When The Bear is firing on all burners, it offers the finest soundtrack in contemporary television (2024)

The Bear, the unexpected hit TV show that introduced "Yes, Chef!" into our popular lexicon, is back for its highly anticipated third season.

The ongoing dramedy following star chef Carmen 'Carmy' Berzatto (played by "sexy rat" Jeremy Allen White) and his restaurant staff has become an Emmy-winning, critically revered sensation. It is also beloved for having one of TV's best soundtracks.

The first two seasons made expert use of 90s alt-rock, vintage pop and surprise selections to give its stress-inducing kitchen scenes and sneaky, emotional sucker-punches extra flavour.

Season three, which just came out in full on Disney+, is no exception, dishing up more expertly curated music and high-quality sonic ingredients.

Like any great menu, there's something for everyone: Familiar returning favourites (Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Counting Crows, R.E.M.); spicier selections (Beastie Boys, Cocteau Twins, Taylor Swift); some classics (The Rolling Stones, Kate Bush, Kool & The Gang) and even super-fresh picks (hazy, R&B-coded bedroom indie-pop maker mk.gee and Canadian songsmith Jennifer Castle).

However, and I say this with love, it feels like The Bear is beginning to run the risk of repeating some stylistic tricks without challenging itself.

It's a situation mirrored in the mixed responses and reviews to season three so far. On Rotten Tomatoes, it's currently sitting at a 94 per cent rating from critics versus a 60 per cent audience score.

Still, you can't knock the sheer thrill of hearing classic Weezer pumping out of your television, or discovering Christopher Storer and Josh Senior — the showrunners who also serve as music supervisors — love the new solo album from Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker as much as we do.

Here's your guide to the key musical highs for season three. Mild spoilers ahead: we've tried to keep plot specifics to a minimum but, given the set-ups some of these musical cues require, we'd suggest bingeing the show first before diving in.

Nine Inch Nails

Few musicians are better at expressing a tortured, dark psyche than Trent Reznor. Fitting then that the Nine Inch Nails auteur's music scores Carmy's tormented mind throughout the season, beginning with the first episode.

The series opener offers an impressionistic overview of Carmy's career that spans from New York to Copenhagen and Chicago, and mentors like real-world chef Daniel Boulud and returning guest stars Olivia Colman and Joel McHale. The whole thing is scored by an extended version of 'Together', a 10-minute cut from NIN's 2020 album Ghosts V credited to Reznor and Atticus Ross.

Selections from the award-winning pair's film scores (for The Vietnam War and mid90s) are also used later in the season to great effect. But it's 'Together' that works best, providing the knife's edge between ambient serenity and creeping dread.

It's the perfect accompaniment to Carmy's wildly oscillating anxiety — is his culinary genius worth hurting the ones closest to him?

Beastie Boys

There's no situation into which 'Sabotage' can't instantly inject intense levels of kick-ass. In a flashback episode involving Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas) hitting bottom in a miserable job hunt, the iconic Beastie Boys track kicks in when the camera reveals The Beef, the former sandwich shop Carmy transformed into the titular restaurant, The Bear.

The moment feels triumphant but also captures the sheer chaos of the eatery before we're treated to a touching, pivotal scene involving original Beef owner Mikey Berzatto (the charismatic Jon Bernthal).

The Beasties return in the next episode for another musical cue tided to the business. '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)' blasts out when two former Beef employees return to boost the business: food truck bro slang and all!

The Ronettes

The girl group's classic 1963 single 'Baby, I Love You' soundtracks a tender plot point between Carmy's pregnant sister, Sugar (Abby Elliott), and mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis).

You'll remember the troubled matriarch from the hectic season two episode 'Fishes', arguably the most traumatic Christmas family dinner ever put to screen. However, Donna is a much happier presence in season three episode 'Ice Chips', which focuses on her relationship with Sugar.

Mother and daughter bond when the former tells the latter she was born to the strains of The Ronettes, the two tearfully reconnecting as 'Baby, I Love You' plays from a smartphone speaker.

This moving moment goes deeper. The Ronettes tune was co-written and produced by the problematic Phil Spector, a man who did truly terrible things while producing era-defining works of musical genius.

This mirrors the complex relationship between Donna and her children, who are struggling with undiagnosed, inherited generational trauma, but also have a persisting passion for cooking and family instilled in them.

Eddie Vedder – 'Save It For Later'

Pearl Jam has been used in The Bear before, and now vocalist Eddie Vedder has contributed a cover of The Beat's 1982 track 'Save It For Later', which becomes a recurring motif in season three.

The song first appears in episode two, soundtracking a sequence that's become a signature of the series: a montage of Chicago establishing shots as the city's service workers begin a new day.

An instrumental passage of 'Save It Later' features in later episodes for key scenes involving future prospects for Syd and 'cousin' Richie (the brilliant Ayo Edibiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach respectively).

James – 'Laid'

The biggest and best song by Manchester rock band James, 'Laid' features in the season finale during a rare moment of unabashed fun. The 90s hit plays at an after-party hosted at Syd's new apartment for a certain restaurant that's been shuttered.

We even get some lovely shots of the cast attempting to hit the sky-scraping falsetto notes sung by James frontman Tim Booth. Plus, where else are you going to get to experience the joy of seeing Olivia Colman vibing to a Britpop banger while making dessert?!

Cocteau Twins

TikTok's favourite makers of indecipherable lyrics take the spotlight in episode four, during a flashback involving better times between Carmy and his love interest Claire (Molly Gordon).

In season two, R.E.M. deep cut 'Strange Currencies' was their romantic theme. And though that does appear later in the season (spliced with some Nine Inch Nails, no less), Cocteau Twins' oddly soothing 'Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops' wafts in the background during a lengthy scene where the couple privately exchange war stories about their difficult working environments.

A whole lotta classical music

Episode three, 'Doors', follows the restaurant staff of The Bear struggling through a month-long stint running their newly opened, high-end enterprise. Cue plenty of artfully shots of delicious food but also popping veins as the series serves up the high-stakes stress and intense shouting it does so masterfully.

The anarchy is scored entirely by works from classical composers, including Beethoven, Haydn, Saint-Saëns, Strauss and — in the end credits — a dose of Italian opera from Giuseppe Verdi.

It works a treat. And by treat, I mean it's a potent reminder of how this show can genuinely send your blood pressure skyrocketing in a way most film and TV could only dream of.

"I just love food," real-world chef Rozio Sanchez declares in the season finale.

"It was always about making something with my hands, making something amazing that I'm proud of, and having somebody else enjoy it. For a fleeting moment, like music."

The moment may as well be the creators of The Bear speaking directly to the audience about their own passions. In the first two seasons, they made the relationship between cooking and music the hero moment, again and again.

Maybe it's simply a victim of its own success and lofty expectations, but season three lacks a truly knockout moment of narrative/musical synergy like those involving Taylor Swift and R.E.M. in season two.

That said, when The Bear is at its best and firing on all burners, it still offers the finest soundtrack in contemporary television.