
"And your second wish?"
"I have just the thing! I wish I had my own theme music!"
"I have just the thing! I wish I had my own theme music!"
— Peter Griffin of Family Guy, being very, very meta; "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1
Animated TV series and short films are notorious for having catchy theme songs, but some take it a step further.
Works with their own pages:
- Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
- Adventure Time
- The Amazing World of Gumball
- Animaniacs
- Arcane
- Arlo the Alligator Boy
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- The Backyardigans
- Barbie
- Batman
- Big Mouth
- Bluey
- Bob's Burgers
- Bojack Horseman
- The Boondocks
- Care Bears
- Centaurworld
- Central Park
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
- Clarence
- Courage the Cowardly Dog
- Disney
- Family Guy
- Farzar
- Filly Funtasia
- Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
- Franklin
- Garfield and Friends
- Golden Films
- Grojband
- Hilda
- The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
- Jelly Jamm
- Jem
- Jungledyret Hugo
- Justice League
- KikoRiki
- Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts
- The Land Before Time
- The LEGO Movie
- LoliRock
- Looney Tunes
- The Loud House
- Mighty Magiswords
- My Gym Partner's a Monkey
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Ninjago
- Ōban Star-Racers
- Over the Garden Wall
- Paradise PD
- Peanuts
- Peg + Cat
- The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists
- The Powerpuff Girls
- Primal (2019)
- The Raccoons
- Ready Jet Go!
- Regular Show
- Roary the Racing Car
- Rick and Morty
- Samurai Jack
- Schoolhouse Rock!
- The Simpsons
- Sintel
- South Park
- SpongeBob SquarePants
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Steven Universe
- Superman: The Animated Series
- Spider-Man
- Teen Titans Go!
- Thomas & Friends
- Thundercats 1985
- Thundercats 2011
- Tom and Jerry
- Transformers
- Trollhunters
- Trolls
- Trollz
- Turning Red
- VeggieTales
- Wakfu
- Wallykazam
- We Bare Bears
- The Wind in the Willows (1983)
- Winx Club
- X-Men: Evolution
Individual examples:
open/close all folders
DreamWorks Animation
- Kung Fu Panda:
- Oogway Ascends
.
- Tai Lung's Theme, which appears at various points throughout "Tai Lung Escapes", "The Bridge", and "Shifu vs. Tai Lung." (And all the cool kung fu fighting music!)
- Oogway Ascends
- Chicken Run has a wonderful soundtrack. Particularly the Main Titles, Flip Flop and Fly, and every piece of music in the movie after and including Rocky, A Fake All Along. One would be surprised how awesome
the soundtrack
to a film about chickens can get.
- Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is almost a soundtrack of awesome.
- "You Can't Take Me
" and the instrumental "Run Free".
- The opening track, "Homeland", and its reprise, which becomes the ending song "I Will Always Return". Crosses Awesome Music with both Heartwarming and Tear Jerker.
- Bryan Adams' Rhyming with Itself problems aside, "Get Off My Back
" is badass.
- The way "Sound the Bugle Now
" segways from Tear Jerker to Heartwarming Awesomeness is beautiful.
- "You Can't Take Me
- Megamind Even when looking at the choice of regular music (all the way from AC/DC to Guns 'n' Roses) you can see they knew what they were doing. But the soundtrack itself is also made of awesomeness.
- Ollo
'Evil Lair' and 'Black Mamba.' And if Rejection In the Rain
doesn't at least make you sad... Well, it's a good soundtrack. It was made by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe, for god's sake!
- One word: "PRESENTATION!"
- Ollo
- Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie has the Captain Underpants Theme
, by none other than "Weird Al" Yankovic!
Don Bluth
- The Pebble and the Penguin - the lyrics to the songs may be insipid, but the tunes themselves are cool. In fact, the Villain Love Song, "Don't Make Me Laugh", is often considered the best part of the movie.
- An American Tail has several, though the best come from that or Fievel Goes West.
- "Somewhere Out There"
; it doesn't matter which version
.
- "Dreams to Dream"
. There is an "official" version, but the movie one hits much harder.
- The Girl You Left Behind
or A Duo
for much awesomeness.
- "Somewhere Out There"
- Most if not all of the music from Titan A.E.. Not just the songs in the movie ("Over My Head", "Cosmic Castaway", "It's My Turn to Fly", all awesome); the score of the movie, composed by Graeme Revell. In particular, the music playing during the scenes near the death of Earth and the birth of Planet Bob, which underscore the scenes perfectly.
- And for those who want to hear the most awesome music ever, here
(but beware the spoilers that piece of music will bring).
- And for those who want to hear the most awesome music ever, here
- "Yer Beautiful, Baby"
from Don Bluth's Thumbelina. Yeah, yeah, the movie's a shallow Disney rip-off and it reeks of sweetness, but godammit if that opening bass line isn't awesome. Then the vocals kick in...
- It may be a blatant rip-off of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, but "Let Me Be Your Wings."
- It may be a blatant rip-off of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, but "Let Me Be Your Wings."
