.
 * Let's try Stronger and Tackle singing about their "brothers".
 * Or from Kamen Rider Skyrider, this medley of all eight(at that point) Rider openings, instrumental.
 * From the Super-1 movie, also done by Ichiro Mizuki.
 * Three words: Tokusatsu de Ikou.
 * The movies between the Showa and Heisei era TV series, which gave us gems such as Kamen Rider ZO's ending theme. Listen here.
 * Kamen Rider Double with "W-B-X ~W-Boiled-Extreme" with the sweet trumpet hook at the beginning. And the AMAZING "EXTREME DREAM" that played during the fight against both Big Bads.
 * "Nobody's Perfect" as sung by Sokichi Narumi, AKA Kamen Rider Skull, himself.
 * The Kamen Rider ZX one-off special had a great theme song. Dengeki, inazuma, neppuu!
 * Kamen Rider OOO has "Anything Goes", which is rather catchy. And that's before you listen to TaJaDoru's theme! And the powerful theme of PuToTyra form!
 * Continuing the epic tradition of awesome music themes, Kamen Rider Fourze, the 2011-2012 Kamen Rider series, has the ridiculously catchy and equally brilliant "Switch On!" by Anna Tsuchiya.
 * It's insert themes are no slouch either. One in particular is Shooting Star by everset, the theme for Kamen Rider Meteor.
 * Revolution is probably one of the most Hot-Blooded songs in the franchise (sung by "Kitadani Hiroshi", no less). It starts with a slow, gentle piano progression before picking up some pace and finally going into full throttle high-energy once the chorus begins.

The Ultra Series

 * Being a Long Runner the series is bound to have tons of awesome music, first let's start with the opening song of the original Ultraman
 * Ultra Seven's soundtracks were composed by Toru Fuyuki, and they were all awesome, here's the opening theme song
 * The battle theme whenever Ultra Seven fights the Monster of the Week
 * The opening to Return of Ultraman composed by Koichi Sugiyama
 * Ultraman Ace's opening probably has one of the best uses of a trumpet to start a theme song, once again composed by Toru Fuyuki
 * The opening to Ultraman Taro, Toru Fuyuki also composed it again along with Masanobu Higurashi.
 * Ultraman Leo also has an unquestionably awesome opening, heck even this fan-made piano arrangement also kicks-ass.
 * Ultraman 80's opening song is another display of Toru Fuyuki's awesomeness
 * Ultraman Tiga's opening song, Take Me Higher performed by the Japanese band V6 also doubles as an Ear Worm.
 * Inheritor of Light, one of Tiga's battle themes.
 * Ultraman Dyna's opening song composed and performed by Tatsuya Maeda.
 * From Masayuki Tanaka (The guy who did the opening of Kamen Rider Kuuga) and Kazuya Daimon comes the theme song to Ultraman Gaia. The rest of the OST to Ultraman Gaia though, was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi whom you may know as the composer to quite a bunch of the Hesei-era Kamen Rider series:
 * First there are different versions of Gaia's battle themes.
 * Then there's also the music themes of Ultraman Agul.
 * Ultraman Cosmos' opening song is a pretty catchy one.
 * Ultraman Nexus had two opening songs, both performed by doa, both equally kick-ass:
 * The first was Eiyuu
 * The second was called Aoi Kajitsuu
 * Kenji Kawai (yes, the same Kenji Kawai who composed the music for the Ghost in the Shell anime among other things) composed the rest of the OST for Nexus and it's not short of amazing:
 * There's Heroic the music that's usually played whenever Nexus goes head to toe against his foes.
 * Encounter and Arc Gate Theme also provide good examples.
 * From the prequel movie Ultraman The Next there's the titular Ultraman's main theme composed and performed by the renowned Japanese guitarist, Tak Matsumoto.
 * Ultraman Max's theme song good God will it stick to your ears!.
 * Ultraman Mebius' opening song seriously deserves some listening to.
 * The ending song to Ultraseven X, Another Day Comes by Pay Money to my Pain.
 * The ending theme for the Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial movie, Unmei no Shizuku Destiny's Star

Star Trek

 * Star Trek the Original Series is a treasure trove of wonderfully over-the-top music, starting with the main theme.
 * The tense music in the closing moments of the Star Trek the Original Series episode The Doomsday Machine is kickass, as is the swirling arrangement of the main theme used at the beginning of the teaser.
 * Vina's Dance. The original anthem for the Green-Skinned Space Babe.
 * Gerald Fried's brooding cello theme first heard in "Amok Time" (also played on electric guitar) does as much as anything else in defining the character of Spock. The iconic "Kirk Fight Music" was composed for the same episode and is probably the second most famous music cue for the series, after the main theme itself, having poppoed up in numerous other media.
 * Any episode scored by George Duning (e.g. "The Empath"). In fact, it can be argued that what salvages the generally weak third season is the lush, mystical music contributed both by Duning and primary composer Fred Steiner (whose eerie score for "Spock's Brain" is so much better than the episode itself it's almost tragic).
 * All the fan hate aside, "Faith of the Heart" (the Star Trek Enterprise theme song) is a brilliant song.
 * What was supposed to be the original opening theme was good too, however.
 * Agreed. However, the Mirror Universe opening theme makes up for it and then some. If they had that as the theme for the whole series, it would have been awesome.
 * Ron Jones's score for the Star Trek the Next Generation epic "The Best of Both Worlds" is some of the best Trek music ever composed.
 * The Star Trek the Next Generation main theme. Which is originally the theme to Star Trek the Motion Picture.
 * The moment when Picard says "magnify" cues the creepiest, most-spine-chilling music ever heard in a Star Trek production. Gene Roddenberry's dream, say hello to George Orwell's nightmare. And it will never be topped...ever: they even made Wesley just another character who you'd pity if he was Assimilated Into The Hive Mind.
 * Ron Jones Needs More Love.
 * "Mister Worf. Fire." Add in the fan rumors that Patrick Stewart was looking to leave the show at the time, and you had one of the biggest "Oh, shit is ON!" moments of all time. (They completely torpedoed it at the start of the second half, but... there's a reason it's called the best cliffhanger of the series.)
 * One of the most touching episodes of TNG, "The Inner Light", has a beautiful flute score composed by Jay Chattaway. The music by itself is almost enough to make you cry on its own, but when combined with the story, it's overwhelming. A fan-created 40th anniversary tribute video used the "Inner Light" music very effectively.
 * "Picard Song".
 * The (first) DS9 (here) and Voyager (here) themes are contemplative yet memorable. As a matter of fact, they won the 1993 and 1995 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music, respectively.

Sports

 * Sam Spence's The Equalizer or the even more Crazy Awesome Da Riffs Remix
 * The opening theme of the NFL on FOX. Inverted when when its being used on every other Fox Sports broadcast.
 * In that same vein, NBC's Sunday Night Football theme is pretty damn epic. Not surprising considering it was composed by John Williams.
 * Also related to the NFL: For some reason, ESPN uses two different themes for showing NFL highlights on Sports Center. The reason this is so inexplicable is because one of them is so awesome it sounds like it came straight out of Super Smash Bros.. and the other one isn't.
 * Speaking of ESPN and NFL, THIS theme song.
 * The intro for the NBA on NBC.
