The Secret Soundtracks of Movies & TV

Summary

Podcast Summary: Twenty Thousand Hertz

Episode: "The Secret Soundtracks of Movies & TV"

Date: November 5, 2025
Host: Dallas Taylor
Guests: Supervising Producer Casey, Producer Grace

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Twenty Thousand Hertz" dives into the hidden world of vintage production (library) music—the soundtrack backbone behind countless iconic movies, TV shows, and even modern hip hop. Host Dallas Taylor, along with producer Grace and supervising producer Casey, explore how these tracks were created, their cultural impact, and how they’ve evolved from obscure studio recordings to beloved and influential pieces of pop culture.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Defining Production (Library) Music

• What is it?

  • Music made to be licensed for films, TV, ads, etc., created specifically for reuse—not for public sale.
  • "Production music, also called library music or stock music, is music made to be licensed out for film soundtracks, TV and radio advertisements, theme songs, corporate videos, you name it." (Casey, 03:40)

• The Golden Era (1960s-1980s):

  • Explosion in media led to high demand for affordable, professional music.
  • Major companies: KPM, De Wolfe (UK), Selected Sound (Germany), Telemusic (France), etc.
  • European composers contributed thousands of versatile tracks.

• Unique Process:

  • Composers produced up to two tracks daily; session musicians might record eight tracks a day with little rehearsal.
  • Musicians were paid only if their music was used, encouraging adaptability and catchiness.
  • Distribution was limited: a few hundred LPs sent to studios; public could not purchase them.

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2. The Sound of an Era

• Iconic Usage:

  • Film soundtracks: Dawn of the Dead (1978), Monty Python and the Holy Grail, kung fu movies (e.g., Flag of Iron), and more.
  • TV staples:
    • "Heavy Action" by Johnny Pearson = Monday Night Football (10:04)
    • "The Big One" by Alan Tew = The People’s Court (10:47)
  • PSAs and educational/industrial films: Dick Walter’s stings and musical fills.

  "So often, filmmakers couldn’t afford to commission an original score, so they’d use these cheaper library tracks." (Casey, 07:09)

• Aesthetic & Culture:

  • Mustard yellow, turtlenecks, smoky studios—an era visually and musically distinct.
  • Genres: funky, romantic, psychedelic, bombastic—mirroring pop culture at large.

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3. Sampling and Hip Hop’s Creative Rebirth

• A Bottomless Well for Producers:

  • Library tracks, often rare on vinyl, became prized by hip hop producers for sampling.
  • Sampling pop hits got expensive (and legally risky), but library music left more room for creative reuse.

• Notable examples:

  • Jurassic 5’s “What’s Golden” — samples "Look Hear" by Clive Hicks (15:00)
  • Jay-Z’s “D.O.A.” — samples "In the Space" by Janko Nilovic (16:03)
  • Kendrick Lamar’s “Hold Up” — samples Dick Walter’s "Shifting Sands of Sound" (17:20)
  • Travis Scott’s “90210” — samples "Itinerario Romantico" by The Blue Sharks (18:12)
  • Logic’s “Like Whoa” — samples "Liquid Sunshine" by John Cameron (19:20)
  • Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” — samples “Last Men Standing” from Django Prepare a Coffin (27:00)
  • Danger Doom’s “Old School Rules” — samples “Funky Fanfare” by Keith Mansfield (41:40)

  "There are literally thousands of these hip hop examples. There’s a great website called whosampled.com that shows what songs were sampled and what tracks." (Casey, 19:39)

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4. Library Music in Sitcoms and Pop Culture

• Curb Your Enthusiasm

  • Theme: “Frolic” by Luciano Michelini (20:39)
  • Pulled from a 1974 Italian film, discovered by Larry David via a bank commercial.
  • 70% of the show’s music sourced from the Killer Tracks library (23:18)
  • Specific library pieces cue moods, e.g. whimsical scenes, "Puzzle" for suspicious glances, spaghetti western tracks for dramatic Susie moments.

  "It just sort of introduces the idea that you're in for something pretty idiotic." (Larry David, 22:44, on choosing ‘Frolic’ as the theme)

• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

  • Theme: "Temptation Sensation" by Heinz Kiessling (32:06)
  • Most show cues also library tracks; juxtaposition between wholesome music and unwholesome story (34:53)

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5. Library Music in Sports TV and Cinema

• Classic UK shows:

  • "Grandstand" and “The Big Match” used Keith Mansfield’s upbeat orchestrations (35:24-37:13)
  • “Light and Tuneful” for Wimbledon coverage (37:23)

• The Grindhouse Experience & Movie "Snipes":

  • 1970s U.S. movie theaters used “Astrodaters” — brief, trippy bumpers set to "Funky Fanfare" by Keith Mansfield (38:29)
  • Quentin Tarantino revived these bumpers in Kill Bill and Grindhouse (40:53); now screens them at his New Beverly Cinema.

