Wang Chung Was Surprised to Learn John Mulaney Used Their 1985 Song as His Netflix L.A. Talk Show Theme

variety.com:

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Wang Chung had no idea John Mulaney’s six-episode Netflix talk show “Everybody’s in LA” would use their 1985 song “To Live and Die in L.A.” as its theme song — but they’re thrilled he did. “It’s a total surprise that it’s blown up in the way that it has,” says Wang Chung lead singer Jack Hues, who first heard of the usage on “Everybody’s in LA” via “the guy who does our merch.” For guitarist Nick Feldman, the other half of the duo, he was already a big Mulaney fan when he got the news that “To Live and Die in L.A.” was suddenly getting a new breath of life on Netflix. “It’s so nice to see it get used in such a cool way,” he says. “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. It’s extremely gratifying for us to see.” “To Live and Die in L.A.” was released as part of Wang Chung’s soundtrack to the William Friedkin film of the same name.

Friedkin had been a fan of the group, best known at that point for their hit “Dance Hall Days,” and asked them to create an instrumental soundtrack for the gritty crime thriller (which starred William Petersen and Willem Dafoe). “Bill Friedkin said to us in the initial conversations that he didn’t want a theme song,” Hues recalls. “He just wanted instrumental stuff.

But once I’d seen the film, the song just kind of popped out, despite his warnings.” Friedkin eventually embraced the track, even though Hues says the band’s A&R team at Geffen Records didn’t quite know what to do with it.