It's no exaggeration to say that, though it lasted only 30 episodes, Twin Peaks started a revolution in North American television. In partnership with unsung hero Mark Frost, the visionary filmmaker David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet) brought his dark and surreal perceptions to the small screen. 1980's TV had been dominated by the glossy soap operas Dallas and Dynasty: Twin Peaks subverted their formula and opened the door for Northern Exposure and The X Files. Essential to the show's impact was the extraordinarily atmospheric score by Angelo Badalamenti, and the fragile, little-girl-lost vocals of Julee Cruise. The main themes, portraying the town of Twin Peaks itself, and murdered teenager Laura Palmer, alternate between a lush, decadent and world-weary poetry and a fairytale innocence. While on three songs--"The Nightingale", "Into The Night" and the gorgeous "Falling"--Julee Cruise seems to summon ghosts out of the misty, autumnal air. Elsewhere the composer blends lonesome synthesisers with mournful solo instruments, creating otherworldly textures hinting at the dreamlike jazz to come in his score for the feature version, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Other notable Badalamenti-Lynch collaborations include Lost Highway and The Straight Story. --Gary S. Dalkin
Review by Brian Mansfield
Composer Angelo Badalamenti (Cousins) set the tone for David Lynch's bizarre television soap with a haunting theme created from electric piano, synthetic strings and the twangiest guitar this side of Duane Eddy. The love theme, appropriately enough, sounds like a funeral march. (The series' central character was found dead at the beginning of the first episode.) The rest of the music, instantly recognizable to anyone who saw even one episode of the series, borders on fever-dream jazz. Lynch-favorite Julee Cruise sings the only three vocal songs. The music from Twin Peaks is dark, cloying and obsessive -- and one of the best scores ever written for television.
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