 * The song is called Roundball Rock, written by John Tesh of all people. After they lost the NBA to ESPN, the fans nostalgically rejoiced when NBC revived it for their coverage of basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics. NBC Sports was the king of this trope during the 1990s. Consider Gridiron Dreams (also by John Tesh), John Colby's 1993 NFL Live! Theme, the actual game intro theme, and finally Randy Edelman's classic used the last three years NBC had AFC coverage. Between 1992 and 1996, the close during the last game of the NBA Finals featured "Winning It All" for the British rock band The Outfield (this example from 1996)
 * The old theme when ESPN had coverage of the NHL. Game version here.
 * The opening theme music for ABC's Wide World of Sports. Combined with Jim McKay's narration, and you have the perfect representation of "The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!" (Cue poor ol' Vinko Bogataj going off the ski jump...)
 * The NFL on CBS used ES Posthumus to create this song for their weekly theme, but the really Crowning Music of Awesome music was the epic opening to the 2008 AFC Championship Game.
 * Which was only topped when CBS provided a mashup between the ES Posthumus track and Jay-Z and Rihanna's "Run This Town" for Super Bowl XVIV. (download link)
 * The 1998 Olympic Games' opening ceremony. Beethoven's Ode to Joy peformed simultaneously on five continents.
 * Both versions of "Summon The Heroes", John Williams music for the summer Olympic Games.
 * The British broadcasts of (American) football in the 1980s and early 90s had the bombastic "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler as its opening music, as bodies flew into each other and balls flew through the air. Stirring stuff.
 * CBS Sports also had several examples, among them their 1981-85 NFL theme, their 1976 NFL Today theme, the 1983 updated version, the "Pots and Pans" theme between 1986-88, the theme used from the 1992 Super Bowl until CBS lost NFL coverage, then revived for the first five years after regaining NFL coverage, their 1983-88 NBA theme, "One Shining Moment", used to close every NCAA basketball championship game since 1987 and last, but not least their Super Bowl XXI theme which has been used as their college football theme since 1987
 * The themes for MLB on FOX, used between 1996 and 2006:
 * Main Theme
 * Rock Version
 * Lineup Theme And the now-departed All-Star Game/World Series theme, whose abrupt 2010 exit coincided with Fox's decision to use the NFL music for all its sports programming.
 * Possibly the most iconic sports intro ever, one that's been going for 20 years now (until its singer got into some controversy, and got dumped): ""ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???"
 * "'cause all my rowdy friends are here on Monday night!"
 * Also for Monday Night Football: Heavy Action by Johnny Pearson (it's the theme without vocals if you're confused). They don't use this version anymore, though; they use an amped-up version; Edd Kalehoff (of The Price Is Right fame) has done versions of Heavy Action as well.
 * Almost every TV broadcast of the Olympics qualifies. CTV's coverage of Vancouver 2010 CBC's coverage of Athens 2004  as well as NBC's coverage of Beijing 2008  among others.
 * The BBC's opeining sequence for the 2008 games broadcasts was pretty epic. It's also by the creative duo behind the Gorillaz
 * Fleetwood Mac's 'The Chain' used for BBC's Formula 1 coverage This fan intro shows why it's so good.
 * In Brazil, Globo uses an original fanfare for F1 that's also awesome. And repurposed a good song by one of Keith Mansfield's former bands for one of their sports shows.
 * The now retired BBC Grandstand.
 * More BBC: Their International Snooker theme is pretty awesome. Even Bill Bailey agrees on that one.

News and Weather Programs

 * Even for a news show, Meet The Press has some pretty awesome opening music. It was composed by John muthaflippin' Williams. Yes, the same guy responsible for the music for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman, and a bazillion other awesome soundtracks. And the preposterously awesome theme for the NBC Nightly News.
 * That's the watered down newer version. Here's the closing theme to the Nightly News from 1995: . By the way, the theme is called "The Mission".
 * The Seven Network versions such as the 1999-2003 opening or 2004- opening or a quick summary of the lot is fisnationstate's mashup
 * Speaking of news themes, the old Wall Street Week theme was pretty badass for a show about money.
 * Where's the love for Philadelphia-based WPVI's theme song for Action News, called "Move Closer to Your World"? It's been used since the 1970s, with some updates here and there, and is still used to this day.
 * BBC News's kickass 1999 music, by David Lowe, who has done newer themes for them, still with the "countdown" motif. Yes.
 * For those of us who find the current BBC News themes too frivolous and/or ravey, the 90s versions are reminders of a simpler time, when news was serious shit.
 * Back to American network news, ABC's World News Tonight theme:
 * 1978 version (original version)
 * 1998 version
 * 2004 version (never used on air)
 * Another local news example: the closing theme used by KUSA in Denver from 1995-2009, at which time they unfortunately replaced it with another theme.
 * Yet another local news example: "The Spirit of Virginia", a song WSLS used officially from about 1990 to 1995, and continued to use in bumpers and station ID's up to its purchase by Media General and its revamp to its current format around April 1997. By the way, WSLS is an NBC station, AKA "The John Williams Channel" (as was previously mentioned).
 * Now, everyone might have heard Lalo Schifrin's "The Tar Sequence" under the Film section from Cool Hand Luke and how it became the theme song for the Eyewitness News format used in ABC Stations nationwide. At first they used it wholesale from 1968 to 1982. And then in 1983 Frank Gari remixed it (including a Texas custom version). The News Series 2000 package by Gari became widespread until Lalo Schifrin raised the royalites, forcing Gari and company to Jimmy Hart the new theme into Eyewitness News package. This theme was used until around 2008 when it updated to the New Generation theme.
 * Frank Gari's son, Chris, did an update of the package in 2005 for KABC in Los Angeles. The closing theme of Eyewitness News New Generation 1 is truly awesome.
 * This might be stretching it a bit, but The Weather Channel has some awesome "local forecast" music nowadays. For instance, there's nothing better than hearing the first minute and a half of the Home Alone theme while watching snow head towards your hometown on Doppler radar.
 * One of their forecasts was accompanied by the theme from Charlie Brown.
 * The Jurassic Park theme once played on TWC. Made a high of 43 with a light breeze sound incredibly epic, and slightly scary.
 * A local weather forecast (tracking thunderstorms, among other things) was once set to the "Solar Sailer" track of Tron: Legacy.
 * The Nightly Business Report theme, composed by Edd Kalehoff, who also did the themes to the aforementioned ABC, The Price Is Right, and Double Dare. Especially the second and third versions.
 * Channel 4 News has had the same theme music for most of it's existance. And It Is Pretty Damn Awesome.

Reality, Game and Talk Shows

 * Jeopardy!'s newest Theme Tune, though we never hear more than 20 seconds of it at any given time. Unless, say, the producers add an extra-long credit roll to vamp for lost time, and we hear about two minutes' worth...
 * There are lots and lots of Game Show Theme Tunes that fall under this. For proof, go here (You may need a strong pop-up killer). The main themes to The Pyramid, Card Sharks, and any incarnation of To Tell The Truth. The theme to The Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour too--there was a reason that the Eubanks/Rafferty editions of Card Sharks as well as The Price Is Right saved it for the times they had a car as the main prize (as well as "Super Ball!" for "TPIR" before it's retirement).
 * DO IT, ROCKAPELLA!! "Tell me, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego??".Here is the live version. And the CD version
 * The theme song to the spin-off series, Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego??, was pretty damn epic in its own right.
