The Police's Every Breath You Take Mashup In Season 3 Of The Sopranos Is Still A Banger Today

"Every Breath You Take" by the Police was used to astonishing, rocking effect on the Season 3 premiere of "The Sopranos." Eighties classic rock songs that we're still blasting on repeat played an important role in HBO's series about Tony Soprano, a mob boss and a family man going through therapy. Its historically dark finale was scored to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," years after the Police's creepy anthem made up half of a novel and memorable mashup that lit up a 2001 episode.

While it's not actually credited in the episode, that audacious, unlikely, and undeniably catchy and interesting remix was among the most notable needle drops ever executed on the acclaimed drama. It paired "Every Breath You Take" with the Grammy Award-winning theme song from the late 1950s detective series "Peter Gunn," and the 2000s-based curated combo of '50s and '80s music still holds up well in the 2020s.

"Every Breath You Take / Theme from Peter Gunn (Mr. Ruggerio's Remix)" appeared in "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood," a 2001 episode of "The Sopranos." It was the creation of "The Sopranos" music supervisor and music editor Kathryn "Gudren" Dayak, who cleverly threw together two musical themes that allude to law enforcement and surveillance.

The connection of a song by the Police may seem obvious — especially one with such dark, looming lyrics — but perhaps less well known is the remix's incorporation of Henry Mancini's hard-charging and brassy theme song for "Peter Gunn," a 1958 to 1961 detective series. Nonetheless, the musical pieces just fit together. 

Both "Every Breath You Take" and the "Peter Gunn" theme song have an ominous, foreboding air to them. The lyrics to the former concern stalking, while the latter, an instrumental, employs an aggressive, pursuant tone. Mashing them up is quite the musical statement on a show about criminals trying to stay ahead of the law.