10 Unforgettable Songs From Our Favorite 2000s TV Soundtracks

Long before Spotify could personalize our playlists or TikTok could make bedroom-producers blow up overnight, in the nascent days of the iPod, music supervisors like the legendary Alexandra Patsavas had the coolest jobs on the planet. They were the cultural tastemakers who turned us onto the best indie hits of the decade and made our favorite TV series feel larger than life. Relive the magic these ten songs created in four of our all-time favorite TV soundtracks.

Grey’s Anatomy

In a series that was constantly upping the ante when it came to suspense and drama, music directors were faced with the challenge of finding tracks that could match the intensity. It’s nearly impossible to think of the franchise now without these songs playing in the background. They’ve become just as iconic as Meredith’s messy bun or that pesky LVAD wire.

1. How To Save A Life – The Fray

This song became synonymous with series for a series of reasons that converged perfectly to encapsulate the spirit of the story. The title alone evokes the medical nature of the drama, but the raw lyrics dive into the depths of complicated personal relationships that form the backbone of the character development. Used in multiple episodes and promos as the show got it’s start, it made a heartbreaking comeback during Derek’s death, even serving as the title of the episode.

2. Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

And there’s perhaps no death quite as memorable in the series as that of Denny Duquette, a cardiac patient with whom Izzie Stevens begins a romantic relationship that carries huge consequences for her medical career. The juxtaposition of the song’s repeated lyric, “If I just lay here”, and Izzie’s scenes next to Denny in his hospital bed created the perfect amplified underscoring for her pain.

The O.C.

This series became a literal breeding ground for 2000s indie music, and the soundtrack was as integrated in Seth Cohen’s character development from trust fund nerd to alternative ladies man, as it was in creating the exclusive facade that gave the series it’s allure. You were not going to hear this music on the radio, and its coolness was as gatekept as Newport’s communities.

3. California – Phantom Planet

The iconic series theme song really nailed the emphasis on setting as a central pillar of the drama. Viewers across the country were transported weekly to Orange County via their televisions and California living became this aspirational, larger than life personification that was as much a character as any of the Cohen’s or their wealthy neighbors. The angsty syllabic drawl of the word “California” layered on an entirely new meaning to the name.

4. Hide And Seek – Imogen Heap

Perhaps better known as the “Mmm, whatcha say” song this needle drop became such an iconic TV moment, it was even parodied on SNL. In the dramatic season two finale that had Marissa Cooper shoot Ryan Atwood’s brother Trey this song slowed time for the characters as they grasp with the gravity of the events that have just taken place. If these characters had any childhood innocence left, it’s evaporate with the pulling of a single trigger.

5. Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley

Another unforgettable finale moment, this track underscores a montage that echoes the series’ first episode in a full circle moment that shows us just how much Ryan’s arrival to Newport has transformed the lives of its residents. As he departs with pregnant ex-girlfriend Theresa, we’re left with the wake of sadness he leaves behind, emphasized perfectly by Buckley’s haunting voice.

The Vampire Diaries

This series rode the massive pop culture wave created by Twilight, but really, really put the vamp into vampire with multiple love-triangles and antebellum doppelgangers. The one throughline between these TV vampires and their sparkling-in-the-sun counterparts is real life relationships once the cameras stopped rolling. Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder’s smoldering slow build became the backbone of the series, and the perfect palette for a music supervisor to make some TV magic.

6. Never Let Me Go – Florence + The Machine

This needle drop belongs in a museum, because it symbolizes something so precious we may have lost for good in television, and that’s a romantic relationship that doesn’t fully materialize until you’re multiple seasons down the rabbit hole. This moment marks Damon and Elena’s first ‘real’ kiss after roughly 62 1/2 episodes of steamy build-up and convoluted conventions that gave us a glimpse of the two together, but always under the guise of mistaken identity, supernatural compulsion, or some other “otherworldly” circumstances. So by the time they voluntarily reciprocate their affection for each other, viewers were literally screaming at the television, hopefully in tune with Florence Welch’s iconic crooning.

7. Never Say Never – The Fray

Did we forget about Elena and Stefan’s awkward journal entries read as overlapping monologues at the beginning of this series? Yes, and thankfully so, but this needle drop may have been the saving grace that kept us hooked on the supernatural drama despite its corny beginnings. Music supervisor Chris Mollere took a page out of Grey’s Anatomy by looking to The Fray to carry that final montage over the finish line, but if the approach ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

8. Poison & Wine – The Civil Wars

Endings don’t have exclusive rights to an emotional payload, and in this instance the very beginning of the episode received it’s own epic needle drop. Folksy crooners The Civil Wars underscored Elena’s desperate phone calls, and subsequent rejection from both Salvatore brothers as their love triangle becomes more tangled than ever. The haunting refrain “I don’t love you, but I always will” underscores the complexities of Elena’s feelings for both men.

Gossip Girl

This spiritual successor to The O.C. shifted the privileged teen genre to the completely opposite coast, and therefore needed a sound entirely it’s own. Swapping in the Pacific views for the stark, urban streets of New York, it touted tracks that were a little edgier, and at times more mainstream than it’s counterpart.

9. Young Folks – Peter Bjorn and John

Chosen for the opening scenes of the series pilot, this track set the tone and pace for live on the upper east side, ushered in the return of Serena van der Woodsen, as well as our introduction to the Humphrey family, and even worked under Kristen Bell’s first monologue as the eponymous Gossip Girl.

10. Hang Me Up To Dry – Cold War Kids

Another iconic track from the pilot, used to underscore the rising tensions between Blair and Nate as they navigate what Serena’s return means for their relationship, it added a layer of desperation in the literal meaning of hanging someone up to dry, against Blair’s thinly veiled verbal irony. We learn what kind of person she really is, and how true intentions are disguised in this complex social hierarchy.