 * Susan Boyle on Britains Got Talent. Also a Crowning Moment of Awesome and a Tear Jerker, as well as a glorious inversion of Cute but Cacophonic. Listen. She impressed the hell out of Simon Cowell, who was first stunned to silence, and then he smiled. Repeat. She impressed Simon Cowell. Some of us thought you had to sell your immortal soul to do that.
 * America's Got Talent has its own great musical acts, from singing ventriloquist Terry Fator to insurance salesman turned opera singer Neal Boyd to chicken farmer turned country singer Kevin Skinner.
 * The Music used for the Eliminator in the UK version (which was reused in the Australian version) of Gladiators. Listen to the soundtrack version which has additional lyrics that make it even more awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1a4jqkEw1Q
 * The original American Gladiators theme. Guaranteed awesome from the guy who brought you "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky.
 * The UK theme isn't too shabby either "Do you feel POWER of the GLADIATORS? Can you face the CHALLENGE of the champions? Do you have COURAGE of a HERO?"
 * The theme music from the original version of Card Sharks. Listen here.
 * The Survivor theme song, "Ancient Voices", which gets more epic every season. Borneo's is good, but Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains have amazing rhythms.
 * Add All-Stars to the list.
 * The China theme's legitimately beautiful.
 * And Africa and Marquesas for their sheer epic quality.
 * In the second season of Robot Wars the Plunderbird team brough along their own theme song, Robots Revenge.
 * Hell, the Robot Wars theme full stop.
 * Legends of the Hidden Temple captured the adrenaline of speeding through a Temple of Doom perfectly right here. The Opening Theme also makes the blood pump.
 * Freebird, from Coco's last Tonight Show.
 * Any time Conan O'Brien breaks out the guitar. The man can rock some rockabilly.
 * "Your Future Yesterday", the current theme song of The Late Late Show. This post-punkish confection was co-written and performed by current host Craig Ferguson, who happens to be an ex-punk rock drummer. This is the extended version.
 * Not a traditional soundtrack, but a lot of the songs from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, especially if Wayne Brady is involved. Like his opera songs.
 * The opera song at the end of "Songs of The Western" in particular, for Wayne's ultrahigh note at the end, as well as the most epic gargling ever. Brad even manages to gargle in tune.
 * Brad singing a ballad to a girl named Niroshi, the Political Science and Economics major... We'll put on some sun-tan looooshiii. A lot of the songs from Drew Carey's Improv-A-Ganza.
 * How about the theme song for The Amazing Race?
 * From 1988-2002 The BBC had a policital program called On The Record; this ws it's opening. Not only is the music cool, it has Victoria Tower (a.k.a Big Ben, though thats the name of the bell) transformed into a crocodile in it.
 * Force Field the theme tune to The Crystal Maze
 * As a gift to their viewers for helping raise over for charity, Jimmy Fallon had Stephen Colbert perform the infamous Rebecca Black song Friday live on his show, along with The Roots and Taylor Hicks, creating what is probably the single most epic musical number in late-night comedy history.
 * The soundtrack for the first two seasons of the U.S version of The Mole is outstanding.
 * If you want some good Nightmare Fuel, try out the theme music for Unsolved Mysteries.
 * The real reason for The Sing Off.

Other Awesome Music
"Josh: It was the Bach G Major. Stanley: Did he play it well? Josh: It was Yo-Yo Ma."
 * For starters, George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone" as a theme song for Al Bundy's Crowning Moments of Awesome, the ones where a bone is thrown to him.
 * Chrissie Hyndes version of Angel of the Morning in season 2 of Friends
 * The theme song from the "1975 T.V Show S.W.A.T.".
 * Music from the original miniseries V, and V: The Final Battle. Especially the opening themes for both.
 * The second opening credit theme for White Collar--it's halfway through rock and funk and fits the tone of the series perfectly.
 * The soundtrack to 24
 * "Alexis' Theme".
 * "Palmer's Theme" takes on greater significance especially since a certain Senator from Illinois became Commander-In-Chief. There's greater significance in it when its main motif was reprised over  near the end of Season 5--at the same time that  . It was the greatest combination of Tear Jerker and almost sadistic irony that he's ever seen.
 * Even if you aren't a fan of LazyTown, you might have heard some of their infamous songs. You are a Pirate and Cooking by the Book are easily the most well-known amongst internet-goers.
 * I'M THE GREATEST GENIE IN ALL ETERNITY!
 * Master of Disguise and Woof woof woof. Villains always get the best songs.
 * Bing bang DIGGARIGGADONG!
 * Let's go!
 * Bam, bam... SECRET AGENT ZERO!
 * From one of the original plays, Sportacus explains exactly why he (and the rest of the elf race) is awesome.
 * Cold Case. Sample a little of its CMOA here.
 * In Farscape, when is truly awesome.
 * Further, the music when is born in The Peacekeeper Wars is so over-the-top you'd think it was the third coming of Christ. (The second? Jim Belushi.) Then again, the odds of that kid getting conceived, let alone surviving to birth, were pretty astronomical. He earned that overture.
 * Really, Farscape's opening themes are among the best idea of what the show is about. Somehow they combine cheesy sci-fi with weird-as-hell crazy awesome.
 * When the music swelled during the explosion of the Gammac Base in the Season one finale.
 * The theme tune to Airwolf. Hell yeah.
 * The haunting opening theme to Forever Knight. Heck, a lot of the other music too.
 * The Brunnen-G's song from Lexx, sung when going into battle expecting to die. You can see on Joost - There are whole episodes to watch! here
 * The fact that a soundtrack for the episode "Brigadoom" (the musical ep) has not been released is criminal.
 * The intro song to Jack of All Trades. For obvious reasons, whenever Bruce Campbell gets a theme song it ends up awesome.
 * It's only fitting that a miniseries that is made of pure win should have an awesome title theme. Sleazy yet spine-chilling, The opening to I, Claudius fits the bill rather nicely... and that snake!
 * Ultraman Nexus opens every episode with DOA's Eiyuu, which is even more epic at full-length.
 * The Wire barely ever had a score at all, so each season's opening credit sequence and each season finale's closing montage had to make up for this. Be warned, each montage contains massive spoilers for the season.
 * The Band of Brothers intro. Just goes to show that you can have AMAZING war music without breaking out the heavy drums.
 * But you still got to have the Horns of Heroism, though.
 * The use of "Blood on the Risers" in "Why We Fight" was pretty awesome. Also, so much of an Ear Worm.
 * Jan Hammer's KickAss theme to Miami Vice.
 * Miami Vice did it so often it could've been a trope namer. But some standouts are
 * Phil Collins "In The Air Tonight" from the pilot episode
 * Russ Ballard's "Voices"
 * Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It?"
 * Laura Brannigan's "Self Control"
 * Dire Straits' "Brothers In Arms"
 * "Got Yourself a Gun" by Alabama 3, as seen in The Sopranos.
 * The Heroes theme.
 * The rest of the show's soundtrack is low-key, but very nice though.
 * The climax of the episode "Company Man" when Claire is trying to get closer to an uncontrollable Ted Sprague, and we see parts of the house burn down. Chilling and gorgeous music plays in the background, which eventually silences all the destruction and mayhem happening. A true CMOA if there ever was one.
