True Blood: Jace Everett's Ominous Theme Song "Bad Things"

Alan Ball was known for his masterful use of music in Six Feet Under. He's lost none of his touch when it comes to his current HBO series, True Blood - which happens to be set in the Louisiana swamps, not terribly far from Houston.

No New Episode This Week

​Good sex always requires a refractory period, a cooling off while you restring your crossbow. We don't know if twisting a girl's head around in the middle of a hump session counts as good sex, but it definitely counts for a little time out. While, the crew in Bon Temps recovers, Gothtopia would like to talk to you about the most awesome theme song ever.

Believe it or not, Gothtopia was actually a little hesitant about watching True Blood. Like a lot of people our age, we sort of overdosed on Anne Rice in high school. Vampire fiction is like alcoholism. If you have a problem with it, you always have a problem with it. So we avoided the Sookie Stackhouse novels until we were told, in no uncertain terms, by our wife that Sunday night was going to be True Blood night. Any leftover uncertainty was blasted away the first time we heard Jace Everett's theme song, "Bad Things."

​Like a lot of the country artists that show up in the True Blood soundtrack, Jace Everett was a pretty standard guy. He moved around a lot as a kid until he settled in Nashville. His career was steady, if not meteoric, and the music he put out was exceptional, if not exactly mainstream breakout material. Listening to "Bad Things" it's easy to see - or hear, rather - why the Taylor Swift generation might cringe just a bit from Everett's approach.

It's dark, it's dirty, and it's really, really ominous. Just as the show treads the line between the kind of kinky fun that ends up in a Penthouse letter and the kind of kinky fun that ends up with people wearing orange jumpsuits for a couple of years, "Bad Things" leaves its ultimate intentions vague.

Do the bad things he wants to do to us require handcuffs and condoms, or handcuffs and a blowtorch? Is it a revenge song or a Leonard Cohen-esque ballad? Sure, it's played well and sung better, but that may just be the honey on the serpent's tongue.

Then again, all good fun is bad for you. So bring it, Mr. Everett. Life's short and bloody in Bon Temps - might as well die to a catchy tune.

New episodes of True Blood return Sunday, July 11.

Be sure to visit the Loving True Blood in Dallas blog, where Jef With One F will be a semi-regular contributor to the podcast this season.