Track 1: "We Used to Be Friends" by The Dandy WarholsThe show's theme song, it played over the opening credits in every episode except 1.06
Return of the Kane and 1.22
Leave It to Beaver, when the opening credits weren't used and the cast names overlaid the action. The song was around before the show but the lyrics are so very perfect that you could be forgiven for thinking that it was written especially for it. "We Used to Be Friends" is off the band's fifth album,
Welcome to the Monkey House, released in 2003. For those of you who remember the '80s, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran co-produced.
This is one of three songs the band has had on the show. "Insincere Because I," off the same album, was used in the pilot as Veronica reminisced about her time as Duncan's girlfriend. "Little Drummer Boy," which played in 1.10
An Echolls Family Christmas when Veronica was cleaning up at the poker table, was the band's very first single, released in 1995. Look for it on the 1995 compilation
It's Finally Christmas or
It's a Cool Cool Christmas, a 2000 compilation.
The Dandy Warhols formed in 1992 in Portland, Oregon. Their music is varied, going from psychedelic to rock and roll to alt-pop to who knows what next.
Now, the big question is this – is their latest album,
Odditorium and the Warlords of Mars, released on September 13th, a tribute to our favorite heroine or the vestiges of a misspent youth in comics and sci-fi? Keep your eyes on this site and maybe you'll find out. You can find out more about the band and the new album on their
website.
Track 2: "I Hear the Bells" by Mike DoughtyAs this song did not appear in the first season, we were left to speculate as to what bells Mike Doughty is hearing. The Neptune High bells, releasing Veronica from school to catch an elusive...wait for it...catnapper? Wedding bells, signaling the stepsiblinghood of our favorite BFFs?
Loud alarum bells, warning Neptune of imminent destruction? What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! Probably not that last one, since the bells seem to be ringing "joyful and triumphant" in this relaxing tune layered with guitar and piano. Okay, fine, now that it's appeared in
2.20 Look Who's Stalking, we can safely say, uh... hmm. May actually be all of the above, come to think of it.
Mike Doughty was the frontman of unclassifiable '90s band Soul Coughing, best known for such incomprehensible songs as "Super Bon Bon" and "Circles." Following the breakup of the band in 2000, he released a few solo albums as a singer/songwriter (
Skittish, his debut, was actually recorded in 1996 but not released until 2000). "I Hear the Bells" is off his new album
Haughty Melodic, his first recording with a full band since his Soul Coughing days.
Find out more about Mike Doughty's musical evolution on his
official website, and paint your own picture of him. No, seriously. I made his face some interesting shades of blue and orange and yellow.
Track 3: "I Know I Know I Know" by Tegan and SaraThis song, which is on Tegan and Sara's latest album,
So Jealous, was used in 2.16
The Rapes Of Graff. Another song on that album, "Walking with a Ghost," was almost used for the season finale, 1.22
Leave it to Beaver.
Tegan and Sara Quin are identical twin sisters/singers/songwriters. They're also Canadian, but we won't hold that against them. They first started in the music biz by winning a local music competition in Calgary and their popularity has increased substantially since. They have extensively toured with many other artists, including Neil Young, Rufus Wainwright, The Killers, and Weezer.
During concerts, they also perform comedic bickerings that have become part of their act. Also: they're very hot. Visit their
official website.
Track 4: "I Turn My Camera On" by SpoonThis is from Spoon's latest album,
Gimme Fiction, and was used in 2.03
Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang. The band's "Don't Let It Get You Down," from their 2002 release
Kill the Moonlight, is used in 1.08
Like a Virgin towards the end of the episode in the scene with Veronica and Meg in the parking lot.
The indie band, formed in Austin, Texas, in 1994, has been likened to other artists whose music has appeared on the show, such as the French Kicks, who were heard in 1.07
The Girl Next Door, Interpol (1.10
An Echolls Family Christmas) and Radio 4 (1.04
The Wrath of Con).
You can find out more about the band and their latest album on their
website.
Track 5: "No Sleep Tonight" by The FadersThis is another track from season 2. (Guys, the music in season one was effing great! Maybe the next release could have some more of it?) The Faders appeared as the band at the homecoming dance in episode 2.05
Blast From The Past, playing both "No Sleep Tonight" and "Whatever It Takes." This track is reminiscent of the Donnas track, "Fall Behind Me," used at Rest Stop 15 in 1.16
Betty and Veronica. A truncated version of the video, featuring members of the
Veronica Mars cast interacting with the band on the Neptune High set, was shown at the very end of 2.02
Driver Ed.