 * Anything involving Sylar's theme, usually played on church bells. Towards the end of "Trust and Blood", Peter explains to other heroes they are fugitives now, and an omnious rock tune starts playing in the background. In the next scene, Sylar and Luke are driving a car, the music continues and segues into the Sylar theme. This rock version of Sylar theme, even if it lasted only a few seconds, was a true CMOA.
 * The music playing during in The Fifth Stage. And the music playing during   in Upon This Rock. ... In fact, a lot of fans of the character were annoyed that he didn't get his own theme when even Maya got one.
 * Babylon 5 started off with pretty cheesy music. But they kept the same composer, and he grew the beard along with the rest of the crew. The third season opening was damned good... and then there's the series finale, one of the most heartbreaking pieces of music ever.
 * Season 5's theme qualifies as well... that tune combined with the quotes outlining the past 4 seasons in 20 seconds. Fantastic.
 * "I went to the rock to hide my face, and the rock cried out 'No Hiding Place'. There's no hiding place down here..."
 * One of the scenes frequently mentioned as an Awesome Moment in Babylon 5 is when Londo is watching, utterly repelled, as the Centauri fleet uses Mass Drivers to pound the Narn homeworld into the stone age. One of the reasons this scene is so poignant is because of the music -- an almost-unrecognizable variation on Franke's Battle of the Line theme.
 * Londo seems to attract a lot of Crowning Music; in the In the Beginning prequel telemovie, when he narrates about the Earth-Minbari War, he is accompanied by some of the most tragically heroic bagpipe music you've ever, ever heard.
 * Stargate Atlantis, "Beyond the Night", as sung by Teyla.
 * "Solitary Man", used in "Vegas" very much counts as well. The same episode also featured The Beautiful People whose style was really unusual for the show.
 * The opening themes.
 * Stargate SG-1 brings us Camelot, from the episode of the same name, played over the Battle of the Supergate.
 * Stargate Atlantis also brings us this awesome battle theme.
 * Stargate Universe has a funny, and touching use of 'The Worst Day Since Yesterday'.
 * It's use of 'After The Storm' by Mumford & Sons is similarly very well chosen.
 * This bit from the Japanese talent show Kasou Taishou.
 * Jeff Beal's magnificent music for Rome, which manages to sound plausibly ancient and yet seductive at the same time. Highlights include the percussive title theme, the Egyptian remix of same, and the deviously catchy "Janus Breaks".
 * Jeff Beal's brilliant work on Carnivale. The opening credits are the most gorgeous blend of art and music ever, and nearly every episode has Beal's beautiful original music in it.
 * "The Battle Is Not Over", which plays over the very end of the season 2 finale. The opening music for Carnivale is actually by Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman (Tim Kring's composers of choice). It is, however, indeed wonderful.
 * Part of The OC 's popularity stemmed from its brilliant soundtrack choices. For some, it ended up being a Gateway Series into indie music. A very considerate person on Youtube has thoughtfully culled the most memorable CMOAs from The OC onto one channel. The song "Dice", used in the New Year's Eve episode, is particularly sublime.
 * Life is uniformly kick-ass with its musical choices, but the best remains the scene in the first season finale, after, when he to "Down Boy" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while the sun sets and the traffic light changes in the distance. Fabulous song, beautifully shot, emotional gut-punch. Also, the use of The Frames' "Finally" in the near-to-last scene of that episode, when he, Reese, and Stark -- a nice full-circle with the use of their song "Dream Awake" at the end of the pilot.
 * What was the other song in the 'climbing out of the wrecked car/shooting the fake cops' scene?'
 * The alternate song, used in the DVD set and the streaming video on NBC's website, is "No Time Left" by Gush. All of the music from Life, both original and alternate, is listed on on this site.
 * There's a really nice use of Priscilla Ahn's Dream when Charlie finally finds and carries her out into the sunlight.
 * The opening theme for the HBO miniseries John Adams, by Rob Lane, is pure Patriotic Fervor, minus the Eagle Land, in a fiddle solo. While mentioning John Adams, there is also the cue called "Declaration of Independence", which manages to go from triumphant to intimate to epic.
 * The theme song to The Office (US).
 * Dwight and Andy's rendition of "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
 * Ladies and gentlemen, the Dunder-Mifflin Lip Dub.
 * Parallax. They made the Australian national anthem into one of the most stirring pieces of music ever. Although...
 * "My Lovely Horse" from Father Ted and, to a lesser extent, Dick Byrne's "losing" Eurosong entry from the same episode.
 * The opening theme for House.
 * "Teardrop" from Massive Attack.
 * European opening theme isn't bad either.
 * The use of "Into Dust" by Mazzy Star when somebody dies at the end of episode.
 * Also the use of "Passing Afternoon by Iron & Wine" when was a real Tear Jerker.
 * re: Stacks by Bon Iver as is brilliantly used. It makes for a very moving scene even though
 * Dark Road by Annie Lennox used at the end of 'Lucky Thirteen'. More of bittersweet, really.
 * IT'S... Monty Python's Flying Circus. It sounds like it was written for the show, and is nearly impossible to find a copy without the trademark raspberry at the end. It is actually the Liberty Bell March, written by John Philip Sousa, used both for its bright, energetic sound, and because they didn't have to pay royalties on it.
 * Turn the World Around on The Muppet Show. Could be considered one of the CMoAs of the show as well.
 * The opening titles are also quite awesome. It's time to play the music / It's time to light the lights...
 * The Jim Henson Hour episode 'Musicians' gives us Solid Foam. It starts at 3:39.
 * Dexter's main theme is Affably Evil incarnate, an effect only cranked up to 11 when combined with the visuals.
 * Hide Your Tears is a wonderful example of the genius that is the "Dexter" soundtrack.
 * Blood Theme is pretty good, too.
 * Trinity Suite is extremely creepy. If only Trinity's theme and Dexter's theme were playing during their showdown. "Hello, Dexter Morgan."
 * In the episode "Judas On A Pole" of Bones, Max Keenan's big damn Papa Wolf moment is backed by Placebo's cover of Running Up That Hill.
 * "A Pain That I'm Used To", by Depeche Mode in the Bones episode "Two Bodies in the Lab" fits. Besides being a great song, the way it was set was perfect.
 * "Bring on the Wonder" by Susan Enan, used in the episode "The Boy in the Shroud". It can be found here.
 * The theme to The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. So awesome, they just HAVE to use it for the Olympic Games coverage on NBC!
 * The Knight Rider theme. It was so awesome that people felt they needed to sample it.
 * The theme to CHiPs must have Took a Level In Badass, it's so mind-blowingly awesome. (Oh, wait - it did.)
 * The Simon & Simon theme. Rocks your socks off.
 * The title theme for Randall and Hopkirk Deceased is delicious.
 * Theme song from Malcolm in the Middle by They Might Be Giants. Also Dewey's Opera.
 * "The History Of Everything" by the Barenaked Ladies. Better known as the theme song from The Big Bang Theory.
 * The full version that the band played to open the show's panel at Comic Con turned the epicness up to 11. As if the fact that they showed up period wasn't epic enough! There's a clip somewhere where Simon Helberg said the accordian solo made him cry with joy.
 * "You Can Be My Yoko Ono" being used in the episode where Sheldon had a lady friend (for lack of a better word) who wouldn't let him out the apartment for anything except work. So fitting for the montage and so awesome!
 * The theme song from Rawhide.
