Timbaland Gave ‘The Daily Show’ Theme Song A Much-Needed Update: Listen

Carl Williott | January 5, 2016 11:35 am

Timbaland has swooped into the TV world by serving as the music supervisor on the hugely successful Fox show Empire, and now he has put in work for another massive television hit, The Daily Show. To kick off the New Year, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah unveiled a new version of its longtime theme song, “Dog On Fire,” which Timbaland had a hand in updating.

Bob Mould first wrote and performed “Dog On Fire” for the original iteration of the show with Craig Kilborn in 1996. His slower, crunchier version was reworked by They Might Be Giants for Jon Stewart’s 1999 takeover, and throughout Stewart’s tenure the song had a prominent ’90s ska vibe that we were all weirdly OK with for all that time. But that seems to be on its way out.

The theme has entered the modern age under Trevor Noah, thanks to producers Timbaland and King Logan, with mixing from Chris Godbey. As expected from a Tim production, the track skews towards hip-hop, with some heavy trap percussion underneath the diced-up “Dog On Fire” melody. Hear it during the intro from last night’s episode below.

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