TV Themes

Now, I will happily admit to you that when I was a child I was also a pirate. The most flagrant disregard for copyright law was pushed in the faces of my horrified parents (who were so horrified they did an excellent job of seeming not that bothered) while I taped the songs I liked off the Sunday teatime chart rundown onto a C90.

This was back in the day when Top of the Pops* on Thursday night was the place to find out the new chart positions, so you could make a note of the numbers you wanted to tape and then be really well trained with your pause finger to avoid any unwanted Disc Jockey nonsense before and after the meat of the song on Sunday. Occasionally, you’d still get a bit of Bruno Brookes come through and make you wish he was dead, but it was the best way of doing it for me. I wish, wish, WISH I’d got him taped after he played the uncut version of Killing In The Name Of by Rage Against The Machine though – you could hear his career dying as he struggled for words and breath.

I got plenty of eclectic hits for free over the years, such as I Got My Mind Set On You by George Harrison (he won’t mind now), The Frog Chorus by Paul McCartney (he will always mind) and The Word Girl by Scritti Politti (he has a beard now). I’m not proud of that. But I am proud of that.

Before I was really old enough or cool enough to get into Mel and Kim** I taped themes off the telly. There were some brilliant themes out there, and I even taped a whole episode of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles*** and listened to it. Once.

Some of my favourite themes still induce an almost pant-wetting level of excitement. Streethawk, by Tangerine Dream (included on the album Le Parc (1985), Streethawk theme fans!) is a favourite, but I also had

• The A Team


• Knight Rider


• Automan


• Blue Thunder


• Airwolf


• Cheers


• Magnum PI


• Supergran


• The Book Tower (Tom Baker got me watching this – it was brilliant (and very scary))


• MASH


• Hardcastle and McCormick


• Hill Street Blues


• Manimal


• Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers


• Moonlighting


• Crazy Like A Fox


• The Equalizer


• MacGyver


• The Greatest American Hero


• Matt Huston


• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century


• The Scarecrow and Mrs King


• T.J. Hooker


• Tales of the Golden Monkey


• The Fall Guy

I can still sing them all.

There are some proper classics there, and it probably explains the wonky musical taste I ended up with in adulthood. I even remember getting my parents to tape things off the telly while I was off larking about at Cub Scouts. They were obedient parents.

I wonder if I've got any "off air" recordings of anything that's been wiped?

Now, all together...

"I've never spent much time in school

But I taught ladies plenty

It's true I hire my body out for pay, hey hey!"



Tweet me your favourite themes! @HarryMedium

* Top of the Pops was a top 40 singles show from the olden days, kids.

** Sort of a Cheeky Girls for the late 80s

*** I still don’t know what a ninja is