Purpose
The purpose of the music is to establish a mood for the show and to provide an audible cue that a particular show is beginning, which was especially useful in the early days of radio (See also interval signal). In some cases, including The Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Land of the Lost, The Nanny and The Beverly Hillbillies the lyrics of the theme song provide some necessary exposition for people unfamiliar with the show.
In addition, some theme music uses orchestra scores or original music set mood for the show, such as the Batman: The Animated Series theme song, which was drawn from the theme for the 1989 Batman film created by Danny Elfman and sets the mood for cartoon. Another example is Ron Grainer's theme music for Doctor Who. Other shows use remixes or covers of older songs, such as the theme song of Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994-1998), which featured a reworked cover of the theme song from the classic Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s. The song was performed by Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry.
Read more about this topic: Theme Music
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“The United States is the only great nation whose government is operated without a budget. The fact is to be the more striking when it is considered that budgets and budget procedures are the outgrowth of democratic doctrines and have an important part in developing the modern constitutional rights.... The constitutional purpose of a budget is to make government responsive to public opinion and responsible for its acts.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes (l. III, 1–2)