  "There are very few perfect things, but this is a perfect track for getting yourself in the movie headspace." (Dallas, 41:31, on “Funky Fanfare”)

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6. The Mind of the Library Composer

• Versatility and Authenticity:

  • Library composers relished the challenge and freedom:

    "I could be serious, I could be humorous, I could be evil, I could be nice and innocent… So that was very fulfilling as a composer, and it Kept me interested for my whole musical lifetime."
    —Keith Mansfield (42:19)

• Contrast with Modern Production Music:

  • Modern libraries are mostly digital platforms for independent artists; AI and quantization are common, reducing “human soul” (43:26-44:23)
  • Vintage tracks lauded for their real musicianship, spontaneous takes, and character.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the thriftiness of production music:

  "Insert anything, can you make it? Amazing, but also cheap."
  (Casey, 04:28)

• On famous TV cues:

  "Monday Night Football." "You got it, Dallas. Monday Night Football. Yep."
  (Dallas & Casey, 10:06)

• Grace, on the mood of classic stings:

  "It's like a Wizard of Oz going from camp." (12:00)

• On the persistence of library music:

  "This 50+ year old music is still actually really relevant to creators today."
  (Casey, 45:37)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------------------------------|------------| | Vintage production music revealed & history | 03:13–07:50| | Iconic TV/film usage & musical styles | 08:06–10:57| | Notable TV themes (Monday Night Football, People’s Court) | 10:04–10:49| | Library cues in educational/PSA use | 10:58–12:41| | SpongeBob & Sampling in Kid’s TV | 12:41–13:49| | Hip hop sampling; track example breakdowns | 14:06–19:39| | Curb Your Enthusiasm: full deconstruction | 20:33–27:10| | Gnarls Barkley’s "Crazy" & spaghetti western connection | 25:58–27:10| | It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia | 32:02–34:37| | British sports themes & "Astrodaters" bumpers | 35:24–41:30| | Keith Mansfield on composing & closing thoughts | 42:19–43:06| | Comparison with modern library music | 43:26–44:23| | The future and undiscovered treasures | 45:19–45:52|

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Conclusion

The episode celebrates how the “secret soundtrack” of production music, often overlooked and originally meant for background use, has become an essential creative force—shaping generations of storytelling in film, television, advertising, and music. Its diversity, authenticity, and unexpected modern renaissance show its undeniable relevance—even in the age of digital music libraries and AI compositions.

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Final thought from Keith Mansfield:

"I just wanted the opportunity to be all the different people I could be as a composer... So that was very fulfilling, and it Kept me interested for my whole musical lifetime." (42:19)

If you ever notice a familiar tune in a sitcom, sports show, or hip hop track, now you know—you might be hearing history’s greatest secret soundtrack.

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For more:

• WhoSampled’s Production Music Samples Database
• Stream vintage library music by searching labels like KPM on Spotify or digging through vinyl crates!
• Subscribe to Dallas Taylor on YouTube (DallasTaylorMP3) for more audio storytelling.

Transcript

[A]

This episode is sponsored by Sonos. It's hard to believe, but the holiday season is just around the corner, meaning it's time to start thinking about those presents. Fortunately, Sonos has a bunch of great gift options, whether you're surprising the music lover in your life or upgrading their home theater for movie nights. For me, I know my family and I will be watching lots of Christmas movies this season using our Sonos sound system. If you thought Elf was fun in stereo, just wait until you hear it in glorious 5.1. And throughout the house, I'll be playing plenty of Christmas music through our interconnected Sonos speakers. I can even use my Sonos port to beam vinyl records to my speakers wirelessly. And with the portable Sonos Move 2, I can bring those classic records with me into the front yard while we make a snowman. Give someone the gift of audio bliss with Sonos. Visit sonos.com to explore their selection of speakers, soundbars, headphones, and more. That's S O n o s.com you're listening to 20,000HZ. The stories behind the world's most iconic and fascinating sounds. I'm Dallas Taylor.

[B]

Testing one, two. Testing one, two.

[A]

Recently, our supervising producer, Casey, scheduled a mysterious recording with me and our producer, Grace.

[C]

I have no idea what's about to happen, and I'm thrilled about it.

[B]

Yeah, it should be fun.

[A]

Basically, Casey manages this podcast, while Grace oversees our sound designers and works with our clients over at Defacto Sound.

[B]

All right, should we do this thing?

[A]

Sure.

[C]

I'm ready to rock.

[A]

No idea what we're doing, but let's do this.

[C]

Me either. I'm so excited.

[B]

Okay, so thank you for joining me on this mysterious audio journey. So this is a topic that all of us in the podcasting and TV and film industry know something about because we use it all the time. But I think there is a lot of rich and interesting history to this topic. And there are a lot of hidden connections between stuff that was made 50 or 60 years ago and modern stuff that we still enjoy today. So do you want to take a guess at what the topic is?

[A]

Okay, so there's something that we would all know in podcasting and tv.

[C]

My mind went to, like, radio, maybe, like some podcast ancestor or something.

[B]

Not quite.

[A]

Speakers?

[B]

Sadly, no.

[A]

I'm just looking at things in my room. Sure.

[B]

Yeah, sure.

[A]

Lamp.

[B]

I'll play you a little montage and that may give you a hint.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

What do you think?

[A]

TV show theme songs Closer Close 70s TV show theme song 1979-1984 TV show theme songs.

[B]

So it's broader than that. But that definitely does apply to what we're gonna talk about, which is drum roll, vintage production music, AKA vintage library music.

[A]

You know, I was gonna say, I was like, 80s theme songs that are from music libraries.

[B]

Yeah, well, that would have pretty much been it.

[A]

I should have said it. And you said, interrupt with your thoughts. And I didn't. I will do that from now on.

[B]

So production music, also called library music or stock music, is music made to be licensed out for film soundtracks, TV and radio advertisements, theme songs, corporate videos, you name it. Now, obviously we use plenty of library music on this podcast, and a lot of the ads and promos that defacto sound mixes use library music as well. But the quote unquote golden era of production music was from the 60s into the 80s. During that time, there was an explosion of media demand. TV networks and film studios needed cheap but professional music. So they turned to these companies.

