Mike Post | |
|---|---|
_in_a_2024_interview_for_Popdust.png) Post in a 2024 interview | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Leland Michael Postil (1944-09-29)September 29, 1944 (age 81) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1964–present |
| Website | mike-post |
Mike Post (bornLeland Michael Postil; September 29, 1944) is an Americancomposer, best known for his televisiontheme music for various shows, includingThe White Shadow;Law & Order;Law & Order: Special Victims Unit;Law & Order: Criminal Intent;The A-Team;The Byrds of Paradise;NYPD Blue;Renegade;The Rockford Files;L.A. Law;Quantum Leap;Magnum, P.I.;Hill Street Blues, andMammoth.[1][2][3] He was also the producer of theVan Halen III album by the bandVan Halen.
Post's first credited work in music was cutting demos using two singing sisters, Terry and Carol Fischer. With Sally Gordon, they went on to becomeThe Murmaids. Their first single, "Popsicles and Icicles" (written byDavid Gates), was a number 3 hit song in January 1964.[citation needed]
Post also provided early guidance for thegarage rock bandThe Outcasts while inrecruit training inSan Antonio,Texas. He was the songwriter and producer for both songs on the band's first single, released in 1965, and also arranged a local concert where they served as the back-up band.[4]
He won his first of fiveGrammy Awards at age 23 for Best Instrumental Arrangement onMason Williams' "Classical Gas",[5] a number 2 hit song in 1968. He is also credited as therecord producer for Williams' LP that included that song,The Mason Williams Phonograph Record.
Billed as the Mike Post Coalition, their track "Afternoon of the Rhino" became a sought-afterNorthern soul track.[6] The single peaked at number 47 in theUK Singles Chart in August 1975.[7]
Post also worked withKenny Rogers[1] and produced the first three albums he recorded with his country/rock groupKenny Rogers and The First Edition (between 1967 and 1969). Post also producedDolly Parton's hit album9 to 5 and Odd Jobs in 1981. In 1997, he producedVan Halen'sVan Halen III album.
One of his first jobs in television started when he was 24, as the musical director onThe Andy Williams Show.[2][1] Another early job was writing the theme music for the short-lived detective seriesToma in 1973, but his big breakthrough (together with co-composerPete Carpenter) came in the following year with his theme song forThe Rockford Files, another series by producerStephen J. Cannell. The theme also got cross-overTop 40 radio airplay and earned a second Grammy for Post.[5][8]
The Rockford Files theme became a Top 10 hit in both the U.S. (number 10) and Canada (number 8).[9] It ranks as the 85th biggest U.S. hit of 1975,[10] and the 84th biggest Canadian hit of 1975.[11]
Post subsequently won Grammys for Best Instrumental Composition for the themes of the television showsHill Street Blues in 1981 andL.A. Law in 1988 as well as another Grammy in 1981 for Best Instrumental Performance for theHill Street Blues theme, which also reached number 10 in the U.S.[5][8]
Post won an Emmy for hisMurder One theme music, and had previously been nominated forNYPD Blue, among others. He has wonBroadcast Music, Inc. Awards for the music forL.A. Law,Hunter, and the variousLaw & Order series. The theme forThe Greatest American Hero (co-written with Stephen Geyer) is one of the few television themes to reach as high as number 2 as a single record on theBillboard Hot 100.[8] The "dun, dun" sound effect he created for theLaw & Order franchise has entered popular culture[12] and he has written variations on it for each new series.[13]
At the peak of his career, Post was the go-to composer for all of the series created by Donald P. Bellisario,Steven Bochco, Stephen J. Cannell and Dick Wolf. Due to the considerable amount of music to be created, Post operated an office with multiple staff composers, among themWalter Murphy,Velton Ray Bunch, Frank Denson,Jerry Grant andGreg Edmonson, all composing side by side in cubicles. Each would write music cues to complement specific scenes from each show in Post's signature style.[citation needed]
Other TV music works includeThe A-Team;Baa Baa Black Sheep;Blossom;The Commish;Doogie Howser, M.D.;The Greatest American Hero;Hardcastle and McCormick;Hooperman;Hunter;Magnum, P.I.;NewsRadio;Profit;Quantum Leap;Renegade;Riptide;Silk Stalkings;Stingray;Tales of the Gold Monkey;Tenspeed and Brown Shoe;The White Shadow;Wiseguy; the BBC seriesRoughnecks; andPhilly.
In 1994, Post scored theDiagnosis: Murder episode "How To Murder Your Lawyer", designed as a backdoor pilot for a lawyer series.[citation needed]
In 2014, Post composed the score for the fake TV pilotCaged Heat in theAll Hail the King short film forMarvel Studios.[14]
In 2024, Post composed the theme music forBBC2 sitcomMammoth, having initially met show creatorMike Bubbins when being interviewed on a BBC Radio Wales show.[15]
In 1994, Post released aCD, calledInventions from the Blue Line. The CD contained several of his well-known themes, featuringNYPD Blue and also includingLaw & Order,Silk Stalkings andRenegade. In the liner notes, he discussed his late father, Sam Postil, and the admiration for law enforcement officers that Sam instilled in Mike. He also referred to police in the traditional nickname of "blues", as inThe Thin Blue Line (referring to the police in general and to police camaraderie). One of the tracks is called "The Blue Line", which Post calls "thecomradery theme".
ThePete Townshend song "Mike Post Theme", which alludes to the ubiquity of Post's work in television theme music, appears onThe Who's 2006 album,Endless Wire.
In 1989,Broadcast Music, Inc. Foundation and Mike Post establishedThe Pete Carpenter Fellowship in memory of the latePete Carpenter, who was Post’s co-composer of television scores and themes includingThe Rockford Files (for which they won a Grammy),Hunter,Riptide,Hardcastle and McCormick,Magnum, P.I. andThe A-Team.The Pete Carpenter Fellowship is an annual, competitive residency for aspiring television, film and video game composers.[16]
The following singles credited to Mike Post charted on the U.S.Billboard Hot 100 chart[18] and/or on the Adult Contemporary chart:
