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The A-Team theme song directly ripped off this rock song
The same composers were behind everything from The Rockford Files to The Andy Griffith Show.
Everyone who read The A-Team pilot script knew that the show was going to be something special.
Iconic theme song composer Mike Post told the Television Academy, "That script, I laughed till I cried."
He’d been approached to write the theme song after winning Grammys for his work on The Rockford Files and Hill Street Blues themes.
Partnering with Pete Carpenter — a veteran arranger who got his start teaming up with Earle Hagen to do music for Bewitched, The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. — Post said the theme song came together "really easily."
He and Carpenter agreed on how to start the theme song: "It’s got to be military, because that’s where these guys all met."
But when it came to the middle section of the theme song, Post had a very specific idea in mind.
He was not just inspired by the biggest song released by the rock band Cream — a song many critics credit for fully merging blues with rock and roll. He said he decided to directly "rip it off."
"The middle section’s gotta be: let’s rip off Cream," Post recalled telling Carpenter. "Let’s rip off ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ in the middle section."
If you listen to "Sunshine of Your Love," then The A-Team theme back-to-back, you won’t be able to unhear the distinct riff that made the song so hugely popular for Cream.
That riff did the same thing for The A-Team, with people all around the world rocking out to its theme song, episode after episode.
"Sunshine of Your Love" may not have been as familiar to The A-Team fans, though, as the song was released in 1967, 15 years before The A-Team premiered.
A whole new generation of kids tuning in to cheer on Mr. T were more likely bopping to bands like Duran Duran or Styx, not spinning old Cream records.
It’s likely, though, that Cream bassist and vocalist Jack Bruce had no hard feelings over Post’s derivative use of his riff. Bruce said he kinda ripped the riff off, too — crediting Jimi Hendrix for putting the riff in his head after Bruce attended one of his sensational concerts.
However, in 1968, "Sunshine of Your Love" was one of the most popular singles, and its popularity has endured in the hearts of critics, if not also in the hearts of casual music fans.
It’s frequently cited among the greatest songs of all time, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame even listed it as one of "500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll."
Now we know it was also one of the greatest songs to shape TV theme song music, too.
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Well, not EVERYONE. The critics hated the show and one said it would not last six weeks.
Great theme though.
And I would ask just out of curiosity, what's the nature of "role which is very demeaning." It's Eighties television from '83 to '87, and among the team of Stephen Cannell & Frank Lupo specialities. Action/adventure with a kick, and IMO a novel premise for the times. There are only so many detective, doctor, western, etc. genres. And clearly the team meant no more than escapist fare. It takes a collection of reading to understand George Peppard. Not that there's any defense for irresponsible, mean behavior. But he had the good sense to recognize (and apparently apologize) and be a mentor to others of the same ilk. He was NOT that solvent at all, admitting much debt, but correct in assuming he was trying to restore a reputation demonstrating an improvement to his children.
It's an old argument that those in public life (who take on that burden themselves) are held to a more unforgiving standard than those of us with undiscovered secrets.
Television is about experimentation and unlimited choices. The talent/invention of Canell & Lupo added to the mix, and for the actors (who seemed) to do no wrong in Magnum, Hill Street, Greatest Am Hero (and the list goes on) earn a lot of praise.
Eric Clapton has proved to a litigious old bastard.
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Very rare original promo clip with outstanding music and video! Enjoy!!
Thank you for posting this! 🍻
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBhaYNhEiKw2_n4Z6I-TbaCkCkCCNMiaK
https://performingsongwriter.com/andy-griffith-show-theme-song/
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