Why is it that most American cartoon shows have to name themselves repeatedly in their theme music? (And why do said tunes usually suck?)
Then again, maybe I’m slightly biased…
wanders of humming “Merry Melodies” and “Looney Tunes”
Probably because American cartoons are most often targeted at kids, and repetition is apparently fun for children.
That said, some American cartoon themes - even those guilty of repetition - are very nice. Witness Animaniacs; Earthworm Jim; Freakazoid!; Pinky and the Brain.
I often find myself with the tune from Kim Possible stuck in my head. A bit catchy I think.
Most cartoon music is actually the jazz of Raymond Scott, who was brillant & talented. Please do not judge his jive by the tired, off-key warblings of Warner Brothers’ in-house band.
Give it a listen!
Raymond Scott was a mad genius, an electronic music pioneer, and a visionary who was decades ahead of his time.
I bought the album. :o
With all due respect, Warner Brothers were much more likely to use other sources than Scott. “Powerhouse” was the only thing they used consistently.
They certainly used portions of the William Tell Overture (and not just the finale) as much if not more. The “storm” section was always used to indicate a storm, while the “morning” section was always used to indicate it was morning (It’s still used by “Two and a Half Men” for that very reason).
For popular music, they used Harry Warren’s music much more than anything else (since Warren worked for Warner Brothers, they could use his songs for free). They build entire cartoons around Warren tunes like “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and “The Latin Quarter.”
I bought Saturday Morning Cartoons’ Greatest Hits.
I really hope you don’t consider Sponge Bob’s theme to suck.
Sure it’s repetitive, but it’s got the word porous in it.
Everybody sing
“Who lives in a pineapple under the sea - Spongebob Squarepants
Absorbant and porous and yellow is he - Spongebob Squarepants
If nautical nonsense be something you wish - Spongebob Squarepants
then drop to the deck and flop like a fish - Spongebob Squarepants”
Other great ones, Underdog, The Flintstones, Mighty Orbots, Scooby-Doo.
To listen to it on Amazon.
To me, the best cartoon themes are the jazzy ones like The Jetsons, The Tick and Cowboy Bebop.
I’m a sucker for the classic 1967 Spider-Man theme (the Ramones did a nifty cover of it), and also the Transformers theme (the regular one from the show and the '80s hair-metal version as done by Lion in the movie). The Tick had some nice scat-singing in its theme, and Batman: The Animated Series had that great Danny Elfman-inspired orchestral theme by Shirley Walker.
But I agree that Cowboy Bebop probably has the coolest cartoon theme (and best music) ever: “Tank!” by Yoko Kanno’s Seat Belts.
It’s not just American cartoons: 20 years after living in the UK, the damn DangerMouse theme still gets stuck in my head from time to time… :smack: 
Someone please stop me from humming the Batman theme.
Please!
I have my friend’s 3-year-old trained: I do the “duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh” part, and when I point at him he says “Batman!”
It’s really quite cute in person.
Which Transformers show theme? There are notable differences between the first, second, and third seasons, especially since anything besides the second-season theme sucks. 
And as for the movie theme, I’ll assume you also know about the Stan Bush/Vince DiCola remake they did for BotCon '97…
A few more …
Atomic Betty The theme song not only repeats the title throughout, but also ends with the name repeated several times over very quickly.
Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi Oh yea, all throughout. And of course, if you mention this show, you have to mention …
Teen Titans I count 15 times (not counting the “spelling out” part).
Thanks! I’ve been looking for that and couldn’t remember what it was!
It’s been so long, I don’t even remember which is which. I tend to sing the song to myself in a Vegas lounge-singer style, so that’s the one I automatically hear in my head. I bet the Bush/DiCola version is awesome, though!
I forgot, I like that song too, and I can’t even stand the show.