Time for another ROY article. Recently, it came to my attention that episodes of the original "Peter Gunn" gumshoe series were coming up onto YouTube including the pilot which indeed I did see. Yep, I now realized where a lot of those lone-wolf detective conventions originated from: the sardonic voiceover by the main character, the down-and-dirty jazz soundtrack and the surprisingly preferred setting of not-so-nice areas of town. And yet, Peter Gunn himself was not just urban but also urbane and sophisticated which apparently wasn't the usual description of movie or TV private eyes back in the day.
"Peter Gunn" had a short-but-sweet run on NBC and then ABC between 1958 and 1961, so the famous theme has been much better remembered than the actual series with Craig Stevens. And to reiterate, it wasn't the theme that begat the show but the show that begat the fame for the theme originally by the legendary composer and arranger Henry Mancini. That's how incredible the song has been.
It was one of the first songs that I had ever heard in my life thanks to that collection of standards which came with our old oak Victor stereo. And the version that I preferred (which was on that collection of standards) among the original takes of it wasn't the one with Duane Eddy or the one that played in the brief opening credits, but the one with John Williams (yep that John Williams) on the piano and the French horns trumpeting like mad elephants warning of danger. No matter which version, though, "Peter Gunn" was the song that you wanted accompanying you if you went outside on the town and were in that "I gotta a job to do!" mood. You'd invest in the trench coat, even.
"Peter Gunn" has probably popped up in a number of TV shows and movies over the decades to show just that sort of atmosphere for the characters. For example, there was "The Blues Brothers".
Then several years later, I was absolutely gobsmacked when avant-garde pop group Art of Noise (with the help of the aforementioned Duane Eddy and his guitar), whom I'd known for some of the most weirdly infectious songs that had ever come out of the 1980s such as "Beat Box", "Close to the Edit" and "Legs", actually tackled one of the coolest songs ever. I think that I saw the music video first before hearing the song on radio, and that video was glorious with the late Rik Mayall as it took some affectionate pokes at the genre that the original series was representing.
Art of Noise's "Peter Gunn" was unmistakably Art of Noise and unmistakably "Peter Gunn". It was a musical synthesis made in heaven for me and became a must-hear whenever it got onto radio and even now, whenever I need a boost in my energy levels, I go to YouTube to listen to it among other cool tunes. Not surprisingly, it won Best Rock (!) Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist) at the Grammys in that same year.
I regret not ever buying the remix LPs back in the day but I finally got my copy of AON's "In Visible Silence" which had originally come out on April 14 1986 with both this song and "Legs".
So now that I've gushed forth my love for Art of Noise's "Peter Gunn", what were some of the top-sellers on Oricon in the month that "In Visible Silence" came out? Well, I got Nos. 3, 5 and 6 for you.
3. Sonoko Kawai -- Aoi Station （青いスタスィオン）
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