[A]

Wait, hold on. These companies needed cheap but professional something music. So very similar to the entire industry today. Yeah, totally cheap, yet incredibly professional.

[B]

Insert anything, can you make it? Amazing, but also cheap.

[C]

What about the specific era elicited all of this need for licensable music?

[B]

I think it was just an explosion of pop media in general, television itself. There were more and more networks being born, more and more shows being born. The movie industry was just making so much money and yeah, it just fueled this whole industry. Most of it was coming out of Europe. Interestingly enough, in those years, some of the best composers in Europe were pumping out thousands of these tracks. They were working for companies like KPM and dewolf Music in the uk, Selected Sound in Germany, Cermi Records in Italy, Telemusic in France. There were dozens of these companies and these libraries would give their composers briefs of what they wanted. The brief might say something like, we need music for a fugitive on the run from the police. And so they would write something like this. Another example could be music for a happy couple swimming in the ocean. Wow. Or maybe music for a spaceship traveling across the Galaxy.

[A]

Oh, 100%.

[B]

So composers would write one or two tracks every day, and then they would go into the studio and record with these world class session musicians that they had on staff. The musicians themselves would be recording around eight tracks per day. So they're just getting the sheet music, knocking it out, hardly any rehearsing, I imagine. And the composers would only get paid if their tracks got used. So they were encouraged to write stuff that was versatile and appealed to what was popular at the Time.

[A]

I can also set the stage here. I'm seeing thick rimmed glasses, sideburns, mustache. Smokey studios, for sure.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Brown everywhere.

[C]

Yeah, lots of, like, mustard yellow, like muted reds.

[A]

Were turtlenecks a thing back then? Because I feel like there'd be turtlenecks.

[B]

There were definitely 70s turtlenecks. We should get that on the artwork. A guy who looks just like that. So, yeah, it could be funky, bombastic, romantic, psychedelic. Basically any sub genre of music that existed at the time. There was a production music version of it. But it's important to note that this music was not available to the public. You couldn't just go to a record store and buy these records. Instead, the library would produce just a few hundred copies of these LPs, and they would send those out to filmmakers and production studios. The editors at those places would listen to them and decide which tracks they wanted, and then they'd pay a fee and the library would send them the master tapes for those tracks. So it was a very manual snail mail process. But through that process, a lot of this stuff did end up in film soundtracks in the 1970s. So oftentimes, filmmakers couldn't afford to commission an original score, so they'd use these cheaper library tracks. Or maybe they'd hire a composer to just write a few key themes for their film, and then the rest of the music in the film would be fleshed out with production music. So that could be for a horror movie like the 1978 classic dawn of the Dead. Here's a track from that.

[A]

That is so good. That's production library. Wow.

[B]

Yeah, right? It's really good stuff. As I hope to demonstrate, there is production music.

[A]

Spoiler alert.

[B]

In Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here's a track from that.

[C]

That's a library poem.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

No way.

[A]

That's like a Stravinsky vibe.

[B]

Wow. And then a lot of kung fu movies used a lot of production library music. So here's from a Shaw Brothers film called Flag of Iron.

[A]

Oh, this is cool. I mean, this is just amazing.

[B]

Also, the movie rating system, meaning PGR, etcetera, was established in 1968, and that opened the door to more mature cinema, which was another big market for production music. So that's how you get a lot of stuff. Like this track, which is called Making It.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

That has become such a motif, though. Like, I feel like that has become shorthand in movies for like, that exact theme. It's amazing.

[B]

The quicky wah, wah, waking.

[A]

You know, my friend Jordan Brady was the comedian in the 90s. Now he's a commercial director who coined the phrase bow chicka wow wow.

[B]

What?

[C]

Wait, I'm sorry. The fact that we have not done an episode on this is absurd. We must. We must. That's incredible.

[B]

All right, so it was in all those movies, but then it was also used on tv, so definitely also in sports broadcasts. So here's a track called Heavy Action by British composer Johnny Pearson. Tell me if you recognize what TV program this was used on.

[A]

Monday Night Football.

[B]

You got it, Dallas. Monday Night Football. Yep.

[A]

All right. How many points is that, Grace?

[B]

Tell us the score.

[C]

That's right. I famously don't like sports, and even I knew that one.

[B]

Nice staying with television. Here is a track called the Big One by British Library composer Alan 2. Do you recognize this song?

[A]

Oh, keep it. Keep it going. Oh, I know this. We can't stop. We've got to get the. Darn it.

[C]

It's like a detective investigation. Something like that.

[B]

Oh, I got it.

[A]

I know what it is.

[B]

What is it?

[A]

The People's Court.

[B]

You got it. Ding, ding, ding.

[A]

Look at that. I'm crushing on this non game show.

[B]

Yes, indeed. The People's Court theme song was also Library Pole.

[C]

That's wild.

[B]

Another common use for library music was industrial videos, educational videos and PSAs. So this is a 1970s promo video from the Masonite Corporation which made wood products. When your product is better than wood to start with, improving it isn't easy. We keep trying. So sometimes these were not full two to three minute songs. They could also be short little musical stings and fills. One composer who wrote a bunch of those was Dick Walter who we had on the show for our Shock Hora episode. This guy. Yeah. So he wrote a ton of those little stings in a multi part series called the Editor's Companion. Here are a couple more examples from that. This is a kind of a drifting into a dream type track.

[A]

Kind of like a Wizard of Oz going from camp.

[B]

Totally.

