I was having a good laugh with friends about TPiR\'s infamous \"fail horn\", and it got me thinking, what\'s your favorite fail (or win) cues from over the years? For the record I\'m more of a fan of a variation of the main theme, as opposed to just playing a portion of the theme or the stinger...
WIN:
-Sale of the Century (Perry maingame)...I\'ve always loved the bombastic \"Duh...duh...DAHHHHHHH!!!\" fanfare, complete with someone banging the hell out of the tympani. It was the perfect ending to wrap up the game, esp. after a very tense Speed Round when Jim breathlessly yelled out the champion\'s name.
-Millionaire\'s million dollar win. Another dramatic one, and perfectly compliments the exuberant atmosphere with confetti falling and the audience going crazy. To me, a moment like that just wouldn\'t work with the main theme playing in the background.
-As cheesy as it was, Face the Music\'s special intro used for milestone or $10,000 wins actually worked...but it had a weird marching band sound to it (like a fight song or something).
-I always thought the Woolery/early Sajak era puzzle cue had a nice groove to it. The closing notes of \"Changing Keys\" was okay but no Thicke cue.
-Password Plus (maingame)
-Press Your Luck...the synthesized sound almost seemed like it was out of a video game, which kinda fits the video game-like technology of the show itself
LOSS:
-TPiR fail horns...it\'s seemed to become the ubiqitous symbol for failure, both on the show and in real life. I suppose you could include, by extension, the abbreviated fail horn found on other Goodson-Todman games.
-Millionaire...the first time I heard a clean version of this back in 2000, it sent shivers down my spine. Still prolly one of the most ominous clips I\'ve ever heard.
-Second Chance...I always get a kick out of the wank guitar when someone hit a devil.
-Gong Show...the two-horn note, NBC buzzer, then \"wah-wahhhh\" sound.
-American Blockbusters...both versions honestly.