Last night I was watching the awesome BBC series, Sherlock. The moment I heard the opening title sequence, I was convinced I knew who had written it. The musical style sounded very similar to the style of the music in the opening sequence to House of Cards. The HOC theme is considerably more dissonant/bi-tonal, which I love, but the two themes felt similar to me. Both themes are awesome!
I took to the internet. (How did we live before the internet? I think we were just far less inquisitive.)
As facts would have it, the two theme songs are not composed by the same composer. The title theme to Sherlock was composed by David Arnold and Michael Price. The theme to House of Cards was composed by Jeff Beal.
Am I the only one that hears some germ of similarity? Here’s a brief mix. Tell me what you think.
Aside
On a mildly related note: Day before yesterday I read this article in the NYTimes with some interest, Appeals Court Affirms Sherlock Holmes Is in Public Domain. Apparently the Conan Doyle estate has been forcing people who create content related to Sherlock Holmes to pay them a hefty licensing fee.
Even though the copyright has long ago expired, the estate cooked up some bogus argument which more amounted to threat of legal action to shut down sales (threaten distribution channels with legal action) and increase cost of publication (with legal fees). Greedy estate!
A publisher paid the fee the first time but refused to be the victim of extortion the second time and sued the estate. The estate lost. The estate also lost the appeal.
This was an important victory for culture!
Comment from: Sandy Serkes on 3/26/2017
I am desperately trying to send you a note about your House of Cards – Sherlock post. I, too, notice this similarity right away! I’ve been a Sherlock fan since its debut, and only recently started watching HOC. It has been driving me crazy ever since, to the point where I had to search the internet to see if anyone else had noticed this! Here’s a fun tidbit, they are both played in A minor, which helps the brain connect them. But, just so you know in the inevitable mash-up, HOC comes first with Sherlock second! ? Thank you so much for validating my neurosis!
You might be interested to know that since the post, “TV Theme Songs Sherlock; House of Cards,” was first written, almost 3 years ago now, it has been read by 2,132 people. You are not alone. 🙂