- Jerry Goldsmith's brilliant score to The Secret of NIMH, especially the cue that plays during the film's climax.
- Bartok the Magnificent had loads of upbeat, fun music. Highlights include the title song
, A Possible Hero
, and Someone's in My House
.
- Rock-A-Doodle's songs may be dorky, but Norway's Woolseyism makes the songs really worth watching the film for.
Hanna-Barbera
- The Jetsons:
- The series' theme song, which comes with two variants: the original version for the 60s run, and the 80s version (with more synthesizers/sound effects from the series). It gets stuck in your head and never leaves. It's one of the most well known theme songs of all time.
- "Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah" from the original series' Jet Screamer episode has brilliant electric guitar usage. It was so good that it got an equally epic cover by Violent Femmes
.
- Magilla Gorilla:
- The show's theme song is a classic. Even The Simpsons and Animaniacs have referenced it!
- "Making with the Magilla" is one of the most remembered episodes thanks to its funky song also "Making with the Magilla"
, courtesy of Little Eva.
- The Atom Ant Show: The show's theme song is narrated by Ted Cassidy (Lurch from "The Addams Family"). ("Up and at 'em, it's Atom Ant!") It also has an addictive jazz score to back it up and get you excited for Atom Ant's asskicking adventures.
- The kickass opening theme
to Jonny Quest. Whatever your feelings about Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures, you gotta admit that this
is an awesome remake of the classic theme.
Warner Bros. Animation
- Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire:
- "Getaway Yeah"
, a killer rock song that perfectly complements the chase scene.
- All of the Hex Girls songs are pretty good, easy to see why they're so popular both in-universe and with fans of the franchise.
- "Getaway Yeah"
- The second and third intros for Static Shock use very catchy hip hop beats and lyrics.
- Teen Titans (2003):
- When there's trouble, you know who to call...
- When the Titans make a comeback during the Big Badass Battle Sequence in the penultimate season 5 episode "Titans Together", a badass orchestral remix of the main theme song plays, slower-paced and instrumental-only.
- Everything from "Aftershock Part 2". Seriously. Just... just listen to it. There's a lot of religious imagery in this episode, and the music at several points makes use of pipe organs and even Gregorian chanting at one point (fitting, given that the episode is the end of an adaptation to a story called "The Judas Contract"). It's quite a departure from the usual musical cues even for finale battles.
- There's a gorgeous bit of piano music during the scene in "How Long Is Forever?" where Nightwing calls the Titans on their communicators, and it seems like all three of them are unable to come to his aid. It's just heartbreaking.
- Terra's theme (especially the rendition that plays during her run through the obstacle course) is pretty darn awesome.
- When there's trouble, you know who to call...
- The main title
from Superman: Doomsday.
- Tiny Toon Adventures:
- This was the first cartoon in ages to use a fully orchestrated score for every episode, just like in the good ol' days.
- The theme song, sung in full voice by the entire cast and orchestrated with an infuriatingly catchy melody, is one for the ages.
- The Around The World version
of the Tiny Toons theme takes the greatness of the original and makes it multilingual.
- Loonatics Unleashed's first season intro
was epic.
- The Looney Tunes Show has given us "Parade Float"
, a rock song about Daffy's parade float. And as an added bonus, it's performed by Jess Harnell!
- This list isn't complete without "Powerhouse
", the "assembly line" music from the classic Looney Tunes shorts. Bonus points for Rush doing their own rendition of it as part of their 1978 instrumental "La Villa Strangiato". Awesome on top of awesome, especially when heard live.
- The intro theme
for Tom and Jerry Tales is pretty darn catchy. It's fun and frentic - the way the cat and mouse duo should be.
- The Iron Giant has a great soundtrack.
- One of the best songs is The Last Giant Piece
. It accompanies a Tear Jerker of the joyful kind, and it is awesome!
- The "Fix It" song plays whenever he uses his homing device to put himself back together. It's very cute and memorable, and gets a Triumphant Reprise at the end of the movie that never fails to make you smile.
- One of the best songs is The Last Giant Piece
- ¡Mucha Lucha! has its theme song, "Mucha Lucha! Mucha Lucha!"
Nickelodeon
- Invader Zim:
- The background music for Zim and Dib's titanic, solar system-spanning conflict in "Battle of the Planets".
- "Ultra Peepi" theme from Hamstergeddon is an Awesome techno track. Pity it only lasted about 40 seconds.
- The all kinds of awesome theme song.
- The "Music" of Funny that is the Doom Song
.
- Danny Phantom:
- One particular score during "Fanning the Flames". When Danny is flying Sam towards the Monster of the Week, the series plays a relaxing rendition of the theme's song. It makes the scene all the more poignant and remains one of the most convincing moments of the Danny/Sam pairing.
- The scene in" My Brother's Keeper". After so much doubt and misery, Danny is shown flying happily as that particular rendition plays as Jazz comes to terms with knowing her brother is a hero.
- The various heroic (and villainous) renditions of the main theme are all amazing! Just watch any scene with Vlad being especially villainous.
