Yash
CHOCOLATE
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2007
- Messages
- 697
- Reaction score
- 312
Problem with the 30-second songs is they don’t really have enough time to build up. Most of the Japanese songs do this really well, by the time they hit the chorus you’re in full hype mode. The 4Kids songs are shorter than those (45 seconds to a minute) but even that lets them structure them a bit more, the songs can breathe a bit at the beginning.
TPCI’s theme songs on the other hand have to hit that chorus almost immediately so you’re going from 0 to 11. The full versions (when they do them) honestly aren’t that much better since they’re just extensions of songs that were written with those constraints in mind. The first XY theme is still their best in my opinion and all it is is a cover of the season 1 theme song. The other ones occasionally have a good hook but you need more than that for a compelling song.
Not gonna pin this all on TPCI because like it’s been mentioned, a lot of this comes down to US broadcasting standards which favor more and more commercials. Even Kids’ WB! started chopping down the seasons 1-2-3 theme songs in reruns, and older shows on Nickelodeon, Disney etc. get sped up every so slightly to accommodate longer ad breaks. It’ll probably only get worse as streaming continues to grow and ad revenue becomes more precious to the networks.
Moving over to Netflix or wherever could allow this to change, Goldfarb’s produced some bangers when he isn’t forced to adhere to the 30-second rule (the ending themes for the movies, mostly), though I honestly doubt they’d change gears as TV would probably always be an option.
TPCI’s theme songs on the other hand have to hit that chorus almost immediately so you’re going from 0 to 11. The full versions (when they do them) honestly aren’t that much better since they’re just extensions of songs that were written with those constraints in mind. The first XY theme is still their best in my opinion and all it is is a cover of the season 1 theme song. The other ones occasionally have a good hook but you need more than that for a compelling song.
Not gonna pin this all on TPCI because like it’s been mentioned, a lot of this comes down to US broadcasting standards which favor more and more commercials. Even Kids’ WB! started chopping down the seasons 1-2-3 theme songs in reruns, and older shows on Nickelodeon, Disney etc. get sped up every so slightly to accommodate longer ad breaks. It’ll probably only get worse as streaming continues to grow and ad revenue becomes more precious to the networks.
Moving over to Netflix or wherever could allow this to change, Goldfarb’s produced some bangers when he isn’t forced to adhere to the 30-second rule (the ending themes for the movies, mostly), though I honestly doubt they’d change gears as TV would probably always be an option.