20 TV shows with the best soundtracks and music
By Sundi Rose
Grey’s Anatomy
With the announcement of Grey’s 15th season, it seems like this show might be the only thing left after the apocalypse. I don’t mind at all, because (and I will fight for this opinion) this show holds up. We were so naive when we first tuned into this new medical drama in the fall of 2005. Little did we know we’d still be here, tissues in hand, 13 years later, eating up every single scene.
Shonda Rhimes is probably the closest thing we’ll ever get to television perfection, and she knew what she was doing, matching up all these ethnically diverse and beautiful trainwrecks. Give them each their own hellish personal drama, and how could we look away? It’s won Emmys and still holds its own in the ratings, but I’m not sure we talk enough about its musical presence.
Before the Grey’s universe expanded and became ingrained in our popular culture, it was a show that routinely moved us to tears, made us laugh out loud, and often really grossed us out. Sure, the actors play their part in this, but the character we should really look at is the music. It’s in almost every scene, it’s been there for every single universe-altering moment, and it’s ushered us through countless incarnations of this show.
The soundtrack is an endless cavalcade of (mostly) unknown performers, covers and classics, but the show is careful to match the scene with the moment. There is no instance in the known world, in which you can listen to “How to Save a Life” by The Fray and not have your gut ripped out at the memory of Derek Shepherd’s last breaths.
Other songs that Grey’s has ruined made famous: “Breathe” by Anna Nalick, when Meredith pulls the bomb out of her patient; “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, as Alex pulls Izzy away from Denny’s dead body; “Keep Breathing” by Ingrid Michaelson, when Meredith has to cut Cristina out of her wedding dress; and “Feels Like The End” by Mikky Ekko, as McSteamy succumbs to his injuries and dies.