"Hawaii5Joe" is a theme song created by Joe Hahn for Hawaii Five-0 (a reboot of the 1968 series). The theme was rejected by the producers of the series, who chose to re-record Morton Stevens' original theme instead.
Background
Joe Hahn wrote on his official website, "Hawaii Five O just got a reboot this week. It was very exciting to see director, Len Wiseman do his thing on the small screen. I’m a big fan of his Underworld series. He asked me to do the theme song for the show. I was happy to do so until the stuffy suits over there said thought that it wasn’t good. I personally don’t think that it sucked and would like to share it with you people of the world with taste. Listen here to check it out. BTW, the show has a bunch of Koreans in it. Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, and Will Yun Lee of the SEED!!! Executive Douche Bags get a thumbs down. Koreans get a thumbs up!"[1]
Director Len Wiseman worked on the pilot episode for the reboot series. The original version of the pilot sent out to critics reportedly featured a modernized take on the classic theme that was heavy on rock guitar, which developer Alex Kurtzman said he and the others realized "could not have been more wrong. It only affirmed for us that you cannot change it. We found the original musicians, we brought them back into the studio, and we re-recorded the theme exactly as it was."[2] Series composer Brian Tyler assembled and conducted 35 musicians to re-record the theme, including three who had worked on the original from 1968.[3] The re-recorded theme was 30 seconds shorter than the original 60 seconds theme.
The heirs of Morton Stevens (composer of the original theme) filed a copyright infringement lawsuit in 2015 against CBS over the use of the theme in the rebooted series.[4]
Versions
Note: Only the date of the very first release of each version is listed.
| Title | Album | Length | Recorded | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawaii5Joe | 1:52 | 2010 | September 21, 2010 |
|
References
- ↑ Hawaii Five Joe | LP Association Forums, September 24, 2010
- ↑ Comic-Con: Hawaii Five-0 cashes in on its Lost & Battlestar Galactica nerd-cred - HitFix.com, July 23, 2010
- ↑ Music video: 'Hawaii-Five-0' theme song recording session | Show Tracker | Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2010
- ↑ CBS Sued Over ‘Hawaii Five-O’ Theme by Composer’s Family – The Hollywood Reporter, March 20, 2015