- "RemEmber." The full version in particular, which we never actually hear in the show; it's a dark song that seems to be about how Ember died, which was apparently due to killing herself after discovering her boyfriend was only using her for sex. Because this is a kids' show.
- Ren & Stimpy:
- "Happy Happy Joy Joy" is a note perfect parody of banal, repetitive children's songs, sung in a spot on imitation of Burl Ives' voice, complete with quotes from The Big Country.note
- The geniunely stirring anthem of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen. In German it's even better. God, that harmony!
- KaBlam! has many.
- The awesome ska opening.
- And the first ending theme. Listen to the full version (on Retrojunk).
- That doesn't mean the second end title was bad. It was awesome!
- In fact, all of Henry and June's background music was amazing.
- June's song in "Won't Stick To Most Dental Work". That little girl (referring to June, her VA was actually 15 at the time, and still has a great voice) had a great voice. To bad there was never a musical episode with June being the lead.
- All the music in The Off-Beats had a jazzy, Peanuts flavor to it.
- Hey Arnold!'s Jim Lang gave us quite a few.
- "Thinkin' It Over
" plays while Stinky contemplates his role as a Butt-Monkey spokesperson for Yahoo soda.
- "Eugene Paints It Black
," which, yes, is about Eugene.
- "What's Opera, Arnold?" Inspired by the infamous Looney Tunes cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?", this episode paid Homage to Carmen, "Ride of the Valkyries", and Pagliacci (Harold's
Superfluous Solo) by having the kids act out the major roles of Carmen: Arnold as Don Jose, Ruth as Carmen, then Helga as Carmen, and Curly as Escamillo.
- I saw, I saw... your face... AND WOW!!!
- "Thinkin' It Over
- The Rocket Power theme
is the perfect song to pump you up for the show to come.
- ChalkZone, definitely, for its theme music, occasional songs within episodes ("Hula-Baloo", "Fire Plug Ballet", etc.) and especially the music videos that ended most every episode!
- Doug:
- Bangin' On A Trash Can
. Just listen to that awesome banjo riff.
- The music of The Beets, a (fictional) rock band featured in the show. Just listen to the pure awesome that are Shout Your Lungs Out
, I Need Mo' Allowance
, and Killer Tofu
.
- Most of the incidental music in the series is spun off from characters' Leitmotifs, but "Doug's Lucky Hat" has a particularly atmospheric
pipe and guitar-based theme that is a perfect fit for the central plot idea of the Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane hat that lands at Doug's feet, just as the hat is a perfect fit for Doug's head.
- The theme song to Doug's Tuxedo and Martini alter-ego Smash Adams
, obviously styled after the James Bond theme song and with vocals by Fred Newman.
- Bangin' On A Trash Can
- All of the music in The Penguins of Madagascar.
- The incidentals and montages. "The Greatest Danger is Love" and "Graveyeard 8".
Jeff Bennett, John DiMaggio, and Fred Stoller pulled off an amazing banjo folk song that was completely unexpected and awesome.
- Dr. Blowhole's Villain Song, "Brand New Plan"
, and Villain Love Song, "I Wanna Control You"
, from The Return of the Revenge Of Dr.Blowhole.
- The incidentals and montages. "The Greatest Danger is Love" and "Graveyeard 8".
- My Life as a Teenage Robot:
- The theme tune
, especially the instrumental version
. The Christmas special also had its own unique opening and ending version, complete with all the extra bells and whistles.
- The ominous Cluster war march Leitmotif.
- The very trippy Mozart-meets-Vangelis music playing over Jenny's very first dream in "Daydream Believer", and likewise the romance theme over Sheldon's Imagine Spot when he meets QT-2.
- The bubblegum pop-ish "They Need Me" as well as the Dark Reprise of the show's theme song from "Escape From Cluster Prime".
- The theme tune
- The Rocko's Modern Life Musical Episode "Zanzibar!". Never has a Green Aesop been so entertaining and catchy.
- The CatDog theme song. All together now: "One fine day with a woof and a purr..."
- The Rocket Monkeys theme song, which many say is the best part of the show. "They're Rocket Monkeys! Monkeys in Space! They try to be heroes, but they're easy to replace! They're not the brightest. They're not the best. They're not the coolest. They also have bad breath!"
- The theme song to All Grown Up!. Even if you do hate the show, you do have to admit that the theme is fucking awesome.
- From Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, "Go Jimmy Jimmy
" and this specific version
of "Kids in America". A cover of an '80s song has never sounded as epic than this one.
- The Thematic Theme Tune of Face's Music Party is a very upbeat, groovy tune. The lyrics all tie back into the theme, which is a dance party with a wide genre of music to choose from.
Cartoon Network Original
- While Thundercats 2011 only has about ten seconds to cram in the original series' awesome theme, it does so very, very well. Case in point.
- Then there's also the closing credits music.
- Then there's also the closing credits music.
- Courage the Cowardly Dog, the music from the Dr. Gerbil's World ep, when the river chase is going on.
- The soundtrack to the episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost" was also excellent
.
