"The X-Files" | |
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Single by Mark Snow | |
from the album The Truth and the Light: Music from the X-Files | |
B-side | Various remixes |
Released | 24 March 1996 | (UK)
Format | CD maxi, Cassette Tape |
Genre | Downtempo, dark ambient |
Length | 3:25 |
Label |
Warner Music WEA International |
Writer(s) | Mark Snow |
Producer(s) | Mark Snow |
"X-Files" | ||||
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Single by DJ Dado | ||||
from the album The Album | ||||
B-side | Various Remixes | |||
Released | 19 March 1996 | |||
Format |
CD single, CD maxi 12" maxi |
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Genre | Dream trance | |||
Length | 3:57 | |||
Label | ZYX, Subway | |||
Writer(s) | Mark Snow | |||
Producer(s) | DJ Dado, Robert Gallo Salsotto | |||
DJ Dado singles chronology | ||||
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"The X-Files Theme" | |||||||||||
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Single by Various Artists | |||||||||||
from the album The X-Files: The Album | |||||||||||
A-side | "Tubular X" | ||||||||||
B-side | "The X-Files Theme" "The Source of Secrets" |
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Released | 8 June 1998 (Japan) | ||||||||||
Format | CD | ||||||||||
Genre | Pop | ||||||||||
Length | 3:53 | ||||||||||
Label | Twentieth-Century Fox | ||||||||||
Writer(s) |
Mark Snow Mike Oldfield |
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Producer(s) | Mike Oldfield, and others | ||||||||||
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"The X-Files" is a 1996 instrumental recorded by American film and television composer Mark Snow. It is a remixed version of the original theme Snow composed for the science fiction television series The X-Files in 1993. Released in March 1996 in most countries, it achieved a huge success, particularly in France where it reached number-one on the singles chart.
The composition has since been covered by DJ Dado and Mike Oldfield among others. The song was also used as background music for a sketch in the 1998 Alvin and the Chipmunks album The A-Files: Alien Songs where Alvin portrayed "Agent Moldy" and Brittany portrayed "Agent Scuzzy."
"The X-Files" typically used more instrumental music than most hour-long dramas. According to the "Behind the Truth" segment on the Season 1 DVD, Mark Snow created the echo effect on his famous X-Files theme song by accident. Snow said that he had gone through several revisions, but Chris Carter felt that something was not quite right. Carter walked out of the room and Snow put his hand and forearm on his keyboard in frustration. Snow said, "this sound was in the keyboard. And that was it."
The single went straight to #2 on March 30, 1996, on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for three weeks, then kept on dropping. In France, the single entered the chart at #42 on April 6, 1996, climbed quickly until reaching #2 four weeks later. It remained blocked for five weeks at this position, behind Robert Miles's hit "Children", then topped the chart for a sole week, becoming the second instrumental number-one hit, before climbing. It totaled 12 weeks in the top ten and 30 weeks in the top 50. The single was re-charted from October 1998, but remained in low positions. It is the 754th best-selling single of all time in France. As a result, a remix CD single was released, but is much more uncommon.