[A]

That's exactly.

[C]

I was just thinking that.

[B]

And then here is a Hawaiian track of his called Aloha that I think you may recognize. Tell me if it's familiar.

[A]

I mean, it does seem like Mai Tai on the beach type of thing.

[B]

Totally. But there was a specific TV show set in a aquatic setting that used that specific track quite a bit.

[A]

Baywatch.

[B]

More kid friendly.

[C]

I'm gonna say Gilligan's island, but I'm probably wrong.

[B]

Even more kid friendly. And it's a modern show or a more modern show.

[C]

Oh my God. SpongeBob.

[B]

SpongeBob.

[C]

SquarePants.

[B]

Yes, SpongeBob SquarePants. Totally use that one a bunch, and I think maybe a few other Dick Walter Hawaiian tracks. So today it's pretty hit or miss how widely available this stuff is. Some of it is very easily accessible, like if you type in kpm, which was one of those library companies. If you type in KPM on Spotify, you'll get a ton of results, but a lot of it is pretty rare and obscure. So there is a big subculture of vinyl collectors who seek out these records. And one group of people who've used this music a ton over the years is hip hop producers. So, as you know, there's a long tradition of sampling in hip hop, especially sampling 70s and 80s funk, R& B jazz, stuff like that. During the 80s and 90s, hip hop producers also sampled a lot of popular radio music, often without permission. That was just part of the art form for a good 15 or 20 years. But then, of course, the copyright holders started demanding royalties and there were lots of lawsuits, and the industry really cracked down on sampling pop music. So that's a lot less common now. But on the other hand, production music was made specifically to be licensed out and reused and repurposed. And of course, licensing some obscure production music record from the 70s is a lot cheaper than trying to license a number one R&B single from 1978.

[C]

Right.

[B]

Which is why this stuff gets used so much. So I'm going to do some examples in chronological order of the hip hop songs themselves. I don't know how much you guys listen to hip hop, but as I play through the original production music track, if you recognize the hip hop song that it was sampled in, you're welcome to shout it out. Okay, so Here is a 1973 library track called look here. Here is spelled H E A R by British composer and guitarist Clive Hick.

[C]

Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Wait, it's. It's like.

[B]

You'Re getting it.

[C]

Oh, my gosh. I. It's like in my brain. I was going to say Jurassic 5, but I feel like I'm wrong.

[B]

You got it.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yes. Let's go. So that is sampled by Jurassic 5 in their 2002 track, what's Golden?

[C]

Yes, what's golden? Yep.

[A]

Oh, that's cool.

[C]

Well, such a banger.

[B]

Yeah, that's a great one. All right, next example. This is from a 1969 French library album called Psych Impressions. The track is called in the Space by Janko Nilovic and Dave sucky. It's very 60s acid rocky.

[C]

I don't know. This is stumping me.

[A]

I have no idea.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, from here on, I wouldn't have known any of these, so no worries. But that was sampled in this 2009 Jay Z song calling out the overuse of autotune. In hip hop, it's called doa, which stands for death of autotune. This is anti autotune. Death of the ringtone. This ain't for itunes. This ain't for sing alongs. Get your chain tuck in.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

All right, next one is a library track by our man Dick Walter of shock horror fame. Ten years before he made the first editor's companion album, he put out this groovy song called Shifting Sands of Sound.

[A]

I have no idea.

[C]

It sounds like something like MF Doom would sample creatively, but I have no idea what it's actually in.

[B]

Totally. That's a good guess. So in 2011, that was sampled on the debut album of one of the most influential rappers of the modern era, Kendrick Lamar, with his song Hold Up.

[C]

Kendrick Lamar is so good.

[A]

I'm sorry to everyone out there who's just disgusted with us right now. I'm sorry.

[B]

It's all right. It's not our expertise. That's okay.

[C]

My hip hop expertise is definitely, like, 80s to 90s and drops off sharply.

[A]

Sure.

[B]

All right. The next one is a 1970 track from an Italian group called the Blue Sharks with their track Itinerario Romantico, which means romantic itinerary. And who doesn't love a good romantic itinerary?

[A]

Okay.

[C]

I love that so much. I don't know.

[A]

No, no.

[C]

It's delightful, though.

[A]

Sorry, everybody.

[B]

So 45 years later, that was sampled for this song by Travis Scott. This is a song called 90210.

[A]

I am feeling like an old man, honestly saying.

[B]

All right, last one in this section. So this is a 1973 track called Liquid Sunshine by British composer John Cameron.

[A]

Oh, I recognize this.

[C]

Ooh, I don't.

[A]

It's down there. I just don't. I don't have it.

[B]

Tell me if this helps. If you speed it up and add a drum beat to it, you get this single from the rapper whose legal name is Sir Robert Bryson hall ii.

[C]

Incredible.

[A]

Sir Robert Bryson hall ii.

[B]

Apparently, that's his actual birth name.

[C]

I'm obsessed.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I saw a Reddit discussion that was like, how is his name sir? He's American and he's not a knight. And they're like. His parents just literally put sir at the top of his name.

[A]

Gosh, that's a real Workaround.

[B]

So the answer is Logic. Oh. Logic's real name is Sir Robert Bryson hall ii.

[C]

Oh, that's so cool.

