The 40 Best TV Theme Songs of All Time...

[posty 2,595]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2...f-all-time.html

 

It's fashionable to lament the state of the TV theme song. Gone are the days when a show's whole premise was summed up in musical verse before every episode. Now we have Lost and it's single chord. And though I actually like Lost's simple spooky chime and have recently highlighted the 12 Best TV Theme Songs From Current Shows, there's no denying we're past the golden age of the TV show theme song. Take a look at the following list, and let me know where I'm wrong. I've included music without words, but I skipped over shows that used already popularized tunes like "The William Tell Overture" from The Lone Ranger and "Stand" from Get a Life.

 

40. The Rockford Files - Mike Post and Peter Carpeneter

You might not know the names of Post and Carpenter, but between them they composed theme music for a mind-boggling number of shows including CHiPs, Magnum P.I., The A-Team, Hunter, Hill Street Blues, The Greatest American Hero, Doogie Howser M.D., Quantum Leap and Remington Steele. If you're in your 30s, you can claim all you want that Prince provided the soundtrack to your childhood—but it was really Mike Post.

 

39. Sesame Street - Joe Raposo, Jon Stone and Bruce Hart

I'm still reeling a little from discovering just how bad this classic has been butchered in recent seasons (and I was just starting to heal from the fact that everyone can see Snuffleupagus now). But we're going back to the beginning, when the air was actually clean. Here's a 1986 version sung by Gladys Knight & The Pips:

 

38. WKRP in Cincinnati - Tom Wells and Hugh Wilson

For the most part, it's a standard late-'70s theme song, but then it closes with the magical "WKRP in Cincinnaaaaaati."

 

37. The Love Boat - Paul Williams and Charles Fox

It's a cruise ship so the theme music is supposed to sound like it's sung by a guy on the ledo deck who dreams of becoming the next Robert Goulet.

 

36. The Courtship of Eddie's Father - "Best Friend" by Harry Nilsson

The early 1970s saw a string of shows dealing with single parenthood, but only one of them had a theme song by Harry Nilsson.

 

35. The Sopranos - "Woke Up This Morning (Chosen One Mix)" by Alabama 3

Sometimes there's no need to write new theme music when you can just use a great existing piece of music that fits perfectly. For The Sopranos, that's "Woke Up This Morning," which is about an abused wife who decides to shoot her husband of 20 years.

 

34. The Dukes of Hazzard - Waylon Jennings

The Dukes of Hazzard earned its Southern cred by filming the first few episodes in Georgia and recruiting Waylon Jennings to write and sing the theme song. Someone has recreated the opening credits in Grand Theft Auto style:

 

33. What's Happening!! - Henry Mancini

Who knew that the same composer responsible for Peter Gunn also wrote the music to accompany Rerun dribbling a basketball?

 

32. The X-Files - Mark Snow

Just a touch of horror-movie tension in its theme music gave a show about the paranormal it's paranoid aura. The instrumental composition hit #1 on the singles chart in France, which—as much as I love it for a TV intro—has me scratching my head.

 

31. The Brady Bunch - Sherwood Schwarz

Schwarz created both The Brady Bunch and Gilligan's Isle and wrote the theme songs for both with the since-abandoned belief that a theme song should clearly communicate the show's premise.

 

30. The Greatest American Hero - "Believe It Or Not" by Mike Post and Stephen Geyer

There are some things in life that are impervious to cynicism. Ralph Hinkley in a superhero costume is one of them. Joey Scarbury singing "Theme from Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not)" is another one.

 

29. Welcome Back Kotter - John Sebastian

Nearly a decade after the break-up of Lovin' Spoonful and the mostly unsuccessful solo career that followed, Sebastian found himself with a #1 hit when he wrote "Welcome Back" for TV. Apropos for a show that starred the king of all comebacks John Travolta.

 

28. The A-Team - Mike Post

Another Mike Post composition, this theme song gets added bonus for the number of explosions it includes.

 

27. Barney Miller - Jack Elliott

An example of a show who's theme music might have actually had a more lasting impact than the show itself. Those bass lines are right up there with...

 

26. Night Court - Jack Elliott

I didn't know this before now, but of course the same composer responsible for Barney Miller's bass lines also wrote Night Court. Kudos to 30 Rock for reviving the show's memory recently, even if it undid years of burying the anxiety caused by NC's unresolved ending—and even though they didn't bring back Richard Moll (Bull).

