TV and New Discoveries

I have a long and abiding love affair with music. In fact, music has been a part of my soul even longer than writing. In fact, it’s probably one of the biggest passions my sister and I share.

Me (in the navy blue) and my sister singing together

My tastes in music tends to be as varied as my personal interests, but recently I began to think about TV. We all know that the correct selection of music can enhance the telling of a story. As I sat there working on edits for Three For All, my mind went back to music and artists I’d discovered through tv shows. For me, there’s something fantastic about the right lyrics.

Don’t judge me, but I used to be a bit of a soap opera addict. It was actually through All My Children that I discovered Gloria Estefan. There was a couple, Cliff and Nina…they were one of those on-again, off-again couples with a terrible sense of timing. During one of those off-again moments, Nina was thinking of Cliff and a song with a memory montage played. I couldn’t find a video of that moment, but I thought I’d share the song that helped me discover my love of Gloria.

Thinking back to those songs had me wondering…if I could pick my Top 5 “Discovery” songs from TV shows…what would they be? Think about yours while I share mine…because I’d really love for you to share yours with me afterward.

Do you guys remember Family Ties? Since Alex P. Keaton was probably one of my first crushes, I do. I still remember when he fell in love for the first time. Why? Because Billy Vera and The Beaters immortalized it for me with this song… See if you remember this scene….

Of course sometimes the feelings were of the “tear your heart out” variety. Although I actually knew Janis Ian’s music…mostly from my mom, I didn’t realize I knew it. It wasn’t until I heard this song sung at the General Hospital Nurses Ball that I started to look her stuff up (only to discover, as I said, that I’d known her all along). The Nurses Ball was an AIDS awareness benefit and a much loved part of the show. They had just done a storyline where Stone, a much loved younger character on the show, died of AIDS. Stone is who you’ll see in the flashbacks toward the end…

So I’d been watching General Hospital since I was 3 years old. I saw Luke and Laura get married while we were stationed in Germany. It also helped me discover the music of Toni Braxton since I’d pretty much given up on mainstream radio by the ’90’s. One of my all time favorite characters was Brenda Barrett. Ever fall in love with a character you knew was toxic to you but couldn’t seem to help yourself? That was Brenda’s story back then. She’d fallen in love with a mobster named Sonny and he did nothing but break her heart. In my mind’s eye, she’ll always belong with Jax, the guy who loved and accepted her through pretty much everything. This particular song played as she was remembering her and Sonny together. Sonny had just married someone else.

The next song is from One Tree Hill. There have been a few artists (The Wreckers, Kate Voegele, Tyler Hilton) on the show that I fell in love with during the early years, but none quite like Haley Scott. This scene is the first time she shows the guy she loves her musical talents. It’s not her best song, but it had me hooked on Bethany Joy Galeotti’s music. It also made a great backdrop to the damage of lies between Lucas, Peyton & Brooke (my 3 favorite characters).

Finally there was Dido. Though many discovered her through Eminem, that’s not how I found her. It was back with a show called Roswell where I first heard the lovely, ethereal lilt of her voice. Like on Tree Hill, there was a ton of music to discover, but their opening theme song was done by her…and I loved it! In fact, here’s the song put together with parts of Max and Liz’s love story.

What songs have helped you discover artists you may not otherwise have become a fan of? Where did you discover them?