Musical scoring is a powerful tool for manipulating emotion, as anyone who has every watched a suspenseful scene with the sound off knows. Even The Office’s upbeat theme song lets the audience know that although the show follows the mundane, awkward experiences of a group of coworkers, it’s also an upbeat comedy with a good heart. Take away that music, however, and the opening gets a little darker.
In place of the cheerful theme tune, YouTube user Washed Up inserted sound effects and audio from the first season. So now the opening montage of office monotony that once seemed innocuous and even charming serves as a reminder that working 9-5 in a paper company would pretty much suck. Of course, that’s the whole point of the show itself, but without the theme music that message is just a little harder to take.