 * Wiseguy: Nights in White Satin playing on the jukebox at the conclusion of the Sonny Steelgrave arc. The Dead Dog Records arc had some good music too, for obvious reasons.
 * Both ALF themes, especially the 1988 saxophone version: This.
 * The National Geographic Specials won't be complete without its theme composed by the great Elmer Bernstein.
 * Bryan Tyler's soundtracks to the Sci Fi... sorry, Syfy... Channel's Dune and Children of Dune are TV Tropes Made of Win Archive, but Summon The Worms is surely one of the best tracks EVER. See if you can count how many other movie trailers have used the first minute or so for their music.
 * "Inama Nushif".
 * The Different Strokes main theme. "'Cause what's right for you / May not be right for some...".
 * Finland's entry to the 2006 Eurovision song contest, none other than Lordi's Hard Rock Hallelujah. This won by the biggest margin to date; the record has since been surpassed by Norway, but it took a change in voting procedure to bring about that result.
 * "They're creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky. They're all together ooky, The Addams Family." * SNAP* * SNAP*
 * The miniseries From the Earth to the Moon had more than its fair share of awesome music, including the intro music and when Neil Armstrong steps onto the Moon.
 * The theme music for The West Wing. Performed live for your listening pleasure.
 * "Brothers in Arms", the time Charlie runs out in the rain with Bartlet's coat and the guitar kicks in. And the power walking.
 * Josh, Sam, CJ, and Toby welcoming Ainsley to the team with Gilbert and Sullivan posters and a rendition of "He is an Englishman".
 * And the military funeral of a homeless vet juxtaposed with The Little Drummer Boy. The West Wing was always fabulous with song juxtaposition.
 * The lead-in to the theme tune in the episode "25", which was helped by brilliant cinematography. Bartlet finds out that and he immediately drops the photos of her he's been sorting and his glass of scotch. He then glances at Abbey, and as the background music crescendos, the camera zooms in on one of the pictures. The entire sequence takes twenty seconds, but it's a brilliant 20 seconds.
 * The Jackal as performed by C.J.
 * The bit towards the end of "20 Hours in America, Part II", where the staff find out that a pipe bomb has been set off in a university sports facility and Bartlet gives a beautiful and moving speech written on the fly by Sam, and all accompanied by the Tori Amos cover of "I Don't Like Mondays".
 * The use of Massive Attack's "Angel" at the end of "Commencement". It's the perfect balance of creepy, tense and trippy as Zoey realises she's been drugged and then her Secret Service detail realise she's missing, and the repetition of "Love you, love you, love you" as Amy questions Donna's feelings for Josh.
 * The scene in "Noel" where Stanley pushes Josh to tell him how he really cut his hand and it's shown that music is making him relive the shooting. It's an amazing scene, if more than a little heartbreaking, and the music that helps make it so great?


 * The theme music from Seven Days. Just listen to it! It got a slight upgrade in Season 3 if you ignore Parker's naff narration.
 * {Ideal}: has plenty of good examples, but the musical segments Jenny hallucinates, the karaoke at the end of the Christmas episode, and Psycho Paul's theme are among the best.
 * The Sarah Connor Chronicles is another (excellent) Bear McCreary project, but the few instances where licensed music is used are epic, particularly Johnny Cash's "When The Man Comes Around" and Shirley Manson's version of "Samson and Delilah," both over slow motion action scenes.
 * The Pushing Daisies Instrumental Theme Tune, along with the "danger music" that shows up in some episodes (the one that sounds like Ominous Latin Chanting). And the several Leitmotifs and any time Aunt Vivian and/or Olive sings.
 * The grandiose, ominous, occult-sounding music whenever something grandiose, ominous and occult happens in Bortko's television series of The Master and Margarita.
 * The Kids in The Hall's groovy, surf-rock theme tune Having an Average Weekend
 * Though the show itself is simply stupid-yet-fun in retrospect (with the ratio of stupid to fun varying by episode), the original music composed for The Sentinel kind of rocks in its own right; check out the "Red Dust Suite" and the '97/'98 end theme in particular.
 * At the end of the 2008 series of Good News Week, Paul McDermott sang a touching, melancholy rendition of a certain popular song reflecting on the nature of the news of the year. That song?  See it here, with the joke spoiled. Around the chorus, it becomes awesome. Incidentally, this is also a Crowning Moment of Funny.
 * Also, this cover of Oops I Did It Again, where halfway through the song becomes a hard rock song. At the end, Paul's screaming is a thing of beauty.
 * At the end of 2009, Paul, Tim Ferguson, Joseph Tawadros and Tripod played an original song, Oh, My Stars. It's a serious and beautiful song.
 * Dollhouse features Greg Laswell's "Sweet Dream" at the end of Man Of The Street (also, every bit of the sweet but depressing lyrics is a ridiculously perfect fit for the situation depicted in the scene), the song "Lonely Ghosts" by O+S in the episode Needs, and Beck's "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" to finish off Omega, with the bonus that it was also prominently used in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which has a premise similar to the one for Dollhouse. Finally, there's "Remains," written by show writers Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon, used at the end of Epitaph One.
 * "What You Don't Know" by Jonatha Brooke is pretty brilliant, as well as being a Grade A Ear Worm.
 * The series finale "Epitaph Two: Return" concludes with Lissie's "Everywhere I Go."
 * Ken Burns is known for the meticulous selection of the soundtracks for his documentaries, but nothing quite matches "Ashokan Farewell" from The Civil War.
 * Skins and As If both have unbelievably awesome soundtracks. Skins's peak is probably Glasvegas' epic "It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry", from the ending of Katie And Emily in series 3.
 * Or possibly at the end of series 1, where Sid, Chris, Angie, a bus driver and  start singing Cat Steven's Wild World.
 * Dinosaur Jr.'s "Said The People" at the end of Series 4 episode "Emily" where displays the angst of the moment perfectly.
 * MGMT's "Time to Pretend" during the very last shot of the Series 2 finale, where . Epic.
 * The diabolically fun "Funeral March of the Marionettes", also known as the theme from Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Goood eeeevning, ladies and gentlemen...., along with the shadowy visuals, one of the best openings ever.
 * The theme from Inspector Morse is just beautifully haunting. The Genius Bonus -- the rythym of the violins spells out the Inspector's name in... wait for it... Morse code.
 * Mark Snow. The X-Files. Because whistling is always scary.
 * Also, the music that was playing during ghostly children scenes in "Closure, part 2."
 * The music you refer to that scene in "Closure, Part 2" was actually by Moby -- it was "My Weakness," off his album PLAY. At the time of filming, PLAY was on its way to becoming a hit, mainly because Moby gave lots of shows carte blanche in using the tracks for anything (trailers for episodes of PARTY OF FIVE, incidental music for BUFFY, car ads, etc.). Another X-Files episode to use Moby's work was the Gillian Anderson-directed "all things", which used "The Sky Is Breaking."
 * Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" for the Mulder/Barry chase up the ski lift in "Ascension".
 * Soul Coughing's "Unmarked Helicopters", which shows up in "Max".
 * There were also two excellent CD's, "Songs in the Key of X" and the soundtrack of the film.
 * The Russian TV miniseries Seventeen Moments of Spring has two awesome songs: Moments and Somewhere Far Away.
