In my opiion - the music on Strictly isn't very good - is there any reason not to have the original music played whilst the dancers perform - Expensive? Copyright?

Tonight I was looking forward to Hallowe'en Strictly - it was spoilt by the music (and some bad performances).

What music?

I have to agree, themed weeks are always the worst, only one dance had appropriate music - Mark and Karen's Jive.

Frankie and Kevin's dancing made me (almost) forget their music, as for the rest they were awful ... Pixie's and Trent's being the worst, totally distracted me from them dancing.

Most of it and yes - 'what music'?

i am gutted that my fave song from wicked the musical was absolutely murdered tonight

Was their any connection between the music and the dancing?

With the music seeming to be totally unrelated to the dancing and the horrendous clapping unrelated to the music and the dancing, the dancers all need praise for their performances.

The singer who screeched her way through Wuthering Heights tonight was the worst I'd ever heard on Strictly.

Yes, it was all pretty dire tonight - not the fault of the musicians or Dave Arch, but the choices were appalling and the singers dreadful. I hate themed nights. Please, proper music and proper dances and proper faces next week !

I have to agree. Only Little Shop of Horrors was appropriate for the dance. Some of the other choices were truly awful.

I've noticed there have been less appropriate tracks chosen for the dances this year and it's really starting to irritate me. I think the professional dancers should have more control than the producers in choosing the music. There has hardly been any traditional music used this season and while I appreciate that if chosen carefully popular songs can work well I do think traditional music is usually more appropriate for most dances. Especially for dances like the paso doble and the samba.

Sorry! Rant over!

The usual irrelevant trashy songs. Bravo to the band and singers.
That final song was both unconnected to the charscter of the dance and devoid of memorable melody in its own right. Musically putrid compising by numbers.

That screeching was better than what was being killed during defying gravity

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I would love to have one week where they use 'traditional', appropriate music for the dances with no props and themes. Back to basics.

Well done the band!
They did an excellent job on some very unmusical songs, considering how little rehearsal time they get.
It amazes me why people on here criticise "live" performances of so many different genres of music.

The band could add so much more if some of the choices weren't so dire.

I bet Dave Arch sheds a tear when some "untalented numpty of a tone-deaf, ballroom dance ignorant" producer, gives him the list. Give the band and the singers a recognisable ballroom dance tune of any era or style, and it's never a problem.

I expressed concern over Wuthering Heights earlier in the week as Kate Bush had a four-octave range.
Given the time available to rehearse it and that it was a live performance, without auto-tune and all the additional digital enhancements available for studio recordings, I think Hayley? made a reasonable job of it in the circumstances. After all it wouldn't be something she sings every naffin' week, or possibly, ever before at all.

I really wish some of those who criticise the band realised how unnecessarily difficult the producer makes Dave Arch and the singers' jobs, just because they're chasing the X-Factor audience and so pick so many unsuitable tunes.
It's such a relief the times they've obviously cocked it up and chosen a decent one..

I've never liked the music on Strictly and particularly this evening. It's the actual concept I don't like - why not just play the original tracts? The proof of the pudding is in the eating : the music isn't right for the show,

I completely agree with Doghouse Riley. Dave Arch must have a horrible job trying to arrange track so they are in the right time signature for the dance and cutting them to 90 seconds. Apparently the singers/band don't see them until saturday morning so it's pretty stressful for them too. I thought they did pretty well with the awful music choices. A lot of these songs are good in their own right but used for the dances tonight they hindered the dancers/celebs and sometimes the singers!

Would love the show to go back to basics and add more traditional tracks back in.

I hate the way the singers do impressions of the original artists. I can kind of see why you might feel you have to on something like Wuthering Heights, but the half-hearted impersonation on Defying Gravity just emphasized how not Idina Menzel the singer was. It's only a song from a musical so it would have sounded so much better if she'd just sung it straight.

Are you talking about Frankie and Kevin's dance? If so, the song was "Defying Gravity" and Frankie was dressed as Elphaba, who is the main witch character of Wicked, and Elphaba sings that song Unless you're talking about a different dance...

I'm sure the singer would have too, but they do what they are told do.

You can buy CDs of Strict Tempo ballroom and Latin music, all featuring modern pop songs, musical theatre songs, film music, etc., but although the overall sound is the same, they are reproduced so they are the correct tempo etc., for the dances they are intended for. [Some film tracks are wonderful, so example fantastic waltzes from Shrek and Dances with Wolves!]

The problem with, or for Dave Arch and his singers, is that when he is told what songs are going to be used, it seems they try to recreate the original versions rather than the strict-tempo versions. This makes things much harder for the inexperienced celebs who had got used to a different tempo, etc. Not their fault necessarily; they should perhaps be given more notice.

I may be wrong but I thought that they meant the same thing I said about Frankie's dance. That the song doesn't fit a tango. It's a happy motivating epiphany song - not what you think of when you picture a tango.

Yet we all thought she made a pretty good go of it considering Kate Bush is about the hardest to do well.

Actually I was opposite. I was so distracted by the bad music for Frankie and Kevin that I never noticed they had danced anything of note whatsoever (I don't like a certain type of singing in stage musicals). I still liked Pixie and Trent though.

For Jake's dance I thought he was slightly out of time to the band but would have been in time for the Alice Cooper version. Maybe that didn't get picked up in rehearsals.

Thats exactly what I meant, the character of the tango.
About the band covering other singers tracks..... A decent song will not suffer if it's sung by someone else., A less good song will generally depend on the original singer and studio tecniques. That's why certain songs become classics, while others remain tracks.

All the evidence suggests that Louise Rainbow the SCD Executive Producer is tone deaf.