{"id":227179,"date":"2026-01-10T20:22:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227179\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T20:22:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T20:22:06","slug":"20-classic-rock-songs-that-enjoyed-a-second-life-as-tv-themes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/227179\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Classic Rock Songs That Enjoyed a Second Life as TV Themes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many of classic rock\u2019s biggest stars have had their material turned into theme songs for television shows.<\/p>\n<p>The trend really started taking off in the \u201880s, as TV producers realized welcoming viewers with an already familiar tune added an extra level of appeal to their programs. Yes, this was still the golden era of original TV themes &#8212; like Cheers, The A Team and The Greatest American Hero &#8212; but many other series found success by utilizing songs from such famous acts as the <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/beatles\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Beatles<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/billy-joel\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Billy Joel <\/a>and the <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/rolling-stones\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Rolling Stones<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, the original recording became the theme. In others, such as The Wonder Years\u2019\u00a0memorable use of <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/joe-cocker\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joe Cocker<\/a>\u2019s rendition of \u201cWith a Little Help From My Friends,\u201d a cover was used. Either way, it\u2019s since become commonplace for classic rock tracks to be turned into theme songs, benefiting both the TV show and the artist as well.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/best-70s-tv-theme-songs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">20 Best &#8217;70s TV Theme Songs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>One of the best modern examples is the <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/who\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Who<\/a>. After the band\u2019s classic hit \u201cWho Are You\u201d was utilized for the original series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the group essentially became the unofficial\u00a0CSI\u00a0house band. With every spinoff, the Who licensed another theme song, earning <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/roger-daltrey\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Roger Daltrey<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ultimateclassicrock.com\/tags\/pete-townshend\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pete Townshend<\/a> millions of dollars while also introducing the band\u2019s material to a new generation of fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the use in CSI, fuck! It just hugely, dramatically spread the word about the potential, Townshend noted to Rolling Stone in 2022. \u201cThese were some of the best songs that the Who had ever recorded. They were on TV over and over again. It just reminded people that we were still there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here are 20 Classic Rock Songs That Enjoyed a Second Life as TV Themes.<\/p>\n<p>Classic Rock Songs That Became TV Themes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of classic rock\u2019s biggest stars have had their material turned into theme songs for television shows. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,6057,157,111,139,69,10883],"class_list":{"0":"post-227179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-galleries","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-original-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}