Star Wars: The New TV Show Trailer Features An ’80s Classic
Star Wars has only rarely used anything that would be considered “pop music.” Most of what we hear in the Star Wars universe tends to be original score music. Even when something resembles music from our planet (and earth is never referenced in the Star Wars universe), it is usually credited to creatures from their universe. This dates back to the Catina band in the original 1977 Star Wars (now referred to as A New Hope). Their famous jam (check it out below) is more like jazz than pop music.
Most Star Wars fans want to forget all about the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. Rightfully! But it did feature the Jefferson Starship performing their song “Light The Sky On Fire,” from their 1978 album, Red Octopus. More recently, the Disney+ series The Acolyte featured an actual pop song: Victoria Monet’s “Power Of Two.”
For their latest show, Skeleton Crew, the trailer has a song in it that will probably be familiar to people of a certain age.
The song that they’re using is called “Major Tom (Coming Home)” by a German artist named Peter Schilling. The 1983 track was released in both German and English; it was a #1 hit in Germany and a #14 hit here. It was also frequently played on MTV at the time. “Major Tom” was based on a character in David Bowie’s 1969 classic “Space Oddity” (and who he later referenced in 1980’s “Ashes to Ashes”).
In “Space Oddity” and “Major Tom (Coming Home),” the Major Tom character is on rocket ship that gets lost in space. That seems to mirror the plight of the characters in the show. Also, the song isn’t being sung in English or German, but is in a language from the Star Wars universe.
Fun fact: William Shatner, star of Star Trek, a big influence on Star Wars, did a 2011 space-themed album, Seeking Major Tom. On that album, covered both Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home).”
The cast of Skeleton Crew includes Jude Law, Kerry Condon, and Jaleel White. Also in the cast is Tunde Adebimpe from the Brookyn band TV On The Radio. He’s not the only musician to appear in a recent Star Wars show. Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers played a character called Vect Nokru on 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jazz bassist Thundercat, meanwhile, played a “Mod Artist” on 2022’s Book Of Boba Fett. LIzzo and Tenacious D frontman Jack Black shared some scenes as the Duchess of Plazir-15 and Captain Bombardier in season three of The Mandalorian.
Skeleton Crew is set to premiere on Disney+ on December 3 with a two-episode debut and will last eight episodes.