In one of yesterday’s entries, I noted that among Mat Kearney’s big breaks was having a few of his songs featured on Grey’s Anatomy. In fact, he has had two songs (“All I Need” and “Breathe In, Breathe Out”) used as “the song” – which is a pretty big deal, since it usually means a longer portion of the song is used at or near the end of the episode. (Side note: being one of VH1’s “You Oughta Know” artists didn’t hurt Kearney’s career either, especially when they asked him to headline the first “You Oughta Know” Tour last spring).
It seems Grey’s Anatomy is on a mission to help up-and-coming-artists by playing their music during pivotal scenes of their show (see also: The Fray)…a show that just so happens to be watched by a whole lot of people every week, resulting in the band’s song being heard by a whole lot of people (and to top it off, there’s an ad at the end of every episode with sound clips and information about the songs in that week’s episode…iTunes must be a sponsor because the segment includes the line “music from tonight’s episode can be downloaded on iTunes”). If you want to find out more about what songs played in which episodes, ABC has a Grey’s Anatomy: Music Guide where you can search by season and episode to find out which songs were used and, starting somewhere in the middle of Season 3, there’s even a link to buy the song on iTunes and a rather detailed explanation of when it was playing during the episode. (For instance, Ben Lee’s song “What Would Jay-Z Do?” plays at the beginning of Episode 8 of Season 4, “with a view of the Seattle skyline. Derek has a drink with Sydney, Meredith and Cristina watch from a distance, and Mark offers him an escape plan. In the hospital, Bailey puts up an announcement and does a dance. Meredith and George see Izzie and Derek in the elevator and decide to take the stairs.”)
As a result of the writer’s strike there hasn’t been a new episode of Grey’s on TV for at least a month (this is true for most other shows as well, including my other Thursday night favorites – Scrubs and The Office), but there’s hope TV fans! No, the Writers Guild of America does not seem to be nearing a resolution with the television and movie companies (the big issue seems to be about how much money the writer’s receive from DVD sales)…the hope and good news comes in small installments because it seems several shows had a few new/un-aired episodes “in the can” before the strike, and they have been airing them sporadically…but since they have no idea when the strike will end, they don’t want to use all the new episodes and be left with only reruns for the rest of the season. The whole situation really sucks for shows like Scrubs, which is in it’s final season and needs to wrap up several loose ends in the story, and because the actors are contracted for the rest of the season and they get paid per episode; so without writers there are no scripts, and without scripts there are no episodes to shoot, meaning the actors can’t get paid and we, the viewers, have to wait until who-knows-when to see how the series will end.
ABC is finally airing a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy tonight (8pm central) and “the song” will be from one of the most recognizable groups in Christian music over the past 15 years, Caedmon’s Call. (In case you miss tonight’s episode–or don’t have DVR–it will be re-aired on Friday, January 11 at 7pm central, or you can watch it on abc.com). Here is the press release from Caedmon’s record company (INO Records) about their song being featured on Grey’s…
Caedmon’s Call’s lyrically compelling song about redemption, “Ten Thousand Angels” will receive a rare and lengthy place on an upcoming episode of the ABC hit drama series “Grey’s Anatomy” on January 10th. Featuring vocals by Derek Webb, the song will play for five consecutive minutes during an emotionally charged final scene.
In order for the song to fit the length of the scene, an extra minute was even edited in, and with lyrics including ‘so lift up your heart now, to this unfolding, all that has been broken will be restored, here runs deep waters for all who are thirsty, love has come, love has come for you’, its use on one of television’s biggest shows is especially uncommon.
“It’s an honor to be asked to help carry some of the emotional weight of a powerhouse show like Grey’s,” says Webb. “ I think the spiritual significance of a song like “Ten Thousand Angels” will have some really special chemistry with what is bound to be an important episode in the season.”
“Ten Thousand Angels” is a bonus track on the group’s current release, Overdressed, which was in the top 5 (no. 5) of iTunes Editorial list of 2007 for overall “Best Christian Albums”.
