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CBS drama heaps on the nostalgia using pop music from the likes of Dylan, Springsteen and Elton John as a narrative engine ...

As a group of '60s radicals debate the sins of their youth during a reunion weekend, classic songs by Bob Dylan punctuate the drama. Such flashback scenes take up almost half of each episode of "Cold Case," the CBS series that solves old crimes to period music.

Movies and television have used pop tunes as a narrative engine since at least the 1980s of John Hughes, Molly Ringwald and "Pretty in Pink." The WB network practically turned it into a formula in the '90s, helping sell records by up-and-coming performers featured on "Dawson's Creek" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

With "Cold Case," the effect is pure nostalgia.

"Nothing brings you back to the prom or the first time you made out in the back seat of a car like music," says executive producer Veena Sud. "It's a very visceral connection to your past."

Diggin' Dylan 

Lately that evocation of the past sometimes revolves around the work of a single artist.

In the February episode titled "Blood on the Tracks," scriptwriter Gavin Harris built his murder story around eight Dylan numbers, even naming one of the main players Johanna after a recurring Dylan character.

"I'm a huge Dylan fan, and it did get very specific with me," says Harris, who approached the icon's manager and got a good reception. "Today as fragmented as the music world is, it's a great chance to get his music exposed to a broad audience."

The Boss Breaks Ground

"Cold Case" launched the one-artist idea in January 2006 with "8 Years," which featured nine Bruce Springsteen songs. Until then, the music was usually chosen after the script was written. This time, series creator Meredith Stiehm designed the story around the songs.

"Springsteen broke ground," says Sud, who later wrote an episode with a U2 soundtrack. "The hope was to do something different, to let the poetry drive the scenes. Meredith knew his work and had favorites, and his songs are mini-stories anyway."

Pop stars then started approaching them, including U2. "Beautiful Day" opens "8:03AM" ironically as two troubled teens are shot dead. And "Blood on the Tracks" begins with "The Times They Are A-Changin'" as the college friends watch a slideshow of photos from the old days.

In the past year, "Cold Case" also has aired shows built around the songs of Tim McGraw and the stage musical, "Cabaret," and plans are in the works for an Elton John episode next season.

"It's a great way for them to reach people with their music," Sud says. "And the show would be very different if we didn't have the well-known hits."

Manuel Mendoza is freelance writer and producer of the upcoming documentary, "Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril."

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