2000 Great Songs #1342: The Rockford Files
Breaking a few of my rules here--I've tried to minimize instrumentals , not to mention kitschy guilty pleasures that I don't actually listen to with any regularity--but it's not like this is the first 70s tv theme to make the cut. And damn, what a banger! Written and performed by Mike Post (who wrote a gazillion tv themes, including Hill Street Blues and Law & Order ), with various studio musicians, including Jim Gordon (best known as the drummer for Derek & The Dominos , who became mentally ill and killed his mother, ugh), it's got a little of everything, from moog synths to rockabilly guitar solos. Now, frankly, I never watched the tv show. But the song was released as a single in 1974, and ended up charting in 1975, still getting some airplay on the local AM station when I first started listening late that year on the heels of " Convoy ." And that hook, just a drop-dead savage classic, permanently stuck in my brain. I mean, sure, I've got the...
