TV’s Best Music Supervision in 10 Shows

From “Broad City” to “Mr. Robot,” this is TV’s current class of musical tastemakers.
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A few years after the turn of the millennium, as reality TV dominated the major networks, a handful of ambitious HBO dramas launched what would eventually be known as a new golden age of scripted television: “The Sopranos,” “Deadwood,” “The Wire,” “Six Feet Under.” The success of those shows inspired cable channels to add “prestige” programming; FX and AMC led the charge, and now even USA, WGN, and Syfy are making Emmy bait. Add the deluge of original series now produced by streaming services, and you’ll understand why critics and industry figures are complaining about too much of a good thing. Last year, FX Networks president John Landgraf coined the term “peak TV” to describe the current landscape, lamenting its “enormous impact on everyone’s ability to cut through the clutter and create real buzz.”

This explosion of great TV has made showrunners household names, but it’s also led to a renaissance in music supervision. As described by the six-year-old Guild of Music Supervisors, a music supervisor “oversees all music related aspects of film, television, advertising, video games and any other existing or emerging visual media platforms.” Along with coordinating original scores, supervisors source prerecorded music. And while pop songs have appeared on scripted television for decades—notably on generation-defining teen dramas like “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “The O.C.”—a quality soundtrack is essential to helping a show stand out in the era of peak TV.

In 2016, strong music supervision is about more than sourcing big hits and spotting new talent in hopes of releasing a soundtrack album (though those are getting better, too). Today’s best music supervisors use songs to help set the scene, whether it’s ’70s Minnesota or contemporary Los Angeles, or provide subtle commentary on a show’s plot and characters. Series like “Mad Men”—whose soundtrack was overseen by legendary supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (“Gossip Girl,” “Grey’s Anatomy”)—raise the bar even higher by doing both.

With TV season now back in swing, here are ten current shows that get music supervision right.


“Mr. Robot” (USA)

Creator Sam Esmail’s anti-capitalist tech thriller follows Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek), a brilliant hacker who also happens to be losing it. The show hinges on its immersion in the psyche of a mentally ill morphine addict. Along with composer Mac Quayle’s original score, eclectic selections from music supervisors Amie Bond and Charlie Haggard are essential to creating an disorienting experience. A single episode from the show’s current, second season featured tracks by Lupe Fiasco, Sonic Youth, Phil Collins, the self-described “apocalyptic pop” of New York newcomers Glitterbitch, and the Sufi devotional music of Pakistan’s Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwli, among others. “Mr. Robot’s” ’90s selections are particularly witty—which makes sense, considering that the show both celebrates and critiques films like The Matrix and Fight Club. The show even referenced David Fincher’s movie with an instrumental cover of its most iconic soundtrack cut, Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind?” And, as witnessed below, Len’s goofy hit “Steal My Sunshine” is lethally dissonant on a show this dark.

Essential sync: Perfume Genius’ “Queen” scores a lengthy detox hallucination in season one’s “eps.1.3_da3m0ns.mp4,” providing a perfectly surreal mix of romance, delicacy, and boldness.


“American Crime Story” (FX)

In its first season, “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” everything about Ryan Murphy’s anthology true-crime series screamed 1995: the costumes, the cars, poor Marcia Clark’s perm (with excellent hair acting by Sarah Paulson). The soundtrack followed suit, with music supervisor P.J. Bloom pulling songs that evoked the MTV-saturated era. There were some obvious yet satisfying choices: inevitably, the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” popped up during the Bronco chase. But most of the syncs were subtler, reviving songs that many viewers may not have thought about since the real O.J. trial was airing. Enigma’s “Sadeness, Pt. 1” opened the season with some Pure Moods vibes. Ice Cube’s “Bop Gun (One Nation)” played at a backyard cookout. We heard TLC’s “What About Your Friends?” as Chris Darden (Sterling K. Brown) cast his vote in a radio station’s “Marcia Clark: Bitch or babe?” survey.

Essential sync: The Folk Implosion’s all-but-forgotten Kids soundtrack hit “Natural One” (which, for the record, came out shortly after the trial wrapped) scored an exhilarating scene from the show’s jury-focused eighth episode, where a frustrated Marcia smashed up her office.


“Fargo” (FX)

Aside from reminding us (in a strip club scene) of the Crystal Method’s “Trip Like I Do,” there weren’t many notable pop-music moments in the first season of “Fargo,” which featured a haunting original score by Tonic’s Jeff Russo. But when the Coen brothers-inspired crime drama decided to go back to the ’70s for season two, music supervisor Marguerite Phillips came onboard to help set the scene.