 * Several songs from The Mighty Boosh could qualify as awesome songs, and categorizing them as either merely "awesome" and Crazy Awesome is a bit of a challenge. But the Tundra Rap and Mod Wolves dance are pretty ear-catching.
 * The Trouble With Mr. Bean began with Mr. Bean himself waking up late, realises that he's running late for his appointment with the dentist, and decides to get dressed and brush his teeth while driving to the appointment... all while an awesome remix of the show's theme song plays. Have a listen here.
 * The opening episode of the sixth season of Charmed, "Valhalley of the Dolls", included a wonderful mix of Crowning Music of Awesome, Crowning Moment of Awesome, and Crowning Moment of Funny all at once: the leather-clad, biker-chick Valkyries riding their motorcycles to a kick-ass, rockified version of Ride of the Valkyries. Updating Wagner never sounded so good.
 * The HBO Miniseries adaptation of Angels in America has a score written by Thomas Newman. Had this music been nominated, the show's 11 Emmy wins would have been 12.
 * The Season 2 finale of Grey's Anatomy had the amazing song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol playing at the end, with the chorus beginning as Izzie breaks down lying next to Denny... The song also became a huge hit after appearing in this episode.
 * The Tudors title theme is just amazingly beautiful.
 * As is the theme "Anne's Final Walk", which plays when Anne Boleyn is executed. This one is haunting as anything - appropriate, isn't it? Here
 * The Theme from the BBC Documentary Series, written by George Fenton, is just... ah, just Listen to it.
 * The "Theme From Red Dwarf". It segues from your ordinary sci-fi spaced-out theme to the most over-the-top rock and roll craziness imaginable. Pity the full thing was rarely shown on the show.
 * "Tongue-tied" manages to be Music of Awesome and Crowning music of Funny! And, wow, can John-Jules strut!
 * The episode "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" gives the theme tune a western spin, resulting in one of the best and most spine-tinglingly awesome pieces in the history of Red Dwarf.
 * Veronica Mars - the use of The Pixies "Where Is My Mind?" at the end of episode 2, season 2, combining the Last-Note Nightmare with the finding of the dead guy with Veronica's name on his hand.
 * Veronica singing "One Way or Another" and Aaron Echols beating the snot out of his daughter's abusive boyfriend to "That's Amore!" are also very much awesome.
 * The jaw-droppingly intense use of "Right Here, Right Now" in conclusion to season 3's serial rapist arc.
 * How I Met Your Mother is usually pretty modest with the music. But when the characters sing, you'd better listen. Exhibit A: You Just Got Slapped.
 * And Barney's first real song in "Girls vs. Suits" was well worth the 100 episode wait. Here we go.
 * Fairly sure a video resume cannot get more awesome than this.
 * The opening TV theme. 15 seconds of Ear Worm goodness.
 * "Come on Jessica, come on Tori, let's go to the mall, you won't be SOREY!"
 * Marshall v. The Machines from "Subway Wars".
 * In 2009 the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest finally included a halftime show number called Tingaling. The song became incredibly popular, in fact so popular it was the most downloaded song from Swedish iTunes for weeks after the show aired. The comedy group behind the number also released a CD, "Absolute Tingaling", which consisted of nothing but different versions and remixes of the song. You'd think it would stop there, but the song actually managed to cause a political conflict between Sweden and Russia (the hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest that year). Try listening to it, it's quite catchy.
 * The theme for The Prisoner contains dangerous quantities of bongos, spy guitar, and badassery.
 * The Criminal Minds opening theme is appropriately creepy, but you've got to give it to Patterson Hood's Heavy and Hanging, which plays over the final scenes of season five's "Hopeless". Hotch, Rossi, and Prentiss's Power Walk to the opening chords just makes it even more awesome.
 * It's more terrifying than awesome, but the best musical choice is the family who burn to death to the sound of Enya's "Boadicea."
 * Gary Louris’ "We’ll Get By" at the end of "Damaged". The song is perfect for the ending -- it’s melancholy but hopeful at the same time, more of a feeling of "Life is uncertain, bad things happen, but the fight continues."
 * TV on the Radio's "Wolf Like Me" at the beginning of "Doubt", with the campus killings and Gideon's slow downward spiral.
 * There's also Johnny Cash's "When the Man Comes Around" in "Elephant's Memory".
 * Kevin and Garcia's first face-to-face meeting in "Penelope", set to the excellently apropos "Heroes" by David Bowie.
 * The opening theme to Psych. Which was written and performed by the band of the creator.
 * Due South was particularly good at this. Henry Martin, Eia Mater, and any use of a Loreena McKennitt song. Also, Victoria's Secret, composed for the episodes dealing with Fraser's (not lost enough) love Victoria, is a heartbreaking piano piece that sums up all the emotion in that relationship.
 * The fact that Paul Gross has a decent singing voice himself wasn't lost on the show's producers. In the two parter Mountie on the Bounty, Fraser distracted the crew of a toxic-waste dumping ship by singing "Barrett's Privateers" so Ray could slip out to look for evidence against the crew. And the final ship battle. "THIRTY-TWO DOWN ON THE ROBERT MACKENZIE!"(This doubles as a Crowning Moment of Awesome!)
 * opening theme: Fantastic, especially the organ(?), it's awesome!
 * The soundtrack of Green Wing. It is an appropriately odd soundtrack for an utterly bizarre show.
 * The 90's live-action Flash TV series came and went.. really quickly.. but Danny Elfman's theme tune is still some of the best superhero music ever composed for any medium.
 * As are the episode scores (and that of the pilot) by the late great Shirley Walker.
 * The theme from Van Der Valk is almost absurdly OTT for a Police Procedural.
 * The theme from 1960s and 70s Australian Cop Show Division 4 is awesome, so much so that T.I.S.M. sampled it for the song Thunderbirds are Coming Out.
 * 1970s Sci Fi series UFO, created by Gerry Anderson, had a theme of great awesomeness - John Barry would have been proud. It was writen by Barry Gray, whose themes for Fireball XL 5, Stingray and Thunderbirds were equally awesome if not more so. His theme for Space1999 is arguably the best theme tune ever to a bad series.
 * Gray's music for Thunderbirds is pretty awesome to begin with, but there's a particular theme that usually kicks in just after International Rescue have saved the day, which raises the score to a whole new level of awesomeness.
 * Specifically used in Spaced as music inspiring enough to launch Brian ("Are you a man or a mouse?" "Meep.") into action.
 * (Mike switches on his tape of theThunderbirds main theme. Several seconds of it pass. A huge grin slowly spreads across Brian's face...) "...I'm a MAN!"
 * And "Dangerous Games" from "The Cham-Cham". Especially when Penny sings it.
 * Don't lie, Bill Nye the Science Guy had a kick-ass theme song.
 * BEAKMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!
 * Alias had amazing music:
 * The pilot. The entire pilot. Vertical Horizon's "You're a God" (when Danny proposes to Sydney) and "Give You Back" (when Jack tells Sydney he's a double agent); Sinead O'Connor's "No Man's Woman" (when Sydney walks out with the Mueller device), and Peter Gabriel's "Here Comes the Flood" (Danny's funeral).
 * "Delicate" in the episode where Jack meets Irina's sister Katya.
 * U2's "Walk On" in "Passage, Pt. 1". One does not simply walk into Kashmir. The Bristow-Derevkos Power Walk into Kashmir, just after blowing a large hole in some PRF goons. In the same episode, Sark and Sydney driving along to "Bad Moon Rising".
