American Horror Story: Did You Catch This Musical Link Back to Murder House?

The original AHS theme song is back! While recent seasons, like AHS: Cult and AHS: Roanoke, have featured different versions of the theme, the original theme song music is used in season eight. And the opening sequence features some of the images from both Coven and Murder House's title themes, too. The familiar images are combined with apocalypse-themed ones, like mushroom clouds and a radiation detector, in the new opening credits.

Klaatu originally recorded this song, but The Carpenters' cover is the one featured in the AHS episode. It plays during the survivors' cube dinners for their first two weeks in the fallout shelter, much to Mr. Gallant's dismay.

Outside of AHS, this could be a perfectly nice song, with its lyrics about finding light after a storm. But the show has a way of making innocent things ominous, and this song is no exception. After Stu's death, the song in the shelter is swapped to Maureen McGovern's 1973 hit "The Morning After." Mr. Gallant thinks the new song is a "message" from the cooperative, or a sign that things will change. But as Timothy notes 18 months later, there was a morning after, for everyone but Stu anyway. Each morning in the fallout shelter, though, is the same as the one before it.

What is it about vintage songs that makes them so perfect for American Horror Story? This song shows up at the end of the first episode of season eight, and it's a major clue about the Murder House influence on the new season. The song plays as the grown-up Michael Langdon, the son of Murder House ghost Tate Langdon, arrives at Outpost 3. This isn't the song's first appearance in the AHS franchise, though — it's also heard during the first and last episodes of Murder House!