Music of The X-Files
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Music of ''The X-Files'' franchise is composed and written by American
Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...
; the franchise was created by Chris Carter. Snow has composed the music for all the franchise main releases (etc. television shows and films). Together with the show, the music was positively met by critics and viewers of the show alike. Snow has been nominated with over twenty awards and nominations for his music on the various franchise releases, but notably ''The X-Files''. Among the most famous compositions of the franchise is the theme song for ''The X-Files''. The theme was a top ten hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number two on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
. With ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
'' peaking in popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s, the music did too. When the show was hitting its peak in popularity, Carter created a spin off to the series, entitled ''
Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
'' which aired from 1996–1999. While never gaining as much attention as ''The X-Files'', the show's theme song and soundtrack releases were well received by critics. ''
The Lone Gunmen The Lone Gunmen are a trio of fictional characters, Richard "Ringo" Langly, Melvin Frohike and John Fitzgerald Byers, who appeared in recurring roles on the American television series ''The X-Files'', and who starred in the short-lived spin-of ...
'' is the last television spin off of ''The X-Files'' which only aired for around two months. A soundtrack of the original music has been released in a set with music from Carter's other short lived Science Fiction series
Harsh Realm ''Harsh Realm'' is an American science fiction television series about humans trapped inside a virtual reality simulation. It was developed by Chris Carter, creator of ''The X-Files'' and ''Millennium'', and began airing on the Fox Network on Oc ...
. Snow returned to compose music for the
franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
with the film, '' The X-Files: I Want to Believe''.


''The X-Files''


Early conception and series (1993–2002)

Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...
got involved with ''The X-Files'', since he was a good friend of executive producer R.W. Goodwin. When the production staff was talking about who was going to take the composing duties for the series, Chris Carter didn't know who to ask, in total about "10–15" people were looked at. But Goodwin pressed for Snow being the show's composer. Snow auditioned around three times, but didn't get any signs from the production staff if they wanted him. One day, Snow's agent called talking about the pilot episode, and hinted that he had got the part. At first Snow wasn't sure if he wanted to work on ''The X-Files'', giving the reason that he felt they were "weird". So Snow eventually started to compose his music in
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, in which he would continue until the show's end. At the start, Carter and the producers wanted Snow to heavily use synthesizers when composing his music, to sustain a "type A atmosphere ambient sound design". Snow had commented that after a while he got tired with this, and wanted to make a new musical direction for the show. He then started to do more "musical" work, such as creating more "melodies" for his songs. When composing the music for the show, the monster-of-the-week episodes, Snow got a lot more "freedom" when compared to the mytharc episodes which were much more "traditional" and conservative in its approach. Carter and the production crew gave Snow much freedom to compose his own music, rarely if ever giving him any notes on how he would record or compose his music for the series; when he was given notes they would be in a more basic form such as "too much" or "too loud", according to Snow. When creating the music for ''The X-Files'' film, Snow had a couple of months to write and to produce the music while he also created the music for the television show. The first film marked the first time the music for the franchise was composed and recorded with help from an
orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
. According to Snow, the recording and writing process didn't change during the making of the film. The biggest difference was that he used
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
files to save his musical scores and pieces, which would go to a copyist who would take it through one of their programs and eventually give it to the orchestrators. The sixth season episode " The Unnatural" marked the first time in the series that the show recorded the score with musicians rather than synthesizers. Slide guitar player Nick Kirgo and harmonica player Tommy Morgan assisted Snow with the score. For the seventh season episode " Closure",
Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...
's music was not used, being replaced by Moby's "My Weakness". Carter never told Snow about this change. While Snow has been confirmed to be more positive to it than negative, saying it fit "perfect", and further stating, "Every once in a while, when Chris would pick out a pop song or whatever, he would always make really great choices and I thought that was a good one." "
Within Within may refer to: * ''Within'' (William Joseph album) (2004), by pianist William Joseph * ''Within'' (Embraced album) (2000), by Swedish melodic black metal band Embraced * Within (company), a virtual reality content and technology company ba ...
", the season eight premiere, was the first of six episodes to feature the song "Scully's Theme". The other five were "
Without Without may refer to: * "Without" (''The X-Files''), an episode in the eighth season of ''The X-Files'' * "without", an English preposition * "Without", a film that premiered at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival * "Without", a song by Jack Savore ...
", " Per Manum", "
This Is Not Happening "This Is Not Happening" is the fourteenth episode of the eighth season and the 175th episode overall of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The episode first aired in the United States on February 25, 2001, on the Fox Network, ...
", "
Deadalive "Deadalive" (or "DeadAlive") is the fifteenth episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. It was written by executive producers Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and was directed by Tony Wharmby. It ex ...
" and the
season finale A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try ...
"
Existence Existence is the ability of an entity to interact with reality. In philosophy, it refers to the ontological property of being. Etymology The term ''existence'' comes from Old French ''existence'', from Medieval Latin ''existentia/exsistentia' ...
". The song features a solo female voice that repeats the distorted words "We are near" over and over. According to Carter, it is one of the greatest things that series composer Snow has ever done. Carter himself admitted to "tweaking" the song a little, adding the three words that are repeated over and over, with the idea to "distort" them.


