Which shows have the best music scores?

The title makes this post sound like a flashy, showy, Broadway sitcom, but instead it’s just a post idea I’ve had on my mind for a while. Personally, I think one of the best and most important things of a television show is its musical résumé. In this day in age, we’re so used to hearing some semblance of melodic sounds in the background of our favorite program it seems weird when the background noise is complete silence. We care about what songs go with what seasons, we observe whether it’s upbeat or slow and assess the scene judging on that, and by all means we analyze the lyrics to no end to see exactly how they fit with whoever’s on the screen at the moment. So here’s my own personal ranking of what shows stand out, music wise.

The OC

Maybe my unfair bias with this show will be exposed within this paragraph, but honestly, The OC has one of the best soundtracks of any television show to date. Aside from the constant Death Cab references from Seth, Rooney has also performed on the show back in their heyday. And have you seen the six CD’s this show made? Imogen Heap was more than known in the music industry after their premire of “Hide and Seek” which spurred an SNL skit. That’s how you know you’ve made it. Their last song of their last episode over admittedly made me weep. And I never cry during television. “Life’s a Song” by Patrick Park just did that for me.

Lost

Lost is another one. Aside from its occasional yet stellar commercial songs (which were featured in epic scenes like “Wash Away”), its original compositions were absolutely magnificent. Critically acclaimed for being “haunting but beautiful,” these are probably the only orchestral pieces I can listen to without falling asleep. If you don’t believe me, just listen to “Life & Death.” Seriously. Weeping. Even if you don’t like non-lyrical music, you wouldn’t mind having their soundtrack playing in the background of you looking out into the deserted water. Or the hatch.

The Vampire Diaries

Though my fervor for finding every song that was played on the last episode might’ve been subdued during the third season, I still can’t thank the geniuses at TVD for filling my iTunes with countless songs that I fell in love with. I can list to you all the mountains of pieces that you have to (legally?) download, or I can also tell you’re on the brink of possibly starting, the music on it is a key reason. And of course, being my pretentious self, I have to give credit where it’s due for picking songs I’ve known and loved, but tried to keep a secret from my peers.We wouldn’t want Poison & Wine to get mainstream.

And that’s it! I’d love to find some more shows with amazing scores, so please please please leave a comment below. Bai now.

View Comments

    • I feel like I should totally get into Chuck! I've heard nothing but spectacular reviews from it. It'll happen someday.

        • So I watched Chuck last month in its entirety, and Chuck and Gossip GIrl have a ton of overlapping songs. Which is most certainly because of Josh. Both have/had great soundtracks.

  • The OC was by far the best show ever! Their soundtrack is forever my #1 favorite! One show that should be mentioned is The Secret Circle. Their music department has been proving to have a great taste in music! The show's soundtrack has been flawless so far, and I'm sure it'll keep up this pace through their future seasons, just like TVD has been doing!

  • Even if you didn't watch Lost, I don't think there's a person who wouldn't be moved by "Life & Death". If you DID watch Lost, you'll probably be thinking about life and death for the next 30 minutes

  • One Tree Hill, Grey's Anatomy, Chuck (EdwardSharpeFTW) and The Vampire Diaries are all wonderful but The O.C. has to win it all for me (a close second Grey's). Gossip Girl is pretty great too.

  • Lost by far had the best soundtrack from Tv shows. I also love Band of brothers soundtrack - it's just classic. From new shows I think Once upon a time has really nice music themes.
    Oh and a shout out to Boom she clack clack from GG - that was some original and catchy music choice :) and it's the only thing I remembered from that lame episode after watching it.

  • I think the Gossip Girl soundtracks are usually outstanding. I actually disagree with you on Vampire Diaries. While I agree that the songs they use are pretty good, I find VD to be notoriously bad at incorporating songs properly with the scene. Their tracks are always really jarringly placed and always feel like an interruption in the scene. The music people at VD need to take a leaf out of GG's book. 

  • I've always found TVD soundtrack amazing! Poison & Wine is one of the most beautiful songs ever and when I heard it on TVD I was like: omg, they're playing Poison & Wine, it's fits so muuuuch! another show with amazing scores is Fringe. it's just like Lost, it's amazing. 

  • Gossip Girl has/had the best music score - The Kills - Sour Cherry, Hook&Line, The Virgins - One Week of danger, The Black Keys - Strange Times, Crystal Castles - Air War, Lady Gaga - Poker Face, Miike Snow - Animal, Peter Bjorn and John - Young Folks, Nadia Oh - Got Your Number, Phantom Planet - Do the panic, Soho Dolls - Stripper, The Ting Tings - We started nothing....the music score for that show was always spot on! It was 25% the reason I started watching the show because it perfectly captured the entire mood of Gossip Girl - fabulous and scandalous! 

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