Top Gear theme insight

[EBS_freak]

 

I found this quite interesting... thought I'd share.

[MiltyG565]

Very interesting! I wish I could throw together something that iconic in 4 hours!

[Guest]

Aaarrrrggghhhh! He said 'literally' when he meant 'figuratively.'  I can't watch any more.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, Bassfinger said:

Aaarrrrggghhhh! He said 'literally' when he meant 'figuratively.'  I can't watch any more.

 

Did you say "figuratively" when you meant "metaphorically"?

[Guest]

Nope, defines the figuratively, as in reference to a metaphor.

[jimmyb625]

Dragging back to the topic (I know, I could get banned for that) I thought it was really interesting. 

It's mad to think that he only got paid £600 for the job, given how iconic it's become.

[MiltyG565]

9 minutes ago, jimmyb625 said:

Dragging back to the topic (I know, I could get banned for that) I thought it was really interesting. 

It's mad to think that he only got paid £600 for the job, given how iconic it's become.

I agree, and that he thought that it was very silly and hastily put together. While somebody else gets paid every time it’s played, too!

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, jimmyb625 said:

Dragging back to the topic (I know, I could get banned for that) I thought it was really interesting. 

It's mad to think that he only got paid £600 for the job, given how iconic it's become.

 

£150 an hour 20 years ago is almost as good as a divorce lawyer used to get.

[SumOne]

I found it interesting he used stock sampled drum breaks and cheesy bass and orchestral parts and managed to make it sound good. 

 

All those hours I spend trying to find a perfect bass tone are probably wasted!  

[Downunderwonder]

Tight basterd that I am I couldn't bear the thought of the hasty but stellar recomposition going unrewarded if I was the original writer. Maybe it's his only significant income but I'd like to think I'd still send a bit to the TG guy.

[BigRedX]

13 hours ago, jimmyb625 said:

Dragging back to the topic (I know, I could get banned for that) I thought it was really interesting. 

It's mad to think that he only got paid £600 for the job, given how iconic it's become.

 

The iconic bit is the guitar part and the composer of that gets paid ever time the tune is used. 

 

As has been said £600 for a few hours work some 20 years ago re-arranging what was already an iconic tune is pretty good going. Even more so since the rest of the arrangement appears to have been cobbled together using stock samples and loops.

 

Remember the real money is in actually writing the songs themselves.

[tauzero]

There's an interesting page on the theme tunes (including the one that Clarkson forbade being used, and you can see why).

 

https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_(instrumental)

 

I remember the original Jessica being supplanted the first time. I thought whoever was playing on the new version must have been the producer's talentless child, it was so dreadful.

[MiltyG565]

46 minutes ago, tauzero said:

There's an interesting page on the theme tunes (including the one that Clarkson forbade being used, and you can see why).

 

https://topgear.fandom.com/wiki/Jessica_(instrumental)

 

I remember the original Jessica being supplanted the first time. I thought whoever was playing on the new version must have been the producer's talentless child, it was so dreadful.

 

Very interesting. It makes more sense now seeing how the theme transformed over a relatively short period of time (seemingly 1997 to 2002), the 1999 version clearly being a stepping-stone to what we now know as the Top Gear theme. 1997 is very truthful to the original Jessica, the 1999 version is a bit more 90s, and very like the type of prog-rock stuff Jeremy stuck on many of his shows at the time. I agree, it's a bit jarring, but I recall a lot of TV shows feeling a bit home-made at the time (go back and watch the original Location Location Location and marvel at how bad it was - and how cheap the houses were!), and finally reworking that into what the iconic opening theme of the show. That's much less of a leap from Jessica to 2002 version, which is what I had thought happened; turned out it was more of an evolution of an earlier theme.

 

I don't think the Ian Morris mix of the theme is bad per-se, but, much like the 2002 theme, it feels very much a product of its time. This was right before Top Gear really took off internationally, and I think they were right to stick with the 2002 version, but I better stop there otherwise I might start talking about things like "brand identity" and the "feel" of the show, but suffice it to say I think the 2002 version suits both better.

 

The funny thing about Top Gear is that nobody really knew what they were doing for a good 5 or 6 years, so they just tried loads of different things (remember they had a dog for one season?), so much of what became Top Gear in its latter years was just guesswork, trial and error, and good fortune. They made their first "special" by mistake, and it turned out to be the making of the show. Funny how these things happen sometimes.