[B]

And his song is called, like, Whoa. You already know. You already know. There are literally thousands of these hip hop examples. There's a great website called whosampled.com that shows what songs were sampled and what tracks. And you can filter by production music, and you'll see over 1000 vintage production music tracks. And then each one of those lists anywhere from one to several dozen hip hop songs that sampled that particular track. So it really is this bottomless well of material that hip hop producers can draw from. But it's not just them who find modern uses for these tracks. It's also filmmakers and TV producer. So here is a piece of vintage production music that I know you have heard and will recognize. So just go ahead and shout it out as soon as you recognize it. Oh, boy.

[C]

Okay. Curve your enthusiasm.

[B]

Yay.

[A]

No way. Is it really that was production music?

[B]

Yes.

[C]

Oh, my God. That's incredible.

[B]

So that's the theme from Curb youb Enthusiasm. It's a track called Frolic by the Italian composer Luciano Michelini. It was written for a 1974 Italian film called La Bellissima Estate, which means the Beautiful Summer. And yum. I found the scene on YouTube where this song plays, but it wasn't subtitled, so it was hard to really get the full context. But in the scene, there's a bunch of kids running around a neighborhood, and this, you know, quirky, upbeat track is playing. And then they bring some fish to a guy who lives in a shack on the beach.

[C]

Great.

[B]

And they gift him with some fish so that he'll tell them a fun story. And then they all sit down, and he's, like, doing this dramatic story for them to listen to. So the soundtrack to that film was owned by RCA Records in Italy. They sold the rights to a production music company called Killer Tracks, which was eventually acquired by Universal. So now I'm gonna play you a clip from an interview with Larry David in the Curb cast at the Paley center for Media. Larry's talking about how he first heard the song in the mid-90s.

[D]

I was watching television about five years ago, and there was a bank commercial. I love that. Where'd they get that from?

[B]

So according to Larry, the commercial ran for a week, and then he never saw it again. And he didn't know how to get ahold of the music.

[D]

So I had my assistant research it. I said, there's this bank commercial. I forgot the name of the bank. And then it became this whole ordeal to get the name of the bank and the music. And finally she tracked it down and I had the name and I sat on the name for four years.

[B]

And then when he was coming up with the idea for Curb youb Enthusiasm, he realized that that tuba heavy, circusy sound would be a great fit.

[D]

It just sort of introduces the idea that you're in for something pretty idiotic.

[C]

That's amazing. That's exactly what I was thinking as you were playing those clips. It almost sets you up for the like, buffoonery to come. It's very self aware in a great way.

[B]

Totally. And they built the whole soundtrack around that. So when they started working on the show, the music supervisor of Curb went back to Killer Tracks, which had this particular song, and asked them for more material along those lines. And they gave him 70 CDs worth of music.

[C]

Oh my God.

[B]

And according to him, that's where around 70% of the show's music came from. So One of the CDs they got was from a library album called Circus Cartoons Comedy. And here is one track from it called Amusement by Italian composer Franco Michelita. See?

[C]

Oh, I totally recognize that. Yes.

[B]

Yeah, Larry's feeling good. He's like gallivanting around la. Yeah, he's walking down the street. Yeah, exactly.

[C]

Another thing I'm thinking about as you were playing that too, is the tuba as shorthand for goofiness or awkwardness or something.

[B]

Yeah, totally. It works perfectly for that. I wonder if tuba players feel annoyed that people. It's like a goofy. Yeah, they're like, I can.

[C]

Playful instrument.

[B]

A beautiful heart wrenching ballad on my tuba. If you would only let me. And then here is another track from that same CD from the same composer. This one's called the Puzzle. So this is like when Larry's doing that thing where he's trying to figure out if someone's lying and he's looking at them suspiciously and they're kind of looking each other up and down trying to figure out who's lying. And then it kind of ends and.

[C]

He goes, okay, okay, that's so good.

[B]

So along with those Circus Y tracks, Curb also has some spaghetti Western music that also came from music libraries. So the spaghetti Western stuff plays in scenes that feature Susie. If you're not familiar, Susie is the wife of Larry's manager, Jeff. She's hilariously intense and frequently furious at Larry and Jeff. And when she's about to unload on them, they'll often play this track.

[C]

It's so Good. Oh, man.

[B]

I just can't hear that without thinking of Susie spewing a beautiful monologue of curse words at Geoff and Larry. So that one is a track called For Whom the Bell Tolls by Italian composer Gianni Ferrio. And there's one last track from Curb that I want to play you. It's another spaghetti western style track. But tell me if this sounds like anything else outside of what you've heard on Curb Enthusiasm.

[C]

Okay.

[A]

Makes me think of a Quentin Tarantino film.

[B]

Sure. Yeah, he likes.

[C]

Totally does. Yeah. Very Kill Bill esque.

[B]

Does that ring any bells?

[A]

No, I. I don't think so.

[B]

I don't.

[C]

Yeah, I don't think so. Somewhere, like, my brain is. Is grasping, but yeah, somewhere deep.

[B]

So anyway, when I first heard it, I was like, is that Crazy By Gnarls Barkley? Is that like an instrumental version of Crazy?

[C]

Oh, my God.

[E]

No way.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

Yeah. So it turns out that it's a track called in the Tucson cemetery from a 1968 spaghetti Western called Django Prepare a Coffin, composed by two brothers, Gianfranco and Gianpiero Reverberi, was later put on a production music compilation and retitled Last Men Standing. And then many years later, Gnarls Barkley sampled it for Crazy.

[C]

Whoa.

[B]

And also used parts of the trumpet melody as the vocal melody. And because of that, those two Italian composers are credited as co writers on Crazy. Wow.

[A]

I'm really proud of Italy.

[B]

Yeah, right?

[C]

They're showing up for this.

