Okay, let’s hop into our white Ferrari Testarossa and head back to the mid-80s to talk about the groundbreaking soundtrack album: Music From The TV Series Miami Vice.
Wait, perhaps you preferred the Ferrari Daytona, which was actually a modified Chevy Corvette? That was around until Ferrari protested the use of a replica, prompting the show’s producers to blow up Crockett’s prized car in an episode entitled “When Irish Eyes Are Crying".
Either way, the album was groundbreaking, becoming the first television soundtrack to produce both a Billboard #1 hit single and album, selling an impressive four million copies.
Music was a huge part of what made this TV series so successful. Who can forget the iconic scene with Crockett and Tubbs speeding through the Miami night to a confrontation with a drug kingpin set to Phil Collins' track "In the Air Tonight"?
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Also, check out our video about the Miami Vice soundtrack album and it’s RIAA 4x Multi-Platinum Album Award here at our MusicGoldmine YouTube™ channel:
The show ignited a television revolution through the vision spearheaded by producer, director, and screenwriter Michael Mann and his fellow creators of the series. Before Miami Vice, television music consisted of stock music or canned instrumental tidbits. Sure, you had some classic theme tracks like those written for shows such as Happy Days, CHiPs, and Cheers, but the music inside shows was mostly background schlock.
Mann, a filmmaker with vision, clearly thought “What if television felt like cinema? What if the music mattered?"
While the show famously featured art deco colors and moody cinematography, it was also one of the first TV shows to be broadcast with stereo sound. But its’ soundtrack is what really set it apart.
The show is noted for its innovative use of 1980s pop, rock, and new wave hits, and for Jan Hammer’s distinctive series theme, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1985. Tracks from Phil Collins, Glenn Frey, Tina Turner and many more set the mood for memorable scenes, turning pop music into a storytelling device rather than simply background.
This was groundbreaking for TV but, and rightfully so, it came at a steep price compared to the cost of music for other shows. For each episode, the producers would spend $10,000 or more per episode ($30,000 in today’s dollars) to secure rights to tracks from well-known artists.
By 1986, interest in the music used in Miami Vice grew so intense that MCA Records released an official soundtrack. While most of the tracks had appeared on the respective artists’ own releases, the soundtrack album bundled some of the top musical highlights onto one record. The formula proved super successful. The album topped the Billboard Top 200 Album chart in December 1985 and went on to sell four million copies.
This was a real first for a television soundtrack. Before the success of the Miami Vice soundtrack, the only soundtrack albums that made this kind of chart impact were for films.
Some of the most notable tracks on this first Miami Vice album included:
-The Miami Vice Theme by Jan Hammer. This became the first TV theme to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The closest a TV theme had come previously was Henry Mancini’s theme for Peter Gunn from way back in 1958, which notched a top 10 spot. The album included five Hammer tracks, showcasing the cool and gritty synth-driven music he created for the show.
-Glenn Frey’s ”You Belong to the City” and “Smuggler’s Blues” became synonymous with Miami Vice’s urban vibe and atmospheric storytelling. This was the time when Eagles Frey and Don Henley were off creating solo records during the years when the group was on hiatus.
-“Better Be Good to Me” by Tina Turner from her 1984 album Private Dancer, which added a slick, edgy feel to the episode in which it appeared, called "Give a Little, Take a Little".
-The track from the album that became most synonymous with the series, Phil Collins’ pensive “In the Air Tonight”. With its’ somber synth intro exploding into that iconic drum fill, it became the sonic signature of the late-night crime drama. The song will be forever tied to the series. Also, it's certain that the sales of Collins’ own album from 1981 on which the track originally appeared were helped by the Miami Vice placement. Collins ended up with a five million seller with Face Value.
The success of the soundtrack also spawned no less than five more compilation albums of music from the series. Tracks that made memorable appearances in the series that were not on the first soundtrack album include:
-Dire Straits moving “Brothers in Arms”, which helped create one of the most emotional moments in the show’s history. Used at the end of the episode entitled "Out Where the Buses Don't Run", it’s one of the longest musical segments ever used in the show. Like the Phil Collins track, it plays while Crockett and Tubbs drive through the Miami night in a tense scene that leads to a dramatic twist ending in one of the most highly rated episodes in the show’s history.
-Another memorable track from that same episode was the use of The Who’s “Baba O'Riley” in the opening scene. It plays juxtaposed against blue skies, a roller blader on South Beach, and a beach-front preacher (played by singer Little Richard no less), while crime creeps in from under the surface.
-Peter Gabriel’s “We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37),” In Season 3, Episode 11 this track appears during a haunting ending in which Crockett discovers he toiled long and hard to release death row inmate who was actually guilty all along.
-Godley & Crème’s “Cry", featured in Episode 13 of Season 2, drifts over the final moments in which an abusive husband (played by rocker Ted Nugent) gets shot on the beach, followed by dozens of cars of the scammers’ former victims being revealed after they had been buried under sand.
-Honeymoon Suite's “Bad Attitude” which appeared in the episode “Freefall” as Sonny and Rico drove to a final shootout. This was an example of how the show also spotlighted new music outside of what was in the mainstream at the time. While big in Canada and to an extent the U.S. after their debut 1984 hit “New Girl Now” (which also appeared in a Vice episode), Honeymoon Suite were not particularly well known at the time.
Another unique twist the show brought to audiences was to have some of the artists themselves popping up in the show. A few memorable moments from this included Glenn Frey playing a smuggler in the episode named after his song “Smuggler’s Blues”, Willie Nelson showing up in another as an old-school lawman, the afore-mentioned Nugent in one as an abusive husband and fraudster, Miles Davis taking a turn as a shady informant, Frank Zappa portraying a drug dealer, and Phil Collins comedic turn as "Phil Mayhem," a con-artist game show host.
Miami Vice didn’t just feature a killer soundtrack—it rewrote the TV music rulebook. Before Vice, TV music was an afterthought. After Miami Vice, every showrunner wanted a ‘music moment.’ Think about The Sopranos using Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” or Stranger Things bringing back the Kate Bush classic “Running Up That Hill”.
We’ll leave you with the incredible list of artists whose music was heard in episodes of Miami Vice:
Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, El DeBarge, Duran Duran, The Power Station, Devo, Sinéad O'Connor, Russ Ballard, Black Uhuru, Jackson Browne, Kate Bush, Meat Loaf, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Tina Turner, Public Image Limited, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, ZZ Top, The Smiths, The Tubes, Dire Straits, Depeche Mode, The Hooters, Iron Maiden, The Alan Parsons Project, The Ward Brothers, Godley & Crème, Corey Hart, Glenn Frey, Honeymoon Suite, U2, Underworld, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Propaganda, Foreigner, The Police, Red 7, Ted Nugent, Suicidal Tendencies, The Damned, Billy Idol, The Church, Billy Ocean, Eric Clapton.
And here are those who appeared on the show in smaller or larger acting roles:
Leonard Cohen, Phil Collins, Miles Davis, the Power Station, Glenn Frey, Suicidal Tendencies, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent, Frank Zappa, the Fat Boys, Sheena Easton, Gloria Estefan, Gene Simmons, Little Richard, Barbra Streisand, James Brown, Miles Davis, Harry Shearer, Michael De Barres, David Johansen, Issac Hayes, Jan Hammer.
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