Quincy Jones Banged Out the ‘Austin Powers’ Theme in 20 Minutes
The legendary Quincy Jones just passed away at the age of 91. And while he’ll be remembered for his work in the music industry, his TV credits and his not giving a fuck in interviews during his golden years, some folks on the internet have also been celebrating his contribution to a pop-culture franchise he had absolutely no hand in creating: Austin Powers.
Mike Myers’ swinging spy character just wouldn’t have been the same without the upbeat theme song that plays during the opening credits of all three movies. If you don’t believe me, try syncing up the beginning of any Austin Powers movie with, say, Nine Inch Nails, and see how shagadelic it is.
The track is called “Soul Bossa Nova,” and it was apparently composed by Jones in less time than it takes to watch an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
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As Jones told Billboard in 2010, “I wrote that in 1962 in 20 minutes for a big band Bossa Nova album right after we left Brazil with Dizzy Gillespie, when the bossa nova first started.” (In fact, “Soul Bossa Nova” is the opening track of the album “Big Band Bossa Nova.”) “And it won’t go away. Mike Myers used it for the themes of the Austin Powers films. Ludacris did it too (in “Number One Spot”). It’s still here,” Jones continued.
It’s true, while the “Bossa Nova craze” of the early ‘60s eventually faded, this particular piece stuck around. Jones incorporated it into his score for the 1964 drama The Pawnbroker, and Woody Allen used it for his comedy Take the Money and Run. But perhaps most consequentially, it somehow ended up being used as the theme song for a Canadian game show called Definition, which was basically just the game “Hangman” but with celebrity guests and no crude illustrations of capital punishment.
The show ran from 1974 to 1989, and it seemingly made a big impact on a young Mike Myers. The Wayne’s World star told The Hollywood Reporter that he first became aware of the track thanks to “a game show in Canada called Definition.” And he decided it would be perfect for Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery because “it was just swinger music.”
Jones knew Myers from the time he hosted Saturday Night Live in 1990. “We became friends,” Jones explained, “so when they reached out to ask for permission to use the song, I happily agreed.”
Myers eventually found a way to work Jones into one of the movies, enlisting him to appear in the cameo-filled opening of Austin Powers in Goldmember. He even gets a peck on the cheek from Austin.
In retrospect, Jones also probably deserves some praise for being one of the few unproblematic stars to appear in that sequence.
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