 

25. Laverne & Shirley - "Making Our Dreams Come True" by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox

The show was a spin-off of Happy Days, and the theme was composed by the same team of Gimbel and Fox. For the record, it's "Schlemiel ("a habitual bungler"), schlemazel ("an extremely unlucky or inept person"), Hasenfeffer ("rabbit stew") Incorporated," and that's one-hit wonder Cyndi Grecco singing.

 

24. Rawhide - Ned Washington and Dimitri

Few shows have ever been introduced with shouts of "Hya!" But the Western that gave the world Clint Eastwood also gave us one of the best scene's in The Blues Brothers.

 

23. Bonanza - Jay Livingston and Ray Evans

But as good as Rawhide was, it comes in second in the Western category to Bonanza. It's a quick and simple ditty, kind of like that other Livingston/Evans masterpiece...

 

22. Mr. Ed - Jay Livingston and Ray Evans

The first verse simply rhymes "horse" and "of course" four times. But the second verse throws in such curveballs as "source," "endorse," and... uh... back to "horse" and "course." But for a TV show, there's nothing wrong with simple.

 

21. Hill Street Blues - Mike Post

What'd I tell ya about Mike Post?

 

20. The Simpsons - Danny Elfman

"The Simpsons Theme" was composed by Danny Elfman in 1989, and was our #2 current theme song.

 

19. Malcolm in the Middle - "Boss of Me" by They Might Be Giants

The Johns (Flannsburgh and Linnell) have also written solid theme songs for The Daily Show, The Oblongs, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Higgly Town Heroes. But "Boss of Me" was their broadcast highlight, earning the prolific duo their only Grammy win in 2002.

 

18. Square Pegs - The Waitresses

As good as the theme song is, and despite the fact that Devo actually guest-starred, my favorite musical moment on Square Pegs was when Johnny "Slash" Ulasewicz deadpanned his new song—"I'm tired. I'm really tired. I'm so tired. I'm totally tired. Totally." I have no idea why I still remember that scene, but I do.

 

17. The Muppet Show - Jim Henson and Sam Pottle

I've been going back and watching early episodes of The Muppet Show with my kids, and it's really the intro that made a puppet show feel like it was ready for prime time. Lord knows it wasn't early guest stars like Juliet Prowse and Connie Stevens. Every week as a kid, I couldn't wait to see what would happen to Gonzo when, like Charlie Brown trying to kick a field goal, he tried to blow that last trumpet note.

 

16. The Beverly Hillbillies - "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" by Paul Henning

That's Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs on guitar and banjo. The first time through Jerry Scoggins sings the premise, and then Scruggs goes nuts on banjo.

 

15. The Addams Family - Vic Mizzy

Kudos to Mizzy, who also wrote the theme to Green Acres, for forcing rhymes like "they're altogether ooky" and "they really are a scree-um." How did this show get canceled after only three years?

 

14. Star Trek:The Next Generation - Alexander Courage and Jerry Goldsmith

Combining pieces from Courage's original Star Trek theme music with Goldsmith's compositions from the first film, the intro to ST:TNG was, like most every other aspect, an improvement upon the original. (Let the flaming begin!)

 

13. Doctor Who - Ron Grainer

Our top pick for current theme song, Ron Grainer's pioneering electronic composition was originally brought to life by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop back in 1963. It's been tweaked for the modern era, but it's a timeless tune for the time-traveling doc.

 

12. Mission:Impossible - Lalo Schifrin

Flute has never sounded as bad-ass as with the answer to the show's repeating eight-note riff.

 

11. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - Will Smith and Quincy Jones III

The hip-hop version of The Beverly Hillbillies, Will Smith's rap caught you up to speed the first time you saw the show: "I got in one little fight, and my mom got scared and said you're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-Air." Swimming pools, movie stars indeed.

 

10. The Olympic Games on NBC - "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" by John Williams

Better than Charles Fox' Monday Night Football theme music. Better than the intro to Wide World of Sports. This piece originally composed by Williams for the 1984 Games in Los Angeles has been the heart of NBC's Olympic coverage ever since. His NBC Nightly News score is pretty great, too.

