BrainDiarrhea

There is a widely read book that tells us, everyone is a sinner. Of course, not everyone feels guilt over the bad things they do. In contrast, there are those who assume more than their share of the blame. There are others, who sooth their consciences with small acts of kindness. Or by telling themselves their sins were justified. Finally there are the ones, who simply vow to do better next time and pray for forgiveness. Sometimes, their prayers are answered.

– Desperate Housewives, season 1 episode 8

Anyone who has ever met me probably knows that I am a nut for original movie music, aka OST. And thanks to a surprisingly large soundtrack fan base, which I am a proud member of, we can now enjoy this music in the comfort of our homes at any time we like, as most movie’s soundtracks are published shortly after the movie hits cinemas. That way I can return to the world I left behind at the theater and reconnect (sometimes even more powerfully) with the emotional state I gained while watching the movie. I am very thankful for the “public” interest in these things because they allow the composers (such as Hans Zimmer, James Horner, John Williams, …) to become well known, if not right-out famous, and their music to become available.

However, another “breed” of composers is doing probably as good a job as these superstars of the scene, but remains completely unknown – the TV show composers. Now that TV shows have reached similar production values as movies in terms of stars, costumes, sound stages, photography, etc. they of course require better music as well. And so it happens once in a while that I am watching an episode of a show like Desperate Housewives’ 1×08 “Guilty” (hence the quote above) and come 40:30 in the show I am in awe of the most genius music I have ever heard on TV … used in perfect harmony with the visual and story elements to create a very powerful finale for the episode. That was by far one of the strongest moments on TV I ever witnessed – all thanks to the unbelievable music composed by … And here’s the problem. I have no idea. I could look the composer up in the intro titles, but his/her name wouldn’t help me, because there definitely won’t be a CD out with this music! Even in today’s times when one would think nothing would be impossible to get, this remains firmly out of reach. And that isn’t the only example of the most outstanding, but unobtainable music, found on TV. I have episodes of Batman – The Animated Series, Drawn Together, Smallville, Buffy – The Vampire Slayer, Angel, etc. on hard disk that I keep not because of their story lines, but because of their original music. Only by watching my favorite part of the episode again can I enjoy the music … and over time this gets frustrating, because then I have to concentrate on it and cannot listen to it causually while I am working.

There is a legend, 28 centuries old, that tells of a queen who betrayed her king and the warrior he called upon to lead a war for vengeance. If love is worth fighting for, it has known no greater battle than this …

– Troy trailer

A very similar situation exists with trailer music. Trailers, an art in itself in my opinion, usually feature the best and most beautiful cues from movie scores and mixing them together and combining them with impressive images creates a wonderful, albeit short, experience. Thanks to sites like Soundtrack.net and their Trailer Music page one would think that the desired unknown music heard in a trailer is just a few clicks or the closest CD shop away. However, more and more trailers use so-called “immediate music” or special music compositions created by music groups such as Brand X or Musikvergnügen (who created the brilliant music for the Troy teaser trailer where the quote above is from) extra for the trailer. This puts the music again way beyond our reach again, just like the music in TV shows.

I know that my love for these pieces of music probably stems from the fact that I cannot listen to them over and over again, just like I would do with a normal track on a CD and that their sparseness is what makes them so precious. And I know also that there is no real market for these pieces of music as nobody really pays attention to them besides me. But I cannot help but think that a simple internet distribution of the songs could be profitable if the artists and labels would decide to pursue this … oh how I wish this would happen. In the mean time, I just wanted to thank these unsung heroes for their work, for making such emotional difference in TV shows and trailers. Not one of your fans knows who you are, but they enjoy your music very much. Thank you.