{"id":1465,"date":"2026-06-06T17:05:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T17:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2026-06-06T17:05:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T17:05:30","slug":"how-masters-of-the-universe-composer-daniel-pemberton-created-the-unashamedly-fun-theme-with-the-help-of-brian-mays-red-special-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1465","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Masters of the Universe\u2019 Composer Daniel Pemberton Created the \u2018Unashamedly Fun\u2019 Theme \u2014 With the Help of Brian May\u2019s Red Special Guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tThe only way Daniel Pemberton, who elects not to work on many franchise films or sequels, was going to get on board with scoring the new \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d film was if he could create Queen and ABBA-inspired music.<\/p>\n

Read more How AMC Is Relaunching \u2018Interview With the Vampire\u2019 as \u2018The Vampire Lestat\u2019 \u2014 Complete With Rock Concert, Major Marketing Tie-Ins and 20 Original Songs<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThankfully, not only was that the exact sound director Travis Knight wanted, but while recording some of the early \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d tracks at Abbey Road Studios in London, Pemberton happened to run into Queen co-founder and guitarist Brian May, who was working on a newly mastered version of \u201cQueen II.\u201d After telling him about the project, May was enthusiastic to collaborate with the \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d composer.<\/p>\n

\n\tMusically, everything in the studio clicked into place when May pulled out his famous Red Special Guitar, which he built out of repurposed household materials as a teenager and used in Queen\u2019s live performances.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAs he was playing it, I was like, \u2018This is actually the equivalent of the Sword of Power from the Master universe because it\u2019s an instrument forged in flame,\u2019 so to speak,\u201d Pemberton tells Variety<\/em> of the crucial guitar amp featured in the film\u2019s triumphant theme song. \u201cHe\u2019s the only person who can play it and has the power to play it, and it\u2019s a tool that has saved many people\u2019s lives, I think. If you look at it as a weapon, it has put so much hope and love in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on the \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d world, which was born out a 1982 toyline, Knight\u2019s take on the story maintains the silly, \u201880s tone of the original live-action film. Set on the planet Eternia, Nicholas Galitzine plays He-Man, who starts off the film as a young kid named Adam. After the evil Skeletor (Jared Leto) snatches his parents, Adam is plucked out of Eternia and returns years later from the human world to assume his true identity as He-Man and save the planet.<\/p>\n

\n\tTo match He-Man\u2019s transformation from average young man to all-powerful being \u2014 somebody that wields a sword nobody else can \u2014 Pemberton and May collaborated on the theme song \u201cElectrica,\u201d a three-minute ballad featuring a 100-piece choir, an 80-piece orchestra, rock band and plenty of synthesizers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wanted a grown man to feel like a small boy again, and I wanted a small boy to feel like a grown man,\u201d Pemberton says. \u201cI wanted something that had the weight and seriousness of a hard-rock track mixed with the color, campiness and slight cheese of a poppy Euro song. The influences around [the \u201880s] were very pop-driven. I wanted it to have that sensibility that as soon as you start the movie, it tells you you\u2019re in for something fun. That\u2019s the most important thing about this film \u2014 it\u2019s unashamedly fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Box Office: \u2018Scary Movie\u2019 Starts Strong With $24.7 Million on Friday; \u2018Masters of the Universe\u2019 Takes Second With $11.7 Million<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tDedicated fans will be familiar with the theme from the \u201cHe-Man and the Masters of the Universe\u201d animated show \u2014 and perhaps expecting, or at least hoping, to hear it. While Pemberton teases fans to listen out for it toward the end, he says incorporating Shuki Levy, Haim Saban and Lou Scheimer\u2019s original music into the theme song didn\u2019t work out: \u201cThe thing that\u2019s interesting with He-Man is, for me, the baggage is really the aesthetic. Obviously you have the theme song, which is phenomenally catchy and such an iconic part of people\u2019s childhoods, but we tried it elsewhere in the film and it was very difficult to make it work within the action beats of the movie. At its core, that theme is played for 10 seconds at the beginning of every cartoon, it doesn\u2019t sustain in the same way for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo compose the entire 140-minute film, which features 35 tracks, Pemberton leaned into making a \u201cmaximalist\u201d score, writing it with \u201cmore rock and pop sensibility. The big thing about this film is even though at its core it\u2019s kind of ridiculous, it\u2019s incredibly sincere, and so we\u2019re writing this music that\u2019s very flamboyant, theatrical, over the top and quite fun \u2026 It really means everything it says. It\u2019s not ironic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe release of \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d comes after a particularly busy season for Pemberton, having scored \u201cProject Hail Mary\u201d and \u201cThe Drama,\u201d two of the year\u2019s most acclaimed films. As a composer who has dabbled in multiple different genres of music, including composing the \u201cSpider-Verse\u201d films, Pemberton has come to notice \u2014 and intentionally move away from \u2014 the traditional way blockbusters sound.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMusic has become less and less outwardly emotional and it\u2019s hard. If you want to write incredibly emotional music and incredibly powerful music on a film, it can feel ridiculous in the modern idiom,\u201d Pemberton says. \u201cYou look at something like \u2018Star Wars,\u2019 which has phenomenal scoring, but I always wonder if that happened today, would studio execs throw it out in two seconds? Would an audience throw it out in two seconds?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPemberton isn\u2019t shy about his thoughts on what superhero and big franchise pictures get wrong: \u201cWhen you look at the Nolan \u2018Dark Knight\u2019s, they took themselves very seriously but the films were very serious, so it worked. But I think that led onto this idea that all superhero films have to be incredibly serious. At its core, most superhero films, for me, are somewhat ridiculous. And they\u2019re often scared of admitting that, whereas I think He-Man is aware. He\u2019s called He-Man, one of the characters is called Fisto and Ram Man!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUltimately, he credits Knight for giving him a \u201cvery clear vision\u201d of his \u201cMasters of the Universe\u201d film from the start: \u201cIt can\u2019t be understated how important the director is to a good score, who supports and trusts you and allows you to go crazy. Travis definitely let me go crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Office Romance\u2019 Star Betty Gilpin on Using a Prosthetic Vagina for Her Birthing Scene: \u2018I Was Pretty Freaked Out\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Pemberton and Brian May collaborated to bring the pop rock ‘Masters of the Universe’ theme song to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[1394,1395,313,1396],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artisans","tag-brian-may","tag-daniel-pemberton","tag-masters-of-the-universe","tag-queen"],"yoast_head":"\nHow \u2018Masters of the Universe\u2019 Composer Daniel Pemberton Created the \u2018Unashamedly Fun\u2019 Theme \u2014 With the Help of Brian May\u2019s Red Special Guitar - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1465\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How \u2018Masters of the Universe\u2019 Composer Daniel Pemberton Created the \u2018Unashamedly Fun\u2019 Theme \u2014 With the Help of Brian May\u2019s Red Special Guitar - 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