Formed in 2004, this band of three Brit chicks has so far only released two singles, the other being "Jump." Singer Molly Lorenne is the daughter of Midge Ure (of Ultravox for the under forties/non-'80s-lovin' amongst you), which information we can state confidently despite our lack of personal knowledge of Midge's sleeping partners. It's hard to categorize the music based on two singles, but these words apply: loud, pop, rock.
You can find out a little more about the band from their
website.
Track 6: "Dakota" by StereophonicsThis track is from Stereophonics' latest album,
Language. Sex. Violence. Other? and was used in 2.08
Ahoy Mateys, killing our deep suspicions that we'd see a guest star appearance from Dakota Fanning sometime this season. Stereophonics' well-known song "Have a Nice Day," from their 2001 release
Just Enough Education To Perform, is used in 1.09
Drinking the Kool-Aid when Veronica is making food in the Moon Calf Collective and "Jealousy" from 2003's
You Gotta Go There To Come Back made an appearance in 2.04
Green-Eyed Monster.
This Welsh band, formerly known as Tragic Love Company, was one of the first signed to Richard Branson's V2 label on August 1996 and in their early days supported both Manic Street Preachers and Ocean Color Scene. In 1998 the band received a Brit Award for Best New Group, and during that year they had a successful tour in Europe, Australia, and the USA. They also collaborated with Tom Jones for a track on his album
Reload, but we're big enough people to forgive them for that.
You can hear this song and others on their
official website.
Track 7: "Sway" by The Perishers"Sway" was heard in 2.17
Plan B, adding a generous dose of melancholy and tension, hopefully nabbing the Perishers lots of new listeners in the process. The members of this joyously named band – singer-guitarist Ola Klüft, keyboardist-background vocalist Martin Gustavson, bassist Per Åström and drummer Thomas Hedlund – grew up in the undoubtedly charming Swedish small town Umeå, whose harsh, gloomy winters inspired their songs as much as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young did.
"Sway" is taken from their North American debut album
Let There Be Morning, which was released in May 2005.
More about the Perishers, including a really colorful biography, can be found at their main
website.
Track 8: "Long Time Coming" by DelaysThis song was used in episode 2.01
Normal Is The Watchword. The band's own description of this song makes it sound like classic
Veronica Mars material: "...about watching people you love losing their innocence and the naivety that you shared when you were younger, falling into the kind of adulthood you swore you never would, and wishing you could've done something about it. It's a loss of innocence and also of spontaneity and people becoming really guarded and jaded. Friends stuck in jobs you know they don't wanna do, living in houses they don't wanna live in." Anyone else getting goosebumps about what is going to happen to our beloved characters come September?
Reincarnated from the ashes of Corky in 2001, the band has been lumped into the Keane/Starsailor stable of indie Britpop. That's not a bad thing, but really they are more Stone-Roses-meet-the-Cocteau-Twins-on-a-California-beach. "Long Time Coming" was a UK top twenty hit in 2004 and can be found on their sole album to date,
Faded Seaside Glamour. They've just finished recording their next, which is at the mixing stage.
On their rather cool
website, there are full versions of this and some of their other songs. The length of this blurb has nothing to do with the fact the writer is really liking their music playing in background and doesn't want to move on. Except it totally does.
Track 9: "On Your Porch" by The FormatThis is the first song by the Format used on the show. It was used in 2.02
Driver Ed.
The Format is a two-member rock band from Arizona. They chose their name to make fun of the music industry's inclination towards a cookie-cutter "format" for a hit. And yet they didn't seem to have a problem with having a "hit" called "The First Single" or signing with Elektra Records in 2002. Hmm.
The song "On Your Porch" is from the band's first full-length album
Interventions and Lullabies, which was released in 2003.
For more information on the band you can visit their
official website.
Track 10: "Ocean City Girl" by IvyAppearing at the very end of 2.08
Ahoy Mateys, this song from 2005's
In The Clear is Ivy's third contribution to
Veronica Mars after "Edge of the Ocean," which was used in 1.03
Meet John Smith to underscore a distraught Veronica driving the injured Duncan to the hospital, and "Feel So Free," which perfectly accentuated the chilling depiction of Lynn Echolls's abandoned car on the bridge in 1.12
Clash of the Tritons. So Ivy has closed out two episodes and accompanied Duncan twice. Noted.
Ivy is a New York-based band consisting of singer Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger, and Andy Chase. Over the course of a decade, they released four full-length albums: the cover collection
Guestroom from 2002,
Long Distance from 2001,
Apartment Life from 1997, and
Realistic from 1995.
Ivy's songs have been used on several TV show and movie soundtracks, among them
Roswell,
Felicity, and
Me, Myself and Irene.