[A]

Great job.

[C]

Great work, everyone.

[A]

Italians, you know what is up?

[C]

Is that why it's called a spaghetti western?

[B]

Yep. It refers to westerns made in Italy in the like 60s and 70s.

[C]

Okay. The more you know, I just. I was like, wait a second, is that why.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

After the break, another modern sitcom that's full of vintage production music, plus the 70s library track that Quentin Tarantino brought back into style. Starting this podcast felt like building a plane mid flight. Editing scripts, scheduling episodes, designing a logo. In the beginning, I was wearing basically every hat. And soon enough, I knew we'd need a web store to sell merch, which I knew basically nothing about. Fortunately, I found Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world. From indie startups to global giants. With beautiful website templates, AI writing tools, and built in marketing features, Shopify gives you everything you need to look professional from day one. And if you ever need advice, Shopify has world class expertise in everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns. Turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com 20k that's shopify.com 20k shopify.com 20k Congratulations to Daniel Margulias for getting last episode's mystery sound right. That's the sound of an imp being defeated in the original Doom game. That sound effect is from a Lucasfilm sound library in a set of Camel vocalizations. Here are a few more, and here's this episode's mystery sound. If you know that sound, tell us at the web address mystery.200.org Anyone who guesses it right will be entered to win a super soft 20,000Hz t shirt. Running a modern business on a traditional phone system feels outdated, almost like typing a novel on a typewriter. If you're ready to bring your phone system into the modern age, then you need quo. Formerly called OpenPhone, it works right from your phone or computer so you're never tied to a desk. The whole team can share a single number and manage calls and text together like a shared inbox. And Quo's built in AI can log calls, summarize conversations, and even set up next steps with your customers. It's no wonder why Quo is the number one business phone system with 3000 reviews on G2, it's rated the top choice in customer satisfaction. Quo is offering our listeners 20% off your first six [e-mail] 20K that's Q U O.com 2 0K. You can even keep your existing number for free. No missed calls, no missed customers Hiring often feels like a huge gamble, but with Indeed, you can remove a lot of that uncertainty. With Indeed's Sponsored Jobs option, your posting jumps to the top of the results for relevant candidates. That way, you'll get more applications from people who actually fit what you're looking for. According to Indeed's data, sponsored jobs are 90% more likely to result in a hire because you reach a bigger pool of qualified candidates. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes. With Indeed's Sponsored Jobs, you'll get more results with less stress and less time. Listeners of 20,000 Hz will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your job get the premium status it deserves@ Indeed.com Hertz just go to Indeed.com Hertz right now and support our show by saying you heard about indeed on 20,000 Hz. That's indeed.com Hz terms and conditions apply. Hiring do it the Right Way With Indeed.

[B]

All Right, so that concludes our Curb section. But there's another sitcom that does something really similar and once again, you'll definitely recognize it. So just shout it out as soon as you know what it is.

[C]

It's Always Sunny.

[B]

Yep. Love it.

[C]

No way.

[B]

Always Sunny. That is a production music track called Temptation Sensation by the German composer Heinz Kaisling. I couldn't find the exact year it was recorded, but based on his career, it would have been in the 60s or 70s. And in interview with Entertainment Weekly, Charlie Day said that the original pilot of Always Sunny actually took place in Los Angeles, which is interesting to think about since, you know, Philly is obviously such a core part of the show.

[A]

Totally.

[B]

So in that LA based pilot episode, they used a different theme song which was inspired by the city of la.

[A]

Oh, that's good.

[B]

So that's a cha cha version of the song Hooray for Hollywood, which is from a 1937 musical called Hollywood Hotel. Here's what the original Hooray for Hollywood sounds like. Hooray for Hollywood, that's golly. Where any office boy or young mechanic. It's a pretty famous showbiz tune. An instrumental version of that song plays in the closing credits of the Academy Awards. But according to Charlie Day, FX loved their pilot episode, but they wanted to take out the Hollywood element and that's why they moved the setting to Philadelphia. And for the music. Charlie asked their music supervisor for everything he had that was, quote, Leave it to Beaver in a big band swing kind of feel. Very specific request.

[C]

Yeah, for real.

[B]

So their music supervisor came back with a bunch of vintage library tracks, and that's what they use for most of the show. For example, here's a song called Off Broadway by another German composer, Werner Tautz.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my gosh. Wow. No way. This is blowing my mind.

[B]

So Charlie Day wanted to use that last track as the show's theme song, but FX's president at the time really loved Temptation Sensation, the one that actually became the theme and put his foot down. But yeah, most of the music in the show is from those two German composers, Kaisling and Tautz. Here's one more from Kaisling called Blue Blood. Wow.

[C]

It's like hard to not see it in the or like hear it with the show. I know, it's amazing to me.

[B]

And then one more from Tout's called Derby Day.

[C]

Another thing that's funny to me about this is that the music sounds so wholesome.

[B]

Yeah, totally.

[C]

And the show is the complete opposite. So there's just this hilarious juxtaposition happening, which, like, really works.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think that contrast is a big part of what makes it work so well.

[C]

To me, it's paralleling how hip hop artists use it. It's like the ultimate collaboration of, like, I'm gonna take your original creation, and then I'm gonna overlay my own artistic interpretation over that, and it's gonna create this whole.

[B]

Does it change the vibe of it or what the result is?

[C]

It's so cool.

[B]

All right, we've reached the last segment. This one's maybe my favorite because I'm such a movie nerd.

[C]

Oh, my God.