Though the series takes place in the Midwest, showrunner Noah Hawley’s vision for its soundtrack was global. “He wanted me to explore prog-rock and krautrock. He wanted me to look into girl punk bands from the ’70s,” Phillips told A.V. Club. “He asked me to look into German folk-inspired music, which would represent the Gerhardt family and the strength and happiness of that family unit.” Her research paid off in a diverse soundtrack whose highlights include Devo, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Cymande. As if that weren’t enough, season two is packed with musical callbacks to the Coens’ filmography.

Essential sync: A creepy scene deserves an equally creepy soundtrack—which makes the French novelty act Yamasuki’s “Yama Yama” the perfect song to accompany vengeful Hanzee’s (Zahn McClarnon) trek into the woods, to snuggle and then kill a rabbit. Yes, those children are singing in Japanese. And no, the album’s cringe-worthy concept would never fly in 2016.


“Girls” (HBO)

*Graphic by Jessica Viscius *

“Girls” didn’t just unleash the current flood of comedies about twenty-somethings struggling to survive in the big city—it also set the template for those shows’ trendy soundtracks. From season one’s mood-setting MGMT and LCD Soundsystem selections, to premieres from high-profile artists like Miguel, Jenny Lewis, and Beck, the music supervision team of Manish Raval, Tom Wolfe, and Jonathan Leahy use music to ground the show in contemporary Brooklyn. Essentially, these are songs you can imagine Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath and her friends playing on repeat. By the end of its third episode, “Girls” had already created an iconic music moment: Hannah composes the perfect cryptic tweet (“All adventurous women do”), and starts dancing to Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” alone in her bedroom. It’s a party even before her roommate Marnie (Allison Williams) gets home and joins her.

Essential sync: Hannah and Elijah, draped in glow sticks and clad in nipple-baring mesh, rave to Icona Pop’s nihilistic youth anthem “I Love It” during a coke-fueled season two bender. The song’s “You’re from the ’70s/But I’m a ’90s bitch” taunt suited Dunham’s “a voice of a generation” schtick perfectly, and its appearance on the show helped the track become a hit.


“Broad City” (Comedy Central)

Abbi Abrams (Abbi Jacobson) and Ilana Wexler (Ilana Glazer) might run into the “Girls” crew at a party, but their NYC is substantially less self-serious and generally more diverse than Hannah’s. Thanks to music supervisor Matt FX Feldman, the “Broad City” soundtrack reflects exactly that. There’s plenty of indie rock in the show, but it sits side-by-side with feminist-friendly hip-hop (THEEsatisfaction, Lizzo) and chart pop—just as it would on Abbi and Ilana’s playlists. Of course Abbi’s not too cool to dance naked to Lady Gaga’s “The Edge of Glory” when she finally gets her apartment to herself. But Feldman also pays attention to where each scene is set, intent on capturing the mood of each neighborhood the constantly mobile Abbi and Ilana end up exploring. “Upper East Side? Let’s get some Vivaldi in there,” Feldman told Billboard in an interview last year. “There is a bit in Chinatown, now I've got to find a beat with a pan flute or a Chinese string violin.”

Essential sync: In the hilarious cold open to season one’s “Apartment Hunters,” Drake’s “Started From the Bottom” blasts as Abbi and Ilana roll up to the bank with the “eight fucking thousand dollars” Abbi just earned selling one of her drawings. Deep in a daydream about her new-found wealth, she dons a trash-bag jumpsuit worthy of Missy Elliott.


“Master of None” (Netflix)

Surely there’s room on this list for just one more show about cool, young New Yorkers with great taste in music. “Master of None” creator/star Aziz Ansari’s love of music doesn’t just come through in his comedy’s soundtrack; it also suffuses the storylines. Ansari’s Dev goes to secret Father John Misty gigs and dates a music publicist (Noël Wells’ Rachel). Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn songs accompany an episode where the couple hits Nashville. When the trip ends on a bittersweet note, Townes Van Zandt’s “Be Here to Love Me” plays over the credits.

“Master of None” is full of standalone episodes like this, on themes that range from feminism to second-generation kids’ complicated relationships with their immigrant parents. (Pete Rock & C. L. Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” is an inspired choice to open “Parents.”) Rather than committing to a single aesthetic, Ansari and music supervisors Zach Cowie and Kerri Drootin use their deep musical knowledge to give each half-hour an atmosphere of its own.

Essential sync: Deep cuts be damned, the most satisfying music moment on “Master of None” finds Dev and his female co-workers talking shit about sexism before singing along to Toto’s “Africa” in a bar. “That song is just so triumphant and fun,” Ansari told Pitchfork last year. “I listened to it yesterday, actually. The Toto people were like, ‘Do they genuinely like this song or are they making fun of Toto?’ We were like, ‘No, we love this song! Please, Toto. Why do you have such low self esteem?’”