- The organ and choir theme that plays in the episodes "The House of Discontent", "Courage in the Big Stinkin' City", and "The Quilt Club" was good. Creepy and haunting yes, but good. For Doom the Bell Tolls adds even more epicness!
- The soundtrack to the episode "The Tower of Dr. Zalost" was also excellent
- As Megas XLR says : YOU! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! I! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! WE! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS! CHICKS! DIG! GIANT ROBOTS!... Nice!
- The whole soundtrack. Hear for yourself
.
- The whole soundtrack. Hear for yourself
- Code Lyoko has some pretty awesome music. The opening theme is insanely catchy.
- And it's also available in orchestral form!
- The tune played whenever monsters show up and attack stands out as well. It's pretty cool.
- The Virtualization theme
is widely agreed to be an awesome techno masterpiece to get you pumped to virtual and save the world.
- And it's also available in orchestral form!
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack's opening theme
is pretty darn catchy, despite the fact that it doesn't look like much effort was put into it.
- Dexter's Laboratory: "Enter at your peril, past the vaulted door; impossible things will happen that the world's never seen before..."
- "In Dexter's laboratory lives the smartest boy you've ever seen. But Dee Dee blows his experiments to smithereens! There is gloom and doom while things go boom...IN DEXTER'S LAB!"
- The fully opera episode, "LABretto". Dexter's anguished song at the end in particular stands out.
- Secret Formula
and Back to the Lab
from The Hip Hop Experiment album.
- The Ben 10: Alien Force intro uses the main theme from the original Ben 10, but adds a more mature, Orchestra (and Horn) touch to it. -He's Ben 10!
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated:
- The theme song
and the credits song
.
- For two songs that were already pretty heavy, the show manages to make "I'm a Hex Girl" and "Earth, Wind, Fire, and Air"
into even heavier, The Sisters of Mercy-style bone-crunching goth rock. The synthesized choir in the latter is especially fantastic. Pity there's only about thirty seconds of it. There's also a gothy power ballad original to the show called Trap of Love
, sung by Daphne of all people.
- The brilliantly weird Velvet Underground-meets-Inception track "The Hunters"
from "Art of Darkness". It turns out to be a very, very slowed down polka song.
- The theme song
- The opening and ending themes
from Codename: Kids Next Door.
- Themes hell. GWAR as killer cafeteria food!
- Themes hell. GWAR as killer cafeteria food!
- Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS! Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS! Cartoon Cartoon FRIDAYS!
note
- If you like that, then check this out!
- The third and final Cartoon Network Fridays theme
is energetic, fast-paced, and nostalgic.
- If you like that, then check this out!
- Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island has this brilliant little piece of chase music.
- The Duck Dodgers theme
(full version
), with the Flaming Lips and Tom Jones doing vocals! These guys really put their all into it!
- Cartoon Network's 20th Anniversary medley
features an orchestra covering the themes from some of the network's finest shows. From The Flintstones and Space Ghost(!) to The Powerpuff Girls and Adventure Time, this musical montage commemorates CN's 20th anniversary fantastically.
- The jazz scores throughout the entire Ed, Edd n Eddy soundtrack manage to both perfectly set the scene and be so goddamn cool.
- Class of 3000 has tons of great music courtesy of Andre 3000, who worked and voiced on the show. Some examples include Oh Peanut
, Kim and Kam Jam
, and the theme itself
. One of the best is Throwdown
, which was featured on a Cartoon Network City bumper and sets the tone for the entire rest of the series.
Fox Cartoon
- American Dad!: The intro "Oh boy, it's swell to sayyy..."...GOOD MORNING, U.S.AAAA!"
- Eight words: Krispy Kreme McDonald's Jam-Tasic Roller Boogie Prawn Experience. Every song they play is a public domain song made awesome.
- Most of the occasional musical numbers on Futurama are completely awesome. Especially the 'Robot Hell'
song and 'This Trinity's Going to War'
from The Movie.
- Ladies and gentlemen, we present you - the extended theme song!
- The music playing when Fry saves the day at the end of "Three Hundred Big Boys" is pretty friggin' awesome.
- So is "That Was Then (And This is Too)"
, the theme to "Into the Wild Green Yonder", sung by none other than Seth MacFarlane in the swingin' style of Frank Sinatra. For all of the guy's faults, he sure can sing.
- The space battle music from "Bender's Big Score"
is awesome.
- Their excellent use of non-originals. Bender whistling "Sweet Georgia Brown" at the end of "Time Keeps on Slippin'" is amazing. Even better is the sort-of "evil alien" version of "Sweet Georgia Brown" that plays when the Globetrotters first arrive on Earth. Easy to miss, but awesome nevertheless.
- Some more awesome songs include this one
from "A Tale of Two Santas" and this one
from the end of "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back", both of which are aided by the cast's generally good singing voices.
- "Bendin' in the Wind" gives us Bender's unbelievably catchy song "My Broken Friend"
, about how broken-down robots aren't worthless. Even Beck's constant Aside Comments can't ruin it.
