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In The Hall Of The Mountain King

Well, I'm hardly an expert compared to some round these parts, but my assumption would be around the time Tussauds took over, in the early 90's? It's quite possible, of course, it was already established before that, and I was just too young to notice. We didn't get many adverts for Towers down south back in the bleak, grime encrusted 80's.
 
I probably post this every few years, but Grieg wrote ITHOTMK with satirical intent, claiming it was inspired by "cowpats, ultra-Norwegianism, and 'to-thyself-be-enough-ness", and that he "could not bear to hear it, though I hope that the irony will make itself felt." It's basically deliberately rubbish.

Of course, it's been a huge hit for 150-years since.
 
I'd always assumed it was just a case of it being a recognisable, easy to licence piece of music - but part of me does think that maybe someone in the marketing department just had a soft spot for Grieg.


From: https://youtu.be/B2wfv5IX2Cc?si=4CM2QR1rVUAXqxl4


This promo opens with Anitra's Dance, funnily enough the piece of music directly before Mountain King in Peer Gynt - but around the 40s mark it transitions to his Piano Concerto in A Minor. So my money is on Mr. Aaron A Aaronson just really liking Edvard Grieg's music and using them at work - obviously Mountain King hit the spot and became synonymous with Alton Towers.
 
Interesting observation. My theory is maybe they needed music for one of the ads quick and just stuck in mountain king because it was copyright free and it just stuck.
 
mo237 said:
I'd always assumed it was just a case of it being a recognisable, easy to licence piece of music - but part of me does think that maybe someone in the marketing department just had a soft spot for Grieg.


From: https://youtu.be/B2wfv5IX2Cc?si=4CM2QR1rVUAXqxl4


This promo opens with Anitra's Dance, funnily enough the piece of music directly before Mountain King in Peer Gynt - but around the 40s mark it transitions to his Piano Concerto in A Minor. So my money is on Mr. Aaron A Aaronson just really liking Edvard Grieg's music and using them at work - obviously Mountain King hit the spot and became synonymous with Alton Towers.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, if I recall correctly, Anitra's Dance was first used by the park during the John Broome years.

So it is arguable that the reason Tussauds ended up landing on In the Hall of the Mountain King is actually directly linked to the prior regime. It seems too much of a coincidence that they accidentally ended up settling on the next track on the same tape.
 
Hmm some good theories here.

I did ask an ex employee who would have been involved in this sort of thing back in the early 90's, and they couldn't 100% remember, but they thought that - after Nick Varney was appointed as Marketing Manager - the park contracted an advertising agency to help rebrand the park, and in their first meeting*, a theme tune was on the agenda, and Hall of the Mountain King was chosen in that meeting. It's possible someone has played the previous music used in the John Broom era in that meeting ("this is what they have used before, here's the next piece").

*I believe John Wardley was in the meeting with Nick Varney, the ad agency, and possibly other marketing personnel.

The choice of theme tune is a genius decision, possibly one of the most important decisions in the theme park's history.
 
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