Breaking Bad did have its moments. I remember with a certain fondness the image of Walt running through the moonscape of New Mexico's desert in his white underpants, or the partially-dissolved body crashing down through the ceiling in Jesse's parents' house. (Oh, lighten up about spoilers – those are both from the first season. If you haven't at least heard about them by now, you were never going to watch the show anyway.)
But there was also the clever use of 1960s and 1970s pop music. Showrunner Vince Gillian had a Tarantino-like knack for resurrecting the perfect bit of lost-and-found music for his soundtracks (and blessedly, without the latter's self-indulgence). The Monkees' wired "Goin Down” was the music track behind Walter and Jesse setting up a new meth lab; we listened to Tommy James' ultramellow “Crystal Blue Persuasion” as we watched their meth business expand to eastern Europe.
And I'm happy to report that this song, by Badfinger in 1971, got a new lease on life from its appearance in the series finale (even if the same could not be said for all of the characters we watched as it played).
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(Follow-up, illustrating the awesome trend-setting power of p3's Saturday morning tunes: A couple of months ago SMT paid tribute to one of the greatest music videos of the 1980s. From our lips to Volkswagen's ad agency's ears.
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