- "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" gives us Fry's opera, "Leela: Orphan of the Stars"
. It was already good, but then the Robot Devil appears on the scene and it is absolutely epic. Even after Fry gets his old hands back and his holophonor playing becomes bad again, the moment is still heartwarming enough to achieve Narm Charm.
- Ladies and gentlemen, we present you - the extended theme song!
Movies
- "The Machines
" from 9 is short, yet epic.
- This was already mentioned on the film page but because it is also animation, Alpha and Omega has the howling scenes, which were absolutely great.
- The Asterix movies have some good music...but these songwriters are crazy!
- Asterix est la!
- from Asterix vs Caesar
- Say Goodbye
from Asterix Conquers America, performed by Bonnie Tyler.
- Asterix est la!
- "Heritage of the Wolf" from Balto, especially the scene where Balto howls with the White Wolf
. Also "Reach for the Light". And from the sequel, "Who You Really Are" which Muru sings to Aleu. Also, "The Grand Design", the song the wolf pack sings (including cameos from David Carradine and villain Mark Hamill!).
- The BIONICLE movies have a pretty good score. See
for
yourself
.
- From The Care Bears Movie: Care-a-Lot
, and from the second Forever Young.
- The original Spanish introduction of La Colina del Dragón is simply so energetic and awe inspiring
.... even if the CGI is terribly dated (thankfully, it's followed by traditional animation rather quickly).
- Coraline
- Just the opening track "Dreaming" is so stunningly beautiful. The whole soundtrack
is unbelievably awesome.
- "Installation"
, which sets up the mood of the first half of the movie, before everything starts getting fucked up.
- And its cousin, "Exploration"
.
- "The Other Father Song"
, by They Might Be Giants. The lyric is also full of subtle, extremely creepy Foreshadowing.
- "Fantastic Garden"
, half the reason everyone keeps grinning stupidly during the title sequence, the other half being the ungodly amount of Scenery Porn, done WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!
- Just the opening track "Dreaming" is so stunningly beautiful. The whole soundtrack
- Depending on the person, Felix the Cat: The Movie ranges from So Bad, It's Good to downright terrible overall; but nobody can deny that its Villain Song "Who Is the Boss?"
is one of the catchiest songs in any animated film from the 80's.
- Most people agree that the best piece in the movie is "Face to the Wind (The Princess Song)"
.
- Most people agree that the best piece in the movie is "Face to the Wind (The Princess Song)"
- Ferngully. If you like Robin Williams, there's The Batty Rap
. If you like Tim Curry, there's Toxic Love
. And if you like award-baiting love ballads, there's A Dream Worth Keeping
.
- The G.I. Joe theme people, especially the movie theme
.
- Heavy Metal has a soundtrack that's not just awesome - it's awesomeness to the extreme. Sammy Hagar, Cheap Trick, Grand Funk Railroad, Blue Öyster Cult, Devo, Riggs, Black Sabbath, Don Felder... the list goes on. And that's saying nothing of the excellent orchestral score provided by Elmer Bernstein (unusually for the time, there was a separate score LP released alongside the song album; the complete score was later issued on CD). In fact, its soundtrack is pretty much the reason the film is still a cult classic.
- The one Lucky Luke song almost everyone knows: "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy a long way from home".
- The Movie of The Phantom Tollbooth had a lot of moderately cute music... Tock's song "Time Is A Gift," and the Grand Finale, "Rhyme And Reason Reign." Yes, everything IS better with Princesses...as long as their names are Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason. :)
- "Aisling's Song"
from The Secret of Kells. "Yooouuu muuuust go wheeere I cannoooot..."
- Far Longer Than Forever
from The Swan Princess.
- The only bit worth watching in Tom and Jerry: The Movie is the delightful "Money is Such a Beautiful Word
".
- The Triplets of Belleville uses Mozart's "Mass in C Minor - Kyrie
" during the incredibly dramatic storm at sea segment.
- Then there's the main theme
, "Belleville Rendez-vouz". It's a jazz number performed on vacuum cleaner and bicycle spokes. Need we say more?
- Cabaret Hoover
is also incredibly catchy.
- Then there's the main theme
- The Cult Classic Twice Upon a Time has two great songs: for its opening Dramatis Personae segment there's "Heartbreak Town" (sung by Bruce Hornsby), and the title song (sung by Maureen McDonald) plays over the lovely closing sequence and credits.
- "You and Me"
from The Jetsons Movie
- Rock and Rule has a pretty good soundtrack, considering all the musical talent behind it. Especially the triumphant and epic final song Send Love Through
.
TV series
- 12 oz. Mouse: Skillet's three-minute animated drum solo
, which ends with his drums bursting into flames.
- The Animals of Farthing Wood. The main theme/intro
for the series is plain awesome!
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force:
- Meatwad's solo
. That's on the list for one of the best guitar solos ever.
- Mastodon's "Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife", in which various pieces of movie snacks present a death metal version of a movie theater policy trailer. Even the people at Adult Swim
thought that was the main highlight of the Aqua Teens movie.
- Meatwad's solo
- Arthur:
- Elinor Wonders Why:
- The music score played in the series is very light with a pleasant bubblegum pop vibe, that makes the series very serene and relaxing.
