MovieChat Forums > Stingray (1986) Discussion > Music Replacement

Music Replacement

posted 16 years ago by MiskatonicAlchemist
13 replies | jump to latest

Being a fan of WKRP, I am no stranger to the whole music replacement issue concerning dvd releases. Little did I know that it would hit Stingray as well.

I've been working my way through season 1... and it hit starting with Less than the eye can see. They took out Give Blood (its played when Ray is driving along and comes across the vehicles along the road whose occupants got hit with the smallpox. They replaced it with some other tune (and nowhere near as powerful as Give Blood either).

But now I get to That Swift Terrible Sword... one that I loved the music too... especially Hallelujah Bye and Bye (played at the beginning of the episode, and at the end as Ray is at the docks)... but it seems they really stripped it all from this episode. They took that one out, and they also took out the song they played during the "Won't You Give" collection.

Sigh. Now I wish I hadn't thrown away the videotapes I had held onto for so long. That episode just doesnt sound right anymore.

[–] gldrgidr-1 15 years ago

yeah... It's a shame that the music copyrights are so expensive. If they included the original music, the dvd cost-to-make would have been so high, that it wouldn't have paid to produce the dvd, for a show with only a small market. There just aren't enough people who would buy the Stingray DVD.

Too much, too soon, too long, too strong, too many,
to fix.

[–] HawksRevenge 15 years ago

I have three different sets of the "Stingray" DVD's and also the unedited pilot and I understand the frustration over music rights, but the music that they used to substitute is very good

Most people don't remember the original songs because they were to lazy to record the shows when they aired or in syndication and the only reason they know is because you have stated it here.

Don't blame Stephen Cannell or Mike Post, but blame the greedy relatives of the writer of those songs, because the writers music legacy was to have his songs heard and now they will never be heard again thanks to his greedy family.

They obviously wanted an unreasonable amount for those songs or they would be on the DVD

[–] eljefe320 9 years ago

You're wrong because Cannell replaced the music in all of his shows without ever bothering to check with the music publishers about the cost. An example of this is in the last episode of the first Wiseguy arc where he took out Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues. The song is in another show's DVD and someone asked The Moodies why they allowed it for the other show and the reason was that Cannell never even asked.

[–] rogerscorpion 14 years ago

Well, on The Equalizer boxed set, although the extremely distinctive 80s-sounding soundtrack, mostly by Stewart Copeland, has been replaced by obviously 90s music--I've gathered that, those from the UK, have the original music. Diff copyright laws, I guess.
All one needs is an all-region DVD player.
Carpe Noctem

[–] darrin 15 years ago

Recently reminisced with Season 1, and they used covers and originals. "Low Rider" By WAR was obviously done by a cover band, and "Easy Lover" by Phil Collins & Philip Bailey was the original. The music in the 2 hr pilot was overkill. It made Miami Vice seem tame! LOL! And while I love the original music by Mike Post, almost of all his t.v. themes sound alike! LOL!

[–] puffyluck 15 years ago

Does anyone know what the original song was that was playing in Abnormal Psych when Ray met Debbie at the bar at the very beginning. It was some country song about "gettin' over me."

I usually don't ask about song titles, and was going to Shazam it when I got the DVDs, but they replaced it with some other song and so that's a deadend. I was like 6 when the series came out, so I have no idea what country music was popular then.

[–] InjunKB 15 years ago

Puffyluck, your reply to my Favorite Episodes post gave me the tip that Stingray is now available on Netflix. Why didn't someone post this sooner?

Anyway, I can find your country song. PM me with all the details you can remember, male or female singer, banjo, piano, guitar, slow, fast, what year again?

"We sleep safe in our beds because rugged men . . . " George Orwell.

[–] puffyluck 15 years ago

I found it! It was Ronnie Milsap, "(There's) No Getting Over Me". I didn't love it or anything, but was always curious what it was. I appreciate the offer, though!

[–] InjunKB 15 years ago

That's a good one. Sorry I did not respond sooner. I've been out of town.

"We sleep safe in our beds because rugged men . . . " George Orwell.

[–] mr-shankly 13 years ago

I read in an online review of Stingray the complete series, released in the USA by Mill Creek, that the Canadian version of the complete series, released in Canada by VEI, only features a couple of replacement songs whilst the US version has had considerably more substitutions. Does anyone have both the Canadian and the US sets and, if so, can you compare the two releases in that regard?

[–] AmberEmerald 13 years ago

I am happy that the song from the "Ether" episode and the song from the "Neniwa" episode are on the US DVD release. Those were my two favorite original songs from the show. It is disappointing that "I'll Fly Away" was removed from the end of the "That Terrible Swift Sword" episode.

Unfortunately, I only have about 6-7 episodes of the show on video tape. So, I'm not going to know what is original music and what is replacement music for most of the episodes.

In the end credits for each episode, it seems like most of the original songs created for the show were co-written by Mike Post (music) and Stephen Geyer (lyrics). The song writing team behind "Believe It Or Not". So, it's not surprising that I loved the Stingray songs. :-)

[–] wharke-125-880408 10 years ago

The music in Stingray was one of the best parts of the show, and I miss the original stuff. I am also curious about the difference in the VEI vs the Mill Creek Entertainment DVD releases. One song I particularly miss from the Mill Creek DVD release is Gale Garnet's "We'll Sing in the Sunshine"http://youtu.be/3kzeCjluvxU from the episode, "Less Than the Eye Can See" where Ray walks into a diner, all the people are dead, but this bright, cheerful song is playing. PERFECT dichotomy!

[–] eljefe320 9 years ago

When it comes to Cannell shows, I keep my off-air VHS recordings on all of them as its the only way to get the original music.