Seinfeld ran on NBC from 1989 to 1998, and composer Jonathan Wolff gave it one of television's most recognisable signatures: short slap-bass interludes played between scenes instead of a traditional laugh-track bridge. Dozens of variations were recorded, each with different pops, slides and fills. Clips of the show circulated online for years, and editors began lifting these dramatic TV transition stings as shorthand for an awkward or ironic cut. The riff endures because it instantly tells viewers a scene has changed and a joke just landed.