 * January 26, 2003. ABC needs to figure out a way to keep audiences tuned in after Super Bowl XXXVII. 1. 2. 3.- HIT IT!
 * Matthew Good Band's "Weapon" over the ending to "A Higher Echelon".
 * Bob Dylan's "Shelter from the Storm" playing over the end of "Trust Me", when Sydney confronts Irina.
 * The opening theme! 30 seconds of techno-y goodness. And then surpassed by Michael Giacchino's awesome scores. High paced and a perfect fit for the tension building.
 * The opening themes to CSI, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. Why? Because they pulled three of the The Who's greatest hits ("Who Are You," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Baba O'Riley" respectively) and distilled their awesomeness.
 * Grissom's Overture is a great piece of instrumental music used in the show. Another really cool instrumental track is Investigation Suite.
 * The Who played all three songs at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, see it here! Hugely appropriate since the Super Bowl was in Miami and shown on CBS.
 * "Kung Fu".
 * When Sean Hayes hosted Saturday Night Live back in February 2001, he started his monologue segment by playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the piano. Then outta nowhere, the SNL Band joined in, and it segued into a rocking cover of Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven". (And just to show off, Hayes kept playing as he shaved, signed autographs, and took a cell phone call).
 * SNL's closing theme music. It's the sound of a party breaking up. Very effective.
 * Human Target has music by Bear McCreary. This is automatic awesome. The end theme is just as good.
 * The House of Cards Trilogy has some fantastic music by Jim Parker. The fact it has never been made widely available is just criminal.
 * The famous four-note riff from The Twilight Zone. The classic theme by Marius Constant started with it, just before Rod Serling's voiceover narration; the 1980s revival built up to it as the climax, by which time it was so famous that they didn't need narration any more.
 * The first season of the original series used a delicate, string-heavy theme by Bernard Herrmann. It doesn't fit the overall tone of the show as well as the well-known theme used in later seasons, but is a stunning piece of music just the same.
 * The show Northern Exposure was regularly praised for having amazing incidental music, usually broadcast by the local DJ Chris Stevens' on the show's fictional radio station, KBHR. The show used everything from Miriam Makeba to Lynard Skynard to Enya to Cajun folk songs to Etta James...one well-regarded scene featured the free-spiritish Stevens advising Ed, a local boy, about how to care for a wounded whooping crane he was nursing back to health; at some point they try to teach the crane to "dance" to the tune of Brian Eno and John Cale's "Lay My Love".
 * Community has some pretty awesome musical moments, namely from Those Two Guys Abed and Troy. For example:
 * Their duet of Somewhere Out There while trying to coax a mouse or rat which gets an awesome Celtic kick to it. The music also perfectly weaves together the three scenes.
 * And also the Biblioteca Rap
 * In general, the decision to score the zombie-movie episode (2.06) entirely to ABBA songs. It lands somewhere between this and Crazy Awesome.
 * The show's usual theme song is pretty good, but it becomes truly epic as a fantasy-esque piece at the beginning of "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons".
 * While as a whole the show Mysterious Ways was primo Snark Bait, Natalie Maines' rendition of Amazing Grace in the pilot is nothing short of incredible.
 * Sesame Street gives us Rebel L.
 * That song is actually a parody of Billy Idol's Rebel Yell. Sesame Street has done a lot of these parodies. Measure, Yeah, Measure (based on Justin Bieber's Never Say Never) isn't half bad either, although Elmo's unsuitably high-pitched voice is a bit of a Level Breaker.
 * Sesame Street's originals are good, too, although their subject matter tends to be somewhat unorthodox. Case in point: Put Down the Duckie, a whole song about telling Ernie to get his rubber duck out of his hand so he can play the saxophone properly.
 * Telephone Rock qualifies as well. As does Rock & Roll Readers. And It's Hip to be a Square. Could go on all day.
 * One episode of Boston Legal featured an epic cover of "War (What Is It Good For?)" crossed with "Over There", representing anti-war and pro-war testimony, respectively. Yes, this was performed in a courtroom, why do you ask?
 * The 1980s TV show Misfits of Science had a memorable scene of the electrically charged 'Johnny Be Good' giving a few hundred soldiers a concert starts at about 5.25.
 * The show's awesome theme music ("Science is over... class dismissed!"); would you believe this was co-written by the same man who did Conan the Barbarian and Lonesome Dove?
 * BBC's Top Gear has some awesome music sampled into the BGM for things like their regular challenges, super/hypercar laps and to generally live up the the general level of awesome. The one that stands out most is the use of Globus' Preliator during the Race Across London challenge in Series 10, Ep 5.
 * Top Gear is more or less a continuous CMOA, as evidenced in this short clip featuring a Lotus Elise, an Boeing Apache AH-64, Black Sabbath's Paranoid and finally Motörhead's Ace of Spades!
 * The series 13 finale, closing with the piece about the Aston Martin V12 Vantage possibly representing the end of an era and during a period where rumours abounded that the show - or at least Jeremy Clarkson's tenure on it - was finishing, was epic in scope and cinematography and writing all on its own. But mix in Brian Eno's An Ending (Ascent) and the result is breathtaking.
 * Several theme songs from Guiding Light qualify.
 * The short lived Disco ending theme was very energetic
 * The 1984-85 theme "My Guiding Light". It sounds so nostalgic..
 * And finally, The 90s theme "Hold on to Love."
 * Joey Tabolt's "Theme from The League of Gentlemen" is amazing, mainly because it seems better suited for an action or detective show and yet manages to feel very much in place in the opening montages.
 * It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is unique in that the calm, classical music used on the show is a massive contrast to the actual content. All the same, you can't say music playing over the car crash at the end of "The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis" doesn't somehow seem to fit perfectly.
 * Likewise, the Soundtrack Dissonance with the Fawlty Towers intro music - a genteel, tranquil string quartet tune completely at odds with the agitating stories.
 * Dead Like Me's theme isn't anything particularly special but their sort of "unofficial theme" is Metisse's Boom Boom Ba. Watch the final scene where this song plays as  and try not to Squee.
 * Stewart Copeland (and Emilio Kauderer)'s theme isn't anything particularly special? As the fragrant Piper Halliwell once put it, "You. Me. Issues."
 * Tropers and Tropettes! The best TV theme song ever! Hawaii 5-0 (full version. And the "reimagined", new version: which is almost as good, partly because they actually had three of the original musicians play on it!
 * Ryan Star's Brand New Day from the Lie to Me opening credits.
 * My Name Is Earl is a fantastic show already, but even moreso if you're a fan of classic rock. Highway Star set during a drag race? Oh yeah. Fat Bottom Girls accompanies a montage of Earl mocking Joy's pregnacy weight. And End of the World as We Know It when Earl and friends believe that they're the last people alive on Earth. And Freebird shows up.
 * Fringe's theme music is awesome and wonderfully captures the crazy nature of the show. Just watch...
 * Now with extra Retraux goodness!
 * The theme for Baywatch; here's the full version.
 * The season three premiere of The Sopranos features a killer mashup of the Peter Gunn theme and "Every Breath You Take"; the two songs have the exact same beat and fit together perfectly.
 * The 62nd Annual Emmy Awards opened with this. Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Joel McHale, Jon Hamm, Jane Lynch, and the cast of Glee all performing Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. Wow.