“Scandal” (ABC)

Cable networks and streaming platforms dominate the prestige TV landscape, so it makes sense that they also dominate this list. But Alexandra Patsavas—who, along with introducing Don Draper to “Tomorrow Never Knows,” made Seth Cohen fall in love with Death Cab on “The O.C.”—certainly deserves a spot. Among the handful of shows she’s currently working on, “Scandal” has the most inspired music. Its funk, soul, and disco soundtrack, which was part of creator Shonda Rhimes’ original plan for the show, is first and foremost a series of theme songs for brilliant DC fixer Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington). Parliament, Marvin Gaye, and Aretha Franklin all make multiple appearances. Five seasons in, what’s most impressive is that Patsavas still hasn’t exhausted her supply of ’70s power anthems.

Essential sync: In the final moments of season four’s “Where the Sun Don’t Shine,” Olivia dances with her sometime boyfriend Jake to the Stevie Wonder classic “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.” She’s finally declared independence from the men who want to control her… but then, just like that, she disappears.


“Transparent” (Amazon)

Sprawled out across neighborhoods like Silver Lake, “Transparent” conjures its bourgeois bohemian Los Angeles through music that’s more Laurel Canyon than Sunset Strip. Now that the Pfefferman family patriarch (Jeffrey Tambor) has come out as transgender and begun living as Maura, she favors ankle-length skirts and brightly colored ponchos. Music supervisor Bruce Gilbert’s soundtrack has the same hippie feel. Boomer stalwarts like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young complement like-minded contemporary acts, from Alabama Shakes to Kurt Vile. But since Gilbert has individual characters in mind when he selects songs, the more youthful lifestyles of Maura’s children inject some variety. While youngest daughter Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) explores her sexuality to the sounds of Nina Simone and FKA twigs, middle sibling Josh (Jay Duplass) tends to find himself at parties blaring EDM.

Essential sync: As they drive to Idyllwild Wimmin's Festival in the eighth episode of season two, Maura, Ali, and eldest Pfefferman daughter Sarah (Amy Landecker) sing along—badly—to Indigo Girls’ “Closer to Fine.” This isn’t just the perfect soundtrack for a road-trip to a fictionalized version of the Michfest; it’s a song about learning to stop mercilessly dissecting your own life. That’s a lesson the Pfeffermans desperately need to absorb.


“Stranger Things” (Netflix)

Joy Division, Bowie, Television, the Smiths… It’ll totally change your life,” Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) tells his little brother Will (Noah Schnapp) in the second episode of Netflix’s beloved supernatural drama. Some of those artists end up on the soundtrack in one form or another (a Peter Gabriel cover of Bowie’s “‘Heroes’” is a rare misfire), and the show’s music certainly helps set the scene. This is a small, Indiana town in the early ’80s—and as outcast teen Jonathan submerges himself in punk and art-rock, the popular kids are listening to Modern English’s “I Melt With You.”

But “Stranger Things” thrives on mixing nostalgic genres—from Spielbergian sci-fi to John Hughes-era teen romance to the low-budget horror of John Carpenter—and its hybrid soundtrack is as much a commentary on the story as it is a complement to it. Music supervisor Nora Felder’s smart pop picks sit side-by-side with Austin band S U R V I V E’s eerie score and the psychedelic krautrock of Tangerine Dream, whose early electronic music adds to the show’s fascination with fuzzy radio signals and grainy VHS tapes.

Essential sync: The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go” makes its first appearance in the scene above, when Jonathan plays it for Will. But the song becomes a recurring theme of the series, a sly comment on the experience of getting stuck between two realms.


“Better Call Saul” (AMC)

After digging up every old rock song that contains the words “blue” or “crystal” for “Breaking Bad,” Thomas Golubić—a big-name music supervisor whose resume includes “Six Feet Under,” “The Walking Dead,” and “Halt and Catch Fire”—followed creator Vince Gilligan to the show’s genre-defying prequel. “Better Call Saul” tells the origin story of Walter White’s sleazy lawyer Saul Goodman, née Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk). Both series value silence and incorporate original scores by Dave Porter, so they’re lighter on syncs than your average primetime drama.

Golubić—who favors mid-century American acts like the Ink Spots, Bobby Bare Jr., and Creedence Clearwater Revival for “Saul”—adds a layer of complexity to Gilligan’s sophisticated storylines by carefully selecting songs that comment on the narrative. “My favorite thing in the world is to get that phone call: ‘I don’t know where you got that from, but it’s magic,’” Golubić said in an interview with Yahoo. “Because you know after that, people are going to be studying these things and trying to figure out what they mean, enjoying the different layers of them. They do have different layers.”

Essential sync: Though it’s not technically a sync, this spot has to go to the show’s canniest use of an existing song. Season two’s sixth episode is named “Bali Ha’i,” after the South Pacific showtune Jimmy sings to his on-again, off-again girlfriend Kim’s (Rhea Seehorn) answering machine. It’s a song that promises an escape to paradise—but, like Jimmy, can’t quite deliver.