How to make Stu Phillips 'Knight Rider Theme' with DRC
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The 80’s TV show ‘Knight Rider’ had it all. Action, adventure, drama, comedy, and of course David Hasselhoff fighting crime alongside a talking car. Aside from some incredibly awesome/horrendous haircuts, the real star of the show was the absolutely cool AF, badass theme tune, written by Stu Phillips.
With Iconic 80’s synths punctuated by the stabs of a Fender bass guitar, the theme’s funky riffs have been sampled and remixed many times and found their way into some huge tracks as a result. The lineage of the main melody is an interesting and varied journey across a host of musical styles.
While it has been attributed by some to be inspired by Leon Jessel's 'Parade of the Wooden Soldiers', which clearly contains the familiar melodic phrase, the show's creator and co-composer Glen A. Larson revealed in an interview that the theme was created from elements of the classical ballet piece ‘Marche Et Cortège De Bacchus’, by french composer Léo Delibes
One of the most famous instances of the Knight Rider theme tune being sampled is Busta Rhymes’ 1998 hip-hop hit ‘Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up’. The ‘remix’ part of the track’s title references the newly included Knight Rider sample; the original album version contained a sample of Al Green’s 'Love and Happiness'.
In 2002, it was Busta’s turn to be sampled, when artist ‘Punjabi MC’ released ‘Mundian To Bach Ke‘ in which he turned a sample of ‘Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up’ into a bhangra breakout smash hit.
Finally, our journey ends with Jay-Z, and his remix of ‘Mundian To Bach Ke’ which features the rapper’s trademark flow, adding his English vocal to the previously Punjabi-only track.
Now you too can put your own spin on this awesome 80's theme, and recreate the track's sounds, with our DRC Sound Design Tutorial for Stu Phillips - 'Theme From Knight Rider'.
Click here to download the Ableton project file
We love knight clubs,
Team Imaginando