Because this called for using popular, established artists, purchasing the rights to use songs required much of the show's budget and became an obstacle in releasing the show on DVD; in fact, reruns seen on Fox Family replaced some of the songs with generic production music. However, Shout! Factory eventually brought Freaks and Geeks to DVD in 2004, with all of its music intact.[1]
Complete series soundtrack list
The following is a complete list of the songs featured in Freaks and Geeks as they appear in the DVD booklet. Listed along with the titles of each song are the artist who performs the versions that appear in the series as well as the original album the track appeared on and that albums original year of release.
The artist to be featured in the most episodes (5) is Van Halen.
The artist with the most songs in the series (9) is The Who.
The album to have the most songs in the series (5) is Van Halen's 1978 self-titled debut.
The oldest song to appear on the series (1955) is "The Monster" by Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.
Other than instrumentals such as "Spacefunk" and score, and songs sung by characters such as "Lady L," the only songs to appear in the series that were not written or recorded until after 1981 are "Lime Green", "Happy Street" and "Punk Rock 101" by Diesel Boy (recorded in 1996).
A CD soundtrack for the series was released in 2004 from Shout! Factory. The CD soundtrack release contained nine songs featured in the series, eleven original Freaks and Geeks score tracks by Michael Andrews, three alternate cast recordings of songs performed on the show ("Lady L" being a fan favorite), an extra performance by "Feedback" and a bonus track by The Leaving Trains. The accompanying booklet features 15 pages of liner notes written by David Wild and Jake Kasdan as well as written track by track commentary by the Freaks and Geeks character, guidance counsellor Jeffery Theodore Rosso.
