Back in 1982, NBC introduced viewers to “a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.” Knight Rider transformed David Hasselhoff into a celebrity for his role as Michael Knight, but some would argue that the car was the real star of the show. The Knight Industries Two Thousand, or KITT, captured the collective imaginations of fans with its artificial intelligence and personality. Now, the classic Knight Rider theme by Glen A. Larson and Stu Phillips is going delightfully retro, thanks to a new banjo cover by Ollie Longuet for his YouTube channel, Banjo Guy Ollie.
Longuet even went through the trouble of recreating the sound effects from Knight Rider‘s opening credit sequence, which made his cover even more enjoyable. On the page for this video, Longuet hinted that he may also cover other classic ’80s TV themes like Airwolf, Magnum P.I., and The A-Team (you can check out his videos here). And for comparison’s sake, here’s the original version 0f the Knight Rider theme.
2018 is actually the tenth anniversary of the Knight Rider revival series, which attempted to resurrect the franchise and even included Hasselhoff as the father of the main character. However, it failed to recapture the magic of the original or a sizable audience, which led to a fairly quick cancellation. Perhaps the problem was that the new show tried to be too modern. Knight Rider may be better suited for the ’80s, but this banjo cover makes us wonder if the franchise could go even more retro and rural than that.
What do you think about the Knight Rider banjo cover? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images: NBCUniversal TV