- The instrumental version of the theme song, played during the closing credits of every episode
, is a relaxing and cozy way to end your adventures with Elinor.
- The intro music to Atomic Puppet is badass. Once it hits the 5 second mark, it's atomic time. And here it is straight from the production team's channel.
- The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes' theme song
perfectly encapsulates the epic feeling of watching the titular team in action. Even years after the show's end, a number of Avengers fans consider it the definitive theme song for the team, no matter the continuity.
- As well as "REVENGERS Assemble", this awesome though unused theme
composed by Ron Wasserman (who also created the masterpiece that is the theme song for Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers).
- As well as "REVENGERS Assemble", this awesome though unused theme
- Avenger Penguins...BIIIIKE UP!!!!
- Low budget animation and dissonant voices aside, the music of The Beatles speaks volumes. Amped considerably with Yellow Submarine.
- The Animated Adaptation's version of Danny Elfman's Beetlejuice Theme
(HD
).
- The Animated Adaptation's version of The Addams Family theme
.
- The Animated Adaptation's version of The Addams Family theme
- The Biker Mice from Mars theme tune. And also the show's soundtrack especially the songs "Tunnel Rat" "Look Out Below" and "Born To Be Wild".
- The über-manlily awesome
introduction of Conan the Adventurer.
- The Critic has two that really stand out, which are Jay's "I Want" Song "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now"
and a musical number from Apocalypse Wow!
- Cult favorite Cybersix has an awesome intro
. Sucks that they never made/released an extended version.
- The opening theme to Danger Mouse. Naturally, after all, "He's the strongest, he's the quickest he's the beeeeeeest!"
- From the mind of Danny Elfman, based on the theme to Forbidden Zone, there is the theme to Dilbert. Paired with the panning titles, it captures the insanity of Dilbert's world perfectly. Have a listen!
- From the somewhat obscure edutainment show Destination Space, the opening theme Final Encounter
offers a fitting science fiction feel for whatever journey the S.I.M.s are about to partake in.
- Detentionaire has an epic theme song
that fits with the tone of the show, and an awesome guitar riff to back it up.
- The cheesy yet awesome Dinosaur Train theme song
.
- The Dreamstone had a lavish soundtrack provided by Mike Batt and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Perhaps most notable is the main theme "Better Than A Dream"
and the Villain Song "War Song of the Urpneys"
.
- Exo Squad had about one piece of music for its first season. Thank god it's awesome.
- Fantastic Four: The Animated Series: The theme
of the Season One opening. Even better is Season Two's theme
.
- Flipper and Lopaka: The theme song
grows on you fast.
- Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale gives us "Slice of Heaven" by Dave Dobbyn and Herbs
.
- Galaxy Rangers. The soundtrack in all of its 80's rock glory was so beloved by the fanbase that they begged Mandell and Koch to put it on the DVD collection separately from the episodes.
- "No Guts No Glory"
(opening theme).
- "Rangers are Forever"
(closing credits #2).
- "Somewhere a Heart"
.
- "Fight To the Finish"
.
- "Psychocrystal"
.
- "No Guts No Glory"
- The Garfield Show's intro
has some upbeat music to complement the high energy crammed into less than 30 seconds worth of animation.
- Though it is somewhat polarizing, the theme song
to the Geronimo Stilton cartoon does evoke spy movies a bit.
- The theme
for Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is just marvelous. Pity it's so short.
- The Italian opening theme
for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) is a 3-minute long rock piece. Watch out for the guitar solo at 2:24.
- In Home Movies, Brendon Small works in some cool garage band music with the band SCAB, including a Franz Kafka rock opera. Front man Duane, in a guitar competition, takes Brendon's trashed, untuned rental guitar and makes it sing. (He doesn't win. He was robbed.) Doubly awesome in that the people behind Home Movies are the same people responsible for Metalocalypse.
- Inspector Gadget: GO GADGET GO!
- Also the credits theme
, which might have been even better than the main theme.
- Really, the entire score. And on the subject, here's the French version of the theme
. Its silly lyrics reflect Gadget's clumsiness well anyway. On the other hand, the French version of Penny's theme, at least without the words
, is pretty good. The version in the show
is even better (one of them anyway, there were several).
- Also the credits theme
- The second US opening
to Iron Man: The Animated Series. It'll really put hairs on your chest, even if you're a woman.
- The Jumanji cartoon had an excellent opening theme
.
- King Arthur & the Knights of Justice. Not many people seem to remember this cartoon, about a Football team that gets transported to the middle ages to replace the missing King Arthur and his knights. But the opening theme song
to this show is pure epic.
- Metalocalypse has some downright awesome music.
- Just listen to Go Into the Water
and Awaken
. There's a good reason Dethklok made the best-selling death metal album of all time. In real life.
- Additionally: "The Lost Vikings",
"Detharmonic",
and the truly epic "Thunderhorse".
- This
. Dethklok puts on a concert that lasts about a minute and fifteen seconds and manages to kill and horribly maim hundreds of their fans. For a coffee jingle.
