CNN Music


August 4, 2001


BOB GARFIELD: At 6 a.m. Monday morning, CNN re-launches its nearly 20 year old stepchild, CNN Headline News. The network has been redesigned with spiffier graphics and jazzed up music, composed by Steven Arnold. He joins us in the studio with guitarist Kevin Afflack and vocalist Kelly Brown. Steven, welcome to OTM!
STEVEN ARNOLD: Thank you!
BOB GARFIELD: What's the difference between news music and other theme music.
STEVEN ARNOLD: I think news music has an element of rhythm to it and there's a fast change within a newscast and even within a - several minutes of a newscast you can often go from something that's warm and fuzzy to something that's very traumatic -- train wrecks to babies being born, and the music has to have a certain amount of emotion to it to help support those things, but at the same time it can't compete. It needs to kind of be there and just help set the tone.
BOB GARFIELD: All right, well let's start by listening to the existing CNN theme: [EXISTING CNN THEME MUSIC PLAYS]
STEVEN ARNOLD:I call it kind of Velveeta. And so-- they were looking for a younger demographic, a younger audience, and they wanted the music to reflect that younger audience, so they wanted to "hip-i-fy" it so to speak. So--
BOB GARFIELD: All right -- I can't stand it any more - can we hear this thing?!
STEVEN ARNOLD: Kevin, can you play the logo just on the guitar? [KEVIN AFFLACK PLAYS LOGO ON GUITAR]
BOB GARFIELD: Hm!
STEVEN ARNOLD: So-- Pretty amazing, huh? [LAUGHS]
BOB GARFIELD: Yeah. Let me ask you a question -- would you call that-- what, sharp cheddar, monterey jack, stilton - what do you think?
STEVEN ARNOLD: You know, it, it has to work in every-- genre known to man, unlike what I call real music--
BOB GARFIELD: It has to work for Columbine and it has to work for Jeannie Moso [sp?] on a unicycle.
STEVEN ARNOLD:There you go. So-- one of the things that's interesting, I don't know if this - you want to hear this thing now or - we have Kelly Brown who's a singer, and it's very unusual to have a vocal in a news package. In fact I've never put up vocal in an actual news package in all my years of doing this, and we've incorporated it into-- some of the themes as more of a texture. As it plays now, nothing but a voice and acoustic guitar cause-- but it'll give you kind of an idea of the, the two different type of things that are incorporated in this package.
BOB GARFIELD: All right. Ladies and gentlemen without further ado-- Mr. Steven Arnold and Headline News, Unplugged. [STEVEN ARNOLD'S NEW THEME PLAYS] Well that's not Velveeta! It has kind of a writhing quality to it! Is that going to pass the Columbine test?
STEVEN ARNOLD:Yeah, I think there's enough - there's close to 60 different themes in this package, so--law of average is that there's something in there for that, you know? [LAUGHS]
BOB GARFIELD: So using the same basic melody they can have it sting if - for whatever mood is called for.
STEVEN ARNOLD: Yeah, I mean-- Kevin play something real--kind of pensive, reflective with that or something just-- [KEVIN AFFLACK PLAYS] like in a minor kind of thing. And you can - and that logo would flip f-- you know right on top of that--
BOB GARFIELD: Have you played this for any of the journalists at-- CNN yet? Any reaction from them?
STEVEN ARNOLD:You know I've been to Atlanta. We started the process almost six months ago, and I've been there half a dozen times, and it's, it's very-- almost overwhelming -- everybody-- is so complimentary, and so it's -- we've gotten really favorable feedback. People are humming it, and-- as far as the internal people at, you know, at CNN.
BOB GARFIELD: Steven Arnold, thank you very much for joining us!
STEVEN ARNOLD: Well thank you. I appreciate it.
BOB GARFIELD: We've heard catastrophe and we've heard pensive -- can you take us out on Jeannie Mose [sp?] on a unicycle?
STEVEN ARNOLD: [LAUGHS] Well-- [KEVIN AFFLACK PLAYS] Now that'll keep you humming.
BOB GARFIELD: Yeah, but she's on a unicycle! Don't you have something-- sprightlier and wittier? [KEVIN AFFLACK STARTS TO PLAY]
KEVIN AFFLACK: It's kind of-- yeah, well--
KELLY BROWN: hi la, la, la, la, la, la da dee-- ah dah--oh, no that's-- roller skates, right?
KEVIN AFFLACK: Yeah, that's-- that's totally roller skates. [NEW CNN THEME MUSIC PLAYS]
BROOKE GLADSTONE:Coming up, a visit to Haiti where free speech comes at a high cost; a critic who reports his free gifts from publicists and a sales pitch from beyond the grave.
BOB GARFIELD: This is On the Media from National Public Radio.