Prime Matter

I learned of Mark Snow’s death yesterday. He produced many memorable scores, though probably none more iconic than the X-Files Title Theme, today’s Measures feature. (Its title is an alternate form of “prima materia”.)

The X-Files was a flawed but wonderful show. Each episode was capable of engendering intrigue via explorations of conspiracy, the supernatural, and at its best, the worst of human behavior. Our biases, assumptions, predilections and constant need to believe. Mulder and Scully’s dispositional interplay was always an effective draw. Placement of the religious impulse into a scientist and doctor, opposite an incorrigible expert on the nuttiest theories ever concocted, was a brilliant decision. Their dialogue often rose above the sometimes-mediocre plotlines.

And Snow’s score was the perfect frame for it all. When the setting was spooky, but also when it was lighthearted. The eerie notes and whistles amplified the nightmare fuel as much as they did the humorous eccentricities. The same beats that set up the horrific “Home” somehow also worked for “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster”. Despite the strength of the show’s early run, the latter is still my favorite episode of the series overall; it is hard not to love its subversion of the genre and of the writers’ own tendencies.

If you are curious, you can hear Snow describing how he stumbled upon the inspiration for the tune and the resulting process in this interview.