Quantum Leap: Jukebox Nostalgia and the Flattening of History
In the opening scene of the Quantum Leap episode “Animal Frat” (2×12), Dr. Sam Beckett ‘leaps’ into the body of Knut “Wild Thing” Wileton, arriving in his body on top of a pool table as two ‘Tau Kappa Beta’ fraternity brothers pour beer from the keg into Sam’s startled face. A raucous house party rages in the background as The Kingsmen’s seminal 1963 rendition of Louie Louie booms from unseen speakers. By this point in the show’s run, the audience is aware that this conspicuous use of popular music in the soundtrack is more than mere background noise, it is important mise-en-scène. The viewer is instantly transported, with Sam, into all of the countercultural insinuations of rock and roll and youthful rebellion inherent in that simple I-IV-V chord progression. It is the mid-‘60s and the nascent teenage youth culture of the ‘50s has grown and matured into a social and […]