Netflix’s live-action remake of Shinichir\u014d Watanabe’s beloved 1998 anime not only stays loyal to the animated series, it features music from the same composer who wrote the original score.<\/b>
\nNetflix’s live-action remake of Shinichir\u014d Watanabe’s beloved 1998 anime, Cowboy Bebop, not only stays loyal to the animated series it is based on, it features music from the same composer who wrote the original score. Set in 2071, the show is centered on a motley crew of bounty hunters known as \u00ab\u00a0cowboys\u00a0\u00bb\u2014Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda). While their main focus is chasing down fugitives on various planets to make woolong (the currency in the world of Cowboy Bebop), they also have to contend with their shady pasts. Offsetting this neo-noir story of outlaws and dodgy dealings is the show’s soundtrack, which, for obvious reasons, is in the bebop style. Here’s everything you need to know about the Cowboy Bebop theme tune, score and soundtrack. Netflix’s live-action remake features music written by the same composer as the original anime, Yoko Kanno. As well as being famed for her work on Cowboy Bebop, the Japanese composer has written scores for many popular anime series, including Wolf’s Rain and Space Dandy. She also wrote music for standalone Ghost in the Shell features. Classical music expert Rosie Pentreath told Newsweek: \u00ab\u00a0Bebop is a style of high-energy, modern jazz characterised by super fast, freeform passages of chromatic notes that culminate in short, punchy, two-tone phrases\u2013hence the ‘bebop’. \u00ab\u00a0It’s a highly improvisational style and, when it comes to Cowboy Bebop, it perfectly echoes the erratic, free-wheeling and often unexpected adventures of the characters on screen.\u00a0\u00bb According to Pentreath, \u00ab\u00a0What makes Kanno’s Cowboy Bebop soundtrack so iconic is the fact it’s unafraid to lean into the very bebop that inspired the series so heavily.\u00a0\u00bb She explained: \u00ab\u00a0High-energy jazz tends to stick out and be a lot more deliberately present in a TV or film soundtrack than luscious, classical-style orchestral music, because it is straying away from the more ‘establishment’ European and Hollywood film scoring traditions.\u00a0\u00bb Of the theme tune itself, Pentreath added: \u00ab\u00a0As well as being incredibly sharp, impactful jazz writing (take a listen to the big band-style opening title track, \u00ab\u00a0Tank!\u00a0\u00bb to see what I mean), the bebop-infused score is performed by a bunch of great jazz musicians, who formed especially to record the soundtrack\u2014in 1998, and same again in 2021. You can’t help being swept up in the energy.\u00a0\u00bb The musicians, collectively known as the Seatbelts, are \u00ab\u00a0incredibly tight, dynamic players who are brilliant at improvising where asked,\u00a0\u00bb Pentreath said. \u00ab\u00a0Their dynamic, intuitive and confidently free-flowing playing is thrilling and infectious \u2013 as a standalone listen as much as it is when it’s accompanying the TV show.\u00a0\u00bb Indeed, Watanabe, the creator of the original anime, is known to be a huge fan of jazz and it is why the musical genre features so heavily in the soundtrack. What’s more, the \u00ab\u00a0improvisatory, wandering ethos of bebop actually inspired and shaped the plot and style of the show,\u00a0\u00bb according to Pentreath. Put simply, Cowboy Bebop \u00ab\u00a0wouldn’t be the same without its music.\u00a0\u00bb How to buy the Cowboy Bebop vinyl As well as being available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music, fans of the show can purchase the vinyl of the original score. The limited edition LP by Sony Music and Milan Records is priced around $43.00 and is available to buy from sites like Funimation and All the Anime. Cowboy Bebop is available to stream on Netflix now.<\/p>\n