Well, a new Game Of Thrones teaser trailer was a nice surprise today, especially right after we were already celebrating DC announcing that Buffy boy Joss Whedon would be helming a Batgirl movie. But the timing makes sense; we are nary a fortnight away from the time of year that Game Of Thrones historically premieres on HBO, and since we won’t be seeing the new season until July 16, the Thrones team had to give fans something.
The moody teaser trailer features our main protagonists/antogonist–Jon Snow, Cersei, Dany–walking somberly, in lockstep to the beat of a cool song about literally sitting down, before they respectively heed the lyrics and take a seat on their respective thrones. The lyrics are extremely on the nose (“Those who feel the breath of sadness / Sit down next to me / Those who feel the touch of madness / Sit down next to me”), but who cares! We’ve been waiting so long for these forces of nature to unite and butt heads that we’ll excuse the cheesiness of a teaser trailer.
But what is this song? If you tried using Shazam, you probably didn’t have much luck. That is because it is re-recorded version of “Sit Down” by the ’90s alternative band James. The Manchester band, who was part of the ecstasy-fueled Madchester scene of the era, is best known for that song “Laid” (“This bed is on fire with passionate love!”), but “Sit Down” is their less romantically fraught single. The tune was originally released in 1989, but saw wider release and popularity in 1990 when it was included on the band’s Gold Mother album.
But James’ new version that appears in the Game Of Thrones teaser sounds a lot more somber, like a cover by Jesus and Mary Chain. The tone of the guitars and the spare kick drum sounds almost exactly like “Just Like Honey.” Apparently James’ lead singer, Tim Booth, is a huge fan of the series and was stoked when HBO approached him about using the song for the preview:
“Having read the books, and watched the series twice, I was very excited when Game Of Thrones asked to use “Sit Down” for their preview.  I think the last two songs used were “Heroes” and “Wicked Game,” so we are in great company. We thought they would make their own version, to suit the landscape of the series, but apparently they were attached to the original. Now if only they would invite us to perform at Daenery’s coronation …”
Are you guys hyped for the next season of Game of Thrones? Is that a question I even need to ask? I dunno, man.
Image: HBO
Matt Grosinger is the music editor of Nerdist and is just as antsy as you are about the new season of Game Of Thrones. You can find him hanging out at his house most of the time and on Twitter.
