Mark Snow, who composed the music for TV shows like 'The X-Files,' has died at 78

The composer Mark Snow has died at 78 years old. He did the music for many TV shows, including The X-Files, Smallville and Blue Bloods.

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The composer Mark Snow has died. He did the music for many TV shows, including "The X Files."

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "MATERIA PRIMORIS: THE X-FILES THEME (MAIN TITLE)")

DETROW: He was 78 years old. NPR's Andrew Limbong has this appreciation.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Today, we know the music of "The X Files," the sonic soundscape of the show to be spooky and synthy (ph). But it almost wasn't. The show's creator Chris Carter told NPR in 2016 that at the onset of the show, he was pushing composer Mark Snow in a different direction.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

CHRIS CARTER: Mark would send me things, and I'd say, not quite. No, no, I don't think so. I said to him, you know, there's a song that I love. I just love these guitars. Listen to this song and see if it inspires something. And the song is by The Smiths called "How Soon Is Now?"

(SOUNDBITE OF THE SMITHS SONG, "HOW SOON IS NOW?")

LIMBONG: Obviously, this is not what "The X Files" theme song sounds like, thanks to an accident. Mark Snow told NPR in 2016 that he happened to put his elbow on his keyboard, which happened to have a specific delay effect on it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

MARK SNOW: Which turned out to be the accompaniment figure in the theme that went (vocalizing).

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "MATERIA PRIMORIS: THE X-FILES THEME (MAIN TITLE)")

SNOW: I thought, well, that's a nice little accompaniment figure. What could be the other parts of it?

LIMBONG: Then he stumbled across a whistling synthesizer sample and started tinkering with it.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT)

SNOW: My wife heard this, says, well, that's pretty interesting. What's that? I said, well, I'm just fooling around with this new theme. She said, you know, I'm a good whistler, too (laughter). Maybe I could beef it up a little bit.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "MATERIA PRIMORIS: THE X-FILES THEME (MAIN TITLE)")

LIMBONG: Snow didn't just do "The X Files" theme music. He composed music for the show's entire run, including the movies and the show's comeback in 2016. He was born Martin Fulterman in Brooklyn, New York in 1946. He went to Juilliard, and there he formed a band called the New York Rock & Roll Ensemble.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "KEMAL")

NEW YORK ROCK & ROLL ENSEMBLE: (Singing) Who is Lucy? Who is Nestor? We should only be there now. Why it's...

LIMBONG: Eventually, he and his family moved to Los Angeles, where he started working in TV, including on the William Shatner cop show, "T.J. Hooker."

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "T.J. HOOKER - MAIN TITLE THEME")

LIMBONG: After the initial success of "The X Files," Snow composed the music for other TV shows, such as "Smallville" and "Blue Bloods." But in that 2016 interview, Snow told NPR that working on other TV shows felt samey-samey (ph) in terms of creative opportunities. They were good gigs, sure, but working on "The X Files," he said, felt like magic. Andrew Limbong, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK SNOW'S "MATERIA PRIMORIS: THE X-FILES THEME (MAIN TITLE)")

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