More information on the band can be found on their
website.
Track 11: "Momentary Thing" by Something HappensThis song appears on their 1997 album
Alan, Elvis & God. And if you have to ask what episode this song appeared in, well then...HOW CAN YOU FORGET ABOUT
THE KISS?! For those of you who did forget about the kiss, this song appears in 1.18
Weapons of Class Destruction as Veronica and Logan share an innocent little peck.
This Dublin quartet released several pop/rock albums during the mid '80s and early '90s but never achieved mainstream success. The title of the song perfectly describes Veronica and Logan's relationship and the band's career. On the bright side, their best known song, "Parachute," from their album
Stuck Together with God's Glue was once voted the top Irish single of all time in a 2FM/hotpress poll. A brief history of the band can be found
here and
here.
So how did this little-known Irish band end up on
Veronica Mars? Because of their connection with former rocker and current TV god Rob Thomas.
Rob: "My band opened for the Irish band Something Happens when they played Austin many, many years ago. Great band. Great guys. When I lived in Ireland while writing Satellite Down, the guys in Something Happens showed me a very good time in Dublin. I LOVE the song Momentary Thing."
Track 12: "The Way You Are" by 46blissThis haunting song closes 1.11
Silence of the Lamb, underscoring Mac's conflict between her two families before asking Clarence Wiedman to "put [himself], put [himself] in [Veronica's] place." Though lyrically simple, it creates the perfect ambience for both scenes with its dreamy electronica. In April, it was the #1 download out of 341,000 songs on
mp3Tunes.com.
What's in a name? Apparently, it has something to do with "an obscure New York City subway stop." What's in a band? The keyboard stylings and vocal talents of David Cooper, the Celtic and Acadian vocal influences of Clare Veniot, and the electronic music and diverse drumming experience of Jack Freudenheim. Add one "epiphany at an Indian restaurant," and you've got a force to be reckoned with in the world of ambient electronic pop. Despite the members' living in different towns, 46bliss manages to create ethereal (yet catchy) soundscapes that have garnered rave reviews. Their contribution to Old Navy's
Jazzy Jolly, a remix of Mahalia Jackson's rendition of "Silent Night," was mentioned on the front page of the
Washington Post. "The Way You Are" is on their second album, 2004's
46bliss, which
Splendid dubbed a "perfect chillout album."
Despite the prominence of Veronica Mars on the band's
website, she is not, sadly, part of the band.
Track 13: "Lost & Found" by Adrienne PierceThis song doesn't appear on Adrienne's first album,
Small Fires, or during the first season of
Veronica Mars. So where in the hell does this song come from? I dunno. Maybe she sang it at some karaoke hazing ritual and someone with some really jagged editing skills taped it or something. It was the last song from the soundtrack to be used on the show, appearing in 2.21
Happy Go Lucky.
Adrienne Pierce is a pop singer/songwriter from Vancouver. (Looky here, another Canuck.) Her 2002 debut album
Small Fires garnered rave reviews and was re-released in 2004. (That is not a typo. Her pop album did in fact garner some really good reviews.) She recently finished recording her yet-to-be-titled second album. (Which by some amazing coincidence is on the same record label as this soundtrack.)
You can learn more about her and hear clips of her other songs on her
website.
Track 14: "Lily Dreams On" by Cotton MatherThis track is from Cotton Mather's second album,
Kontiki, released in 1997, and is in 1.22
Leave It to Beaver. You all know this scene, Veronica's dream, in which she says goodbye to Lilly, and you gotta admit, this is THE song for it. Granted, the band spells the name "Lily," but we all know it was written just so it could accompany this moment.
Cotton Mather is an Austin-based band, named after the Puritan historical figure Cotton Mather (duh). They really got their kick start when Liam Gallagher from Oasis said about their second album, "I fucking wish it was [ours]. I play it all day at home." He and his brother Noel even invited the band to come open for them in Europe. Since then they have released another album called
The Big Picture.
You can learn more about them at their
record label's site.
While the idea that Rob loved the song, named Lilly after it (changing the spelling, possibly for the same reason he changed "Cain" to "Kane") and had this scene in mind, with the song, before the pilot script was even finished is an interesting thought, that is not the case.
Rob: "As most of you have already noted, I do have an affinity for the hometown bands.
My band played with Cotton Mather a number of times. I love their albums. A high school friend of mine married Cotton Mather's lead singer/songwriter. I didn't give Lilly her name based on the song, but I've been thinking about the perfect place to use that song for the last half of the season."
The soundtrack will be available in stores Tuesday, September 27th. If you are one of those obsessive types, we have a
countdown clock on our site to remind you of these important dates.