- From season 2; Black Fire Upon Us
.
- Aside from all the death metal, Charles Foster Offdensen has his own sweeping, heroic instrumental that's heard during the Siege of Mordhaus during the S2 finale, as well as the S3 premier where it blends perfectly with Dethklok's song at the end of the ep. Said motif is also in One Of Us Must DIE.
- Pickles' rehab rock opera
in Rehabklok.
- The season 03 finale gave us "The Beginning."
As an added bonus, the song plays as Dethklok pulls off a double booked concert and brings peace to the Middle East. It is as epic as it sounds. Also Try The Galaxy
, the Full version of The Beginning.
- Rejoining Earth
which is a Triumphant Reprise of The Beginning from the Season 4 premiere. Now a glorious full length track on Dethalbum III.
- The Doomstar Requiem: A Klok Opera. Brendon Small sings for 13 different characters, included guest appearances by George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher, Jack Black, and featured a 50 piece orchestral score composed by Bear McCreary (who were all apparently dressed like Klokateers during the recording). It's 45 minutes of melodic/symphonic death metal, and is as awesome as it sounds. The Villain Song, "Magnus and the Assassin",
is a highlight. So is "The Duel
". And "The Blazing Star
", the only Dethklok single of the album.
- In the grand Dethklok tradition, the latest Dethalbum brought several tracks from the show and amped them up to eleven in glorious full length. Special mention goes to I Ejaculate Fire,
Crush The Industry,
and at long last, Impeach God.
- Dr. Rockzo's "Dory," probably the best song ever written about molesting a 14-year-old girl.
- Just listen to Go Into the Water
- My Little Pony: The Movie (1986) has "There's Always Another Rainbow"
. And from the show, we have "We Are the Flutter Ponies
", music to kick evil tail to.
- Ocean Girl: The Animated Series' theme, The Promised One
- Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor. Whoooooooo's the most remarkable, extraordinary fellow?
- The opening theme of The Real Ghostbusters manages to top the original version.
- Similarly, the little-known opening theme
of 1986's Filmation's Ghostbusters is this, despite the fact that its only lyrics are "Let's go, Ghostbusters! Let's go! Let's go, Let's go!". The pipe organ section, which interpolates part of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, has something to do with this.
- The instrumental section is based on Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King
."
- Similarly, the little-known opening theme
- Randy Cunningham: Ninth Grade Ninja has 30 Seconds to Math performing their song Detention Deficit Disorder
.
- ReBoot:
- In "Talent Night" Megabyte invades Enzo's birthday party...to perform a hard rock solo with speakers turned up. Not to be outdone, Bob has Glitch turn into a guitar. What follows is a guitar duel so epic that a picture of it is on the series' Awesome page.Bob: (At the beginning of the duel) Glitch...BFG.
Megabyte: (At the end) I've always wanted to do that. - After episodes of despair and very close victories over Megabyte, Firewall
heralds the point where things start going the heroes' way... for a while.
- In "Talent Night" Megabyte invades Enzo's birthday party...to perform a hard rock solo with speakers turned up. Not to be outdone, Bob has Glitch turn into a guitar. What follows is a guitar duel so epic that a picture of it is on the series' Awesome page.
- While the Redwall cartoon was... Well, opinions vary, but the theme tune
had a lovely Mediaeval feel to it.
- Robotech?: The 15th Squadron
, Roy Fokker's Theme
, Rick Hunter's theme
, Battle Station
, and Alien Attack
.
- The intro of Silverhawks: Wings of silver, birds of steel... Silverhawks!
- The 1990s Silver Surfer opening sequence, short as it was, is awesome enough to contain its own Ominous Latin Chanting. Hear it for yourself here
, if you can tune out all the swooshing-in-space sounds that are layered on top of it.
- Sonic Underground's theme song blends epic, heartwarming, tearjerking moments and an amazing backstory all together.
- Though the main series is no slouch when it throws its musical numbers, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut has an undeniably glorious, catchy, and beautiful soundtrack. Special mention goes to the trope-naming song, La Resistance
.
- Space Goofs. Long story short: Iggy Pop sings the theme song.
Special mention to its extended version
.
- The Super Chicken
theme is as geeky as he is.
- SWAT Kats also got some pretty sweet ass music opening theme music too, one for season one
, and another for season 2
.
- The theme songs for TMNT shows tend to be very catchy. Just listen to the 1987,
2003
and 2012
themes.
- Tintin
theme tune.
- Thunderbirds has a theme song so awesome it has become a military band standard.
- Total Drama World Tour
- "Come Fly With Us"
is positively reeks of awesomeness. Which is saying a lot, since most fans thought the concept of music in the show was going to be worse than all the fart jokes. But with a little auto-tuning and actually a nice beat, even Ezekiel and Noah of all people are probably the best singers in the song!
- "Stuck To A Pole
" makes the classic "tongue on a flagpole" prank epic.
- "Lovin' Time
" and its reprise "Rowin' Time". Any of the songs so far.
- Despite its strange subject matter, "Wake Up
" is a very awesome song, most notably at the very end.