 * The theme to the short-lived crime drama Department S. Arguably the best TV theme most people have never heard.
 * Peep Show and Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger rarely has a show and a non-original theme song been so perfectly matched...
 * It might not be the best show on British TV, but Merlin has some great music. Have a mix!
 * The American QaF. It's really hard to find one song that isn't awesome. In five seasons!
 * The British miniseries Sherlock has some amazingly catchy, occasionally tear-jerkingand all-around awesome music throughout.
 * Mission Impossible has its theme music, the various motifs for phases of the plot, and the birdsong in outdoor scenes.
 * Anything by Joseph LoDuca, but especially his EPIC themes for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess
 * Castle has made great use of well and lesser known artists. So far the most outstanding would have been Unthought Known by Pearl Jam and "Rise" by The Frames. The latter was played over the powerful, touching ending of "Knockdown" and fit the mood just perfectly
 * The theme for the 80's Japanese cop show Dai Gekitou - Mad Police. Composed by the great Yuji Ohno.
 * Any of the music from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Admit it.
 * Carl Davis's theme from The World at War is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes.
 * His theme for the Thames TV documentary series Hollywood is, astonishingly, even better.
 * Michael Kamen's theme for Band of Brothers is an astonishingly emotional piece to begin with, but on the closing credits of one particularly emotional episode it's played by the string section alone and becomes a massive Tear Jerker.
 * The entire score of The Pacific by Hans Zimmer, Blake Neely and Geoff Zanelli is heartbreakingly beautiful, but nothing so much as the main theme, "Honor." Especially next to the imagery of the lovely opening credits, featuring charcoal drawings transforming into real images.
 * The opening for Game of Thrones. Awesome music plus Clock Punk Scenery Porn equals win.
 * Also from the show, the music for the final moments of season 1 (carrying into the end credits), featuring Dany and . The strains of the opening theme for the show at different points just makes it more awesome.
 * Another piece from the season 1 finale, as the Night's Watch prepare to go beyond the Wall to face whatever lies behind it.
 * This all-violin cover of the main theme. Holy SHIT.
 * "Warrior of Light", the theme of Stannis and Melisandre. In a creepy way.
 * The main theme for a Chinese television adaptation of Journey to the West.
 * Parks and Recreation's theme song could make even Eeyore beam with delight, and their genius use of Tom Petty's "American Girl" in season 3's "Harvest Festival."
 * A lot of the Dark Angel score counts, like the Expanded Space Needle Theme (unused in the pilot, but heard in "...And Jesus Brought a Casserole" and "Freak Nation", the two season finales.
 * The opening titles of The Borgias, composed by Trevor Morris and featuring Spanish guitar, a haunting choir and Gregorian-like chanting, is spine-tinglingly awesome.
 * Not to mention "Cesare and Lucrezia's Theme" which is basically a Spanish-laced ode to incestuous love. It makes sense in context.
 * The NOVA theme is 43 seconds of awesome. Made even better with the opening.
 * The atmospheric lighting and surreal music of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction? turned what was occasionally a by the numbers anthology series into something awesome.
 * The Vampire Diaries tends to do very well on the music front, but a standout scene is in the penultimate episode of season two, where British singer Birdy's beautiful, mournful cover of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" plays while
 * Placebo's cover of Running Up That Hill in the pilot episode, as Stefan talks to Zach, then opens a cupboard, picks out a journal and looks at the picture of Katherine from 1864.
 * Wires by Athlete in 2.06 Plan B, as Elena insists she and Stefan break up because of Katherine.
 * Of the instances in 'Masquerade' that really stand out are the use of Tawgs Salter's "Brave" while Stefan and Elena talk about their relationship, and Elena repeats that she needs to stay away from him, as well as Digital Daggers' gorgeous cover of Tears for Fears ' "Head Over Heels" while Stefan and Katherine dance.
 * Harry's Dream Sequence Musical Number, "Life Has Been Good to Me", from 3rdRockFromTheSun. He's not a bad singer, actually.
 * 3-2-1 Contact:
 * Opening version 1 (teaser and recording session)
 * Credits version 1]
 * Opening version 2 (extended)
 * Credits version 2 (extended)
 * Opening version 3
 * Square One TV': Opening theme and extended closing theme.
 * John William's Superman theme plays at the very end of Smallville.
 * Mark Mancina and Trevor Rabin's Soldier Of Fortune.
 * Was Threat Matrix a good show? No. Was its theme by Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky too good for it? Yes.
 * The Planet Earth Theme, and it really gets epic at 1:14.
 * Walking with Dinosaurs has some awesome music:
 * The Intro theme
 * Giant of the Skies
 * Flight of the Ornithocherius
 * Time of the Titans
 * Battle of the Salt Plains
 * The Utahraptor Hunt
 * Cruel Sea
 * The Ending Credits theme
 * WWD's sequel, Walking with Beasts also has awesome music:
 * Intro Theme
 * New Dawn
 * Basilosaurus Theme
 * Entelodont Battle
 * Gentle Giant
 * Earthquake
 * Blade Brothers
 * Both Jeeves and Wooster and Poirot have wonderfully quirky main titles that capture the flavour and style of each series beautfully.
 * The Horrible Histories live-action adaptation, which matches historical figures to the appropriate modern genre. A good many are flat-out brilliant parodies, and all of them are Earworms. Among, many, many others:
 * Born 2 Rule
 * The Vikings
 * Blackbeard’s Song
 * The Cowboy Song
 * Boudicca
 * The Tudors
 * British Things
 * Dirk Turpin
 * Cleopatra
 * Evil Emperor Song (Caligula, Elagabalus, Commodus and Nero)
 * Charles II
 * The Wives Of Henry VIII
 * William Wallace
 * Incan warlord Pachacuti
 * Spartan High School Musical (Yes, Better Than It Sounds)
 * I'm A Greek Part I and Part II
 * Aztec Priests
 * Suffragettes
 * Victorian Workhouses
 * Bruce Broughton's theme for JAG. Why did it take so long to have a soundtrack album?
 * The BBC and DK series Eyewitness opens with a famously badass theme song.
 * The Cosby Show had a different opening for each season, but the opening for season 5 is definitely the most epic. The arrangement that played during the end credits is a little more easygoing, but it has quite a catchy groove.
 * The episode "Hillman" when Clair sings a solo in All Good Things Will Be Added Unto You.
 * Al Hirt's trumpet heavy score for The Green Hornet is Rule of Cool made into music form.
 * You mean Billy May's score for The Green Hornet. Hirt only played on the theme tune.
 * From Misfits, Simon and Alisha's theme
 * Garth Marenghi's Darkplace has a spectacularly cheesy (and brilliant) soundtrack, particularly the opening theme. The show was designed to mock 80s action dramas.
 * The telemusical from 1966 Evening Primrose obviously has this because the songs were written by Stephen Sondheim, but Take Me to the World is the most prominent, regardless if it is Anthony Perkins (yes, that Anthony Perkins) or Neil Patrick Harris belting out that ending.
 * The Mahabharat War Song. Ten and a half minutes of pure awesomeness, and most of it is simply listing the major players of the Kurukshetra War.
 * Reading Rainbow ("Take a look, it's in a book...").
 * David Schwartz wrote the intros for Deadwood, Arrested Development and Northern Exposure, and is therefore an unsung television theme genius.