 

9. Gilligan's Isle - "The Ballad of Gilligan's Isle" by Sherwood Schwartz and George Wyle

It's a sea shanty with foreshadowing ("A three-hour tour"), suspense ("The Minnow would be lost"), a key change when they make it through the storm and a convenient way to introduce the characters—though the original reduced The Professor and Mary Ann to "the rest."

 

8. Hawaii Five-o - Morton Stevens

Of all the songs on this list, this is the one that you'll have stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Unless of course you can whistle...

 

7. The Andy Griffith Show - Earle Hagen, Herbert Spencer and Everett Sloane

That's Hagen you hear whistling the intro, but I was more impressed with this version by some guy's parrot:

 

6. The Jeffersons - "Movin' On Up" by Ja'net Du Boise

How's this for the inter-connectedness of Hollywood? Du Boise played Willona Woods on Good Times. Janet Jackson was also on Good Times. Justin Timberlake caused a little wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson during Super Bowl XXXVIII. Fellow Mousketeer alum Keri Russell starred in Mission:Impossible III. The original Mission:Impossible TV show aired on CBS alongside All in the Family. The Jeffersons was an All in the Family spin-off. OK, so that was pretty random, but you can't argue against the greatness of "Movin' On Up."

 

5. All in the Family - "Those Were the Days" by Lee Adams and Charles Strouse

Few intros are as simple or as memorable as Carroll O'Connor and Jean Stapleton at the spinnet piano live in front of a studio audience every week. This was the first song I (and many others) learned on the piano, as it used only the black keys. But only now have I learned that the closing lyrics are "Gee, our old LaSalle ran great." Or that a LaSalle was a GM automobile that went out of production in 1940.

 

4. Peter Gunn - Henry Mancini

The P.I. wouldn't have been nearly as hip if his every move wasn't accompanied by music from Mancini. The theme music has been covered by everyone from Duane Eddy and Jimi Hendrix to Aerosmith, Pulp and The Cramps. Even Quincy Jones has recorded a version of it—and when Jones covers a song, you know it's cool.

 

3. Sanford & Son - Quincy Jones

Forget Thriller, "We are the World" or his work with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Sammie Davis Jr. If all Mr. Jones had given us was the funky intro to one of the best sitcoms of the 1970s, it would have been enough.

 

2. M*A*S*H - "Suicide Is Painless" by Johnny Mandel

M*A*S*H was unique in that it was a tragedy with a laugh track. Unlike its war-sitcom predecessor Hogan's Heroes, M*A*S*H was a black comedy pointing to the absurdity and horror of war. The humor was often of the gallows variety, and the theme song signaled bravery in the face of sadness. The devastating words were written by Robert Altman's 14-year-old son Mike but wisely left out of the TV version. It didn't need anything more than a haunting melody.

 

1. Cheers - "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" by Gary Portnoy

Portnoy's prior claim to fame was penning the theme song for Punky Brewster, "Every Time You Turn Around" (oh c'mon, you remember it). My favorite theme song of all time is sappy as hell, but sometimes we do want to go where everybody knows our name. It does what a great theme song should do—set the tone. Despite the cutting and sarcastic quips flying around the bar, Cheers was at its core as sweet as Portnoy's introduction.

[kutulu 1,656]

Tonight what heights we’ll hit on with the show this is it.

[wiffleball 4,788]

Oh man, this list is HUGE FLAIL.

 

 

Any list that doesn't have SWAT in the top ten is fail.

 

No way X-files. That doesn't even count. SWAT is much better than A-Team. It's a GD classic. Sopranos doesn't count either. Good song. Not a theme song. Magnum P.I. is better than A-team.

 

 

I am very angry right now. Hill Street Blues between the simpsons and the theme from Mr. Ed? Fock you. My day is rooned. Someone WILL get punched today because of this ######. Fock him.

[kutulu 1,656]

Flintstones, Meet the Flintstones

They're a modern stone age family

From the, town of Bedrock

They're a page right out of history

Let's ride, with the family down the street

Through the, courtesy of Fred's two feet

When you're, with the Flintstones

Have a yabba, dabba, doo time

A dabba doo time

We'll have a gay , old time!

[He Like Me 0]

Rockford Files at 40 is a joke, definite top 5 and Dallas not in the top 40 at all??

[kutulu 1,656]

Just two good old boys,

Never meaning no harm.

Beats all you ever you saw,

Been in trouble with the law

Since the day they were born.

 

[wiffleball 4,788]

Just two good old boys,

Never meaning no harm.

