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The X-Files Theme

"The X-Files"
X-files (Mark Snow).jpg
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 (1996-03-24) (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"
X-files (DJ Dado).jpg
Single by DJ Dado
from the album The Album
B-side Various Remixes
Released 19 March 1996
Format CD single, CD maxi
12" maxi
Genre Dream trance
Length 3:57
Label ZYX, Subway
Writer(s) Mark Snow
Producer(s) DJ Dado, Robert Gallo Salsotto
DJ Dado singles chronology
"Face It"
(1995)
"X-Files"
(1996)
"Metropolis - The Legend of Babel"
(1996)
"The X-Files Theme"
The X-Files Theme Japan.jpg
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"
Released 8 June 1998 (Japan)
Format CD
Genre Pop
Length 3:53
Label Twentieth-Century Fox
Writer(s) Mark Snow
Mike Oldfield
Producer(s) Mike Oldfield, and others
Mike Oldfield chronology
"Women of Ireland"
(1997)
"The X-Files Theme"
(1998)
"Man in the Rain"
(1998)

"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.


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