[B]

This final track is written by British composer Keith Mansfield, who is a legend in the world of production music. He wrote a ton of music for the company kpm, and specifically, he made a number of songs that became sports themes in England. So there was a show there called Grandstand, which was the BBC's flagship sports program, and they used this Keith Mansfield track as their theme for 30 years or so. I feel like sports themes were a lot more wholesome back then.

[C]

Yeah. A lot more, like, levity than what we have now.

[B]

I totally like.

[A]

It's a little bit more of like, hey, everyone, this is a game, right? Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

Now it's like intense sports for guys. Are you ready to rock? Some competition? Get your beer and hot wings.

[C]

Cause it's sports time Saturday, Saturday, Saturday.

[B]

Oh, man. Yeah. Another wholesome one is a soccer show called the Big Match that ran from the 60s to the 90s. They use one of Keith's tracks as their opening theme song.

[A]

I love the bins.

[B]

From.

[C]

Yeah, it's so good that.

[A]

I mean, just the interpretation on that, though. Somebody's like, for soccer or I guess football, they'd be like, this works. But I'm not exactly sure where they were mentally.

[B]

Yeah, I agree. And the track is called Young Scene, which to me feels like a much more accurate. Like, it sounds like some 60s teenagers bopping at a pool party, you know?

[C]

Right.

[A]

Oh, that's it. Yeah.

[B]

So Keith was in the right headspace for a young scene, but someone was like, no, football.

[A]

And he's like, I'll take the check.

[B]

Right. Yeah. One more of these sports ones. This is for the BBC's coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. They used a Keith Mansfield track called Light and Tuneful.

[A]

There's more bins.

[B]

I love that title. Like, and tuneful.

[C]

And tuneful.

[B]

It sounds like a. Like a polite British person asking how you'd like your tea, but instead they're asking how you'd like your music. Like, oh, how do you like your music? Oh, light and tuneful, please. Oh, certainly, dear. Light and tuneful it shall be.

[A]

I feel like everyone is, like, playing tennis on their tippy toes or something.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

Anyway, Keith Mansfield also wrote a song that was used in a series of snipes. Now, a snipe is a movie industry term for anything that plays on the screen before a movie that is not a trailer. So it could be a no smoking message, or refreshments are available in the lobby these days. There's, of course, the silence. Your cell phones.

[A]

Is this going to be the.

[B]

I think you know where this is going.

[A]

Like the go get your hot dogs?

[B]

Yeah, well, actually, no, not the hot dog thing, but it's along the same lines. So if a sniper snipe lists a specific date for something that's happening at the theater, it's called a dater. So there is a specific set of snipes or daters that are kind of famous. They were created in 1968 by the National Screen Service, a company that had a monopoly on the distribution of trailers and movie posters in the U.S. for many, many years. These snipes are often called the astrodaters, and they're also known as the grindhouse bumpers. These snipes were used pretty widely in America in the 70s. So if you were going to a grindhouse theater or a drive in theater, you'd often, often see these snipes before the movie. They had a very distinctive look, and they were all set to a Keith Mansfield song called Funky Fanfare.

[A]

Yep, that's it. I don't think this was the go get the hot dog one, because this was like, right before the film and it was getting you in the. In the right headspace. It's like, don't disturb people around you type of vibe from what I remember.

[B]

Well, I just want to show you the visual look of it. So I'm going to send you a link on slack to a YouTube video, and then maybe, Dallas, you can describe what the visuals look like.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay, so there's the link.

[A]

Okay. It's a lot of words. Previews of coming attractions. Preview V U E S Pre vous of coming attractions.

[C]

It looks like we're inside a lava lamp is the best way I can describe it.

[B]

Oh.

[A]

And then it kind of explodes out.

[C]

Ooh.

[B]

Yeah. So it's this kind of swirly, colorful, psychedelic background, and the words are kind of coming in from the edge of the screen. And then there were a bunch of others that looked basically the same, but Said things like, our feature presentation or no smoking in this theater or starts Friday, and they all use the same track. FUNKY fanfare but these astro daters have become emblematic of that 70s grindhouse and exploitation movie era. And Quentin Tarantino, who grew up in the 70s watching hundreds of those kinds of movies and then went on to make films heavily inspired by those kinds of movies, he used one of the Astrodaters at the start of Kill Bill Volume one. So at the beginning of that film, it plays the feature presentation Astrodator that we just watched.

[C]

No way.

[B]

And he also used it in the double feature that he did with Robert Rodriguez, Grindhouse, with the movies Planet Terror and Death Proof. And then Robert Rodriguez used it at the start of Machete Kills, which was kind of like an offshoot of Grindhouse. And then finally, since 2007, Tarantino has owned a movie theater in LA, a historic theater called the New Beverly. And he's in charge of all the programming and plays a lot of movies that were influential to him. And before every movie they run, they'll play one of these astrodaters. They have one of the original prints of it on film in a canister, you know, that they run through their projector and kick off the movie that way.

[C]

Oh, cool.

[A]

There are very few perfect things, but this is a perfect track for getting yourself in the movie headspace.

[B]

Yeah, totally.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

But then finally, Danger Doom, which consisted of Danger Mouse and MF Doom. They sampled funky fanfare in a track of theirs featuring Talib Kweli called Old School Rules. And it might be bugging, but it seemed to me that cartoon be realer than reality tv. They inspire my decision to be open and listen. But folks got a door twisted Like a yoke of position yeah. So before we leave Keith Mansfield behind, I just want to play you a quote from him. The PRX show, Studio360 interviewed Keith Mansfield about writing production music, and he had a great bit about why it appealed to him so much, which I think is probably applicable to many of the other composers who were doing the same thing. So here's Keith.

