[No spoilers] The end credits song - Official poll?

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

The problem with the song is that it's got to get over two hurdles. First, is it okay to have a song that is jarringly out of place stylisticly/mood wise with the setting/mood of the action, and second, is the song itself likely something that a lot of folks would like?

For me, I just didn't like the song, and it seemed so out of place that I wondered if there was something wrong with the fee. I don't know whether my reaction would have been different if it would have been some other out-of-place song. At least a song that fits the mood/setting, even if not a very good song, is something that likely won't actively annoy people. The reaction would be just "meh" rather than "I really hated that". It was a gamble almost doomed to fail IMHO.

[greensleeves]

I liked it. (Just responding so you get a better sample :P )

[BananaSpice]

The more I think about it, the more I like it, I think.

I liked the juxtaposition, honestly, which is what they were going for. I mean, I've loved the first three episodes, but there is a consensus that the first two eps were "establishing" the story episodes. I feel like the song jolted the audience even further into the "shit is getting real" territory of this season.

Also, it was almost like a smirk to book readers (and I guess even show watchers who pay a lot of attention) ... like, OMG The Bear and the Maiden Fair ... punk rock ... haha wow! You can't pretend like this story isn't being appreciated and loved by modern audiences, and there are so many parodies and such. I dunno, it's hard to explain, but I just think it worked.

[ServantOnIce]

I did not like it . .

[SilentSense]

It kinda startled me. I thought it was awful.

[samih]

Spoiler below for the end of season 3 episode 3

David and Dan on the credit song;

“It’s such a shocking ending and when we read the scene in the books it was so shocking to us,” Weiss says. “To really hammer home the shock of that moment you need something unexpected. There’s no version of a traditional score that would keep you as off balance as we wanted that scene to leaving you feeling.”

“I can’t imagine having that conversation with Ramin [Djawadi] our composer — ‘Now we need the Jaime-gets-his-hand-chopped-off music,’” adds Benioff. who made his directorial debut with this episode. “What we always loved in An American Werewolf in London, we see our hero shot and killed and then his lover runs to embrace his dead body — it’s a sad ending — but then we cut to black and it’s [the bouncy 1961 Marcell's hit] ‘Blue Moon.’ And that jarring juxtaposition was fantastic.”

Thanks!

[King of Winters]

The more I think about it, the more I like it, I think.

Same here. I think it's a good rhythm that they played to. I would have liked it if they released a longer version like they did with 'The Raines of Castamere', but overall I liked it.

[Uffington Horse]

Intellectually, I get it. But my immediate reaction as a viewer was to find my remote and the mute button.

As others have said, the scene was jarring enough in its own right. I wanted to stay in that feeling of shock/horror a few moments to reflect on its full impact and implications. But then, BAM! The moment was gone and my mind was forced instead to make sense of the song. "Oh, gee, it's the new version of BAMF" is not the sort of closing insight I can chew on for awhile after turning off the TV. It's as if the song effectively severed my imaginative connection to the world of the show.

Again, I understand the soundtrack dissonance strategy in theory, but I don't feel like they thought it through that carefully when applying it here.

ETA: fixed typo

[shiola]

This is getting ridiculous anyway. The end credits took people out of the mood? In case noone noticed, they also list all the names involved in production, hardly part of the immersive experience. Get over it.

What? This thread is for discussing how the end credits made us feel. No one in this thread needs to get over anything.

[Morrigan]

Doesnt prove shit. If anything, it proves that people don't like punk rock, and are ridiculously obsessive over closing credits. The main reason this complaint occurred was that many people torrented the episode illegally, with a messed up audio sync at the end. Now tons of people are covering it up by saying that it didnt even fit in the closing credits.

Yeah, it couldn't be because they genuinely disliked it. No sir. It's obviously because they're "covering up" something. :rolleyes:

"Get over yourself", indeed.

Closing credits are not part of the episode, its quite clearly separated from the show. There listing all the names of the production members for christsake, you have quite clearly left the show when the credits start rolling.

Right. And the intro too lists cast members. So the intro isn't part of the show, right? They list actors and stuff. That means the intro could be anything. Forget that pretty CG and the pretty song, it could be replaced by a jpop song over dancing cheerleaders and real-world footage. I mean, why not, using your own logic? It's not like intros and outros, and the music that accompanies them, ever set the mood or atmosphere... right?

I can't believe some people are petty enough to complain about a song playing over the credits. Honestly.

What's pettiness got to do with it? And what's with the personal attacks?

That and NONE of the closing credit songs are 100% accurate of the period.

Also, they didn't have TV back then either, so me watching this whole thing on television is ruining my immersion.

Trolling, right?

What? This thread is for discussing how the end credits made us feel. No one in this thread needs to get over anything.

I wonder whatever happened to the "if you don't like the thread, don't read/post in it" attitude. You know, kind of like "if you hate the show that much [nevermind that we do like it despite being critical of it], stop watching it!" they love to trot out... :)

Ok gonna try to count votes now.

[dreamcatcher]

Loved it.

[brevator]

I've watched it 3 times now and I think it's great. It reminds me of the end of "Goodfellas" when the Sid Vicious version of "My Way" starts to play. Yes it's a slap in the face, but that's kinda the point.

[GoldenFleece]

Worse thing ever in the Game of Thrones TV series. Totally out of place. Sucked me out of the moment.

What next? Jay-Z rapping Rains of Castamere at the end of RW?

Horrific.

[Morrigan]

Ok, so far (up to GoldenFleece's post above) I've counted the following votes (tried to exclude duplicate posts and the likes) out of 89 votes:

Yay: 29 (33%)

Nay: 54 (61%)

Meh (mostly indifferent): 6 (6%)

Totally scientific poll, I know. ;) Still, interesting, hmm?

[Uffington Horse]

Thanks, Morrigan, for creating the thread-poll and tallying up the numbers!

My (very unscientific) sense is that this spread wouldn't be too far off the percentages we'd see in a poll using a much larger sampling of this episode's viewers.

[Sofokles]

It was kinda random and i suppose it was meant to be that way.

[Moët]

TNT does it in America - they split the screen in half, while the credits fly by on one side, a quick promo for "an upcoming Southland" show on another.

I meant where does that happen with Game of Thrones.

[Moët]

Doesnt prove shit. If anything, it proves that people don't like punk rock, and are ridiculously obsessive over closing credits. The main reason this complaint occurred was that many people torrented the episode illegally, with a messed up audio sync at the end. Now tons of people are covering it up by saying that it didnt even fit in the closing credits. Closing credits are not part of the episode, its quite clearly separated from the show. There listing all the names of the production members for christsake, you have quite clearly left the show when the credits start rolling.

:agree: :bowdown: :cheers:

[Rain of Castamere]

i thought it was realy disturbing and off putting.

its so vastly different from all the other credit songs so far and imo does not fit into the series and setting at all.

dont know what drove them to this..

[greensleeves]

Thanks, Morrigan, for creating the thread-poll and tallying up the numbers!

My (very unscientific) sense is that this spread wouldn't be too far off the percentages we'd see in a poll using a much larger sampling of this episode's viewers.

There's a very large sampling bias involved. Firstly, in favor of people who care enough about the show to post on Westeros. Then secondly, in favor of people who are upset enough to look at this particular thread. I only posted because I care about sampling.

The actual percentages probably have more in the 'meh' and 'like' columns, but we have no way of judging the true effect size.