Original AT40 Theme Music - is it available?

[cookee]

Hi there from the other side of the world in New Zealand.

As a young teenager I regularly listened to AT40 with Casey Kasem on our local radio station on a Saturday afternoon, I just loved the show.

Certain songs from that era remind me more of listening to the show than anything else but the most significant thing that has remained stuck in my head for those 35-odd years since was the original theme music.

For a long time I've tried to find a download of it, preferably without any voice over. I wondered if by any chance anyone has it or knows where I can obtain it? - I tried emailing Rob at both address on his site but both were rejected as user unknown -0 I guess he does not update the site any more?

Anyway, I managed to get a bit of a 'fix' today when I was able to download the demo from...

www.premiereradio.com/shows/view/at40_70s.html

Boy that took me back for sure.
The start of the clip is definitely the same theme although in my head it seemed to be a slightly different version, same tune but somehow a little more crisp if you know what I mean. I guess they may have redone the theme once or twice perhaps with different instruments (was it mainly a synthesizer?) or different tempo?

Anyway, I'd love to know if any of you can help with any clips of the original theme/s from the early 70's shows as per the demo download.

Thanks so much - it really takes me back.

Cheers

Steve Cook
Wellington
N.Z.

[coldcardinal]

The original theme did indeed have two different versions. The more crisp one (or "bright," as they call it in synth lingo) was the very first theme used, and the one that you remember was used a bit later. Otherwise, I can't be of much help -- but there are several experts here who will know more.

[at40petebattistini]

Steve,
Welcome to Rob's web site/message board!

Indeed, the original theme had two versions that perhaps only the trained ear could note. And to complicate the two, the original was used periodically after the remake became a regular fixture. For anyone with an original LP copy of the October 13, 1973 program, you'll find a separate track containing the AT40 theme music, sans Casey. That track is the remake of the original theme, made available to stations to produce their own AT40 promo announcements. To the best of my knowledge, I'm not aware if Watermark ever released a complete, no vocal, original AT40 theme track to stations. If you are able to find one, it's possible it was spliced together from two parts of a program -- the show's beginning and end.

Hope that's helpful information!

[cookee]

Thanks for the replies, well if anyone has that recording, and is able to get the track recorded as an mp3 it would be fantastic.

Cheers

Steve
N.Z.

[vto66]

Would it be possible for someone to post a sample of an intro from one of the AT40 shows from late September to mid-October 1979? According to what I read in Pete Battistini's book, these shows used a different opening theme song from the more-familiar "Shuckatoom." I recall reading that AT40 was planning to change from "Shuckatoom" to this new theme, but they changed it back after only about a month or so. I figured that there was such a strong response from so many people, and they somehow thought the new theme did not work as an opening theme quite as well as "Shuckatoom" did, that the AT40 folks felt they had no choice but to revive the "Shuckatoom" theme. However, since I did not discover AT40 until the following year, and I've caught up on all of the other themes from Classic AT40 thanks to XM, I'm anxious to hear one of these four shows from between September 22 and October 13 of 1979, just to hear how the opening sequence sounded. I don't know if XM plans to broadcast any of these shows, and I don't know if they are posted anywhere on the Internet. Thanks in advance to anyone who may know about this.

[mstgator]

^ The opening theme during those few non-Shuckatoom weeks was the same music that was kept as the hour-opening and show-ending music into the early '80s.

Here's the first 30 seconds of the 9/22/79 AT40, the first show to feature that theme music:

www.zshare.net/audio/35816222c5a8e4/

[vto66]

mstgator said:

^ The opening theme during those few non-Shuckatoom weeks was the same music that was kept as the hour-opening and show-ending music into the early '80s.

Here's the first 30 seconds of the 9/22/79 AT40, the first show to feature that theme music:

www.zshare.net/audio/35816222c5a8e4/

Thanks mstgator!! Pretty interesting opening. I noticed that Casey did not mention anything in his opening about AT40 having a new theme song. As I recall, when AT40 changed to new themes in January 1984, he DID mention it by saying, "As our new theme music plays in the background...." before thanking the guest host from the previous week. ^This was probably the only time during Casey's original AT40 run that, when AT40 changed theme music, he actually mentioned it on air.
Anyway, while the 1979 theme isn't bad, I'd probably say it doesn't work quite as well as an opening theme as dear old "Shuckatoom" did, which is probably why they brought it back.

[pandy]

The theme music that appeared at the beginning was used as the show closing theme later in the year. There are two versions of this new theme. The longer version with the extended drumbeat at the beginning as I recall were used for the Top 50 of 1979 and the Top 50 of the 70s shows. I guess for Casey had a lot to say for credits. Also it was probily used at the beginning of hour 2 for the new stations mentions. The shorter one was used throught the early 80s as the show closing theme.

[coldcardinal]

pandy said:

The theme music that appeared at the beginning was used as the show closing theme later in the year. There are two versions of this new theme. The longer version with the extended drumbeat at the beginning as I recall were used for the Top 50 of 1979 and the Top 50 of the 70s shows. I guess for Casey had a lot to say for credits. Also it was probily used at the beginning of hour 2 for the new stations mentions. The shorter one was used throught the early 80s as the show closing theme.

Also, the longer version used on the end-of-79 shows contained the saxophone solo that later appeared in the mid-82 "remix" of the closing theme, which persisted through 1983.