It’s not the first time a Netflix series has resurfaced a classic song from the 1980s, but unlike Kate Bush and Stranger Things, British New Wave band Wang Chung had no idea that John Mulaney had opted to use “To Live and Die in L.A.,” their 1985 ode to La La Land, as the theme song for his recent Netflix talk show, Everybody’s in L.A.
“It’s a total surprise that it’s blown up in the way that it has,” Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues told Variety in an interview published Monday.
“It’s so nice to see it get used in such a cool way,” added guitarist Nick Feldman, a self-professed fan of Mulaney’s work. “The way it’s placed into the show—which I’ve watched a couple of episodes and I really liked—it really works well. That collage of images from Los Angeles, with our music it feels like they placed it exactly right.”
Though the Wang Chung was founded in London and is probably best known for turning their own band name into a verb (as in: “Everybody have fun tonight /Everybody Wang Chung tonight”), they were the late director William Friedkin’s first pick when he was searching for an artist to compose the score for his L.A.-set neo-noir movie, To Live and Die in L.A.
In 1985, Friedkin explained that he wanted Wang Chung to work on the film as he believed the band stood “out from the rest of contemporary music.” And the final result did not disappoint the late director: “What they finally recorded has not only enhanced the film, it has given it a deeper, more powerful dimension,” he said.
Clearly, Mulaney would agree.
Wang Chung had an incredible score to a really good movie. Peterson v. Defoe on the streets of L.A. About as good as it got for that era.
Totally agree!