- "This Is How We Will End It
". Muppets have never been so hardcore! Followed by "Versus
", which captured the denouement of Heather's and Alejandro's relationship. The two bitterly criticize each other while viciously competing (the only way those two know how to compete). Watching "This Is How We'll End It" and "Versus" back to back is simply epic.
- Cody's solo in Condor
.
- "We Built Gwen's Face
" which is also a tribute to the music group ABBA.
- "BoyFriend Kisser
" song that, in Canada, was voted as the favorite of the audience.
- "Come Fly With Us"
- "The Underdog Theme Song
". Who knew a very old cartoon show could have a theme song so very epic?
- And then it was covered by
Butthole Surfers.
- It also got an awesome a capella cover by The Blanks (aka Ted's band, The Worthless Peons, from Scrubs). It can be heard "here"
. Same can be said about a lot of the covers featured on 'Saturday Morning: Cartoon's greatest hits'. Just check out The Ramones doing Spider-Man
, Sponge doing Speed Racer
, The Violent Femmes doing Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah
and Face to Face covering Popeye.
All very awesome.
- The rap cover
of the theme song (by Kyle Massey) for the movie was pretty interesting.
- And then it was covered by
- The Venture Bros. has quite an epic
soundtrack
that manages to have quite a bit of variety to it, even the occasional classical piece sneaked in for good measure. The usage of "Mars, Bringer of War", in the episode "Hate Floats", for example... Or compare/contrast the main theme for the show with the theme for Rusty Venture, as an example of the talent of J.G. Thirlwell.
- Dr. Orpheus has Awesome Music reserved for his most mundane actions.
- The absolutely awesome use of Pulp's 'Like A Friend' in the season 4 finale, available here.
- If there's anything about Voltron that is definitely superior to the original anime, GoLion, it's the awesome score by John Peterson.
- The opening theme for Vytor The Starfire Champion, a mini-series from the same creators of Voltron and Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. "Fantasy becomes reality, in a galaxy far away..."
- The intro
of Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? is Mozart as a cartoon intro! The Nostalgia Chick said it best:
"Wherever she is, it must be in the land of epic!" - Woody Woodpecker got one in the short The Barber of Seville.
- The intro
to Woody's cartoons is pretty memorable as well.
- The intro
- World of Quest. The theme song
is impossibly catchy, and pretty damn awesome too. "Save the World! The World of Quest! (Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo!)"
- The original opening theme for the X-Men: The Animated Series.
- If you think that's good, take a listen at what the Japanese slapped on their dub on the show
. CRY FOR THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!
- The opening
for Pryde of the X-Men (the original pilot pitch for what would be reworked into the 90's series) is bombastic, energetic, and so gloriously 80's.
- If you think that's good, take a listen at what the Japanese slapped on their dub on the show
- Phantom 2040 would probably be remembered only by fans of the hero identity, or fans of Peter Chung, but it had a really awesome opening theme
.
- The greatest Villain Sucks Song of all time. Sing it: You're a mean one, Mister Grinch... You really aaaaare a heeeeeeeell...
- Might just be nostalgia kicking in, but the theme tune
for Rescue Heroes made a show based on The Real Heroes almost work.
- Regardless of what you think about the actual cartoon, regardless of the lyrics being the same line over and over again — SUPER FIGHTING ROBOT! MEGA MAN!
- The opening theme to the animated versions of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters. Not only is it epic, it fits the whole 'disc on the back of four elephants on the back of a turtle' thing. Listen to it with headphones on for added awesome.
- Also the soundtrack to Soul Music. As a story entirely about the Disc's first Music With Rocks In Band, it pays homage to a variety of bands and styles. Plus Sioni Bod Da, the music Buddy sold his soul for one last chance to play
- On Care Bears & Cousins, Harmony Bear's song in "Share Air" really is quite nice. It has a sort of mellow vibe like some of the music from the 80s. And unlike what happens to the bears on the show, it won't actually make you float on air, heavy instruments or no.
- The opening intro of Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot is a stirring Army-chorus styled
Expository Theme Tune that lovingly celebrates the series' combination of Eagleland and Zeerust tropes, all while displaying some pretty gratuitous explosions to boot.
- Final Space:
- "Enter One" by Sol Seppy
plays at the end of Chapter 6 during Avocato's Heroic Sacrifice. On a lighter note, from the same episode, the rock score that plays when Gary and Avocato free-fall to, and then planet-jump between, the two planets of Zetakron Prime, really signifies the rescue of Little Cato that's about to happen.
- Chapter 4 gives us a space opera version of "Gallows" by Shelby Merry
when Gary and Mooncake venture out to gather energy from a nearby dying star.
- The radio song that Gary And Mooncake cry over in chapter 7 is a more somber version of “When The Darkness Comes” by Shelby Merry.
- The haunting "When the Night is Long" by Shelby Merry
on chapter 9 just as the Earth is being slowly destroyed.
- "Light Runner"
, the absolutely epic song that plays during the planet-jumping sequence.
- "Enter One" by Sol Seppy