Adagio for Strings

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’m sat here wondering why Adagio for Strings isn’t used as much in TV and film anymore. And it got me thinking about its use at the end of Only the Good. 

I’d always sort of assume it was a pop reference to it a) being used widely in part because b) it was a popular remixed trance track by William Orbit. BUT, despite it being included on Orbit’s 1995 album, the album was released in 2000 and the song was used as the single, which sent it into popularity. 

So, I assume that Adagio for Strings was music chosen by Howard Goodall (as he’d known the original) and it’s an example, possible the only example, of Red Dwarf being ahead of pop-culture rather than mimicking or parodying it

Topic

[Flap Jack]

Did Howard Goodall pick the music for Series VIII? I thought he was just credited for the theme tune, given the only original track in the series was the Blue Midget Dance. Seems like a serious waste of his talents to keep him around just to get him to choose which pre-existing songs to license, but maybe.

I’d guess if Adagio for Strings isn’t used much any more, it’s because it got overused to the point it became too on the nose, and moreover became an easy musical shortcut in parodies – or deliberately melodramatic ‘sad’ moments in comedies (*cough*). So using it is like using You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate, or Whatcha Say? by Jason Derulo, or All Star by Smash Mouth. If it’s for a joke then the joke has gotten old, if it’s serious that seriousness may be undermined.

Though having said all that about it being overused, I would genuinely struggle to name other shows or movies it’s been used in off the top of my head.

[GlenTokyo]

I always thought it was a pop culture reference to Platoon. With it being a bit slow mo and dramatic, people know it and the scene in Platoon and subverting the expectation with him kicking death in the spuds, I thought that was probably a big thing Doug was aiming at, so I’d have said Doug would have asked for it.

[RunawayTrain]

Though having said all that about it being overused, I would genuinely struggle to name other shows or movies it’s been used in off the top of my head.

Same here.  I’m sure there was a time when I was hearing it in everything, but I can’t actually name any of those things nor even identify roughly when they might have been.

Maybe there was an ubiquitous TV show or advert with it, like the theme from Dvorak’s 9th symphony in the Hovis ad.  Which is still one of my favourite pieces despite that – I’ve always been a sucker for a good cor anglais.

(Incidentally, I played the Adagio in an orchestra and obviously we’d rehearsed it and whatnot, but at the end of the performance of it I was shocked by how profoundly moved I was, on the verge of tears – I’d never experienced anything like it in any ensemble before, and although I’ve been moved by playing in orchestral performances since, nowhere nearly as profoundly.  Which is quite the contrast to having at some point in time found it overused and cheesy!)

[si]

Did Howard Goodall pick the music for Series VIII? I thought he was just credited for the theme tune, given the only original track in the series was the Blue Midget Dance. Seems like a serious waste of his talents to keep him around just to get him to choose which pre-existing songs to license, but maybe.

Howard Goodall has some Red Dwarf digital mini-albums on Amazon, one of which is Series VII score. So…

Eine Kleine Ductmusik: Red Dwarf VII the Underscore – by Howard Goodall

EDIT: I’ve only just realised that original post says VIII, not VII. Which makes this reply meaningless. Bollocks to it, leave me alone, it’s late.

[Unrumble]

Bollocks to it, leave me alone, it’s late.

(only joking) 

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’d completely forgotten Howard wasn’t really involved in viii much. Which make the use of it a little more interesting. 

I’ve not seen Platoon so if it is referencing that then ignore this entire post. 

Just felt to me that that piece got heavy used through the 00s post Orbit’s success with the track. But if there famous uses of it prior to then then I’ll just shut up.

[International Debris]

Yeah, I think the popular use of it predates Orbit’s version. I’d go so far as to say its popularity was the reason it was chosen as the lead single from Pieces in a Modern Style.

Often misunderstood fact: the trance version everyone credits to William Orbit is actually a remix by Ferry Corsten used for the single; I’d imagine a lot of people would have bought the album and been very disappointed to discover that Orbit’s actual version is a pretty faithful synth arrangement of Barber’s composition.

[Flap Jack]

I’ve only just realised that original post says VIII, not
VII. Which makes this reply meaningless. Bollocks to it, leave me alone,
it’s late.

Ah, no problem at all, si. If we do insist on using Roman numerals for Series 3 and onwards, this is guaranteed to happen every now and then.

Of course I couldn’t mistake Howard’s heavy involvement in Series 7, what with it being so cinematic and dramatic. He even sang the Rimmer Munchkin Song!

I’ve not seen Platoon so if it is referencing that then ignore this entire post.

Well, Platoon is what codified Adagio for Strings as a piece that can be utilised for an extremely tragic or mournful scene, but whether its usage in Only The Good… is a direct reference to it or merely an indirect reference borne out of its established memetic use, it’s a valid thing to ask about.

[Dave]

Yeah, from memory it was already very well known and regularly played before the William Orbit version. If anything that was probably the nail in the coffin for people using it.

[RunawayTrain]

Well, Platoon is what codified Adagio for Strings as a piece that can be utilised for an extremely tragic or mournful scene, but whether its usage in Only The Good… is a direct reference to it or merely an indirect reference borne out of its established memetic use, it’s a valid thing to ask about.

Wikipedia helpfully has a list of notable performances. Before Platoon, these include:

– Broadcast over radio at the announcement of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death (1945).

– Played at the funeral of Albert Einstein (1955).

– Performed by the National Symphony Orchestra in a national radio broadcast following the funeral of assassinated President John F. Kennedy (1963).

– Played during the climactic death scene of the 1980 film The Elephant Man.

– Conducted by Leonard Bernstein at four consecutive New York Philharmonic concerts in memory of Samuel Barber shortly after Barber’s death (1981).

– Played at the [televised] funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco (1982).

So one would think pretty well established in public consciousness as a mournful piece – but apart from the film, all Very Serious Real Life events. Maybe its use in Platoon did open the way for use in film and fiction (I have no idea how influential or widely-known The Elephant Man was, nor even Platoon; I’ve never seen either of them and they weren’t the kinds of things on my parents’ radar either).

[Quinn: Clochebusters World Champion]

I’d say the Elephant Man would have been the primary driver for that piece falling into the public consciousness as much as anything else.  Its one of those films I feel was regularly on Sunday afternoons.

Though I suspect it’s use in broadcasts relating to real life events is what lead movie makers to use it in scenes like Elephant Man and Platoon.

Dave suggests Orbit’s version might have been the nail in the coffin but I really feel it was used a lot, and in everything throughout the early 00s until not that long ago in the great scheme of things.  A bit like how everyone and their nan and their nan’s dog did a Reservoir Dog’s parody.  Anyone doing anything mournful seemed to come with Adagio attached to it.

[loadoftottnumb]

I seem to recall it being used in Spaced at one point 

[International Debris]

Yeah, the paintballing episode. I haven’t seen the film, but I would happily put money on that being a Platoon homage.

[Formica]

They should’ve played Ink Another Day as a Splatoon homage, I think.

[Author]

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