Art of Noise -- Dragnet

 

It's ironic...years before I started up the ROY series here on KKP, I still had been able to squeeze in great 80s collective Art of Noise into the blog with their "Legs" because the song had been used as the theme for veteran magician Mr. Marikku（Mr.マリック）and his "hand power". I even used the above thumbnail although I didn't even refer to "Dragnet" even though I gave some of their other hits a shoutout. But today, I finally give the band's second go at an iconic American crime show theme its just dues. However, I need to go through quite a bit of background.

Dum...de...DUM...DUM!

Yup, that musical cue isn't only one of the most famous musical cues in pop culture history, it's probably one of the first cues that I had ever heard and remembered as a toddler. Now, it wouldn't be for some years that I realized that the US police procedural program "Dragnet" had started as a radio program in 1949 before it became a long-running television show in the 1950s, both starring Jack Webb as the unflappable and intrepid Sergeant Joe Friday and a lot of others as his partners over the decades.

The whole franchise was famous for a number of tropes: the quick even-toned patter of Friday and his partner, Friday's narration of the progress of the case that episode, the description of Los Angeles, and the fact that the guys seemed to circulate like air through all of the police station's various departments. But my first exposure as a little boy to "Dragnet" was in its final years in the late 1960s when the older and portlier Friday was partnered with Officer Bill Gannon, played by veteran actor Harry Morgan.

Of course, there was that opening blast of ominous horns which launched the "Dragnet" song, one of the more recognizable themes in all of television. Officially titled "Danger Ahead" and composed by Walter Schumann, it not only struck me as foretelling of danger ahead but it also meant "Uh oh...police in back!". I've heard my old buddies in school intone it to signal big trouble...usually of a parental nature. 

"Dragnet" the original series finished its run very early in the 1970s and since then, cop shows evolved to show a more fallible side to their characters and even what they were up to outside of work hours. So it was with some surprise when I was already in university that a new movie version of "Dragnet" was hitting the big screen in 1987. I just saw the promotional picture of Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday and Tom Hanks as new partner Pep Streebek, and thought "OMG! Are these guys actually going to do a serious movie?!". Aykroyd was the comedian from "Saturday Night Live" and "Ghostbusters", and Hanks at that time was also a comedic actor.

As it turned out, "Dragnet" in 1987 was a homage and a parody to the original Webb classic and the trailer above made that clear. Webb's Friday would never have reacted in the way that Aykroyd's Friday did when the car ran over his foot.

Then I found out through one of the music video shows that Art of Noise was tackling the iconic theme song for the movie. They did a great job with another legendary theme, "Peter Gunn", the previous year so I had great expectations. Well, to my initial disappointment, I wasn't all that impressed with the original version of AON's "Dragnet" theme. I mean, it was nice seeing the kid and her three buddies from the band's "Close to the Edit" don their California togs and have fun with scenes from the upcoming movie but in retrospect, this version seemed like a beta test take.

That didn't dissuade me from catching the movie though since I was interested in seeing how everyone involved, including Aykroyd and Hanks, would treat "Dragnet". As it turned out, the movie was OK but not great. I thought that Ackroyd gave an impressive and endearing Joe Friday impression, but like a number of comedies centering around successful characters from "Saturday Night Live" (with the exception of "Wayne's World" and the first "Blues Brothers"), "Dragnet" wasn't quite able to stretch out the story adequately beyond some of the funny gags.

But the intro was spectacular with it opening like a classic "Dragnet" TV episode under the narration of good ol' Joe and then the epic "Danger Ahead" horns and march. It was funny and awesome seeing Friday walk over to the station before the new version of the Art of Noise theme exploded on the screen. And this time, AON hit it out of the park with this dance remix version incorporating all of the jittery vocal excerpts. Before the advent of YouTube, I'd been searching for this take of the theme for years and years and so I was extremely happy for my ears to get reacquainted with it again.

I also have to say that the final scene of the movie was incredible and hilarious, too. 

The following year, Art of Noise released a number of remixes. I ended up getting one of my own.

"Dragnet" the movie was released in June 1987 so what were three of the singles that got released at the same time? Two of them were actually the debut singles for these singers.

Shonentai -- Kimi Dake ni （君だけに）

Maki Watase -- Pearl Monde Kiss (パールモンド・Kiss)

Chieri Ito -- Paradise Walker（パラダイス・ウォーカー）