Beats all you ever you saw,

Been in trouble with the law

Since the day they were born.

 

 

#34

[wiffleball 4,788]

There's at least half a dozen on that list that aren't anywhere NEAR as good as Hogan's Heroes either.

[kutulu 1,656]

#34

 

Come and knock on our door

[kutulu 1,656]

You take the good, You take the bad, You take them both and there you have the facts of life.

The facts of life.

 

[pimptastic69 0]

MacGyver

The Fall Guy

St. Elsewhere

Magnum PI

 

[TD Ryan2 316]

what, no Banana Splits?

La, La, La

La, La, La, La

La, La, La

La, La, La, Laaaaaaaaaaa

 

the Banana Splits were the theme song to every day home sick from school.

[kutulu 1,656]

Hey, hey, hey! It's Fat Albert

And I'm gonna sing a song for you

And this is gonna show you A thing or two

You'll have some fun now With me and the gang

Learning from each other

While we do our thang na, na, na

Gonna have a good time na, na, na

Gonna have a good time hey, hey, hey!

 

This is Bill Cosby coming out with music and fun

If you're not careful, you may learn something before it's done!

Hey, hey, hey!

 

Na, na, na

Gonna have a good time

Hey, hey, hey!

Na, na, na

Gonna have a good time

Hey, hey, hey!

[Snuff 10]

At least they got #1 correct.

[nzoner 937]

wtf,the Olympics and no Monday Night Football

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I gotta vote for the "Weeds" theme song.

 

Little boxes, on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes, on the hillside,

And they all look just the same..

 

There's a pink one, and a green one,

and a blue one, and a yellow one,

And their all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same

 

And the people, in the houses,

They all went to the university

where they were all put in boxes

and they came out all the same

[Vikings4ever 538]

Lost

 

Simply because it takes like 10 seconds.

[frank 2,275]

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS

[Foghorn Leghorn 0]

No Magnum P.I. and no Simon & Simon?!?

 

This list = FAYELLE

[Reality 3,084]

Yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah

Yeah

 

My mind had been enabled

In a memory you overflowed

Want to be your superhero

Even if I tumble fall

 

I’m ok

You know I need you desperately

 

I want to be your superhero

 

Yeah

Oh, yeah

Oh, yeah

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

You woke up this morning

 

Got yourself a gun,

 

Mama always said you'd be

 

The Chosen One.

 

She said: You're one in a million

 

You've got to burn to shine,

 

But you were born under a bad sign,

 

With a blue moon in your eyes.

 

You woke up this morning

 

All the love has gone,

 

Your Papa never told you

 

About right and wrong.

 

But you're looking good, baby,

 

I believe you're feeling fine, (shame about it),

 

Born under a bad sign

 

With a blue moon in your eyes.

 

You woke up this morning

 

The world turned upside down,

 

Thing's ain't been the same

 

Since the Blues walked into town.

 

But you're one in a million

 

You've got that shotgun shine.

 

Born under a bad sign,

 

With a blue moon in your eyes.

[supermike80 1,791]

I gotta vote for the "Weeds" theme song.

 

Little boxes, on the hillside,

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes, on the hillside,

And they all look just the same..

 

There's a pink one, and a green one,

and a blue one, and a yellow one,

And their all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same

 

And the people, in the houses,

They all went to the university

where they were all put in boxes

and they came out all the same

 

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[washers 0]

The A-team not in single digits :shocked:

 

FAYL

[kutulu 1,656]

14. Star Trek:The Next Generation - Alexander Courage and Jerry Goldsmith

Combining pieces from Courage's original Star Trek theme music with Goldsmith's compositions from the first film, the intro to ST:TNG was, like most every other aspect, an improvement upon the original. (Let the flaming begin!)

 

"Theme from Star Trek" (originally scored under the title "Where No Man Has Gone Before") Without Courage's knowledge, Roddenberry wrote lyrics to the theme—not in the expectation that they would ever be sung, but in order to claim a 50% share of the music's performance royalties. Although there was never any litigation, Courage later commented that he believed Roddenberry's conduct was unethical. Roddenberry was quoted as responding, "Hey, I have to get some money somewhere. I'm sure not going to get it out of the profits of Star Trek".

[Sho Nuff 720]

How in the hell is the Fresh Prince and Mr. Ed higher than freakin Rawhide?