[E]

The whole thing about the live music, it may not have had the glamour of being a film composer or of being a pop star, but that's not what I wanted. I mean, I just wanted the opportunity to be all the different people I could be as a composer. I could be serious, I could be humorous, I could be evil, I could be nice and innocent. I could do anger music. I do all sorts of things. So that was very fulfilling as a composer, and it Kept me interested for my whole musical lifetime.

[C]

That's so cool.

[B]

Yeah, right? It sounds like a fun job.

[C]

It makes total sense to me too. It's like if you don't want to be pigeonholed into one genre or like one identity your whole life, it makes total sense that you'd want to be sort of like a musical chameleon and do production music. It's so cool.

[B]

I want to hear Hans Zimmer's wholesome wake up in the morning and eat your breakfast cereal music.

[C]

Me too.

[B]

Well, we've reached the conclusion. I have just a few closing questions for you. We use several modern music libraries to score this podcast. How do you think the music in the libraries we use compares to the stuff. Stuff we've been talking about today?

[A]

What really jumps out to me is the obvious use of real instruments and real musicians. Totally everything I've heard just sounds like real people who wrote sheet music and then got a group together or had a scoring session or a small session of musicians and then recorded in one take because everyone's really good. And I guess that now a lot of production music is so singular and quantized.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And click tracked and in the box that I don't want to hate on it because there's some really amazing stuff that's being done by individuals with plugins. But it's a little bit of just like one step into AI where now AI is making it so obviously soulless and in the uncanny valley so deeply. Yeah, but you hear so much human soul behind all of these tracks. Every single instrument, every single breath, every single groove on all fronts is like so human.

[B]

Another difference I thought about is that most modern libraries don't have house composers and house musicians on staff anymore. A few of them will apparently commission music from specific composers. But most libraries today are basically distribution platforms where independent artists can license out their music music.

[C]

Right.

[B]

So it's just not as much of a full time job option as it used to be. Unless you're lucky enough to get hired by a film scoring company or a trailer music company, which do exist.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

So yeah, tons of killer music. Some of it has been digitized, but I imagine probably a lot of it still hasn't. So I just think it's tantalizing to think about the undiscovered records that are out there somewhere just waiting to be sampled in some awesome hip hop track or used as the theme song to a new sitcom or used in some grindhouse y throwbacky movie.

[A]

I just wonder with all the stuff that we Recognize how much exists that just never got used. All this human music with real people that's just living on a vinyl record in somebody's grandparents garage.

[C]

For real.

[B]

So I had two goals today. Number one was to convince you that vintage production music is awesome. And number two was to demonstrate that this 50 plus year old music is still actually really relevant to creators today. So have I achieved those goals?

[C]

I feel like both boxes get a big check for me. I loved it.

[B]

Great.

[A]

You get a saxophone and a green check mark emoji on this.

[B]

Nice. Put that in my email signature. Show it off.

[A]

I know that's a deep cut and nobody would understand what that means on the podcast. Basically most of my reactions in Slack is either a green check mark. Got it. Or a saxophone which is kind of. I just imagine Kenny G wailing with pure joy. We're all jamming together like we're moving, we're grooving. It is. It's like Synchronicity.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't think we've ever talked about this before.

[B]

No.

[A]

This is really delightful.

[B]

Some deep 20k lore going on. The pod.

[A]

20,000Hz is produced by my sound agency, Defacto Sound. If you'd like to work with Grace and I get in touch by emailing hiefactosound.com this episode was written and produced.

[B]

By Casey Emerling with help from Grace.

[C]

E. It was sound design and mixed by Jade Dickey.

[A]

Subscribe to my YouTube channel Dallas Taylor MP3 over there, I go behind the scenes with the audio crews of snl, Friday Night Baseball, Meow Wolf, Disney Imagineering and more. You can also find clips of these videos on Instagram and TikTok under that same name. DallasTaylor MP3 thanks for listening.

[F]

In a world that's on fire, what do we do with art? Like music? Is it just there to distract us? Or can a song actually change the world? I'm Jad Abumran. In this series we dive into the life and the music of Fela Kuti, the fiercest musical warrior that ever was.

[B]

And I'm not the only one who thinks thinks this Fela has to be the epicenter. Quest love, the passion, the pain.

[F]

Jay Z.

[B]

The need to get the message out there.

[F]

Beyonce quoted Fella on one of her albums.

[B]

He invited me out to his club just outside Lagos.

[F]

Then There is Paul McCartney. Sir Paul tells the story of seeing Fella play.

[D]

And when this music broke, I ended up just weeping.

[F]

We'll tell you about his life. Ignite a youth movement. Dive into hidden archives to find out. Now what does rebellion look like sound like when the weapon is not guns but music? Join us for Fela Kuti Fear no man. Listen on audible or wherever you get your podcasts.

[A]

One last thing. Remember that using our unique sponsor codes not only saves you money, but it also supports us directly. If our ad campaigns end on a good foot this year, then these companies might book with us again next year, which means we can keep making this show and giving it to you for free. With that in mind, explore incredible speakers and sound bars from Sonos. You can find them at sonos.com sign up for a $1 per month trial of Shopify at shopify.com 20k get 20% off 6 months of business phone software at quo.com 20k start hiring with a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com Hertz and if your business to advertise on 20,000 Hertz, get in touch by emailing hi20k.org.