'Game of Thrones': Cast the musicians!

I don’t want to bring it up. I really don’t, but I’ll get it out of the way very quickly, as if I’m ripping off a band-aid, getting my eyebrows waxed, or having my heart ripped out in one swift motion: The Red Wedding. There, I said it! Don’t worry, I’m not going to spill anything of major importance here. But can we at least talk about “The Rains of Castamere”? Man, is that a song. I’m talking an eerily foreboding, spine-tingling, tear- and fear-inducing piece of music.

Game of Thrones composer Ramin Djawadi (try to argue with me that the GoT theme song is not as iconic as Harry Potter‘s) came up with the melody for “Rains of Castamere.” Hit indie band The National, however, was asked to utilize said melody and create the actual song that we mostly hear now (besides when characters are simply whistling it): “It was us saying internally, ‘Hey, it would be cool if we took this theme and had a band do it.’ We asked them, ‘This is what we’re thinking — would you guys be into it?'” Djawadi told New York magazine.

They obviously agreed and everyone is pretty much fond of the result. Need a refresher? Take a listen:

No complaints here. But then I heard that Thrones show creators David Benioff and Dan Weiss first wanted Florence + the Machine to create the song. Unfortunately, Florence Welch and her crew couldn’t due to another commitment.

Now, I love many things in this world, but I especially love Florence + the Machine and GoT, so those two combined would make me wanna… make me wanna…

So that got me thinking: What would be some other ear-catching combinations? The Hold Steady did an equally excellent version of “The Bear and the Maiden Fair,” so the creators certainly have good taste. Here are some of my ideas:

Lorde: The 16(!)-year-old songstress has such an eerily powerful voice that would surely bring just the right amount of darkness to Westeros. Check out her song “Bravado” below (and definitely check out “Royals” here):

Haim: The sister trio can create some killer melodies, as well as harmonize the crap out of a song, the perfect folk-feel for the show. Don’t believe me? “Better Off” will surely change your mind:

Of Monsters and Men: “Little Talks” got all the buzz from their album My Head Is an Animal, but “Dirty Paws” is an example of how a song about seemingly nothing can actually be a whole lot of creepy something:

Band of Horses: They could really just use an acoustic version of “The Funeral.” Pretty sure it’d fit in any episode:

Coldplay: For some reason, it’ll never be as famous as “Viva la Vida” or “Clocks,” which is probably why I like “Violet Hill” so much. I’ve never been 100 percent on the Coldplay train but I must say that “Violet Hill” can still give me goosebumps.

Speaking of Coldplay, drummer Will Champion had a cameo as a drummer on GoT. This makes me even more upset about the whole Florence thing, as seeing her in the world of Westeros would have made my heart sing.

But what do YOU think, PopWatchers? Are there any bands you hope will come up with some songs for the show? (Apparently Soundgarden, Garbage, the Shins, Band of Horses (yay!), Sun Kil Moon, and Portugal. The Man are all interested.) And are there any musicians you hope to actually see on the screen? Hopefully it ends up better then this fiasco.