Worst Music?

[Chief-O]

Going back to the subject---I can also name "Catch Phrase" as a non-fave. Almost everything else the Ellis's did seemed better.

[chargeradiocom]

I wouldn't quite call it a "real" song. It's a production library piece from KPM. It's possible that KPM's licensing fee was cheaper than Score Productions' was.

Fair enough. I’m not as knowledgeable on smooth jazz/instrumental easy listening as some other styles (most production tracks would probably go into that category, if I had to give them a genre label). And since tyshaun1’s list included some more mainstream songs, I thought maybe I’d missed something that was a minor hit. 

From what I understand, the PYL package was found to be usuable several years ago, and Terry Wilkie from TVPMM mentioned that the Carruthers family does have their own reel, but they have declined to release it.

I guess that explains why some of the classic cues were missing from PYL 2019. Though if Fremantle was able to remake the theme for PYL ‘19, I’m kind of surprised it would have been out of reach for the Ludia game. Maybe the Carruthers family just thought they could make more money licensing the theme for TV than for some piddly video game.*

(*I’m assuming the PYL ‘19 theme is an approved remake, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. If it’s not an approved remake, though, it’s a ripoff so close that Vanilla Ice would be proud.)

[tyshaun1]

Going back to the subject---I can also name "Catch Phrase" as a non-fave. Almost everything else the Ellis's did seemed better.

That reminds me. The Scrabble '93 and Scattergories themes. Did Marc Ellis just switch around notes and call it good?

[TimK2003]

I wouldn't quite call it a "real" song. It's a production library piece from KPM. It's possible that KPM's licensing fee was cheaper than Score Productions' was.

Fair enough. I’m not as knowledgeable on smooth jazz/instrumental easy listening as some other styles (most production tracks would probably go into that category, if I had to give them a genre label). And since tyshaun1’s list included some more mainstream songs, I thought maybe I’d missed something that was a minor hit. 

From what I understand, the PYL package was found to be usuable several years ago, and Terry Wilkie from TVPMM mentioned that the Carruthers family does have their own reel, but they have declined to release it.

I guess that explains why some of the classic cues were missing from PYL 2019. Though if Fremantle was able to remake the theme for PYL ‘19, I’m kind of surprised it would have been out of reach for the Ludia game. Maybe the Carruthers family just thought they could make more money licensing the theme for TV than for some piddly video game.*

(*I’m assuming the PYL ‘19 theme is an approved remake, but feel free to correct me if I’m wrong. If it’s not an approved remake, though, it’s a ripoff so close that Vanilla Ice would be proud.)

Remember, when Ricki Lake's Game Show Marathon played out many years ago, all the original PYL cues were used except for one:  The opening vamp, which was "re-created" for the PYL day.

[Joe Mello]

I don't think I have an answer right now, but I feel like we're being pretty generous to the game shows of the past decade or two.

[tyshaun1]

Remember, when Ricki Lake's Game Show Marathon played out many years ago, all the original PYL cues were used except for one:  The opening vamp, which was "re-created" for the PYL day.

Only the closing cue was used. The opening was a weak MIDI version, the prize cue was the Game Show Marathon main theme.

[chrisholland03]

All I know is that the Las Vegas Gambit opening 'poobz', Gambit board graphics, and sound effects creep me out to this day. 

[Stackertosh]

The Chase (Usa) has to be the worst music sounds like left stock music.

[PYLdude]

Bumping for a second because I want to carry a point over from another topic.

As previously mentioned the Tic Tac Dough 90 theme was rather disappointing output from Henry Mancini. One thing I couldn’t help but notice listening to it the other night that it resembles a circus theme and not in a good way. Of course the show was a circus in some other ways too, but am I the only one who hears that and gets a vibe like that? Maybe that would’ve been more fitting on The Joker’s Wild instead...

[calliaume]

Bumping for a second because I want to carry a point over from another topic.

As previously mentioned the Tic Tac Dough 90 theme was rather disappointing output from Henry Mancini. One thing I couldn’t help but notice listening to it the other night that it resembles a circus theme and not in a good way. Of course the show was a circus in some other ways too, but am I the only one who hears that and gets a vibe like that? Maybe that would’ve been more fitting on The Joker’s Wild instead...

I somehow missed this thread the first time around.

I wouldn't be surprised if Henry Mancini's Tic Tac Dough '90 theme was repurposed from something else (which wouldn't be the first time; it's not like Quincy Jones wrote "Chump Change" intending it for Now You See It). If you look at the tail end of Mancini's film score career, it's mostly Blake Edwards movies and a few animated films--it sounds like a kid-oriented song that wound up a game show theme.

There were a lot of lousy 1980s game show themes. Synthesizers were used quite often (probably because it was cheaper than a full orchestra and sounded current); they've dated pretty badly.

MGP themes in the 1980s actually stand out for how good they were in comparison. I admit I don't love Trivia Trap (which might reflect on my not liking the show at all), but almost everything else from that era was a creative revamp of an older theme (MG '90, TTTT '90), or a fun new theme to replace something that had dated (Card Sharks '86 sounded a little like an instrumental track from a Missing Persons album, but it worked).

[Steve_Bier]

While we're on the subject of Music, can I throw in Every second Counts for one of the most...bizarre music packages out there?

Interesting tidbit; one of the prize cues from “Every Second Counts”, was re-worked from the original 10-second opening vamp from the first season (1980) of “Fight Back! With David Horowitz”. Both programs were Group W productions.

[BrandonFG]

There were a lot of lousy 1980s game show themes. Synthesizers were used quite often (probably because it was cheaper than a full orchestra and sounded current); they've dated pretty badly.

I just listened to the Hot Streak theme mentioned upthread on Page 2, and I could see 1986 me having the same complaint I would about today's themes: it's generic and forgettable. And given how much I love the Ellis's Reg Grundy themes, that surprises me.

[Blanquepage]

I'm not a fan of the the "revamped" $100K Pyramid, Card Sharks, or Press Your Luck themes.
They sound like cheap old-school MIDI's of the original versions.

[ChrisLambert!]

I like the new Card Sharks theme as a theme for Joel McHale's Card Sharks. It's got a vibe to it that works for me better than the original would in the current setting.

Agreed on the other two, though.

[BrandonFG]

I don't mind the themes themselves. I've expressed this before, but I'd be happy if they simply played more than the same cue going to and coming back from every commercial. Match Game ends its theme the same exact way every time, and it sounds odd, like they're trying to make a square peg fit, if that makes sense.

I think I'm more bugged by this because the original themes had a vast library, or in the case of Card Sharks, both Perry and Eubanks's themes were long enough to where you could use a different part of the song as a cue. With Feud, they simply use the Combs theme, but use none of the other cues that would flow much better.