''I Want to Believe'' (2008)

After ''The X-Files'' was cancelled in 2002, Chris Carter and his crew started working with a goal of releasing a second ''X-Files'' film. In 2003, Carter called Snow, who by that time lived in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, UK and said he wanted him to return for another film. Snow was positive to the idea, but filming got bogged down by contract issues between
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
and Carter. Once the contract issues were sorted out, Carter re-contacted Snow about the development and later on sent him the script for the film. Carter and his production crew wanted as much secrecy for the film as possible, forcing Snow to sign a contract when receiving the script. Snow wrote a couple of
demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...
s at the start, in which Carter and
Frank Spotnitz Frank Charles Spotnitz is an American television screenwriter and executive producer, best known for his work on ''The X-Files'' and ''The Man in the High Castle''. Spotnitz is also the chief executive officer and founder of Big Light Production ...
were not too pleased about, but it eventually worked out when Snow re-recorded them. When composing the music for '' The X-Files: I Want to Believe'', Snow said it was "different" from the previous film which followed the show's mytharc storyline about the government conspiracy with aliens. He said it was much "more heart, warmth and tuneful music" since this film was much more based around
Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
(
David Duchovny David William Duchovny ( ; born ) is an American actor, writer, producer, director, novelist, and singer-songwriter. He is known for portraying FBI agent Fox Mulder on the television series ''The X-Files'' (1993–2002, 2016-2018) and as writ ...
) and
Dana Scully Dana Katherine Scully, MD, is a fictional character and one of the two protagonists in the Fox science-fiction, supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by Gillian Anderson. Scully is a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Spec ...
's (
Gillian Anderson Gillian Leigh Anderson ( ; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series ''The X-Files'', ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film '' The House of Mirt ...
) relationship. Snow recorded the score with the Hollywood Studio Symphony in May 2008 at the Newman Scoring Stage at 20th Century Fox in Century City, California. No music was written out during Snow's recording season with the symphony orchestra. When making the music, Snow used many instruments such as a "battery of percussion", taiko drums and
whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a lar ...
with live singers, among other things. It took four days to record and writing music for and with the orchestra. He used no
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s and no high
woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...
s when recording, but used up to eight
french horns The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...
, five
trombones The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...
, two
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, one harp, thirty-two
violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
s, sixteen violas twelve
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
s and eight
basses Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass ...
. British performers UNKLE recorded a new version of the theme music for the end credits to the movie. Some of the unusual sounds were created by a variation of
silly putty Silly Putty is a toy based on silicone polymers that have unusual physical properties. It bounces, but it breaks when given a sharp blow, and it can also flow like a liquid. It contains a viscoelastic liquid silicone, a type of non-Newtonian f ...
and dimes tucked in between and over the strings of the piano. Mark Snow also comments that the fast percussion featured in some tracks was inspired by the track 'Prospectors Quartet' from the ''
There Will Be Blood ''There Will Be Blood'' is a 2007 American period drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, loosely based on the 1927 novel '' Oil!'' by Upton Sinclair. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, a silver miner turned oilm ...
'' soundtrack. UNKLE's song "Broken" was also included in the end credits.


''Millennium''

The
theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...
for ''
Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...
'' was created by
Mark Snow Mark Snow (born Martin Fulterman; August 26, 1946) is an American composer for film and television. Among his most famous compositions is the theme music for science fiction television series ''The X-Files''. The theme reached no. 2 on the UK Si ...
. A popular belief amongst fans is that the theme song was inspired by Kylie Minogue's dance-pop song "
Confide In Me "Confide in Me" is a song recorded by Australian singer Kylie Minogue, taken from her self-titled fifth studio album (1994). It was released as the album's lead single on 29 August 1994 by Deconstruction, Imago, and Mushroom Records. The tr ...
". In reality, Chris Carter allegedly sent him a traditional Scottish céilidh song.


Reception and legacy

"
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...
" theme music went straight to No. 2 on March 30, 1996, on the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
and stayed there for three weeks before dropping. In France, the single entered the chart at No. 42 on April 6, 1996, climbed quickly until reaching No. 2 four weeks later. It remained blocked for five weeks at this position, behind
Robert Miles Roberto Concina (3 November 1969 – 9 May 2017), known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition "Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topped the charts worldwide. ...
's hit " Children", then topped the chart for a sole week, becoming the second instrumental number-one hit, before climbing. It totalled 1 weeks in the top ten and 30 weeks in the top 50. The single was re-charted from October 1998, but remained in low positions.


References


External links


The X-Files
a
Fox

The X-Files: I Want To Believe (2008) (Official Website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:X-Files, Music Music by media franchise