Miami Vice: Not Just a Television Show

Miami Vice was not meant to be a normal cop-show for television. It was made to look like a long-running MTV music video with a plot-and it was done on purpose.

The producers of the show decided to incorporate music as part of the show, not only as background music, but to actually impart lines for the characters and lend to their scripts.

Miami Vice didn’t use mood music, but rather hit songs from popular musicians as the backdrop to many scenes. At the time, getting your music on Miami Vice as one of the featured scene songs was a huge promotion for any musician, and if they landed the gig, their careers rocketed to the top of the charts.

The release of the Miami Vice Album in 1986 and later two sequel albums, overhauled the image of Television soundtracks. These were hot ticket items featuring the hit songs of the eighties.

The theme song “Miami Vice” was written by Jan Hammer and was voted the number one theme song of all time by TV Guide readers. That’s an impressive standing for a television show theme song. It’s one that many people recognize, Miami Vice fan or not. He composed music for seasons 1 through 4. Tim Truman took over the Miami Vice score for Season 5, and many fans were quite unhappy with the switch.

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