Top Five Television Theme Songs

Great episode! I love TV themes. When I was young, my dad ran our tiny school’s TV station and for it, just in case he needed them, he had about a dozen CDs of TV Theme Songs! He had them for a while anyway, until I borrowed them for an indeterminate about of time. Some might call it theft.
Before that, I would make my own TV Theme song cassettes wherein I cranked up the volume on the TV at 5 minutes before my show was supposed to come on. Then I would gaze around at my family ferociously, daring anyone to make a sound as I attempted to time the pushing down of the record button so that it lined up perfectly with the beginning of the song. I did this from 4th to nearly 8th grade when the afore mentioned CDs started showing up. Come to think of it, maybe my dad just wanted me to stop glaring so much…

The Top 5 Greatest TV Themes of ALL TIME

#5 – I was born in the early 80s and therefore my formative TV theme years were from around 1988 to 1999 or so. As such, as should be true of any boy my age, I love the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” theme song, the full version of which I will still randomly sing if the wrong (or right?) series of words happens to come up in conversation. They ARE the world’s most fierce-some fighting team. They ARE heroes, in a half-shell, and they ARE green.
#4 – I first became aware of my number 4 not by actually seeing the TV show, although I’m sure that I had. I encountered it in a book of easy(ish)-to-play popular piano songs of all places and I loved to play it (poorly). I would sing along as my fingers tripped over the keys trying to keep both rhythm and melody all in the same place. “Through early morning fog I see… visions of the things to be… the pains that are withheld for more… I realize and I can see…” Yes, one of the most depressing songs ever written, its “Suicide is Painless”! More colloquially known as “The Theme from M.A.S.H.” There was a time in college that I would get home after classes and have a few hours before work and I would sit on my couch, do homework, and watch M.A.S.H. That’s it. Everyday, for 3 semesters straight. I is now a permanent part of my brain. Don’t ever die Alan Alda!
#3 – Number 3 is a toss up for me between two favorites (Hey, if Stephen can do it, so can I!) I love weird music and these two pieces both exemplify that genre. First, the theme from the 90’s cartoon version of “The Tick”. This bizarre jazzy scat version of a song without any lyrics but rather filled with horns and a group of people half singing should not work at all, but my brain keeps wanting to listen to it again so that it can figure out why the heck it actually does! The second of these is a delightful theme by my favorite band of all time, They Might Be Giants. No, not “You’re Not the Boss of Me Now” from “Malcom in the Middle”, I’m talking about the theme from ‘The Oblongs’. It is short, it is catchy, and there are three separate versions of it (one with lyrics, two instrumental) that are all awesome.
#2 – I am a Major Spoilers VIP because of my number two. I would never have cared a wit for comic books, or at least would have taken much longer to find the enjoyment in them if it wasn’t for the rocking guitar lick that came at the beginning of the 90’s ‘X-Men’ cartoon. As a child, my dad listened to Weird Al, Broadway shows, and easy rock from the 60’s & 70’s. The X-Men theme quickly joined ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Nature Trail to Hell’ as the hardest, heaviest metal rock that I would listen to for many, many years. Also, it is awesome.
#1 – Speaking of Weird Al, he is clairvoyant. I had never thought about it, but in his song ‘White & Nerdy’ he very clearly spells out that one qualification for being both white and nerdy is that “Happy Days is my favorite theme song”. He is so right! The theme to Happy Days is wonderful. I would sing that song over and over again. I have still never actually watched an episode of ‘Happy Days’, but it must be the greatest show of all time. That’s how good it’s theme song is.

By the way, the ‘Bugs Bunny’ song that you were referencing is called ‘Powerhouse’ and its by Raymond Scott.

I know you guys record well ahead of time, but it got me a little choked up to hear you both singing the Theme From Garry Shandling’s Show. RIP, Garry. You are gone too soon.

Also, I played “Peter Gunn” in jazz band in high school, and I remember the first time we launched into it I thought, “Hey, that’s the song from Spy Hunter!” According to the game’s designer, he wanted the James Bond theme, but of course he couldn’t get the rights. (http://www.liketotally80s.com/2012/10/spy-hunter/)

My list:

5) “My Life” (theme from Bosom Buddies) by Billy Joel – As a rabid lifelong fan of Mr. Joel, I had to include this song, but even if I wasn’t, I think it would make my top ten at least. It’s a great tune and sets up the show well.

4) “Who Are You” (theme from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) by The Who – Okay, this is probably cheating, but I love this song so much! I also like that the franchise continues to choose Who songs for the various spinoff shows, though I still think the one for CSI:Cyber should have been “Pictures Of Lily”

3) Tie: “Three’s Company, Too” and “Good Times” – These shows fill the spot in my childhood where Gilligan’s Island and The Brady Bunch are for Stephen and Matthew. I watched them over and over on weekday afternoons on Channel 41 out of Kansas City.

2) “Knight Rider Theme” – Cheesy in retrospect, but that driving electronic opening always brought me running to the living room. Classic TV memories.

1) “The Liberty Bell March” (theme from Monty Python’s Flying Circus) by John Phillip Sousa – Ah, the joy this song presages whenever I hear that first ringing bell! I delight in all manifestations of the Terpsichorean muse, but this one takes the cake.