Top Billions Songs: Gingersnap’s Playlist

The genius behind the musical palette of Billions is strategically placed epic songs we all know balanced out by meaningful lesser-known artists, all the while lyrically feathered in flawlessly to the content of each episode, scene, or character we see before us. Music is such an integral part of the Billions landscape that we’ve seen concert t-shirts as part of the wardrobe. These past five seasons Bobby Axelrod has worn band shirts for Metallica, Megadeth, Black Sabbath, Motörhead and Rainbow. It was no surprise I’ve been rooting for Iron Maiden to make an appearance since season two! Okay rooting is not a strong enough word…I’ve sort of stalked Brian Koppleman about it, who is the co-creator of Billions:

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Top Billions Songs: The Tail That Wags The Dog’s Playlist

Being a (somewhat) musician, I am always on alert for the effect of music on a show. I work in musical theater when not teaching, so the music there is often integral to the plot. But for regular movies and TV shows, the music still can add an element of drama and emotion that would hard to obtain otherwise.  Think of movies like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET (sensing a John Williams theme here??) and the impact the music played there in the emotional moments of those shows.

Brian  Koppelman gets this. He has been around music all his life, and if you follow him on Twitter you know he has very strong opinions about music. (Don’t ever ask him about the Sammy Hagar era of Van Halen – trust me, just don’t.)  He and I both grew up in the 80’s alternative music scene. We are both REM fans, although where he prefers “Automatic for the People” I go with “Life’s Rich Pageant”, which leads me to my first musical choice for my playlist, and the one that early on got me paying attention to the song choices. Continue reading “Top Billions Songs: The Tail That Wags The Dog’s Playlist”

Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 3: Chickentown

A migraine. An algorithm. A blossoming friendship. And lots of chickens! Billions gives us a fun episode in which Axe and Chuck fight at multiple fronts and end up in Chuck’s office drinking to their friendship of a sort 😀

Chuck’s day starts with a migraine and gets downhill from there.

Chuck Senior calls from Kingsford to tell his son it is time for Pericles, ahem, Chuck, to stroll the Parthenon, ahem, the casino built on Senior’s land.  They are having the grand opening with fanfare and two important union leaders with 400K potential votes for Chuck in attendance. Chuck has to show up with Wendy, smile, shake hands and seal the deal. And when Chuck resists:

Senior: “Do you think JFK complained when Ol’ Papa Joe sat him down with steel workers?”

Junior: “You’re delivering Schenectady, dad. Not Ohio.”

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