Awesome Music / How I Met Your Mother

Original Songs

• The opening TV theme. 15 seconds of catchy goodness.
• How I Met Your Mother is usually modest with the music. But when the characters sing, you'd better listen. Exhibit A: "You Just Got Slapped". Neil Diamond-esque. Props to Segel.
• And Barney's first real song in "Girls vs. Suits" was well worth the 100 episode wait. Here we go.
• Fairly sure a video resume cannot get more awesome than this.

• "Bang Bang Bangity Bang", a song detailing Barney's sexual conquests, very catchy despite the fact that it only has two words being repeated.

• Barney and Ted's six-man version of Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time".
• You Just Got Slapped (Boyz II Men version), the R&B version. Props to Boyz II Men.
• The instrumental "You're All Alone" when Ted realizes he's alone in life and Future Ted narrates how, if he could go back to that night, he would've run to meet his future wife forty-five days before they really met, just so he could've spent the extra time with her. The song has a melancholy feeling, and is incredibly powerful played over Ted's speech proclaiming his eternal love to the Mother.
• "Murder Train" by The Foreskins originally appeared in "Sandcastles In The Sand" as a comedic example of Soundtrack Dissonance and eventually became the show's go-to music for whenever the characters got into fights.
• "Let's Go To The Mall" by Robin Sparkles is an Affectionate Parody of 80s teen pop music and just as upbeat, catchy and just wonderful to listen to as you would expect. Even the hilarious rap Robin does somehow just works. The version Cobie Smulders sang during Covid lockdown is both hilarious and incredible in its creativity.

Soundtrack

Season 1

• "Mother Of Pearl" by Roxy Music plays over Ted finally realizing that, rather than what seems to be the perfect woman, he wants Robin.
• "Voices" by Cheap Trick conveys Ted's dorky, hopelessly romantic personality effectively when he sings it to Robin over the phone.
• Barney's karaoke rendition of "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" by AC/DC is legendary particularly for showing off NPH's range, and Lily and Marshall's rendition of "Don’t Go Breakin' My Heart" by Elton John is affecting and cute as well.
• "Shine" by The Lovefreekz may have been a popular club banger already (helped by the source material being Electric Light Orchestra’s driving beats and soaring vocals), but the lyrics really help convey Marshall's devotion to Lily, even if she doesn't appear until long after he starts dancing.
• Bloc Party's "This Modern Love" plays in the Season 1 finale when Ted and Robin finally became a couple, and it becomes a Tear Jerker when Ted gets home and finds Marshall, sitting outside of the apartment and mournfully holding Lily's engagement ring.

Season 2

• "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" by The Proclaimers became the official road trip song after Marshall's tape got stuck on the player and that track played over and over again.

Season 4

• "Better" by Regina Spektor encapsulates the mix of heartache and hope Ted feels after being left at the altar.
• Michelle Featherstone's "Careful" is a really lovely and melancholic piece that plays in Season 4 as Ted comes to terms with the fact he might still need to wait longer to find The One in "As Fast As She Can".
• The use of "Prophets" by AC Newman over Ted's monologue at the end of "The Leap". Easily one of the most positive and awesome endings in the series.

Season 5

• Goldspot's song "Rewind" captures the feelings of déjà vu, nostalgia and regret Ted experiences in "Double Date" after his blind date with the same woman from seven years before doesn't go well.

Season 7

• The chorus of "Victoria" by The Kinks in "The Naked Truth" made the initial reappearance of Victoria feel HUGE.
• "Rivers and Roads" playing after Robin and Kevin break up and Ted finds her crying on the roof. Even better since the music is timed to hit its climax just as Ted confesses his love to her.
• The use of Florence + the Machine's "Shake It Out" at the end of "No Pressure" as Ted has finally moved on from Robin and has made peace with the fact they won't get together.

Season 8

• "The Funeral" by Band of Horses plays over Klaus's speech about "Lebenslangerschicksalsshatz" (lifelong treasure of destiny), with the music picking just as Future Ted reveals that at that moment they were in the exact place where Ted would meet his future wife a year later.
• "Let Your Heart Hold Fast" powerfully encapsulates Robin and Barney's relationship after she accepts his proposal and they kiss on the roof of the WWW building.
• "Simple Song", by The Shins, playing in the Season 8 Finale. Not only is the song catchy, it contains the Wham Shot revealing The Mother's face.
  The Mother: Hi. One ticket to Farhampton, please.
• It's only the first stanza, but Barney and Ted from the present, twenty minutes in the future, and twenty years from the future do an excellent acapella version of Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time".

Season 9

• Gus's rap in "Bedtime Stories", when Marshall is unable to find a suitable rhyme for "Canada" and looks to the next passenger for help. Lin-Manuel Miranda Was actually best friends with the people Lily and Marshal are based on. Obviously the character of Ted is not based on him, but it's a nice thing to know.
• "It's Only Time" by The Magnetic Fields is a beautifully subdued yet deep and sweet song that perfectly accompanies the end of "Platonish", with Barney pouring his heart out to the Mother and then deciding to go after Robin's hand in marriage.
• The Mother's rendition of "La Vie En Rose" in "How Your Mother Met Me". After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend and realizing that she finally let her lost love go, she still sits down and sings a song about looking at life through rose colored glasses.
• Ted finally truly letting go of Robin with "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles playing in the background.
• While it was an otherwise controversial ending, the soft rendition of "Downtown Train" by Everything But The Girl is a wonderful way to underscore Ted and Tracy finally meeting for the first time. Additionally, even detractors of the finale could find something wonderful in the final song used in the series, "Heaven" by The Walkmen, a nostalgic, poignant, and yet still optimistically upbeat song.

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