“The Avengers” (or for those of you in the UK, “Avengers Assemble”) was wonderful, yes. No, I have not seen “Cabin in the Woods,” but I dearly want to. Now that I have graduated and have my beautiful bachelor’s degree, I all of a sudden have free time. And one of the ways I have been spending that free time is to continue in my epic quest to watch all of Buffy and Angel. (Firefly √, Serenity √, Dr. Horrible √, Dollhouse √) To celebrate all the Joss Whedon going on, I present to you the theme songs from all of his major TV projects.
(P.S. If you go to any of the actual YouTube pages for these videos and you haven’t seen the show in question, don’t read the comments. Spoilers abound.)
First out of the gate is the Buffy theme. Written and performed by the band Nerf Herder; they recorded two different versions of this same theme, and I think this is the first one. Which is fine with me, because one of my favorite moments in the series (so far) is when they play the theme in the Season One finale.
When we get to the Angel theme, we arrive in L.A. with a more melancholic acoustic sound (though still with a rock edge). The song is “The Sanctuary” by Darling Violetta. The opening motive is quite beautiful.
And of course, the country song all nerds love, “The Ballad of Serenity.” Written by Joss and sung by Sonny Rhodes.
If you make the argument that the themes get progressively more acoustic, the next natural step would be Gregorian Chant. I give you the Dollhouse theme. (“What You Don’t Know,” Written by Jonatha Brooke & Eric Bazilian, Performed by Jonatha Brooke)
All of these except “The Ballad of Serenity” have extended or full versions you can find on YouTube.
I try to be my best,
Nathan Hathaway Adams
Nathan Hathaway Adams 