It became something of a national scandal when broadcaster CBC Television lost the rights to use the theme in 2008. In Canada, the soaring backbeats of the Hockey Night in Canada theme, ' The Hockey Theme', became so iconic that the piece was sometimes called Canada's second national anthem. CBS's longtime March Madness theme is considered one of the masterpieces of Americans sports theme music, said to deliver a euphoric feeling to many sports fans. NBA Championships (unknown-2018) broadcasts, and was regarded as the network's single theme by October 2010. A notable theme that was once associated with a sport, but because of its popularity, spread network-wide was the NFL on Fox theme, which was used for Major League Baseball on Fox (2010–2019) and NASCAR on Fox (2011–2015) and Fox UFC (2012–2018) and Premier Boxing Champions (December 2018 to July/August 2019) and Jr. NBA Championships (2019–present), ' Bugler's Dream' (used in ABC and NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games) and the theme to ESPN's sports highlight show, SportsCenter. Themes in the United States that have become associated with a sport include Johnny Pearson's ' Heavy Action' (used for many years as an intro to Monday Night Football), ' Roundball Rock' (composed by John Tesh) as the theme for the NBA on NBC during the 1990s and early 2000s, and for Fox College Hoops (from 2018–19 to present) and Jr. & the M.G.'s), motorsport (Roger Barsotti's Motor Sport and the bassline from Fleetwood Mac's ' The Chain'), tennis ( Keith Mansfield's 'Light and Tuneful'), snooker (' Drag Racer' by the Doug Wood Band), skiing ( Sam Fonteyn's 'Pop Looks Bach', the theme to Ski Sunday) and gaelic games ('Jägerlatein' by James Last). In the United Kingdom and Ireland, iconic sports shows have such strong associations with their theme music that the sports themselves are synonymous with the theme tunes, such as association football (The Match of the Day, Grandstand and The Big Match theme tunes), cricket (' Soul Limbo' by Booker T. Unlike others, these serials have not strayed from the original theme mix much, if at all, allowing them to be known by multiple generations of television viewers. Other themes, like the music for The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, and Coronation Street have become iconic mostly due to the shows' respective longevities.

A few have been released commercially and become popular hits. Programs have used theme music in a large variety of styles, sometimes adapted from existing tunes, and with some composed specifically for the purpose. Theme music has been a feature of the majority of television programs since the medium's inception.

One of the first big successes, which proved very influential, was the theme song for High Noon (1952). This period saw the beginning of more methodical cross-promotion of music and movies. The phrase theme song or signature tune may also be used to refer to a signature song that has become especially associated with a particular performer or dignitary, often used as they make an entrance.įrom the 1950s onwards, theme music, and especially theme songs also became a valuable source of additional revenue for Hollywood film studios, many of which launched their own recording arms. The purpose of a theme song is often similar to that of a leitmotif. Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at some point during the program.

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