{"id":19905,"date":"2022-09-27T10:41:45","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T08:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=172617"},"modified":"2022-09-27T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T08:54:08","slug":"who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Who wrote the theme tune for Match of the Day ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Michael Beek\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever had a kickabout, it\u2019s likely at least someone has hummed the Match of the Day<\/em> theme tune as they\u2019ve dribbled the ball on their way to (hopefully) scoring a goal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The BBC\u2019s Match of the Day<\/em> has been a fixture in TV schedules since it made its debut on BBC Two in August 1964, just months after the channel was first switched on. The original incarnation of the programme featured rather stuffy military music as its theme tune \u2013 indeed \u2018Drum Majorette\u2019 (the piece\u2019s title) was written by a band leader of the Welsh Guards, writing under the name of Arnold Stock (actually Major Leslie Statham).<\/p>\n\n<p style=\""font-weight:\">Statham\u2019s old-fashioned music was ditched in 1970 when <em>Match of the Day<\/em> was given an overhaul. The show\u2019s incoming producer, Sam Leitch, wanted a fresh sound for his modern football programme and he turned to 29-year-old Surrey-born musician and composer Barry Stoller (b1945).<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/best-television-theme-tunes\/"\">The best TV theme tunes<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/best-bond-film-theme-tune\/"\">Which is the best James Bond film theme tune?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-film-score-and-film-soundtrack\/"\">What is the difference between a film score and film soundtrack?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/six-best-horror-film-scores\/"\">Six of the best\u2026 Horror Film Scores<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><p style=\""font-weight:\">Stoller was tasked with simply writing \u2018something good\u2019 and he set to work on what is now one of the most familiar pieces of music written for television. The fact it was actually written for the show is rare, given just how much stock\/library music the BBC was using at the time (themes like <em>All Creatures Great and Small<\/em> and <em>Mastermind<\/em> employed existing tracks for their theme tunes).<\/p>\n<p style=\""font-weight:\">Using a multi-track recorder in his North London basement, Stoller set about putting together \u2013 with a little help from his friends \u2013 the theme, which features trumpet, bass guitar, lead and rhythm guitars, a clavioline keyboard and even banjo. The trumpet was the hook for Stoller, who imagined a gladiatorial fanfare for those doing battle on the pitch. The complete version features a very unfamiliar middle section; the opening and closing being the tune viewers know and love.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Match\" of=\"\" the=\"\" day=\"\" theme=\"\" original=\"\" complete=\"\" release=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HiDgXAORsMM?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p style=\""font-weight:\">The show has featured Stoller\u2019s music ever since, though a new arrangement was brought in a few years in, causing uproad among fans who wrote to the BBC in their droves, pleading for Stoller\u2019s original arrangement to be brought back. They listened. It was, and it remains \u00ad though it has no doubt had a re-recording since then.<\/p>\n<p style=\""font-weight:\">Stoller would continue to work in production music, performing and recording tracks for library use. His work has featured in other shows, including ITV\u2019s <em>The Sweeney<\/em>, but nothing he has written has come close to the popularity and familiarity of <em>Match of the Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> \n<h4><strong>More TV theme tunes<\/strong><\/h4>\n<ul><li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/bbc-proms\/bbc-proms-theme-tune-who-wrote-it-and-what-is-it\/"\">BBC Proms theme tune: who wrote it and what is it?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/tv-and-film-music\/mastermind-theme-tune\/"\">Who wrote the theme tune for\u00a0Mastermind?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/tv-and-film-music\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-ski-sunday\/"\">Who wrote the theme tune for \u2018Ski Sunday\u2019?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/who-composed-the-theme-tune-to-doctor-who\/"\">Who composed the theme tune to Doctor Who?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\""https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/who-composed-theme-tune-great-british-bake\/"\">Who composed the theme tune for the Great British Bake Off?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><p>\u00a0<\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Michael Beek Published: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 at 12:00 am If you\u2019ve ever had a kickabout, it\u2019s likely at least someone has hummed the Match of the Day theme tune as they\u2019ve dribbled the ball on their way to (hopefully) scoring a goal. The BBC\u2019s Match of the Day has been a fixture in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":19906,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day.jpg",1890,1260,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/09\/who-wrote-the-theme-tune-for-match-of-the-day.jpg",1890,1260,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Michael Beek Published: Tuesday, 27 September 2022 at 12:00 am If you\u2019ve ever had a kickabout, it\u2019s likely at least someone has hummed the Match of the Day theme tune as they\u2019ve dribbled the ball on their way to (hopefully) scoring a goal. The BBC\u2019s Match of the Day has been a fixture in…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19905"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}