Music on The Sopranos
The HBO television drama The Sopranos received considerable critical attention for effective use of an eclectic array of music.[1][2][3][4] Series creator David Chase personally selected all the show's music, with the producer Martin Bruestle and music editor Kathryn Dayak—sometimes also consulting Steven Van Zandt, who portrays Silvio Dante on the show and is also a guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.[1] They often selected music after completing an episode's production and editing, but occasionally filmed sequences to match pre-selected pieces of music.[5]
Stylistically, the music on the show ranges from mainstream pop (Britney Spears, The Bangles) to oldies and classic rock artists (The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd), from classic jazz and soul (Ella Fitzgerald, Ben E. King) to hip-hop (Xzibit, Time Zone), often within a single episode.[6]
Opening credits[edit]
In the opening credits for each episode, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) drives from the Lincoln Tunnel to his home in North Caldwell, New Jersey. The musical accompaniment for this segment is the "Chosen One Mix" of the song "Woke Up This Morning" by the British band Alabama 3 (known in the United States as A3 for legal reasons). "Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix)" is four minutes and five seconds long,[7] so a shortened version of it is used in the opening credits, which is approximately one minute and thirty seconds long.[8]
Alternate music in Europe[edit]
For the version of the series aired in Europe, the producers partially replaced the music for licensing reasons. European DVD editions (in the case of the first season, only the 16:9 re-issue) contain these altered versions as foreign-language dubs as well as the original unaltered English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1.
The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series
December 14, 1999
Various
54:11
Various
David Chase (exec. producer)
May 8, 2001
Various
Various
David Chase, Brad Grey (exec. producers)