Hawaii 5-O

1968

The Ventures

Remember TV Theme songs...I mean real TV theme songs, the ones that lasted more than fifteen seconds and two or three notes and actually had a melody, and a beat, and words, and verses and the things actual songs tend to have. The ones that people knew and loved and sang along with. (You've sung both the themes from The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Island...admit it. You know 'em by heart)

Also,  I'm not talking about songs that became hit singles long before they were adopted for the theme of a show. A good example of that Genre is The Whos' 'Who Are You' as the theme for CSI. 'Who Are You' hit #14 on the Hot 100 in 1978. 'CSI premiered and became a huge hit twenty-two years later in 2000. The osng had bcome an Oldie a couple of years before the show's concept was even thought up.

I'm talking about original songs that were written specifically for a TV series...and there were tons of them at one time. And more of them than most people realize made it to not only the Hot 100, but cracked the Top 20, and even the Top 10, and a couple of them even made it to that Coveted Holy Grail of Hot 100 slots...#1

I'm going to stick with theme songs that cracked the Top 20 and got enough airplay that people who didn't watch the show still knew of, and liked, and yes even bought the song. They fall into two distinct categories. Instrumentals and vocals. During the sixties and seventies, instrumentals were almost always the themes song of choice for Dramas...primarily Police Dramas...while vocals were usually used as the theme song for sit-coms. If there was any deviation from that division of types, it was gong to be an instrumental used for a sitcom (Barney Miller...which was still a cop show...is a good example, as is 'I Dream Of Jeanie' with the lovely Barbara Eden, and a pre-'Dallas' Larry Hagman.

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I'm going to go with what I consider the Big 4 Instrumental TV Theme Songs That Became Hits first.

And the first one I'm featuring is the Icon of 'em all...the one that's still around, and likely will stay around...The one everyone who was old enough to appreciate both music and television from 1968 to 1980 has played air drums to.  The one that to this day is the Unofficial Fight Song for the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

The TV Theme Song That Kicks All Other Themes Songs' Butts burst hard and unforgettably onto the scene when a guy named Jack Lord was given the role of Steve McGarrett, the head honcho of a fictional State Police agency in Hawaii. The producers of Hawaii 5-O wanted a distinctive, hard-hitting, high energy theme song for the show, so they tapped Morton Stevens...a veteran of TV Theme composition... to write the music, and he in turn gave it to a band that would become the biggest selling Instrumental rock band ever...The Ventures...to record, and they knocked it slam out of the park when they did so.

That distinctive, hard hitting drum, Butt-kicking awesome keyboard and guitar, and uber-fast paced tempo burrowed it's way into everyone's consciousness from the very first episode, along with what would become an iconic opening credit sequence. It also became a staple on Top 40s radio, and climbed to #4 on the Hot 100. Go to enough high school and college football games and you'll still hear it played by the band. Want to make a guess as to what the University of Hawaii's unofficial and much loved fight song is? Don't even think about guessing anything other than 'Hawaii 5-O!

Just try to listen to this and not play air drums. And move with the music. And get a smile on your face. You can't help but just have fun listening to it.

So enjoy...arguably the best loved, most awesome, most iconic TV Theme Song EVER

Hawaii 5-O by The Ventures.

When The Ventures recorded The Hawaii 5-O Theme Song back in 1968, they likely had no idea that they had created an icon.

But they had. Of course, Hawaii 5-O itself was an icon...at 12 years the longest running police drama in history, a record that they held until Law and Order beat it when it premiered and ran...and ran...and ran...

But the show Hawaii 5-O wasn't done just yet...not even close. With a very subtle change of title (From 5-O with a capitol 'O' to 5-0, with a '0') it came back on NBC a couple of years ago. And they needed theme music. SOOOOO...they shortened the beloved and iconic theme music to 30 seconds, rerecorded it, added an opening credit sequence that's an updated mirror of the original (Right down to the blue light on a police motorcycle at the end) and opened Hawaii 5-0 just as it should be opened. The only thing better would have been if they had kept it at a full minute.

Enjoy..the theme from 'Hawaii 5-0, the 2012 version.

It gets better...a lot of people don't know that there is actually a full version of The Hawaii 5-O theme song that runs for better than three minutes...and that when they recorded the 2012 version, they also recorded the full version. You think the 'Opening Credit' version rocks? Wait until you hear the full version.

So enjoy...the full version of both, along with the old and new titles sequences. A shade over six and a half minutes of awesome!

As long as there are College (And high School ) marching bands, The Theme From Hawaii 5-O will always be with us. It'll be played at halftime all over the country long after all of us are long gone. And rightly so. The song just kicks ass and is absolutely made for the heavy-on-the-brass-and-drums sound of a marching band. And the kids love playing it!

First The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors getting into it big time in a faux Hawaii 5-0 promo that NBC really should have actually used.

And finally, USC on the beach in Hawaii, along with the 2012 Hawaii 5-0 cast, getting in to it in a big way!