#MusicMonday – April 23, 2018 – Allison's Written Words

It’s Music Monday, and we’re running in the thick of the night for badass theme songs.

Which is weird, because I scheduled this for a morning posting.

I’ve sung (not literally, of course) the praises of David Foster and his incredible range of talent on a few occasions for Music Monday (see examples at the end of the post), but when that talent goes towards composing the theme song of a talk show, then you know the man is brilliant.

Because I doubt David Foster had a lean year in 1984 that caused him to compose a talk show theme.

Anyway, a little backstory:

Alan Thicke (you know him, you love him, you’re just too shy to admit it) was a talk show host in his native Canada from 1980-1983. The show was The Alan Thicke Show, and it was a daytime talk show. He ended it in favor of an American late night talk show that was meant to be a rival to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Prepared to go toe-to-toe with Carson, the late night show premiered in first-run syndication through Metromedia, MGM Television, and distributed by MGM/UA Television Distribution for the 1983-1984 season.

Originally 90 minutes long, the show’s format – stand-up comedy, sketch comedy, and talk (you know, all the staples of today’s talk shows) – drew harsh criticism, and never was able to meet or exceed the ratings Johnny Carson was getting. Networks began dropping the show midseason, which prompted changes in the show. A new band, the addition of Thicke’s then-wife Gloria Loring (remember The Facts of Life theme song? Yeah, she sang that!), and shortening the program to 60 minutes did not help, and the show was ultimately cancelled in 1984, and aired its last episode on June 15th of that year.

Don’t weep for Alan Thicke, since he landed the role we would all come to know him, love him and be too shy to admit a year later.

Thirty years later, and this is still the funniest part of the show.

So while the show wasn’t the success Alan Thicke hoped it would be – he stated that “Thicke of the Night was supposed to challenge Johnny Carson. They said it couldn’t be done and I was the guy they chose to prove it. The show was ahead of its time… it should’ve been on in 2084, when all of us are dead,” the reality is that it had a really cool theme song.

That was actually a longer song released as a single.

“Thicke of the Night” was composed by Alan Thicke, along with David Foster (yes, that David Foster), and Jay Graydon, and sung by – brace yourself – Alan Thicke. This song is edgy, tries to be 80s awesome, and is light years ahead in the race for a theme song that could have carried a show based on its awesomeness. It’s probably more of a pop culture oddity now, but in 1984…this song was hopes, dreams, and awesomeness.

Anyway, enough of that how about what you came here for?

OMG, isn’t that the most awesome theme song EVER! Why does Alan Thicke have to be such a badass in disguise?

Sadly, Thicke died in December 2016, but his legacy as a composer, favorite sitcom father, and talk show personality is safe…as long as only the daytime Canadian talk show is mentioned. We don’t mention Thicke of the Night ever.

And David Foster, I’m happy to report, continued to compose music just as awesome as this.

Well, that does it for today. Now, we’re going to pull ourselves out of the thicke…of the night. It is daytime, after all.

Ok, it’s daytime when this is being posted. It was nighttime when I wrote it, so technically, I wrote this…in the Thicke of the Night.

I can just feel the eye rolls.

Anyway, have a great Music Monday, and enjoy the music!