Breaking Bad fans have fallen over themselves today lauding the show's producers for choosing the beautiful musical send-off—"Baby Blue" by Badfinger—for the drama's final episode Sunday night. And the immortalization of the 41-year-old rock tune meant a boon to its digital sales, charting as high as No. 27 on iTunes (per blog Showbiz 411) earlier today and sitting at No. 30 on Amazon's music channel at press time.
The reaction by Breaking Bad watchers and music fans is reminiscent of when Journey saw a huge lift in sales for its "Don't Stop Believin'" song after it closed the last episode of The Sopranos in 2007.
The thinking behind "Baby Blue" by Vince Gilligan & Co. is obvious—lead character Walter White's story arc revolved around manufacturing the purest, blue-tinged crystal meth found anywhere. The opening lyric: "I guess I got what I deserved."
But the Breaking Bad-Badfinger context could be interpreted as even more darkly apropos. Each entity's storyline is pocked with tragedy.
The British rock band never realized its full potential, struggling for nearly a decade after songwriter Pete Ham hanged himself three years after "Baby Blue" hit the Billboard Top 20. Bandmate Tom Evans committed suicide, too, in 1983, effectively ending Badfinger.