"Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale" of a time when television shows began with awesome TV Theme Songs. "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name" and sometimes you want to go back to when TV Theme songs were special. "Here's a story... of a lovely" time when TV Theme Songs served to identify, distinguish and set the stage for the television program that followed. "You take the good, take the bad, take them both and there you have" what unfortunately has become a lost artform. "Believe it or not", sadly it seems no effort or pride is taken in the TV Theme Song ever since Seinfeld proved a short synth-bass riff could be used instead. “Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!” This regular feature may not "make all our dreams come true", but it will remember some of the best TV Theme Songs from years past (with a focus on the '80s decade). "Come aboard, we're expecting you."
This time we will cover the theme song for Dynasty. The primetime soap opera debuted in January of 1981 on ABC and went on to run for nine seasons and 220 episodes ending in May of 1989 before a 1991 reunion miniseries and then being rebooted in 2017. The series which was created to compete with the CBS show Dallas started slow, but by the fall of 1982 it was a top 10 show, and by the spring of 1985, it was the #1 show in the U.S.
The "Theme from Dynasty" was written and conducted by the great Bill Conti. He is best known for his film scores including the original Rocky and its four sequels, The Karate Kid and all of its sequels, For Your Eyes Only, The Big Chill, The Right Stuff and the television miniseries North and South among many others. "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977 and he won the Oscar for Best Original Score for The Right Stuff in 1984. After Dynasty, Conti also created the theme songs for The Colbys, Falcon Crest, Cagney & Lacey and American Gladiators. Two of his previously composed works were reused for the show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Conti has served as musical director for the Academy Awards ceremony broadcast 19 times and was nominated for an Emmy 13 times for doing so winning three times.
The instrumental Dynasty theme song is sweeping and majestic perfectly accompanying the aerial footage of the Denver, Colorado setting. See for yourself as you watch the season 1 opening for Dynasty featuring the theme song by Bill Conti...
Dynasty's theme song was released as a single in 1982 with the theme from Falcon Crest on the B side. The "Theme from Dynasty" actually made it onto the U.S. pop chart peaking at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December of 1982. Pretty impressive for an instrumental television theme song.
Hope you enjoyed tuning in for another "episode" of TV Theme Songs!