The entire nation is addicted to Don Draper’s double life, excessive at-work boozing and smoking and… Joan Holloway. AMC’s “Mad Men” will return Sunday for a seventh, and final, season of cheating, scamming, lying and… Joan Holloway.
There are few better ways to transport viewers into another time than through music from the past. And since “Mad Men” is exquisitely placed in 1950s America, music has been a key factor in drawing up nostalgia and enforcing a visceral reality throughout the show. One of the best parts of the series is that it doesn’t abuse this tool. You won’t find random snippets of classic songs strewn about carelessly like a “That ’70s Show” scene transition. Major plot points and introspective moments are marked by memorable music, making that experience ring true to lifelong fans of the songs and the younger audience alike.
Here are our top five musical moments of “Mad Men.” And remember, this does contain spoilers.
5) Peggy quits her job to The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me”
Peggy, played by the infectious Elisabeth Moss, captured everyone’s attention right off by being an awkward, but highly motivated secretary for Don, who seemed to like her as much as fans of the show did. How perfect an anthem for her: “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. And it’s made even more perfect by irony as being played right after a touching moment walking out on her job and a dismayed Don.
4) Slow-motion Pete checks out girls while smoking pot to Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart”
In Season 6, Pete Campbell blows caution (and smoke) to the wind by smoking in the office in front of everyone, who is bustling around him. This is a great moment for a few a couple reasons: 1) It depicts one of the show’s most annoyingly uptight and obnoxious characters letting loose; 2) it illustrates so well, as an expensive-as-hell period piece like “Mad Men” should, the evolution of the times, from the straight-laced, black tie ’50s to the groovy, sitting-around-in-your-office-smoking-weed ’60s (and who could illustrate this transition better than the groove goddess Janis Joplin?); and 3) it shows how much of a pig Pete is (instead of “working” he steals another guy’s joint just to check out girls). Good job, Campbell.
3) Roger Sterling drops acid to the sounds of “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” by the Beach Boys
Roger Sterling eats some acid with a group of intellectual folks and realizes his selfish and superficial ways may not be the answer to life. Sure, the only thing that comes of it is even more selfishness mixed with a dose of crazy, but maybe it’s a step in the right direction. The Beach Boys usher Roger into the depths of his arrogant mind with “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” playing on a tape player. And who is there to accompany him into the abyss? None other than LSD guru Timothy Leary. Just breath, Roger, everything is OK. Ya know, except for your marriage, your company, your health and most everything else you pretend to care about. “They say I got brains, but they ain’t doing me no good.”
2) The Rolling Stones help Don Draper get his game back with “Satisfaction”
After a slump of probably deserved self-doubt and inner turmoil, Don gets back into the game with sunglasses, a cigarette and some smoking ladies on the street. His triumph over his evil spirits is celebrated by the timeless tune “Satisfaction” by the timeless band The Rolling Stones. Seriously, though, will this guy ever be satisfied with any of the crazy hot models he’s with?
1) Don is not all right, with Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
A sad moment made sadder by Bob Dylan’s crooning, Don imagines himself welcomed home by his family. Instead, he’s welcomed home by nothing but the end credits of season 1. We’ve watched a very brilliant, but troubled ad man drink and sex his way through 1950s New York for six seasons now. And with the seventh season to start this weekend, we’re seeing just how telling this scene is for the fate of Mr. Draper: alone, sad and regretful. But let’s not give up on the dashing suit yet. Perhaps he’ll make a turn for the better and he’ll get Betty that lobotomy she’s been wanting all along, put a muzzle on his daughter Sally and they’ll all live happily into the ’70s where they’ll enjoy a time when Ashton Kutcher was actually funny.
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James Garcia is a community reporter at the Loveland Reporter-Herald and a new blogger at Reverb. Follow him on Twitter @JamesGarciaRH.
